Comments on: How to get a couch potato to read. http://spangllo.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/how-to-get-a-couch-potato-to-read/ Just another WordPress.com weblog Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:34:33 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: No Tiger Woods at This Links | Brevity is the soul of wit. http://spangllo.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/how-to-get-a-couch-potato-to-read/#comment-15 No Tiger Woods at This Links | Brevity is the soul of wit. Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:34:33 +0000 http://spangllo.wordpress.com/?p=7#comment-15 [...] Lonnie [...] [...] Lonnie [...]

]]> By: Travis http://spangllo.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/how-to-get-a-couch-potato-to-read/#comment-14 Travis Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:44:19 +0000 http://spangllo.wordpress.com/?p=7#comment-14 George Lucas has been a hero of mine since I was a kid. Hell, he was the reason I spent every waking moment learning about film. It caused me to spend 4 years at Western Michigan University studying it. So why, you might ask, am I studying to become an English teacher? One name: Joseph Campbell. Don’t know the name? He’s the guru that inspired George to be the mythmaker he is today (also Akira Kurosawa. Watch The Hidden Fortress if you want to see the inspiration for C-3PO and R2-D2). Regardless, I think there is something to the point you made when you said: “I think reading and writing about things that students are excited about could be a doorway to deeper reading and writing”. This caught my eye because of the truth of the matter. Students have to care about a subject or it has little value to them. As teachers, we try so hard to make stuff that we find interesting matter to the students. I know from my personal arsenal of quotable, readable, and thinkable material, I have a passion about things I value and feel students should find value in also. Am I right? I think so, but others may say nay. When you ended by saying: “…if I could just find some info on the subject”, you made me think of what was wrong with my way of thinking. Has anyone ever asked students what they are interested in? Maybe the best place to start isn’t from the top down, but the bottom up. Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect, once said something about the best people being measured from the ground up not the head down. Why not use part of that technique in a classroom? I’m not going to say that lessons should always be centered on student interest, but what could it hurt once in a while? Sometimes the best way to start a journey is not to look at where you plan to go, but to take note of what’s right in front of you. “A teacher is a man [or woman] who sets men [or women] free. He [or she] is the most eager learner in the class.” -Frank Lloyd Wright George Lucas has been a hero of mine since I was a kid. Hell, he was the reason I spent every waking moment learning about film. It caused me to spend 4 years at Western Michigan University studying it. So why, you might ask, am I studying to become an English teacher? One name: Joseph Campbell. Don’t know the name? He’s the guru that inspired George to be the mythmaker he is today (also Akira Kurosawa. Watch The Hidden Fortress if you want to see the inspiration for C-3PO and R2-D2).
Regardless, I think there is something to the point you made when you said: “I think reading and writing about things that students are excited about could be a doorway to deeper reading and writing”. This caught my eye because of the truth of the matter. Students have to care about a subject or it has little value to them. As teachers, we try so hard to make stuff that we find interesting matter to the students. I know from my personal arsenal of quotable, readable, and thinkable material, I have a passion about things I value and feel students should find value in also. Am I right? I think so, but others may say nay.
When you ended by saying: “…if I could just find some info on the subject”, you made me think of what was wrong with my way of thinking. Has anyone ever asked students what they are interested in? Maybe the best place to start isn’t from the top down, but the bottom up. Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect, once said something about the best people being measured from the ground up not the head down. Why not use part of that technique in a classroom? I’m not going to say that lessons should always be centered on student interest, but what could it hurt once in a while? Sometimes the best way to start a journey is not to look at where you plan to go, but to take note of what’s right in front of you.
“A teacher is a man [or woman] who sets men [or women] free. He [or she] is the most eager learner in the class.” -Frank Lloyd Wright

]]> By: My Comments | Brad's Pedablog http://spangllo.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/how-to-get-a-couch-potato-to-read/#comment-13 My Comments | Brad's Pedablog Sun, 13 Apr 2008 03:24:57 +0000 http://spangllo.wordpress.com/?p=7#comment-13 [...] How to get a couch potato to read. - February 28th, 2008 at 7:35 am [...] [...] How to get a couch potato to read. - February 28th, 2008 at 7:35 am [...]

]]> By: Comments Post | Just clipping across the Lake http://spangllo.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/how-to-get-a-couch-potato-to-read/#comment-12 Comments Post | Just clipping across the Lake Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:45:56 +0000 http://spangllo.wordpress.com/?p=7#comment-12 [...] “How to get a Couch Potato to Read“  Commented on April [...] [...] “How to get a Couch Potato to Read“  Commented on April [...]

