ARTICLE RECOMMENDATION: There’s a key way to get kids to read more books—and enjoy it

ARTICLE RECOMMENDATION:

ARTICLE: There’s a key way to get kids to read more books—and enjoy it

SOURCE: QUARTZ
LINK TO FULL ARTICLE: https://qz.com/897957/how-to-get-kids-to-read-more-books/

RECOMMENDED BY: Mark Gura 

 


Teach kids to love reading, not how to read.

READER REACTION: While this article seems intended to introduce the reader to a ‘for fee’ instructional content providing service (Epic!) the author, a principal with this provider, makes some very good points in it. Importantly, she points out that “All those badges and avatars won’t get kids to persevere with a book if it isn’t geared to the child’s correct reading level or the subject matter isn’t of interest.” And that “Kids look for content that excites them, for language they understand, and for the experience a book will bring them.” Coming from someone who, as she explains, has extensive experience in the Gaming Industry, and is fully aware of the motivational aspects of Gaming and how some instructional resource providers attempt to tap it in order to get kids to read, she see technology as a way to pair kids with real books’ the books, themselves, being the ultimate motivation for reading through the appeal of their themes and content and accessible language. I’ve seen this approach taken by other resource providers and I think it’s an important one that fortunately technology greatly enables.

OPENING 100+ WORDS: “It has become conventional thought that gamification—the application of game-style challenges and rewards to traditional tasks—is changing the way kids learn. If there’s something being taught, it’s almost certain there’s now a gamified way to learn it.

Making teaching methods more entertaining is clearly beneficial for kids; earning badges and unlocking avatars makes online games exciting and engaging, and the same methods can be applied to learning tasks. But as great as it has been in many cases, gamified learning isn’t a long-term solution for children and literacy. Moreover, it’s dragging us away from what the fundamental reward should actually be: reading itself…”

As the founder of what was once one of the largest social-gaming companies, I understand what makes gaming work. But I also understand its limitations…”

LINK TO FULL ARTICLE: https://qz.com/897957/how-to-get-kids-to-read-more-books/