(Part of the EducatioNet series from the University of Northern Iowa)
For release during November 2000
These days, no one's sitting outside a bookstore, hoping to snag a copy of the latest Harry Potter book. Just about everyone who wanted one, got one. But Lucille Lettow was excited by all the hoopla generated by the book's release, and says positive effects are still being seen.
Lettow, professor and youth collections librarian at the University of Northern Iowa's Donald O. Rod Library, says the craze probably helped many children develop an interest in reading.
“Children today watch so much TV, and they are becoming passive viewers. It was exciting for me to see so many children interested in books, and interested in reading because of the Harry Potter series. Reading is essential for preparing them to be a student in a school setting. They develop the concentration it takes to listen to others.”
Lettow says that even if your child wasn't one of those who went berserk for Harry Potter, there are lots of ways to encourage children to read and to enjoy it. Start by reading aloud to them, she suggests. It not only helps children develop listening skills, but also allows them to develop their imaginations.
“You don't have to read to them for long periods of time at first, especially with younger children who have shorter attention spans. But eventually what you'll find is the children want you to read to them, and they'll take an interest in the books you choose.”
Parents might try reading a story that is popular and then looking for new and different books based on other interesting subjects within that initial story. Carol Fenner's “King of Dragons” is a story about a homeless child who learns to fly kites. Parents and their children can read the book, then look for others about dragons, kites or countries where kites are popular. “You read one story, and web it out to others,” explains Lettow. “This is an excellent way to help children move from story books to information books.”
Visiting the public library is another way to interest children in books. “Let them take home their own pile of books and then read aloud to them,” says Lettow. “It's a good way to show them that there's this whole other world out there, and they can get to that world through books.”
She says it's also a good idea to read aloud books about characters with problems or concerns similar to your child's. “It's always helpful for children to find out they aren't the only person who's shy, or short or afraid of the dark,” says Lettow.
Above all, she stresses, “Read to your children, and do it early in their lives. Whatever way you choose to do it is fine. Just do it.”
(Part of the EducatioNet series from the University of Northern Iowa)
For release during November 2000
CEDAR FALLS--Individual rights, common good, patriotism, truth, diversity, equality and justice—these are seven core values or principles that do not have a right or a wrong; that just are, according to a University of Northern Iowa professor of teaching.
Kay Treiber, fifth-grade teacher at UNI's Price Laboratory School, says these seven values are important to developing a sense of community and of responsibility for continuing a democracy. She has incorporated them into her teaching and made them an integral part of her curriculum.
“We started the study by doing community builders, fun activities where the kids could learn to understand each other's strengths and weaknesses, to understand how well they work together as a community rather than individuals,” explains Treiber.
She says an example of a community builder was a birthday line where the 23 students had to get themselves into a chronological line of their birthdays, figuring out how to communicate without talking.
She says the students' own understanding of most of the values has increased, but others have been difficult to explain.
“A definition that they have trouble with is the difference between equality and justice,” says Treiber. “Equality means that everything is equal and justice isn't always equal. Justice is fairness. We use the word `need' a lot with justice and fairness.”
Treiber says once the students understand the core values, they move on to the concept that in order to enhance the community, students need to be part of that community. She adds that this is what democratic citizenship is all about. In class, students determined the needs of their “community” and determined how they could fulfill those needs and, at the same time, respect the rights and needs of others in the community.
Students have carried this respect for others over to their hallway behavior and other areas of deportment, Treiber says. “There's hardly any noise when we go from place to place in the hallway because they know they would be interfering with someone else's learning, and their individual rights cannot come ahead of the common good of the school. The values are becoming part of their being.”
She continues, “We hope as they progress through school, these core democratic values will go with them. You don't always know what will happen when children hit those middle school years, but we are building a good foundation from which they can grow.”