]]> By: Leigha http://spangllo.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/how-to-get-a-couch-potato-to-read/#comment-11 Leigha Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:11:35 +0000 http://spangllo.wordpress.com/?p=7#comment-11 I think this is such an interesting topic. I read The Hobbit when I was in sixth grade. I guess I’m a nerd, too. We watched the cartoon version of the book in my class, and that just ruined it for me. Like every other movie based on a book I’ve seen, it didn’t live up to my expectations. The world I had created in my head while reading the book was far more colorful and detailed and REAL than the one in the movie. I think books have that quality that movies don’t. They allow students (and adults) to create their own film strip in their head. We get to use our imagination, which seems to be a rarity these days. We definitely need to find today’s equivalent to Tolkien. I guess the Harry Potter series would be the closest thing. I’ve also seen teachers who did book reports. Not the most exciting thing in the world, I know, but it allowed the students to read something they wanted to. The kids did presentations as the character, or like a book review by a major critic, or something else somewhat unique. We need to think out of the box to get them involved. I think this is such an interesting topic. I read The Hobbit when I was in sixth grade. I guess I’m a nerd, too. We watched the cartoon version of the book in my class, and that just ruined it for me. Like every other movie based on a book I’ve seen, it didn’t live up to my expectations. The world I had created in my head while reading the book was far more colorful and detailed and REAL than the one in the movie. I think books have that quality that movies don’t. They allow students (and adults) to create their own film strip in their head. We get to use our imagination, which seems to be a rarity these days.
We definitely need to find today’s equivalent to Tolkien. I guess the Harry Potter series would be the closest thing. I’ve also seen teachers who did book reports. Not the most exciting thing in the world, I know, but it allowed the students to read something they wanted to. The kids did presentations as the character, or like a book review by a major critic, or something else somewhat unique. We need to think out of the box to get them involved.

]]> By: spangllo http://spangllo.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/how-to-get-a-couch-potato-to-read/#comment-5 spangllo Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:45:24 +0000 http://spangllo.wordpress.com/?p=7#comment-5 Absolutely, I don't necessarily think that Tolkien will be every students doorway to reading like it was for me. I think the challenge is trying to discover what that "gateway" might be for a variety of students. Thanks for your comment. Absolutely, I don’t necessarily think that Tolkien will be every students doorway to reading like it was for me. I think the challenge is trying to discover what that “gateway” might be for a variety of students. Thanks for your comment.

]]> By: Brad Hendershot http://spangllo.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/how-to-get-a-couch-potato-to-read/#comment-4 Brad Hendershot Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:35:19 +0000 http://spangllo.wordpress.com/?p=7#comment-4 While I have to agree that George Lucas is, undoubtedly, the biggest nerd in the entire history of nerd-dom, I think that Tolkien is next in line to the throne. But Tolkien exists somewhere just outside--or perhaps above--that realm, because the world he offers readers, and especially young readers, can scarcely be called fictional. I don't mean that in a literal sense of course--wow this is really getting existential--I think what I'm trying to say is that the alternate universe that he created is so detailed, so elaborate and beautiful, that the literary value and work it is capable of has no limit. Whew. That was a mouthfull, but let me clarify a bit more. Your post seems to be alluding to a concept I've long embraced; Tolkien's works act like a portal for young readers. I first read The Lord of the Rings series when I was 15 years old, and previous to that I wasn't much of a reader. After adventuring around with Frodo and Sam, however, I understood the power of literature. I read The Hobbit not long ago for the first time, and it was if I was that same goofy kid again, fascinated and enthralled by all things Middle Earth. In a way, it made me remember what it was like to discover literature for the first time. Not every kid is going to have that kind of experience with Tolkien, but I do believe that there is a Tolkien of sorts out there for every child. A new generation of readers may be having a similar experience with the Harry Potter series, for example. What really matters is allowing students the freedom to explore literature on their own terms, choosing their own books, until they discover their own portal into literature. What are some ways teachers can better facilitate that sort of discovery process? While I have to agree that George Lucas is, undoubtedly, the biggest nerd in the entire history of nerd-dom, I think that Tolkien is next in line to the throne. But Tolkien exists somewhere just outside–or perhaps above–that realm, because the world he offers readers, and especially young readers, can scarcely be called fictional. I don’t mean that in a literal sense of course–wow this is really getting existential–I think what I’m trying to say is that the alternate universe that he created is so detailed, so elaborate and beautiful, that the literary value and work it is capable of has no limit. Whew. That was a mouthfull, but let me clarify a bit more.

Your post seems to be alluding to a concept I’ve long embraced; Tolkien’s works act like a portal for young readers. I first read The Lord of the Rings series when I was 15 years old, and previous to that I wasn’t much of a reader. After adventuring around with Frodo and Sam, however, I understood the power of literature. I read The Hobbit not long ago for the first time, and it was if I was that same goofy kid again, fascinated and enthralled by all things Middle Earth. In a way, it made me remember what it was like to discover literature for the first time.

Not every kid is going to have that kind of experience with Tolkien, but I do believe that there is a Tolkien of sorts out there for every child. A new generation of readers may be having a similar experience with the Harry Potter series, for example. What really matters is allowing students the freedom to explore literature on their own terms, choosing their own books, until they discover their own portal into literature. What are some ways teachers can better facilitate that sort of discovery process?

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