What do you do when your child would rather do anything else than read?

It can be really frustrating as a parent if your child has no interest or worse still an aversion to reading. You know that you need to encourage them to read to improve their literacy skills but what do you do when it becomes a battle rather than a source of enjoyment?

Reading is a skill just like any other. And when you do not have the basic skills then for some children trying to gain the skills becomes worse than not trying. Imagine you were learning to play tennis. How motivated would you be if the ball never went over the net? It wouldn’t be much fun would it, especially if the other player was getting stressed about it.

So the key is to relax yourself. Find ways to have fun reading in different situations. Reading doesn’t just have to be sitting down with a book.

If your child is struggling to read and is spending more time stumbling over the words try reading the book to the child first. Then let your child have a go at filling in some of the blanks that you leave. Then try taking turns reading a page or line. Make sure the book is about something that the child is really interested in. Try and find interesting facts books on a topic they enjoy such as sharks, dinosaurs or soccer. If the subject matter is interesting then your child is more likely to want to master the skills to decode the information.

There are lots of tools available online that can support your child’s reading skills whilst they are having fun. Educational games can improve language development, word recognition or spelling. Kids usually love using the computer and game based learning can be great fun as well as educational.

Ebooks that are animated and read the story aloud as the child follows the words can present reading in a different medium which is removed from the normal associations they have with sitting down to read a book. You can also let them master the tool themselves to develop their self confidence. Look out for books where emerging readers can have a go themselves and click on a word to hear it spoken, like the ones at wizz-e.com.

Try playing word games, like word snap or making words out of different letters. These can be made at home for free and introducing the fun element of play can engage a disinterested reader.

Let your child write their own stories and print them out. You could illustrate the story using images available on the internet, from magazines or let your child draw the pictures themselves. Your child will love showing and reading their books to anyone who will listen! If your child is not a confident writer, then write or type the story out for them.

If you remove the battle and encourage a love of reading using different methods your child will be developing their skills in a way that they enjoy. Just as with learning to playing tennis once one skill set is developed it encourages the desire to learn more.

I was recently reading a book about what affects literacy skills in young children and I thought I’d share some of the key research findings I came across.

The critical point that was made was that learning to read and write begins long before the school years. Research shows that the attitudes of adults who interact regularly with children have a huge influence the attitude of children learning to read (DeBaryshe, 1995; Baker et al., 1995; Spiegel, 1994). A number of factors affect these interactions, including the parents’ own attitudes towards reading, the children’s motivation for reading, the opportunities parents provide their children and how they behave, as well as the parents’ own reading and literacy ability levels.

So what does the research say? Here are a few excerpts.

Parents who believe that reading is a source of entertainment have children with a more positive view about reading than do parents who emphasize the skills aspect of reading development (Baker et al., 1997).

Children who view school learning as irrelevant to life outside school are less motivated to invest time and effort in learning to read (Purcell-Gates, 1994; Stipek et al., 1995).

When parents are responsive and ”chatty” during shared reading, improvements in their children’s skills have been recorded (e.g., Whitehurst et al., 1994).

Parents who believe their children are interested in reading are more likely to provide reading activities than parents who do not see such interest (Hiebert, 1981).

Enthusiasm about reading is suggested by many researchers as a route to development of the child’s active engagement in reading (Snow and Tabors, 1996; Baker et al., 1995).

Activities such as family storybook reading promote positive feelings about books and literacy (Taylor and Strickland, 1986).

Mealtime conversation helps children acquire knowledge about narratives when family members recount the day’s activities, giving children an experience of value in learning about language and communication (Snow and Tabors, 1993).

So some simple steps can promote reading skills in your children:
• talk to your children,
• share books,
• be enthusiastic about reading,
• chat about the books they are reading,
• be seen to enjoying reading yourself.

Simple really isn’t it?

In a recent article in the Guardian UK a group of authors, publishers, teachers and librarians are calling on the government to make school libraries statutory.

This was a complete shock to me that school libraries were not statutory. How can we expect our children to explore the worlds that books open to them if they do not have access to books? How can we expect them to become literate adults if we do not support their education with access to the right tools?

Although anyone would support the right of prisoners to a library, as it can be part of the process of rehabilitation through education, why are we not offering this to our children? Research indicates that many young people who offend have low literacy levels, so are we to assume that we wait UNTIL they get to prison before we help them learn to read?

Access to books and reading is fundamental in us supporting our children’s literacy. We cannot afford to leave it until it is too late.

I was reading an article about one Headmistress’s view that education has become so focused on getting children through exams that the very passion or enjoyment for the subject has been lost.

Full article here.

In education surely we should be focused on engaging children’s minds and encouraging them to question whilst also learning the skills to apply the knowledge? Not to simply learn strategies to pass exams. We should be allowing our educators the freedom to inspire their pupils, not to be constrained to the teaching of skills and content to meet targets.

