BlogHer - literacy - Comments

Pizza and Reading

mfmakichen — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 13:57:10 -0500

Maria,
Your comments made me grin. First of all I love that you got pizzas for reading. Is that a great incentive for a kid to read or what? Okay, so maybe people who are concerned about children and nutrition are shaking their heads, but as I little kid I would have thought that was pretty awesome. Second, School House Rock was so cool and effective that I can still sing a lot of them. Espcially the preamble to the Constitution and conjunction junction. Does that make me a geek or what?

Mary-Frances Makichen
www.makichenbooks.com
www.wordmedley.com

My grandmother taught me to read.

Maria0305 — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 13:33:21 -0500

I don't remember very well because I was 4, but I can recall bits and pieces. There were LOTS of flash cards, many 'Dick & Jane' books, and also School House Rock/Sesame Street.

Edit: I hit submit accidentally!

Reading has always been one of my favorite thing to do, and I'm so happy that she taught me early. My childhood was filled with trips to the library and many personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut for acheieving different milestones [there was some program at my elementary school with Pizza Hut and for every so many books you completed and took a test on, you recieved a free pizza]. :)

- Maria

http://immoralmatriarch.com

Moms Make Great Teachers, Don't They

mfmakichen — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:15:00 -0500

Michelle,

Thanks for your lovely comments. I loved your blog post as well! Oh my gosh, I absolutely loved The Electric Company, even more than Sesame Street when I was young. It sounds like you learned a lot from your mom that you'll be passing on to your own peanut!

Mary-Frances Makichen
www.makichenbooks.com
www.wordmedley.com

The Sneeches

Michellesamom — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:50:46 -0500

I don't really remember when it happened, I think I was too young. My mom tells me that I had all my books memorized by the time I was three and i would "read" them myself. So I don't know when I went from memorization to reading or even how that transition happened. It's funny that you should mention this today though! I have been thinking a lot about those memories in recent weeks and have even blogged twice about it in the last few days:

http://michellesamom.blogspot.com/2008/10/thanks-for-memories.html

And more recently, today: http://michellesamom.blogspot.com/2008/10/thanks-for-memories.html

I know that I learned a lot from my mom. She would read to me every night and I would even correct her when she made a mistake or tried to skip a page (English is not her first language, or her second...). I loved that time that we spent together. Her ability to speak and read in so many languages was definitely an inspiration. I also remember learning a great deal from educational television. I LOVED shows like Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Read All About It... they taught me a great deal.

Thanks for the great post.

I'm with jessica

kazari — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:28:35 -0500

I don't care about txtspeak - just because we have a written record of how teens mangle language now, doesn't mean they haven't always been doing it. I have a boys adventure book written about English public schools circa 1820. The boys mash their french verbs and latin words into their everyday english. But it doesn't stop them turning in lucid exam papers.

Bad grammar has always bothered me more than bad spelling. Grammar provides precision of meaning.

I think I have a recipe for that...

I don't know if I'm as

jessica.schafer — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:23:23 -0500

I don't know if I'm as concerned about spelling going down the tubes as I am about syntax. I recently had to grade several papers that were mostly spelled correctly, but were unfortunately convoluted, repetitive and unorganized. Spelling mistakes and some abbreviations are usually easy to decipher and understand, but poor word choices and terrible writing make for bad communication and can often leave readers asking, "what??!" I'm beginning to mourn the loss of beautiful writing, or even the desire to write well.

In Between Words

http://jessicaschafer.wordpress.com

no to txt spk

lifediscourse — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:36:07 -0500

Though txt spk might be convenient to most, I do not use txt spk but instead use the T9 feature of my cellphone for speed and accuracy in my text messages. I have just given my 7 year old daughter her first cellphone, and I text her using full words and encourage her to do the same. I have heard of stories from school teachers wherein the quality of writings and grammar of students has deteriorated significantly as essay writings are done in txt spk.

Example: "Txt Spk hs bn pplrzd by clfon usrs to cmunc8 wt ech otr usng trmd & shr8d wrds. Avd usng Txt Spk n d frm as 8 wil only cr8 cnfsn."

Soul

"A baby is God's opinion that life should go on." - Carl
Sandburg

LOL!

ClizBiz — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:55:03 -0500

I loved the title of this post - it gave me quite a chuckle. Great topic but it's not just the kids that have succumbed to this habit. I received a nearly unreadable text from a 53-year-old earlier this week. I finally had to call her and ask, "What are you trying to say? Can you just tell me in English?"

For myself, I try to limit my txtspk. My allowance includes 'B', "4" and "U". And hey, wasn't Prince already doing this back in the mid-80s? ("I Would Die 4 U")

~ClizBiz

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Photography & Animal Concerns, Proprietor, ClizBiz