MIND OVER MEDIA: New Ways to Help Your Child Learn to Read and Write

by Barbara & Masha Kabakow Rudman Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 28, 1982

A bevy of feasible suggestions--that are fun too--for using the media (TV and newspapers to comics and trade books) to increase children's literacy. Though a few border on the didactic (""Pick out a more difficult paragraph"" in a comic, ""and see if your child can explain it""), most are natural extensions of things that already interest children. To encourage them to write, Lee and Rudman advise using the mails (even: let them order independently from a mail-order catalogue) and having students compose school excuses for parents to sign. Newspapers offer an opportunity to distinguish fact from fiction and, via weather maps, to become acquainted with symbols; reference books can be used for scavenger hunts (""What's the top song of all time?,"" etc., and where did you find the answer?); comic books earl foster consumer awareness (make up ads telling the truth about those fabulous offers) and expand children's imaginations (invent new characters, or new words like ""scrush"" or ""plang""). In the TV section are strategies like ""predicting outcomes,"" ""silent TV"" (provide your own play-by-play), and discussing ""I used to like/but now I like."" (These raise questions and so enhance awareness--for more detailed lessons, see Teaching Television, by Dorothy Singer and others, 1981.) A 50-page appendix includes booklists for parents and children; sources. of free and ""almost free stuff""; publishers of children's writing; state tourism offices; and the like. Most important, though, is the prevailing attitude: to encourage literacy, parents should set a good example, talk with their children, ask them questions (and listen to the responses), and provide a frame of reference for media presentations. Handily packaged besides--each suggestion is a separate, brief (100-500 word) entry: one guide that lives up to its promise.

Pub Date: July 28, 1982

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Seaview--dist. by Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1982

Categories: NONFICTION