Reading Ecosystem

© Through the Magic Door2

If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.- Albert Einstein

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.- Benjamin Franklin

Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write. - John Adams

Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable. - George S. Patton


I cannot live without books- Thomas Jefferson

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read a book of quotations.- Winston Churchill

Any reading not of a vicious species must be a good substitute for the amusements too apt to fill up the leisure of the labouring classes.- James Madison

When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.- Desiderius Erasmus

A little learning, indeed, may be a dangerous thing, but the want of learning is a calamity to any people.- Frederick Douglass


It is wonderful that even today, with all the competition of radio, television, films and records, the book has kept its precious character. A book is somehow precious.- John Steinbeck

The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read.- Abraham Lincoln

There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration.- Andrew Carnegie

It is a great thing to start life with a small number of really good books which are your very own.- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Anyone who has a library and a garden wants for nothing.- Cicero


Yet if my name were liable to fear,I do not know the man I should avoidSo soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much,He is a great observer, and he looksQuite through the deeds of men- Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

My early and invincible love of reading, which I would not exchange for the treasures of India.- Memoirs of My Life and Writing (1796) by Edward Gibbon

Reading maketh a full man.- Essays (1625) by Francis Bacon

Take up and read, take up and read!.- Confessions (397) by Saint Augustine

There are two motives for reading a book: one, that you enjoy it, the other that you can boast about it.- The Conquest of Happiness (1930) by Bertrand Russell


Context

• This document solely focuses on those parties that have an interest in the fostering of a vibrant and enthusiastic reading culture. Specifically, we are not examining education at large, schools in particular, assigning blame or seeking to advance any particular agenda, pedagogical technique, policy or solution.

• The effort here is to agree on some boundaries of the issue (how to define and measure), identify root causes for any perceived shortfall, propose solutions to rectify those root causes, and determine where there might be opportunities for the various stakeholders to collaboratively work towards a a shared goal of a larger population of Self-Motivated and Self-Supported Habitual Readers.


Situation

• 10% of the population does 80% of the reading.– 50% do no elective reading in a given year.– Aside from the personal loss this represents to

individuals, this high concentration of reading bodes ill for effective participation in an economic and world environment predicated on high levels of knowledge, imagination, empathy/collaboration, critical and analytical thinking, and social and moral judgment; all attributes fostered by habitual reading.


How Does Reading Help You?1

Conversation

ReadingStorytelling

ActionsDesirable

Life Outcomes

HealthIncome and WealthStatusEmployment OpportunitiesCareer ChoicesOptionsStabilityEducationCivic rolesEtc.

Behaviors &Traits

AcceleratedSchool Skills

DecodingVocabularyNumeracyGeneral Knowledge

EmpathySustained FocusCuriosityImaginationPattern RecognitionForecastingSocial and Moral JudgmentCritical ThinkingAnalytical Thinking

Proposed Problem Statement

Too few children (and adults) are self-motivated and self-reliant habitual

readers.


Reading Intensity Among HS Seniors and Adults

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

50%

40%

10%

No Elective Reading

20%

80%

Population Books Read

Potential Measures of Progress


Potential Measures

• Number of books read (per year)• Number of books purchased• Number of magazine subscriptions• Number of newspaper subscriptions• Hours spent reading• Pages read• Library circulation• Etc.

Potential Root Causes


Too few children read

to their greatest

advantage

School Personal

Home Access

No publiclibrary

Don’t know how tosupport reading

Unfamiliar withreading

No books inhome

No books inclassroom

Restrictive schoollibrary policies/hours

No bookstores

Hours

Not valued(B)

Location

No room

Can’t afford

No examples

ESL

Budget

Don’t value Reading (B)

Not usefulNot pleasurable

Not expected

Don’t understandcausative relationship

Too manyinterruptions

No goodbooks

Unfamiliar withvariety of books (A)

No time to read

Socialisolation

Work, Social, TV, Sports

Not valued (B)

Don’t know how tocoach/instruct

Not interested

Don’t enjoy

Poor vocabularyLow home talking

Low readingLittle social enrichment

EyesightReadingenvironment

Don’t value Reading (B)

Don’t know what like

Unfamiliarity with variety of books (A)

Can’t choose

Can’t recognize

Doctrinal purity

Restrictions onreading

Too little instruction

Time constraints

Administration

Inconsistentinstruction

Ineffective instruction

Unqualified

Infrequent training

Ideology issues

Unfamiliar withvariety of books (A)

Social issues

No examples

No expectations

Unfamiliar (A)

Can’t afford to buy booksDon’t have time to check out

Not valued(B)


Assumptions

• While there is certainly a potential issue around the efficiency with which the US education system produces readers and while there are pockets of real illiteracy, by and large the issue is not one of incapability of reading but rather disengagement from reading. The school systems are bringing the horse to the water but the horse isn’t drinking.

