REVIEW: THE SMARTEST KIDS IN THE WORLD

The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way by Amanda Ripley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Teachers, Administrators, Parents, Anyone Who Cares About Education: read this!

I really liked this book because I've seen a lot of the research and articles before as an educator. It's fairly common knowledge that the US is struggling with learning, especially when measured against other countries. While the facts were familiar, the insight that Ripley provided into not just our education system but other successful education systems worldwide was revelatory and sometimes unsettling.

Some might take issue with some of the things she says about American education (like when she calls some teachers "middling professionals" !! (but maybe true in some cases)), but while some parts might be a little loose,
some of the things she says are hard to hear because they are true. She does acknowledge that what works in other countries may not work in the US; we have more diversity and a different kind of government--but excuses like these are not going to be enough to stand on.
Ripley presents some lessons learned from other countries as achievable actions for US education:
      1-High expectations for students
      2-Raising the standards of teacher selection & education--but also giving teachers more autonomy
      3-Making tracks of gifted, vocational, remedial education available much later or not at all
      4-Tougher curriculum that has more depth than width
      5-Easing off spending on technology

It's hard for me just to review this book because I want so badly to discuss it's ideas! But I'll just say that Ripley has done some great storytelling and analyzing of the facts and ideas, and come up with something that is hopeful and informative. As a teacher, this sparked reflection on my own teaching practices, making me want to raise expectations and standards for my students and for myself, grading on results and really investing time and effort into an effective curriculum. I've seen the bored students, the students who could do more but don't feel that any more is expected of them, and I agree, things are at a turning point. This book adds something valuable and worthwhile to that discussion.

Tweet

CAN YOU SELL READING? REVIEW: TO SELL IS HUMAN (PART 1)

So, I don't read YA lit all the time, you guys. I venture, quite frequently actually, into nonfiction. I wanted to review this book on Enjoy A Book because I feel like a lot of the ideas in here are applicable to my main cause: literacy and the love of reading. So the ideas that I mention below are from To Sell Is Human, but are remarkably transformative when you think about them in terms of reading, getting someone to read, or really--selling reading. This book really pointed out some fabulous things about living and working in today's world. It's a world of sales! Not too surprising, when you think about it, as practically all of us do things to get other people to buy into what we've got, but this book presents some memorable ideas.

Section 1
This book was divided into 3 parts: "Rebirth of a Salesman", "How to Be" and "How to Do". The first section, "Rebirth of a Salesman", took me the longest to get through, because early on I bought into the idea that we are all in sales of one kind or another, so I felt like this section spent a little too much time trying to sell the reader on that idea. However, he did effectively point out that sales are different nowadays--not only because everyone from teachers to medical professionals are "selling", but because everyone has access to information that affect the sale, where previously only few had that information (information asymmetry).

 One other thing in this section I found valuable was the idea of "moving people." The author interviews Ferlazzo, an educator, who helps brings to light a crucial  aspect of present day sales, "The challenge is that to move people a large distance and for the long term, we have to create the conditions where they can move themselves." He also shares another gem: "It means trying to elicit from people what their goals are for themselves and having the flexibility to frame what we do in that context." Ferlazzo then goes on to use this genius concept to move one of his students to write essays, when the student had never written one before in many years of schooling. This is where the power of this book lies for me: in the idea of moving people--using their own goals and interests and framing/creating conditions or a context for them to move themselves. In this idea, "selling" someone can lead to them moving themselves. How important is this in reading?! You don't want reading to be a one-time sale, but rather a sale that starts them moving in a permanent, literate direction!

Section 2
"How to Be" had a number of valuable ideas. Part of the value of this book is when the author provides "sample cases" after each chapter on how to apply those concepts. There's a ton of great stuff in there too, but for sake of brevity and because you'll get more out of it if you read the book for yourself, I only want to highlight some of the ideas he presents, especially the ones that apply to reading and literacy. Here's a few for you:

Perspective-takers do better. Use this when you're selling reading by understanding what that person's interests are, and cater your reading suggestions to them. They're more likely to enjoy reading and come back for more.

Interrogative self talk (asking questions) is the most effective. The author framed this in the context of making a sale or getting ready for a pitch, but I found the other way to be the most useful: in terms of evaluating yourself. This is a great reading strategy for comprehension. I suppose if you want to stretch it to apply to buoyancy (like it was in the book), then you could say that it would help a reader keep going if they're struggling with a text. This interrogative self-talk is especially useful, like the book points out, because it gives the person using it reasons or ways to complete things, rather than momentary, fleeting statements of positive or negative self-talk.

