A popular way to teach vocabulary is to issue a list of words and then instruct kids to look them up, write them in a sentence, record the part of speech, and complete a variety of other related tasks.  Often we give them blanket tasks to perform for all the words even when the tasks can’t be applied to some of the words.  (Adjectives with very specific meanings like “indentured” that don’t really have antonyms, for example.  I heard a child suggest “someone who has to work for their own servant?”)

Kids mostly glaze over at this kind of assignment.  Particularly if it’s a regular part of their school or homework, they just slog through it.  Kids who can’t make sense of the definitions, and this is a lot of them, come away with at best a vague understanding of a few of the words, at worst thorough but inaccurate understandings.  Dictionary definitions are not written for people who have been reading for only a few years.  They’re written with great formality, and by formula, so as to be consistent.  Unfortunately the form renders them nearly unreadable to young readers.  (Not to mention that it exposes a great hypocrisy.  Kids are told not to use a word in its own definition, but the dictionary, it’s OK for the dictionary to do that (and don’t try to tell them that what we meant was they couldn’t use the exact form of the word in its definition; they know that’s not different).) The dictionary ends up feeling like just another club kids aren’t invited to be a part of.

But I digress.  I went looking for an online dictionary that might be written such that it conveyed for at least some words a degree of meaning that could be ascertained by a typical 10 year-old reader.  Here’s the best I found, Scholastic Word Wizard.  Pronunciations, definitions, synonyms, antonyms (where possible), and often a sample sentence.  The pages are mostly unencumbered by advertisements, which can’t be said for most online dictionaries I’ve found.  If you’ve found a better one, please let me know and I’ll pass it on.

A recent New York Times article apparently inspired some chatter about book choice for young people. Here’s Nancie Atwell’s clarification of her approach and her response to some of the criticism.

Last weekend’s episode of This American Life had me a little nervous for a few minutes, as NPR correspondent Adam Davidson set out to convince his cousin DJ that dropping out of college was the worst possible thing he could do in an economy like this one. It’s not so much that I’m in favor of dropping out of college, but I was worried about yet another argument for the necessity of a college education. I know plenty of folks who’ve thrived at least in part thanks to their college educations, but plenty more who in my opinion have thrived without one, or in spite of the one they did complete. There’s plenty of agreement out there in the world with the notion that college is the only access to success, wealth, happiness, and it’s not been my experience that that is the case. So susceptible am I to frustration on this particular topic, I was tempted to turn the episode off. I didn’t, and the spot didn’t disappoint. Davidson enlists the support of Georgetown professor of economics in his quest to talk his cousin back into college. Her response surprises him, and all three participants in the conversation come away with new perspective…

I picked up a copy of a local parenting magazine yesterday and found this refreshingly unbiased article about the choice to school or homeschool.  The magazine is published in and about Maine, so the specifics about guidelines don’t apply elsewhere, but I wanted to pass along the article anyway.  I don’t often encounter a piece that’s laid out this way, with the tone suggesting that no educational option gets the distinction of being The Right Thing to Do. 

Ten-Second Rainshowers: Poems by Young People is a great little book. The poems are useful not only for their potential to inspire other young poets but also for expanding the notion of what makes a poem a poem. Most are free verse, and many do not rhyme. One of the uses for the book that’s proved more popular than I expected was a little game of Guess the Age of the Poet. Each of the poems is listed with its author’s name and age.   The premis of the game is as it sounds - I’d read a poem, and then take guesses as to the author’s age. I didn’t expect it to be much fun, but the young people I tried it with seemed to enjoy thinking about what kind of frame of mind the author would have had to have been in to write each piece, and then what age person might have that frame.  It definitely got my young writers thinking about the act of writing, and realizing that there were actual people behind it. This book offers the opportunity for kids to relate a little bit more to published writers.

I know several school students who live in acute fear of plagiarizing.  They’re not sure what constitutes it, but they understand that it’s very very bad and can get them in lots of trouble.  Their uncertainty about the difference between plagiarizing and writing about something you’ve read somewhere is understandable - it’s a fine line and one that doesn’t… can’t, probably… get enough attention in their classrooms.  What’s worse is that I see many of them shying away from writing anything at all about what they’ve read because they’re so afraid that it’ll be or at least be considered cheating.  If you get the chance, this is a great conversation to have with young people, and I find that somewhere around the ages of 10 or 11 tends to work particularly well.  (Not only because this is a time when this kind of task may come up, particularly if they’re in school, but also because it’s a time when they’re likely to be particularly interested in fairness and issues of fair use.)  When I bring it up, I talk about how it’s tricky to find that line between copying and writing from your own mind about what you’ve learned.

Well, a city council meeting, at least.  We had a hearing last night on a proposed ordinance that would allow local residents to keep laying hens in backyard coops. Fortunately for me and my ongoing education, I didn’t think to read the agenda for the council meeting ahead of time and as a result was present not only for the hearing but also for lots of other reading, commenting, moving, and voting.

I got a long overdue education on city politics.  I’d like to think that not everyone is as ignorant as I when it comes to the workings of government, but I fear I am not even close to alone.  I’m sure I “learned” it all at some point along the line, but I don’t remember a stitch and what I experienced at the meeting was nothing short of wonder. Furthermore, I couldn’t help thinking that such an experience might have a similar effect on several of the young people I know.  So the purpose of this little snippet is only to suggest, in case you haven’t thought of it already, that a city or town meeting might make a worthwhile excursion.  I’d recommend taking care to choose one with at least some content of interest to your family so it’s not just an educational exercise.