• Reading is a gateway skill to academic and life success.

2


Assumptions (cont’d)

• Data and experience support the proposition that the first six years are crucial to the establishment of a reading culture.

3

• The root causes can be aggregated into five key issues standing in the way of establishing a reading culture:

• Unsupportive school reading environment• Poor family communication• Lack of familiarity with books• Low valuation of books and reading• Access


Assumptions (cont’d)

• Self-motivated, self-supporting habitual reading exists among all economic quintiles.

• Habitual readers are a greater share of the population in the higher quintiles but are a minority in each quintile.

• The probability of habitual reading is most closely correlated with the education levels of parents regardless of race, residence (country versus urban), income, etc.


Habitual Readers (the 10% of total population) as a Percentage in Each of the Income Quintiles (estimate)

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

2.5% of Quintile

22.5% of Quintile

2.5% of Quintile

7.5% of Quintile

15% of Quintile

4.5% of Σ Population

3% of Σ Population




Reading Ecosystem


Reading Ecosystem

• Who has an interest in fostering a reading culture?• What are the vehicles of their influence?• What are the activities they support that might foster a

culture of reading?• How do those activities mesh with the identified root

causes?• If those root causes are addressed, will they foster the

desired outcome of a population of self-motivated, self-supported habitual readers?

• What opportunities for rationalization, refocusing and identification of new activities exist to achieve this goal?


Current Reading EcosystemNot "Education" but a Curious Mind Engaged with its World

Not the Skill of Reading but the Culture of Reading

Entities* Vehicles of Influence Activities Root Causes Desired Outcomes

Government (Executive) School Programs

Educational Institutions Schools Head Start (including private schools)

Educators Libraries Preferred Pedagogy Unsupportive school reading environment

State Libraries Legislation Competitions

Librarians Regulations Research

Unions Funding Entertainment

Government (Legilslative) Performance Measures

Setting Example

Demonstrated Behaviors Free ReadingPoor Family Communication

Extended family Family Environment Shared Reading

Family Parents Community Environment Access Lack of familiarity with books Self-Motivated and Self-Supported Habitual Reading

Friends Affiliations Reading SpacesLow valuation of reading

Context Conversation

Environment of Expectation

Distributors Messaging (advocacy)

Retailers Book Fairs

Publishers Courses

Agents Personal TutoringGrants

Bloggers ReadingsForums

Authors/Illustrators PresentationsInstitutions Books Access

Foundations Review CopiesReviews

Position Advocates Connecting with AuthorEvents

Literary Critics Free Books

NGOs X-Steps

General Readers Funded Programs

Literacy Advocates Other

Entities* - See addendum for specific listings

Assessment of Reading Culture Activities


For Each Organization, a Review of Existing Initiatives Against the Root Causes Constraining a Reading Culture

Initiative Affects Which Root Causes

InitiativesUnsupportive School Reading Environment

Poor Family Communication

Lack of Familiarity with Books

Low Valuation of Reading Access

Donate Free Books xSponsor Reading Competitions xProvide Tutoring ServicesAdvocacy in Forums

Illustrative Example


Footnotes

1. See Why Habitual Reading is Important, Through the Magic Door, 2008.

2. See Why Habitual Reading is Important, Through the Magic Door, 2008 and Growing a Reading Culture, Through the Magic Door, 2009 for citations to research.

3. Ibid.


Contact Information

Should you have any questions about this presentation, please contact us.

Charles Bayless

Through the Magic Door®

1579 Monroe Drive

Suite F150

Atlanta, Georgia 30324

E-mail: [email protected]

Office: (404) 898-9096

mailto:[email protected]

Reading Ecosystem

Education

Transcript of Reading Ecosystem