In case you notice any changes…

this post and future posts to this blog will be coming from my newly purchased MacBook (*MacBook was not a gift from Santa — I wasn’t quite that good this year.)

I am hoping to get another post uploaded before I go on vacation next week *my blog will most definitely be on a hiatus while I am vacationing

Happy New Year to all my blog readers.

Cheers,

K.J.

Reading Magic by Mem Fox

This book is all about the secrets of reading.  I had no idea before reading this book that there were secrets about reading and I guess that one must be able to read to uncover these secrets – yikes!

Anyway, Mem Fox puts forth the idea that there are
3 secrets to reading:

1.  The Magic of Print – “It’s the ability to recognize and make sense of the many little squiggles on a page. [...] To get the message, we must be able to recognize and understand the print symbols and their various combinations.  So, if we want our children to learn how to read anything-let alone to read more, or to read more diverse or more difficult material-it helps immeasurably if we can give them as much experience of print as possible.” (76-77)

2.  The Magic of Language -It is necessary to understand a language before one can read it!  “We can’t read well without understanding the meaning of words, without understanding the clever ways words link to form sentences, without understnding how those words and sentences turn themselves into anything from books, paragraphs, and sentence, to shopping lists, Valentine’s cards, magazines, advertisements, sports pages, and Web sites.” (83)  Thus, “If we want our children to learn how to read anything-let alone to read more, or to read more diverse or more difficult material – it helps immeasurably if we can give them as much experience of language as possible.” (84)

3.  The Magic of General Knowledge – “The more we know about life, the universe, and everything, the easier it is to read.” (99)

Mem Fox tells these secrets and gives parents ideas about
how to release these secrets to children:

1.  The magic of print can be shared by reading books and everything including street signs, cereal boxes, etc. to children.

2.  The magic of language can be shared by exposing children to conversation (as opposed to talking to children like they are babies), teaching them songs and rhymes.

3. The magic of general knowledge is shared when we read to our children.  “The more we read aloud to our kids and the more they read by themselves, the more experience they’ll have of the world through the things they encounter in books.” Also, taking children on excursions “around the block to the local shops or to the park or the zoo, let alone to another state or country.  They’ll also gather information about the world by listening to interesting adults, watching fascinating television, and learning about anything at all-from computer graphics to making pancakes, milking a cow, or playing soccer.  Expanding their experience in any direction helps them to better understand how the world works.” (101-102)

General thoughts:

-  The book is easy to read and filled with funny cartoons that relate to the premises put forth by Mem Fox.  It would appeal to the general public
- I wish that studies were included rather than personal anecdotes and that references were included to academic works for anyone interested to read more in depth on this topic
- Mem Fox urges parents to make reading fun for kids and helps parents to get into the heads of their kids as they are learning to read and this would be truly helpful for parents and caregivers alike.

In Praise of Slow – Part II

I finished reading In Praise of Slow by Carl Honoré a few days ago and have given myself some time to think about it before coming up with this final post.

What I loved about the book:
- quotations at the beginning of every chapter
- references to other books which I am now very interested to read
- Carl Honoré’s easy and pleasing to read writing style – this non-fiction book reads almost like a good piece of fiction in that the writing style is smooth and draws you in but not in a way that is manipulative.
- the main premise is reasonable – Honoré argues that “There is no one-size-fits-all formula for slowing down, no universal guide to the right speed. Each person, act, moment has its own eigenzeit. Some people are happy living at a speed that would send the rest of us to an early grave. Everyone must have the right to choose the pace that makes them happy. As Uwe Kliemt, the Tempo Giusto pianist, says, ‘The world is a richer place when we make room for different speeds.’” (275)
- I love the funny notation on the jacket of the book that Honoré “got a speeding ticket while researching this book.
- the book has an index, resource list (with magazines, websites and books) and notes too

What could have been better?
- the chapter on education should have included more statistics. I felt that this chapter was too anecdotal and that it should have included stronger evidence. Still, in defense of the author, knowing that this book was on the New York Times best sellers list, anecdotal evidence has a certain level of appeal to people so I can understand if that was the reason why it was used. It also helps to make the story more personal and readable for a larger audience too.

