Take a look, it's in a book
Belatedly, this makes me so sad: ['Reading Rainbow' reaches its final chapter].
I loved Reading Rainbow as a kid. (Shocking, I know.) And I can tell you without reservation that it was the TV show that had the most impact on me. I mean, I may have had ridiculous amounts of love for the Thundercats or My Little Pony or other such embarrassing shows from the '80s, but Reading Rainbow stuck with me. I still look at picture books in a library or bookstore and see titles that I know from Reading Rainbow.
"Since then, [Simensky] explains, research has shown that teaching the mechanics of reading should be the network's priority."
And that's what really breaks my heart. Because that's absolutely the wrong way to go about it. Yes, the mechanics are important, but if that's all you focus on, you get kids who can read but who don't enjoy it. There's no magic if all they're taught is sounds and syllables and syntax.
I was really lucky because both of my parents read to me a lot when I was a kid. I'm sure I would have grown up loving reading anyway thanks to them. But there are so many children who don't have that luxury, whose parents are too tired after work or are never around or just don't care. And that doesn't make readers. I know. My two half-sisters weren't read to anywhere near as much as I was, and they (being 9 and 13 years younger than me) are growing up with schools that put more and more emphasis on the "mechanics" (and all those evil standardized tests) — and they hate reading. They just have no interest in it because there's no magic for them. All it is to them is homework. And it makes me so sad that that's how we're raising our children now and apparently we can't even have just one "reading is fun!" show.
I loved Reading Rainbow as a kid. (Shocking, I know.) And I can tell you without reservation that it was the TV show that had the most impact on me. I mean, I may have had ridiculous amounts of love for the Thundercats or My Little Pony or other such embarrassing shows from the '80s, but Reading Rainbow stuck with me. I still look at picture books in a library or bookstore and see titles that I know from Reading Rainbow.
"Since then, [Simensky] explains, research has shown that teaching the mechanics of reading should be the network's priority."
And that's what really breaks my heart. Because that's absolutely the wrong way to go about it. Yes, the mechanics are important, but if that's all you focus on, you get kids who can read but who don't enjoy it. There's no magic if all they're taught is sounds and syllables and syntax.
I was really lucky because both of my parents read to me a lot when I was a kid. I'm sure I would have grown up loving reading anyway thanks to them. But there are so many children who don't have that luxury, whose parents are too tired after work or are never around or just don't care. And that doesn't make readers. I know. My two half-sisters weren't read to anywhere near as much as I was, and they (being 9 and 13 years younger than me) are growing up with schools that put more and more emphasis on the "mechanics" (and all those evil standardized tests) — and they hate reading. They just have no interest in it because there's no magic for them. All it is to them is homework. And it makes me so sad that that's how we're raising our children now and apparently we can't even have just one "reading is fun!" show.