Positive emotions broaden perspectives, lead to creativity, and can be contagious!So while this might apply more tangentially to the selling of reading, I believe that all of those things still play a part in a good reading experience. I felt like this idea was one of the best in this chapter.

The "mindset" idea applies to sales too! Ok, so the author didn't label it as "mindset" or use those terms, but have you read that book? Basically the idea is to not think of things in a "fixed" mindset--because then you'll have a hard time dealing with failures and will usually see yourself and other things as set, or permanent. A "growth" mindset is better because you can deal with setbacks, learn, and become better. Very applicable to sales, because everyone faces rejection and failure. So don't take things personally. If you're reading a book you don't like, it's ok to move on and not get hung up on finishing it. Or if you're struggling with reading, you need to be able to struggle (lots of good readers face text that challenges them!) and progress.

Don't worry, I know how to count to 3! Come back tomorrow for the second and final part of this post! Some great gems of ideas for selling reading! 

Tweet

HOW CHILDREN SUCCEED: A LITERACY LOOK AT SUCCESS (PART 1)

This is a book that recently has gotten a lot of attention--among parents, teachers, and people just wanting to know the secret to success (who doesn't?). I enjoyed the discussion of current research and case studies, but also felt myself extending that to the thing that's always on my mind: literacy. How can these ideas presented in this book help us understand the process of helping kids become more successful readers? Like I've said before, reading is essential to success in school and life. So it makes sense that in understanding how children succeed, we can also gain understanding in how children can succeed in reading.

If you're looking for someone to whisper the secrets of success in your ear, or give you the quick how-to of making your child successful, this book won't give you that quite so easily. It's written in a journalistic style (well, Paul Tough is a journalist, after all). Expect an excellent and engaging quality of writing, which supplies theories, facts, and ideas more than outright solutions. The case studies are very insightful; I enjoyed reading about all these people who are trying so hard to make a difference in the world, even if I did feel a bit weary of hearing about chess after a while.

One of the main ideas behind the book--which is somewhat conclusive from the title--is that grit, curiosity, independence, and self-reliance are some of the aspects of character that successful people possess. What makes that premise about success even better is that this is something we can change. Even though rooted in areas of the brain that govern who we are and what we do, we can help young people to develop more of these things and by so doing, bridge the gap between them and their peers who do possess these qualities from and early age as a result of their parents or life situation or other cause. This is good news for struggling readers because there is room to develop and change, to be more successful and literate as they grow and develop these aspects of character that will make them more successful.

Part of being successful is learning how to deal with failure. An idea that is not new (really, ask anyone who's been successful at something) but that is highlighted in How Children Succeed mainly through the exemplary case study of Spiegel, the public school chess teacher. Her students, while disadvantaged in many ways, were able to be highly competitive and successful because after every game they had the task to "look deeply at their own mistakes, examine why they had made them, and think hard about what they might have done differently" (121).This process can also be labeled as metacognition (to put it more simply: thinking about thinking). I LOVE that Tough made this connection between metacognition and managing failure. This concept is SO, SO IMPORTANT in learning, especially in learning how to become a better reader. Look at why you didn't understand what you read, and what you can do differently to understand what you read? Perhaps you need to re-read? or summarize what you've already read so it'll make more sense? Good readers do this naturally; struggling readers need to spend a little more time in metacognition examining what they did and what they can do to be more successful at reading. Not only that, but how many struggling readers have faced failure in reading before, but not managed it properly? Made excuses to get out of reading, or lied on reading reports and logs? Managing failure in reading is crucial if struggling readers have any hopes of improving.

Have you read this book? What did you think of these ideas? Be sure to check back tomorrow for Part 2 of this series!

Tweet

The Book Whisperer

The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child by Donalyn Miller

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Teachers definitely need to read this. I am definitely a reader too- and this helped with finding some concrete ways/strategies to translate that into my classroom. Loved all the research in there too. Made me truly think about some practices, like the whole-class novel, and how to make my classroom more effective. One issue that lingered in my mind after reading it was that I wish that boy readers could have been addressed a little more. Having just read Wilhelm's Reading Don't Fix No Chevys, and seeing in my own classroom that a lot of the things that boys read are not "books"-- think magazines (ESPN is a favorite in my classroom), wikipedia articles, etc., how would you combine your knowledge of boys' real world reading habits with the type of classroom that Miller advocates? I'm not really sure, but I'm definitely going to try.
(Note: this is a teacher book!)



View all my reviews

Tweet