(Part of the EducatioNet series from the University of Northern Iowa)
For release during November 2000
Contact: Gwenne Culpepper, Office of University Marketing and Public Relations, (319) 273-2761
As the current pop princess Britney Spears undulates her way through one video after another, baring her impossibly flat tummy and twisting her narrow thighs, adolescent girls nationwide are trying to emulate that look. And it's not just her clothes or dance style they want to copy, but her body image as well. According to Diane Depken, assistant professor in the School of Health, Physical Education and Leisure Services at the University of Northern Iowa, girls as young as 8 years old are dieting, trying to maintain flat tummies, thin thighs and tiny waists.
Depken says American girls are reminded daily -- via television, magazines, catalogs and mannequins -- that the only way for them to achieve happiness is to achieve thinness. Only the thin women have fun, get boyfriends, get married or obtain good jobs.
“You might see some television commercials out there showing a woman with a larger body, but she's usually cleaning the toilet bowl,” says Depken. “Girls learn early on that being a woman means worrying about your weight.”
Unfortunately, she continues, just about the same time they become vulnerable to the messages about being thin, young girls' bodies naturally try to put on fat. “As adolescents, they blossom out before they blossom up.”
To combat that, many girls will resort to dieting, bulimia or anorexia. Bulimia is a pattern of binge eating and vomiting. Anorexic women refuse to eat much of anything, if at all.
“In both cases, the girls become absolutely preoccupied with food, and go through cycles of love and hate with it. It doesn't even correlate with how thin or fat they are. It's a cultural milieu.”
Depken and many professionals in her field suspect eating disorders are increasingly common among young girls.
Signs to watch for include:
“Chipmunk cheeks,” which occur from constant vomiting
Rapid loss of weight
Hoarding of food
Loss of shine in hair
Flushed face after visits to the restroom
Need to visit the restroom soon after eating
Rapid consumption of food (shoveling food into the mouth)
Dental problems (constant vomiting chips away at the protective enamel on teeth)
Parents or educators who suspect an eating disorder should seek professional help. Often girls who are approached view the intervention as hostile and will refuse to cooperate, or find a way to cover up the disorder.
“If you have to approach the girl yourself, do so with a feeling of love,” urges Depken. “She has to know you care.”
(Part of the EducatioNet series from the University of Northern Iowa)
For release during November 2000
CEDAR FALLS--When children learn to read, they learn sounds, rhythmic patterns or beats, and comprehension of words and their meaning— not unlike what happens when they work with rap music.
A University of Northern Iowa curriculum specialist who has worked with kids and rap says it can be a very effective way to teach reading. “When used in a positive way, rap can have a very positive effect on the children's learning,” says Gloria Kirkland Holmes, UNI associate professor of education. Kirkland says music has been used in the past to facilitate learning, but notes rap music is special because of its focus on language.
“I had done some rap music with my own children at home and noticed how they really enjoyed the raps, and how they remembered them,” she says. “I then had the opportunity to try them out on some African American males in grades three through five, in a public school setting, who were having trouble with reading, writing and other academic areas, such as math.”
Her experience in working with children ages 3 to 12 at UNI's lab school is that they respond differently at different ages but positively to the concept of rap music. She says many children naturally recall songs from the radio, and she started thinking that if they recall these songs from the radio, why not write them down on paper and have the children read them back since they know them so well.
“It shows that if you familiarize children with songs, games and raps that involve their lives, those of their families and things that are personal to them, that they will learn to read well.”
Kirkland Holmes says teachers still tend to think that the children who memorize well are the brightest kids in their classrooms. While memorization in the traditional approach may work for some children, she says, it has not been as effective for children who may come from different backgrounds. Varying the approach and tying in some elements of rap opens opportunities for children who may learn in other ways.
She says it is important for negative raps to be overshadowed by the positive ones. Teachers should have certain types of programmatic issues they want children to work with when they deal with rap. She came up with more than 100 original rap topics children can write about such as “I'm a winner,” “Never give up,” “My Dad (or Mom) is special” or “I have to make an important decision,” all real life situations.
“Parents should listen very closely when they hear the word `rap' because there is a lot of negativism in some of it,” she says. “But there is still a lot of it that emphasizes being a moral person, doing what is right and not living your life in a damaging and detrimental way.”
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