Education is a gift for a lifetime. The skills learnt need to be ones that can be applied throughout their life, not just to pass another hurdle in the education system. The ability to assimilate information, to question, to extract relevant material and apply it in a variety of settings are skills that are needed throughout life. The passing of exams is a natural by product of that. To simply teach content and strategies that hit targets is denying our children the value of a real education.

Do you have kids ages 3 – 8? Do you teach in a primary/elementary school? Are you a carer for young children? Then we’d like to hear from you!

Do you and your child love books? Are you interested in literacy? Are you keen to see children engaged with reading? Are you interested in new technologies that could help children learning to read? Then we need your help.

We are looking for a number of parents/carers/teachers to join our review panel to trial our newly launched children’s ebooks. Click here to see the books available.

We will give you access to all of the books on wizz-e.com for free. No cost. No risk to you. In return all we ask is for your/your child’s thoughts.

If you are interested in being part of this review panel then email melanie@ybc.tv with the subject title ‘wizz-e’ and she will send you a login account and password to get access.

This offer is closing shortly. So act NOW and give your child free access to a fantastic product that will support their reading! Can you afford to miss out? Email melanie now.

Recent articles in the press report that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is looking at creating paperless classrooms by introducing digital textbooks. One report here.

Although budgets may be driving Mr Schwarzenegger’s current decision could this be the start of using technology to a greater extent in education? Can ebooks comfortably sit side by side with traditional media whether in the form of a textbook or fiction? Indeed, can using this technology enhance a student’s learning?

Forward thinking teachers will no doubt be exploring how technology can develop learning experiences for their pupils. They will know that learning is not transformed simply by the use of technology, but by how it is used creatively. This is where teachers can bring their greatest skills to the table, the application of the tools available to enhance learning. So whether it be ebooks or other media, students have a greater opportunity to learn when a variety of methods are employed to engage them.

I was reflecting the other day on the differences between my own education and that of my children. My memories are of blackboards and chalk, the teacher at the front talking at us as we furiously took notes, glued to the desk until it was time for lunch. I can remember very little of the content.

Whereas, in my own children’s education they are engaged in multi-sensory experiences. When they learn about a topic they create art, they create video, they create music, they use computers. They put their learning into different contexts which appeals to their different learning styles. Using a multi-sensory approach embeds their learning at a much deeper level.

But most importantly they are having fun. When they come home from school and can’t wait to tell me about what they have been doing it reinforces the learning yet again.

So for me the future of education has to be about finding different methods to engage children in learning, finding multiple ways to reinforce the message, using multiple tools to keep their attention. When their life outside school is a bombardment of multi-sensory experiences their education within school has to mirror that to keep their attention. Engaging our youngest minds, both in and out of school, by using a variety of formats and content has to make for a richer learning experience. What do you think?

As parents we all want to give our children the best of the best, and that includes the best start at education. Most understand the importance of reading with your child to increase their joy of not only reading but learning. 

When reading with your child ask them:

What was the story about? Where did it take place? When did it take place? Was there a moment that was especially exciting or moving? How did it come about? Was there a character that you really liked? Why? What did you discover through reading this book? What was the main thing the author wanted you to learn? These question will allow them to fall deeper into the story and recall more information. This may not be as important when reading Cinderella as it is when reading Biochemical Microbiology.   Whether you are reading from a book, Kindle or online… the focus is the same - reading is the main and most wonderful way to share ideas and imagination.  What do you share through books with your child?

So your kids are on Facebook, they text like crazy and to be honest they know more about online networking than you do. Well, here is some good news. With the new service Class-Connect students can network with other students and teachers across the globe.

Why this is cool…

Kids can learn from others as well as share their knowledge with those in say, France. Its kind of like a new, techie version of the foreign exchange student program.

Also students can send texts to receive their homework as well as talk with others about the work they are doing in class.

There is nothing more valuable to the mind of a child than information. If we as parents can broaden their information highways by sharing the world with them, it is said to increase IQ by 10-20 points; Just from giving them a worldly perspective.

eReaders are the new gadget that is a must have! You might be aware of the Kindle, Sony and even some others, but ever get tired of reading from the same black and white, boring reader? Well, this reader ‘ain’t your parents reader. 

The New COOL-er comes in jewel tone beauty and resembles somewhat of a iPod Nano-ish flare!

What does this have to do with kids, ebooks and online reading? 

Everything!!

I dont know many kids that would like a simple white Kindle that looks like the one thier mom and dad have BUT, if they can get a pink one or one the color of their favorite football team, then it makes it personal. 

Just like the iPod brought kids to music, the ereader can bring kids to online books. So by providing them with the tools to get the wide range of online knowledge through ebooks they have more options, just like the iPod and Internet brought music and knowledge to life, ebooks bring reading to life, and that is magic!