Reading for children

 

This blog is not about the horrific killing of the children of Uvalde, Texas at Robb Elementary School. After watching this horror happen over and over again, I cannot write about it without becoming so upset, I begin crying.

This leads me to write about another pet peeve of mine, the mistaken idea from some parents that their children will somehow suffer if they read material which has sex, religion, relationships, murder, and most other topics which are deemed unsuitable for children.

Do you see this magazine cover? This is a pretty calm one. No one is half naked and there is no blood on the cover. Compared to some, it is very tame. Of course, the headlines are straight out of the book of  inflammatory language. "New Year's Killing of the Boy-Girl Stripper" and "all he wanted was to chop up Carol."

When I was in fourth grade, I spent the summer in Florida, going back and forth to my grandparent's houses. At my Grandmother Sloan's house, which was in the city of Lakeland,  I was surrounded by romance novels of every kind. From the streets of Paris to London and even Charleston in the beginning, I followed women around in all their escapades where they normally ended up with the prize. (according to the book) 

At my Grandmother Watkins' house, which was in the middle of an orange grove with no air and hot as hell in the summer, I would lay around during the hottest part of the day and read whatever my Aunt Shirley had scattered around. She was the youngest of my father's siblings and she normally had a supply of the above mentioned magazines to read, a few 16 oz. Pepsi's in the refrigerator and plenty of bologna to make fried bologna sandwiches for lunch. 

I had never been told I could not read something that was in either house. Never. So I read everything. Now, before you say I must have been raised in a non-political, non-religious household, where anything went. Not true. I was raised as a Southern Baptist, church every Sunday and Wednesday and I always won the dollar in Sunday School for knowing the book, chapter and verse of every lesson we had. We also had separated classes between boys and girls. 

By the 9th grade, I was reading on a senior in college level. Perhaps parents today might factor in interest when they are determining all the books they deem unfit for  their children to read. Because the schools had just integrated and the students from the black high school had been trying to learn with subpar materials, Civics proved to be a difficult class for them. Because of my reading skills, I surpassed most of the students and was given extra work to do to stay busy. Mrs. TenEyck, my teacher, caught me reading the above book during Civics one day and took it away from me because she said it was not fit for a 9th grader to read. She was going to call my mother. 

My Mom very respectfully told the teacher that I had gotten the book from her bookshelf and her children had never been told they could not read something in the house. She asked for Mrs. TenEyck to please return the book to me and she would make sure I was not reading for pleasure in Civics again. 

I have never forgotten that. I am also still a voracious reader. I believe children should be allowed to flex their reading muscles on things which may interest them whether it is true crime or romance as in my case. Just a side note: my father read westerns. Those bodice ripping, good guy rides in on a white horse, gets the girls and kills the bad guys. I never found interest in them but Daddy carried one in his back pocket all the time. 

Stop limiting your children. They are the ones who then stop reading. They are the ones who end up having to take reading classes because they are so far behind their peers. 

Just another rant to keep my mind off the horrific, unnecessary murder of elementary school children because of politicians who can be bought.

What the end of another school year brings

 

Receiving a graduation announcment from one of my first students, a lovely young woman who is doing great stuff, was another bright spot in the end of this school year. We must grab those bright spots when we can.

When I began teaching, I had no idea of the change which was coming in the political arena. I could not imagine teachers having to deal with even more challenges to their authority, much of it coming from entities which should not even be involved in the process. This includes the new laws concerning things which must be taught and things which we are not supposed to speak of. The threatening of changing a  graduation speech to trying to stop a group of high school students from receiving their yearbooks. 

There are too many things we are supposed to do in school now according to our governor, I cannot list them here because he keeps adding to the list. I continue to be surprised that any of us adults who actually went to public school in Florida received an education since we did not have to worry about things like learning. Our teachers simply taught us. Our parents sent us to school. We did not have these infernal and on-going tests to have to deal with.

But on to great news. The invitation up top was the last thing I received this week. My teacher evaluation came in and although I always feel like I have done a good job, validation is always a good thing. Mine was very good this year.

I, along with our yearbook teacher, have five of our students, who are very deserving, be accepted with full scholarship to a summer journalism week at the University of Florida. I cannot say enough about the director, who has worked with me this week to get applications in and try and keep these students, even ones who turn in things late, on track for acceptance. When I began searching for summer programs for my journalism students, the cost for many can be overwhelming, especially for the students at my school, which is a Title I school. I encouraged them to fill out the scholarship application and see what happened. When they were accepted with full scholarships, these kids were in tears, calling their moms and walking on air. 

I encouraged another student apply for the Close Up Foundation's summer program to spend a week in Washington, DC and apply for a scholarship. She did and received the news she was accepted and would spend a week studying our democracy. She was very excited when she received the news she would get to have dinner with some of our congressional representatives. For a 17 year old, from a small town in Florida, this is a very big deal. 

I try to show my students what is possible if they just apply. From the invitation to the acceptances and all the passing of tests, my students rocked my world this week. I am glad I have a full summer of PD planned, so I don't miss them so much.