With all the busy-ness of Christmas wrapping up (or unwrapping) I am hoping that I can get back to my own tempo giusto in life after today. Happy holidays to all my loyal blog readers and wishing you all a happy 2008 too!

In Praise of Slow…

I just started reading “In praise of slow” by Carl Honoré. It sounded like a really interesting book – I gave a copy away at the stress workshop held at the library and added this one to my reading list. It arrived earlier this week at the library and now that school is out I have time (funny to say that – you would understand if you read his book) to do some reading of my personal choice – hurray! I think that I may just be one of the “time sick” people that Carl Honoré is talking about, but I slowly I am getting better. Just that there are so many things I want to do and I do not want to give up things either!

Carl Honoré will be doing a talk at the OLA SuperConference in Toronto at the end of January, so you may be interested in reading his book if you are attending.

Speaking of SuperConference, I just found out that I am going for the entire conference and am so incredibly excited. Last year I volunteered and it was a really great experience but extremely tiring. It will be a great change to have the chance to attend all the sessions I would like to attend. I plan to attend several sessions on marketing since this is a huge part of my job right now. There is so much that I want to learn so this is a wonderful opportunity for me!

I just wrapped up my course work for this term. I finished my course on library management and information literacy. In January I will be taking a course on preservation of documents and I am really happy that I got permission to take a course in adult literacy through OISE.

There is so much to look forward to in January – I can hardly wait!

Book Review: Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World

I was shelving books the other day to help the student pages and came across this book. I thought I could use a bit of inspiration and trusted that Craig and Marc Kielburger’s book would satiate my apetite for something inspiring. I was not in the least disappointed.  (The book caught my eye since I remember as I was growing up wondering to myself “Wow!” how could these two boys the same age as me start their own charity – Free the Children and do so much to help others.)

Me to We is the blueprint and philosophy behind Craig and Marc’s change at the personal level and beyond and is written to help all of us take the step from Me to We. This book inspires readers to ask “is this the best decision for the community or the best decision for future generations” before deciding for themselves.

For me, this book is a blueprint for the life I would like to live and for the life I am currently constructing. Although I can not and never could live to be the volunteer or social activist that the Kielburger’s are, the book reminded me that if each of us takes a small step that amounts to significant change.

For me, my small steps culminated into making a life change.  Not long before starting into the masters program at school I made a decision that impacted my life tremendously.  I left a job in the corporate world which left me feeling unethical as a person.  I decided instead to return to school to become a public librarian to help others and give back to the community one person at a time.  There have been times where I look back and think about what I could have had, but then I really think about how unhappy I was and realize that I need to remember success is not the job title, pay cheque or clothes one wears.  One of the quotations the Kielburgers share in their book is this one by Ralph Waldo Emerson about the meaning of success and the choices we each make in our lives:

“To laugh much; to win respect of intelligent persons and the affections of children; to earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give one’s self; to leave the world a little better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition.; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm, and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived–this is to have succeeded.” (192)

As an aspiring public librarian I will most definitely take with me the point that community is important to our own personal health and to the well being of each and every person living within a community. As Craig and Mark make the point that communities are falling apart and that this is affecting the physical health of everyone, I am hoping that through the library I can help people to rebuild and resolidify the importance of community. This can be applied to the library community itself, but it is even more necessary to apply the principle of community to the space in which the library is located (physical and virtual spaces). In our “civilized” society we have become highly specialized in our tasks and are completely dependent on one another though most of the time we are unaware of that fact. I know that I would not be able to eat if it weren’t for the grocery stores, farmers, truck drivers, gas stations, railways, fresh clean water, electricity to cook food, … the list goes on (and on!).