|
0 members (),
105
guests, and
31
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
S |
M |
T |
W |
T |
F |
S |
|
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
31
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 2,513
Member
|
Member
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 2,513 |
H I'm depressed that this is a common practice. It makes me wonder if this is taught to librarians? Thankfully, no. Our public librarian has been a champion for DS ever since he regaled her with a discussion of Cretaceous frogs around 18 months old. When he started reading a bit a few months later, she saved an awesome new book about a snake who contorts his body into words for DS. That's how a beautiful relationship began! 
What is to give light must endure burning.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 5,181
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 5,181 |
I imagine the librarian was acting on a supposed (imagined) community standard about what parents want their kids reading-- maturity as well as difficulty.
Agree with AEH-- my kids really do put books they encounter down if the content is beyond what they want to process emotionally right then. I imagine that not all kids do, so those families might need explicit rules. We haven't needed them.
(And I would despair of enforcing that sort of rules around here in any case... the kids will read what they find...) Precisely. DD is quite imaginative, but "disturbing themes" don't really bother her all that viscerally-- beyond what she is already thinking about, I mean. If she is already thinking about what it means to be dispossessed, homeless, or unloved-- well, then, she's not going to be MORE traumatized by reading about it. I'm a strong believer in bibliotherapy on some level, though, so there is that. Aeh and Dee Dee's posts sum up my feelings here. I'm so glad that our local librarians never took this kind of stance with my DD.
Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 105
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 105 |
I asked him why and he said he was only allowed to pick from a limited section which were all baby books so he stopped looking I remember being in the fifth grade and STILL having to do that in my classroom. I'd read all the (interesting) books by third grade and had to reread them all. I was a strangely compliant child considering my stubbornness and didn't even think to say anything. Teaching your kids they can read anything regardless of what the librarian says truly does a lot more than you'd think. (In retrospect, I really wonder why I didn't say anything...it was another classic gifted-vent: the teacher was supposed to talk to the kids during reading every week and somehow only got to me once...)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 314
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 314 |
I read books now that I don't completely understand. It's how I keep learning.
Our DD self edits. If the book is disturbing or incomprehensible it gets put aside for now. I only questioned her once when she wanted to read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime aged 9. I read it first. It was an opportunity to discuss the use of swearing as a textual device. DD doesn't swear, then or now but she understands better why others might.
It is interesting that with DDs next grade skip the only concern of the English Head was that she would be exposed to topics like inter family homicide when they study the Classics! The Head of English knows nothing about DD apart from the fact that she looks quiet and sweet, not that she has been ready adult books for years. I was more worried about her skills in comparative essays and literary analysis which the school has been slow to teach.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 3,428
Member
|
|
OP
Member
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 3,428 |
Well, but just because we have encountered great librarians (us too) doesn't mean that this isn't being taught in library school these days. It may be part of the pedagogy for school librarians (I wouldn't think public librarians would get the same emphasis) because part of their role is seen as developing literacy, etc, and as we know, party line for teachers and educators in many cases is to keep kids reading at their level in educational contexts. The idea is presumably to avoid poor comprehension and discouragement.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 615
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 615 |
Wow, this was enlightening: I can not help but feel a little put off by a parent telling you how to teach their child. You are the professional. I have had incredibly intelligent children in my classes. There are ALWAYS areas they need work on regardless of intelligence or reading ability. Translation: "I will poke and pry at this child until I find something they're not perfect at, and then I will torture the child over that one thing so that I don't have to do any acceleration. And so that I don't have to admit to the parent that I'm not the Overlord of Pedagogy."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 1,489
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 1,489 |
I don't think this kind of thing is new, I remember at the public library of my youth until a certain age (not sure maybe 10 or 12) one couldn't check out books with a children's library card. And since I was allowed/encouraged go to the library by myself on my bike after school. It never even occurred to me to try as until 7th grade I was always a very compliant child. My parents probably would have let me if I'd asked, they certainly put no restrictions on my reading any book they had in the home.
Last edited by bluemagic; 01/11/15 12:13 PM.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 2,035
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 2,035 |
How utterly strange. If a book is too difficult for a child, presumably he'll figure that out in short order by actually reading it. Why would the librarian even intervene at all? It's not like an elementary library will be stocking erotic or graphically violent literature. This has been our experience. DD was 7 when she finished reading Harry Potter independently and decided to move on to Hunger Games... but HP had been bedtime stories since she was 5, with her looking over my shoulder, so all of the harder words were familiar, and I'd had a chance to explain anything new. She came across too many unknown terms in Hunger Games (she pointed out "apothecary" as an example), and she decided to move on to something else. I think that librarians are often trying to protect the children from a confidence setback. DD did have that kind of experience, but we were quick to point out how quickly she was learning, and that this book may be too hard now, but that's only a temporary condition. Fast forwarding two years, she probably finished off Catching Fire last night before lights-out. Thanks - I think this is exactly the point I was trying to make. btw school in NZ (public anyway) does 1-5 so kids are 5 to 10 years of age, def no older kids materials in the library, but there is harry potter, LOTR etc. In the cities yes but a lot of rural schools go to year 8 as do the catholic schools in my city.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 602
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 602 |
What an interesting shift in perspective! Both seeing this teacher erect her walls, pushing back at the parent and making judgements about her without actually having tested the child or bothered to check the level for HP on a website...but also understanding that she does need control over what the children are reading and learning. I understand that she feels uncomfortable letting a kid read HP for guided reading before she knows him a little better, because it will not be appropriate for every kid. but she seems to go into this with a very fixed mindset that she does not even want to find out that it might be. I'd imagine this is extremely common among teachers, particularly in elementary school. What would be the right strategy for the parent I wonder? (Assuming the kid is actually perfectly ready and HP is a great choice for the kid to do the extension activities with the curriculum demands, which may or may not be the case.... Hey, I'm from a school system that starts out first grade teaching the alphabet. I'd probably have wept with joy if I had been allowed to do extension activities with anything resembling an actual book...
|
|
|
|
|
