My blog comments

Katie Aliotta:
http://littlewomanblogs.blogspot.com/2013/06/books-nooks.html#comment-form

Eric Ma:
http://thewonderfulwizardofma.blogspot.com/

Jazmin Alvarado:
http://rbylinbynt.blogspot.com/

Summer Reading

With summer vacation just days away, no one is thinking books they are planning to read this summer. All everyone is focused on is the beach, the sun, and most importantly, no school. I, too, look forward to summer for all these reasons, but I also use summer as a time to catch up on my reading.

During the school year, I have found it nearly impossible to keep up with my school work, read the required books for my english class, and still read for pleasure. Between a busy schedule and rigorous work for my classes, there just never seems to be enough time for me to read what I want. The only exception to this has been my Readers' Choice class that allows me to read what I want for homework.

At the beach, I am the person who sits under the umbrella, sun glasses on, headphones in, book open. During this time, I like to read books that are not very heavy in topic, something light and easy. Some titles that I have read over the years was The Last Lecture and Something Borrowed.

So what makes a beach read a beach read? These books can come from many different genres and span a number of different authors. It all depends on what your individual reading tastes are. However, there are a couple of key characteristics of a typical beach read:

1. Fast paced, but not frantic
2. Compelling but not taxing
3. Light but not frothy
4. Fun but not dumbed-down

These characteristics came from a Sacramento Bee article written by Allan Pierleoni. This article also includes a list of this summer's best beach reads.  http://www.sacbee.com/2013/06/09/5477837/cozy-up-with-these-beach-reads.html

To me, a hot summer's day at the beach would be nothing without a good book and I look forward to the novels I will read this year.

To E-read or not to E-read, that is the question

 We live in an electronic world. Therefore, today's students are the products of a technological environment that is not represented in the education system. Schools have been slow to integrate technology into the classroom to try and keep the kids focused on the lesson and not their phones.

 The Nook, a product from Barnes & Noble, is just one of the many possible devices that have been brought into the classroom. Regardless of the type of e-reader used,  schools have been noticing that students become more engaged in their reading when using an e-reader. In fact, a study conducted by Scholastic, a book publishing company, showed that one third of 9-17 year old students would read more often for fun if they were using an e-reader.

 There are other benefits to e-readers as well. New studies have shown that in a sample of kindergarteners and first graders, overall word reading and word meaning comprehension was better in students reading on an e-reader as opposed to printed text.

Additional studies have shown that there is a possibility e-readers have beneficial affects on children who suffer from dyslexia, however these studies are in their preliminary stages and are currently inconclusive. The fact remains that they are now being utilized by teachers today to help these students with reading disabilities.

To read more on the beneficial affects of e-readers, here is the article I referenced for information: http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2010/10/20/01dyslexia.h04.html 

 

So what's my preference? 

I am, and will always be, a physical-book-person. As a Kindle owner and Nook user, I can informatively say that there is nothing like holding a book in your hands and being able to thumb through pages as you read. It's just not the same experience with an e-reader. 

In our Readers' Choice class, while I used an e-reader for the majority of  the novels, I found it harder to complete assignments that required quotes. I found that skimming through actual pages as opposed to virtual ones made it easier to find what I was looking for. But that's just me.

The one thing that the e-reader will never be able to replicate is the new book smell. It is one of the best scents in the world and anyone who tells you different is a liar. If you've never experienced the new book "high" scent, then you have been living under a rock and I suggest crawling out and joining the rest of the world.

So go on out to your nearest book store and sniff a book or two. It will change your life.

-W. Shakespeare

Readers' Choice

This semester, I took a class in school that allowed me to choose my own books. Walking in on the first day, our teacher confirmed that the class would be, essentially, a glorified book club.

The requirements for book selections were the following:
February:
     -Teacher's Choice: Taming of the Shrew
     - Individual Choice: Pursue Your Interests 
March
    - Class Choice: A New York Timely Bestseller
    - Small Group Choice: Genre Focus
April
    - Individual Choice: Spin-off
    - Small Group Choice: Page-to-Screen
 May
    - Individual "Alter-Ego" Choice: Step out of your comfort zone
June
    - Class Choice: A Literary Prize Winner

 Now, I wasn't sure what I was expecting from the class, but I was a little surprised by the syllabus. 3 individual choices? I thought that, being in a "book club", every book we chose would be as a class so that we could have group discussions. Perhaps even at the end of each novel, have a little party with food that correlated with themes from the book (or maybe that's just what my mom and her book club of  "older" women do).

Once the class got going, however, I found that what looked like a demanding book schedule was easy to follow. I usually hate do not particularly enjoy the books picked out for us, as English students, to read. There have been a few exceptions, like Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and Night by Elie Wiesel, but ultimately, there have been many more losers than winners.

While I have remained a fairly consistent reader, many people have been put off of reading at a young age because they find the books they are told to read do not fall within their interest zone.Classes like this develops a love of reading among the students because they are able to choose books that they want to read and discover that books aren't just for putting you to sleep.

In an interesting article published by the New York Times, an 8th grade teacher in Atlanta tried allowing her students to pick their own books and found that almost every single student was engaged in their chosen novel. I would suggest starting similar courses earlier on, like the Atlanta teacher so that children learn to love reading earlier on in life.

Link to the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/books/30reading.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

Readers' Choice has allowed me to read a range of really interesting and great books. I've gone from the world of political satire with Stephen Colbert to the sophisticated and tragic realm of World War II and lost love with Atonement. This class has allowed me to expand my taste in literature and actually enjoy the books I have to read for school.


-W. Shakespeare