Hello friends,
Thank you for subscribing to The Irby Review and sharing your thoughts with me every month! Here are some thought-provoking articles I discovered in the past month that I want to share with you:
Nearly One-In-Five Americans Now Listen to Audio books
Do you prefer to hold and read a print book? Do you feel you are retaining the content better from a print book as compared to that of an audio or e book? You are not alone and research from Pew tells us that Americans are not abandoning paper! Roughly 3/4 of Americans read a book in the past year in any format, a stat which has remained unchanged since 2012. However, the increase in audio book consumption has risen from 14-18% with the largest gains among adults 18-29, high school graduates and adults living in rural areas. Read more
Local and state governments are failing to address underperforming schools in East Baton Rouge Parish, and white parents in the St.George area came up with a “solution”: break away from the majority- minority district by incorporating St. George into its own city and create its own very school district. Many city residents argue this is an attempt to desegregate and deepen inequality in the schools. An act to take such measures a few years ago was thwarted by a group “Better Together” but the St. George supporters will not be deterred as they see the triumphs of parallel situations in other regions. A new vote will take place in October, quite possibly followed by an amendment and new school district. Where does that leave the East Baton Rouge schools? Segregated and still failing to enhance academic performance! Read more
Connecting With Your Newborn Through Books
Babies are staying in the newborn intensive care unit at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital due to an illness or a premature birth, and the doctors are strongly advocating for shared reading between the tiny patients and their parents during the hospital stay. The staff-guided “NICU” Bookwork Program offers multiple benefits for both baby and parent: a chance for normalcy and bonding in a stressful situation, rich language stimuli and the promotion of brain and reading development. Programs such as this most rapid stage of brain development is in the first two years and reading early matters! Read more
Ms Nixon tells us from the perspective of her challenging childhood as an orphan, and student in a high-poverty neighborhood how inspiration from teachers and family members is a terrific start to motivating children to read. However, based on her extensive education background, she says instructional strategies must also be implemented in the classroom in order to build early literacy. Key strategies of the “Universal Early Literacy Initiative” she utilizes are: enrolling community partners; getting a strong commitment from the principal; hiring reading specialists; personalized literacy teacher-training; and deepening the phonics instruction. Read more
5 Tips for Reading Aloud to More Than One Child
The kids are home for the summer and you have a built-in audience of aspiring readers! How do you keep young ones of different ages and reading levels engaged with your read-aloud? A former librarian gives suggestions like making sure there are picture books in the selected mix, and never force a young reader to stay; reading should never be a punishment. Read more
Please let me know what you think by replying to this email. I’d love to hear your thoughts about any of these articles.
Best,
Alvin Irby
Founder & Chief Reading Inspirer
Barbershop Books
PS
– Did you miss any of the past issues? View them all here.
– For book recs, helpful tips, more ed commentary, visit Barbershop Books’ blog!
