-
Beyond the Screentime Debate: NCTE Panel Presentation
With colleagues, I will be adding my perspectives on children and screentime to an important session at the NCTE Annual Convention in Houston, TX today. From our proposal: “There are legitimate concerns about children’s physical, intellectual, and emotional well-being; yet conversations about screentime focus predominantly on the time spent on devices, often overlooking fundamentally important…
-
Reading Instruction in a Time of Accountability: Multimodality and Physical Exercise Matter
Over the last few months, we’ve come to establish something of a round robin routine at dinner. I ask, “What were the highlights and lowlights from your day?” and then we go around the table, everyone sharing their ups and downs. Last week, our older daughter reported a lowlight that got me thinking, again, about…
-
Tadpoles: Building school-to-home connections and (digital) literacies
Because I’m a working mom, my youngest daughter attends a pre-school child development center every day of the week. Working parents know that the feelings underlying this reality and my writing of this sentence are multifaceted and complex. These are precious years. I marvel at the incredible power and potential of my two young daughters…
-
“Cotion: This is a privat space”
Today is American Thanksgiving and I’m thankful for so many things, but in this moment, I feel especially thankful for the way that language gives me access to my daughter’s inner life, to her imagination and to the ways that she is growing as writer. After bedtime stories, I returned to my familiar evening working…
-
Are the crickets singing, Mama?
Inspired by last night’s conversation with my 2 year old… In through her bedroom window, Ellyn heard the sound of crickets. She pushed back the sheets and peered into the warm summer night. “Are the crickets singing, Mama?” she whispered. “Yes,” said her mother. “The crickets are singing.” “Are the crickets happy, Mama?” “Yes,” said…
-
Fan Fiction
Last week, Zoë obsessively searched the Internet for images of Darth Maul. This week, she is all about Ahsoka Tano from The Clone Wars. As for me, I’ve started using Yoda speak around the house — teeth brushed, you should. For at least two years now, she has written and told herself stories based on…
-
Dinner with Laura Ingalls Wilder
Yesterday, I blogged about the celebration that my daughter’s teacher organized for Laura Ingalls Wilder’s 146th birthday and the biscuits I baked (in truth, that post was mostly an excuse to take pictures of the biscuits!) As an aspiring literacy scholar, however, I just couldn’t pass up the chance to think about how these kinds…
-
Biscuits for Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Birthday Party
My daughter’s super awesome 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Ryan, sent out the following Facebook message to families this week: Parents were quick to reply! Zoë and her classmates will be treated to a fantastic celebration of food and the pioneering spirit tomorrow! The menu will include rabbit stew, hominy, corn muffins, whipped cream (churned to…
-
Parenting digital babies: Don’t throw the print out with the bathwater
This past week, I attended the annual meeting of the Society for Informational Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) in Austin, Texas. I have plenty of thoughts to share about sessions I attended and people I met but tonight, I only have a few minutes and I’ve been thinking about this post for a while. You…
-
It seems I’m not the only one worried about leveled reading…
In their article, Dear Governor: Lobby to Save a Love of Reading, Anne Stone and Jeff Nichols question leveled reading. They seem to have the same sorts of concerns that I have expressed here, in my blog. Like their sons who trade insults about reading levels, I, too, have heard my daughter say to one…