Category Archives: On Reading

Posts that reveal a bit of my own reading philosophy. Perhaps reflections of things I’ve been reading about reading, etc.

Throwback Thursday: Drive by Daniel Pink

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TBTBefore I start, a little shout out to my library elf who designed the new Throwback Thursday logo!

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While I realize 2011 isn’t so long ago, I figure throwing back to four years ago is better than no post at all. Daniel Pink’s Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us is sometimes classified under Business Culture and Management or Health & Psychology. I found out about this book through a professional development class I took at a Literacy Institute, where the topic was on motivating our students to read and write.

Rather than write a long review about the book, I want to show you a video. It’s in sketch note form, so it’s super engaging. And all you have to do is to think about the real-world implications of these principles in your own context. Easy as pie! While you’re watching, I’m sure you’ll see the implications in areas of your life, such as in ministry, work, from when you were a student, or in some kind of avocation or passion you have. But try also to consider the implications as a parent who is trying to motivate your child to read, write, study, or practice piano/soccer/taekwondo. If you don’t have children, you can just think of it for yourself, for people you are trying to raise up, or your future children.

I hope you were able to catch the three driving (pardon the pun) principles: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. What implications do you see in terms of the topics we discuss here on this blog, such as fostering genuine love of reading?

Reading With and Reading To

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In the blogosphere, there’s a thing called Wordless Wednesday. On these days, I shall feature a reading-related photo for you all.

This also gives me a bit of a reprieve since we are in Welcome Night World at Gracepoint Berkeley church and throughout our Gracepoint Ministries! (The smart-alecky students out there have your hands raised, waiting to be called on: “Ms. Kim, you’ve actually included 99 words in this post.” 100, actually.)

Kids build confidence as they read to others. (book: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo)

One way kids build confidence is as they read to others. Here’s a 4th grader reading to a 1st grader. (book: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo)

Throwback Thursday: Reading Memories

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TBTThrowback Thursdays will feature posts that are a “Blast From the Past” in one way or the other. The age of the author of the post will determine how far back the blast is coming from. As for today, I’m the author, so the blast is coming from the 80’s, y’all. (1980’s, not 1880’s.)

charlotteswebMrs. Trujillo was my 3rd grade teacher at Cerritos Elementary School, and she read us Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White, which was already a classic, having been published in 1952. I don’t remember as much about the book as I do about the whole experience. Every day after lunch, we knew it was reading time when Mrs. Trujillo pulled the brown wooden rocking chair to the edge of the circle rug at the front of the classroom. We would rush to be able to sit on the rug, and to be as close to her as possible so that we could see the pictures. I remember learning “salutations” and “runt” as vocabulary words.

I moved to a new school for 4th grade, and I chose to re-read Charlotte’s Web on my own. Part of the reason I was drawn to the book was because it reminded me of home, which in my mind, was still in Southern California. It was a familiar old friend anchoring me in a new place. Years later, I took a bunch of kiddos from Gracepoint Berkeley church to watch the 2006 movie version, and I cried like a baby during that one part (I won’t spoil it for those of you haven’t read the book yet.). Each encounter with the story left a powerful memory in me that makes me nostalgic every time I hear mention of the title.

So when I recommend the book to kids and parents today, I realize I’m recommending so much more than the story of Charlotte, Wilbur and Fern, though the story is wonderful in its own right. It’s a book I love for many reasons, and when I recommend parents and kids read it together, I’m thinking about how this is one of those books that just might help them create a powerful, lasting reading memory together. The kinds of memories that are integral to fostering book love that lives on beyond childhood and into adulthood.

Do you have a favorite reading memory? What book evokes a reading memory for you?