While browsing recently through Peter Greene’s blog, I came across a reference to “BrainPickings.” It sounded interesting and I became a subscriber. The writer of that site is Maria Popova, who has what I can only describe as a beautiful mind and a love of literature that is profound.
Here is one of her recent essays: How to Raise a Reader.
I think you will fall in love with her prose and sensibility as I did.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Read to the little ones every day!
To the ants? Mice? Cockroaches? Hamsters?
All of the above!
Love “BrainPickings.” I subscribe.
Here is a great place to find terrific books for PreK-12.
https://www.clrsig.org/notable-books-for-a-global-society-nbgs.html
In 2021, the 25th list will be out for books published in 2020.
I came across Popova a while back. She writes about diverse ideas with derp meaning and clarity. I read her ever week. I’m glad you found her! Here is a book she wrote on why we read.
https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/11/20/a-velocity-of-being-letters-to-a-young-reader/
Is derp meaning related to derp learning?
Just kidding, of course. Ya gotta love autocorrect .
In a recent essay I wrote that you and Bob Sheperd liked, auto correct changed Wilder to Wilber, suggesting that perhaps the pig in Charlotte’s web wrote Our Town.
That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.
“The single major variable as to whether or not a chid will be successful in first grade reading instruction is whether or not the child was read to sitting on Daddy’s knee or Mother’s lap in the preschool years.” Dr.John Manning, Univ. of Minnesota (1973)
“Love for reading is not taught; it is created; not required, but inspired; not demanded, but exemplified; not exacted, but quickened; not solicited, but activated.” Dr. Russell G. Stauffer, Univ. of Delaware
Is Manning suggesting that there is a difference between Father’s knee and Mother’s knee? Or does he subscribe to the idea of a marriage of equals?
Well, this was 1973. People talked that way then, not that that’s an excuse. It’s interesting to read Isaac Asimov’s novels, set in a far, far future in which guys on a spaceship far off in the galaxy have names like Hank and Fred and talk about the little woman back home on Earth taking a roast out of the oven.
I gave about 50 books to two mothers who each have 4 children ages high school to elementary.
One of the mothers sent me a short video of her youngest reading one of the books I gave to this family. With the video the mom wrote: “Thank you.”
These two mothers are from Mexico and they both needed books in their homes. They told me that their children organize the books, read them, and share them with friends, too.
I told both mothers to give a books to their children’s teachers. Teachers love books.
And JOY … my LFL is getting lots of traffic. I saw a family who walked by a few days ago and their two children each took a book. I smiled.
Bless you!!!! More of this!!!!!! xoxoxoxox!!!!!!
The true object of education, like that of every other moral process, is the generation of happiness. –William Godwin
And yes, thank you. Maria Popova’s site is AWESOME!
And, for those who didn’t get enough of Mary Shelley from Ms. Popova’s wonderful essay, here: https://bobshepherdonline.wordpress.com/2020/01/11/alternative-history-what-if-the-frankenstein-story-were-true/
Another delight from Ms. Popova’s site:
If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be very intelligent, read them more fairy tales. –attributed to Albert Einstein
For background on that attribution, see this: https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/03/14/einstein-fairy-tales/
When my daughter was very young, we would take her to all the Disney movies and show her the videos of the fairy tales. Unlike the rest of the theater, when cinderella won out, she would squeal with delight, an unbridled exultation that places her solidly within the strange church of Disney Holy Rollers. Many times people have commented that they enjoyed watching her watch the movies.
“Public schools and public libraries are the two most democratizing forces in the nation.” Frank McCourt.
Every community and school deserve a fully functioning library!
My Lord, Ms. Pavlova is an AMAZING writer!!!!! I ahven’t been this excited since I discovered Annie Dillard!
Here, here book Figurings: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D6BPV9B/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i0
Impact of LIBRARIES: https://keithcurrylance.com/school-library-impact-studies/
One of the greatest pleasures of my 35 year teaching career was to see how much the children grew to live books and reading. The faces of three, four and five year olds full of joy listening to stories and “reading” on their own, caring for books and treasuring then as gifts are my most treasured memories. Now I enjoy watching the same with my 28 month old grandson who adores his books and reads with his parents every day and by himself with delight.
