We look at why education is a precious gift and why reading aloud to our children is so important.
If any of you happened to read the Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend Magazine this week, you might have come across a fascinating article called School Behind Bars by Tony Wilson. This article asked the question: can a decent education turn young criminals around? And it looks at an educational policy that has just been introduced into one of Victoria’s highest security justice centre; Parkville College.
The school’s theory focuses on the words of Victor Hugo “He who opens a school door, closes a prison”. As well as introducing courses in basic life skills, they have a special reading policy which was introduced by New Yorker Maddie Witter who co-founded New York’s KIPP Infinity School and has recently published a book Reading without Limits. The article emphasises how the introduction of the reading policy has seen a transformation in the inmates and even the staff, with some of the security officers enrolling in a teacher’s aide course at Monash University.
School Principal Brendan Murray was the Victorian Education Department’s Secondary Teacher of the Year in 2009. He has found that since the school commenced, violence has decreased and critical incidents are down 56%. In one instance, a boy who’d never read a book before, rose three years of reading levels in five months.
This article resonated with me in a number of ways, not least because it showed how the power of reading and learning to read can change young people’s lives but also because the quality of our education system is highly topical at the moment. With the release of the Gonski Report in 2012, Australia is still waiting for the Government’s response to the recommendations outlined in the report. Generation Next have looked just published a blog article looking at how parents can affect their children’s education. http://www.generationnext.com.au/blog/
Dan Haesler, the blog’s author and a teacher himself, highlights how one of the key factors that have been shown to have a positive effect on a child’s academic performance is that “the child has many books in his home.”
An article from Harvard Medical School, published in 2010 by Henry H Bernstein D.O explains that more than 20 years ago, the National Commission on Reading concluded that “reading aloud by parents is the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading.”
Mr. Bernstein, who is a Senior Lecturer in Paediatrics at Harvard Medical School has some great tips to help you encourage your child to read:
- Read books with your child every day
- It is never too early to begin reading with your child
- Most children, even young babies, have favourite books, this is normal and its fine for them to hear you read the same book over and over again (even if it drives you slightly mad)
- Read out loud from everything, even shopping lists, road signs and bills, to show your children how important reading is to you.
- Get a library card for your child and visit regularly.
- Ask school aged children to read to you, and then discuss what you have read.
The team at Boarding Schools Expo would like to wish you and your families a very happy Easter, we hope the Easter bunny finds you and delivers delicious chocolate eggs, and maybe even a delicious book or two.
Resources:
The Importance of Reading to Your Child, Henry H. Bernstein, D.O.
Harvard Medical School, 5 February 2013
Generation Next http://www.generationnext.com.au/blog/
Good Weekend Magazine, SMH
23 – 24 March 2013, pg 41 – 45
http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx (You can download the article for $1 online)