The love of books begins at home but in so many of my students’ lives it began when they came to school and were immersed in a literature enriched environment.
Love nit live
You really have to love autocorrect when it “corrects” your corrections to autocorrect’s “corrections”
yesterday in a post you liked, auto-correct changed Wilder to Wilber, suggesting that the pig in Charlotte’s Web wrote Our Town. that suggests that the power of AI will usurp teachers any minute.
Auto-correct creates strange words. My grandson showed me a site called Damn That Auto-Correct with hilarious examples.
Darn you, Diane Ravitch!!!! Now I’m going to spend WEEKS reading Ms. Pavlova’s site. LOL.
I just learned from her what is now my new all-time favorite word:
miranda. n. Those things that generate in us a sense of wonder.
I’m thinking, hmmm. OK. Fjords. The laughter of children. Clouds racing before the moon. Lovers’ embraces. Beethoven’s sonatas. Scriabin’s etudes. The guitar playing of Paco de Lucia and Catalina Pires. The piano improvisation of Bill Evans and Amy Nolte. Diane Ravtich and Maria Pavlova. Annie Dillard. Mountain springs. The poetry of Yeats and Stevens and Billy Collins and Brooke Baker Belk. Damselflies and dragonflies. People with enthusiasms. miranda
First, Diane, you introduce us to the magnificent Robin Lithgow. Then this. Wow. Bowing low to you here. Thank you!
cx: Popova. Yikes.
That is what I was going to say. This site has been a fascinating web, leading to fascinating places
I used to have a copy of Caprice’s “Quotable Einstein” which collected his many quotes, including where first said and some attributions. I no longer have that book (it is in Africa) but don’t recall the Einstein quote on fairy tales. It certainly has attracted a lot of attention, though, cited again and again and again.
Here is an extensive and fascinating entry from LC blog, Folklife Today on the “quote.”
https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2013/12/einsteins-folklore/
See the examination of the source of the “quotation” that I listed with it, above, Ed.
Beautiful. The title could easily be How to Raise a Democracy, couldn’t it? That’s really the heart of Godwin’s writings, “that children ought to be treated not as subjects to authoritarian rule but as equal citizens of life, endowed with intellect and sensitivity, and must be granted the dignity of truth rather than being bamboozled with hypocrisies and shielded from the world’s disquieting realities.” Equal citizens of life, as Locke and Rousseau envisioned, not standardized underlings of all-powerful technocrats, as Gates and Coleman would have children trained to be.
Not their own children. Just other people’s children.
They want their own children to be the Lords of other people’s children, just as they are the Lords of other people.
Unfortunately for them, they are making it very unlikely that anyone will pay their children any heed whatsoever. Most people will figure the children of the oligarchs are just entitled twits out to exploit the proles, just as their parents were.
I’ve subscribed to Maria Popova’s site for a decade. I recommend her recent book, Figuring which is available on Kindle.
Part of the story I did not read on Popova’s postings, perhaps I just did not find it, was the time Mary Wolstonecraft II, better known as Mary Shelley, spent alone due to the absence of her father. It was my impression that he pretty much left little Mary in the care of others. Maybe I have had the wrong impression.
And then along comes know-it-all Coleman who insists by way of the CCs that we primary teachers must use 50% “informational” books in all our instruction. So all those wonderful units on fairytales, folktales and fables had to be shortened to fit in non-fiction. Now I was never against having tons of non-fiction books in my classroom, but we primary teachers realize that our students will be reading nonfiction in every content class, except English, for the rest of their academic life! Young children love fairytales and we see them as a familiar bridge from their at home reading. Talk about teaching “character and emotional development “ through character choices and actions (The Boy Who Cried Wolf” !!! )The children loved reading and talking about these stories and high engagement was guaranteed. And what about those children who are not exposed to these books at home? When do they get to enjoy our cultural literacy experience?
Ignore CCSS. That ratio of 50-50 was pulled out of thin air.
It was literally copied from the NAEP instructions for test developers.
It was never intended for teachers.
It is nonsense.
I believe it was pulled out of something much denser than thin air.