Ten Reasons You Should Be Reading

adult readingAny book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.“–Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928-May 28, 2014)

Seeing an article on the benefits of reading in This Week’s Best of Upper Arlington supplement, I did some research online to discover how many ways reading really is good for us. Consider the list below of some of the things reading will do for you.

  1. Make you smarter. Reading makes you more knowledgeable and sharpens your analytical skills. People who read throughout their lives have sharper brains in old age. The Atlantic did a study proving that reading a novel actually changes your brain.
  2. Build your vocabulary. Even if you don’t get out your dictionary and actually look up new words in your reading, from context you’ll figure out what the words mean. Continual exposure to new words–and ideas–will work their way into your everyday conversation.
  3. Improve your writing. Being exposed to good writing will make your own writing better and easier.
  4. Improve your concentration and focus. Texts and tweets have shortened our attention span. Reading a book for 20 to 30 minutes at a time teaches you to focus on the story and shut out the rest of the world. Regularly reading a longer text will make you better able to concentrate on other work- and school-related tasks.
  5. Stretch your imagination and pump your creativity. Escaping into a fictional world transports your imagination and makes you more creative. Novelists, playwrights, and poets were readers before they were writers.
  6. Make you more empathetic and possibly telepathic. By identifying with fictional characters and their plights, we become more empathetic towards real people. Research of a study published in the journal Science concluded that reading literary, or character-driven, fiction increased a person’s ability to read the thoughts and feelings of other people.
  7. Relieve stress and ease depression. Bibliotherapy is one of the best ways to deal with anxiety. Immersing yourself in a book will distract you from your troubles even more than music, a cup of tea, or a walk.
  8. Help you sleep better. Because reading is calming, doing so before bed is a great way to ease into sleep. A word of caution: Don’t choose a book that’s too gripping, or you’ll forgo sleep altogether.
  9. Enhance your memory. Reading a book requires you to remember so much: all the characters and their backgrounds and motives, as well as the overall plot and subplots. This is excellent exercise for your brain’s short-term memory because, not only are you creating new memory, but you’re strengthening old ones as well.
  10. Possibly reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease. According to research published online at Neurology, readers are less likely to contract Alzheimer’s disease. But the research only points out an association; it’s not conclusive that there is a cause-and-effect relationship.

Best of all reading can be free. Patronize your local library, and it won’t cost you a cent. There are also websites that let you download free eBooks to your favorite electronic device. Don’t be afraid to get out of your comfort zone. Read a classic, or an epic poem, or a Shakespearean tragedy. These will reap great rewards.

Some people find that taking a course that increases reading speed, comprehension, and retention increases the enjoyment and interest in reading.

Bonnie James

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How to Avoid Deception

This is another re-post of one of our first blogs. It is unfortunate that it keeps being relevant.
But Friday’s Columbus Dispatch had an article in it called: Poll: Misinformation a problem. “Most respondents say it spurs extremism, hate.” Written by David Klepper of the Associated Press. It contains what is going on at this polarized time with suggestions that are similar to the ones in this article, so I decided to publish it again.

 “You can never get all the facts from just one newspaper, and unless you have all the facts, you cannot make proper judgements about what is going on.”Harry S. Truman

This a re-post of one of our first blogs.  But it seems to become more important with each passing day of polarization in our country, within our social groups and with the media.
As I come across an ever-increasing number of posts from friends with links to media of questionable and occasionally outrageous content (which are proved inaccurate when checked out at www.Snopes.com  or www.FactCheck.org) that people of otherwise intelligence believe, I felt it important to send this out again.  I try to be careful myself, but sometimes I need to remember my own writings!  Of course, part of avoiding deception is to be willing to accept information that is different from our own predetermined opinions.  And that’s the hard part.

So, perhaps what’s most important is how you engage your brain when gathering information.

One of my favorite websites is www.factcheck.org.  Below I have shared their article, “A Process for Avoiding Deception,” designed to help students learn to think for themselves.  I like it so well that we use it as a practice article in our speed reading classes.  I especially like the last paragraph about the rooster.  I often think of this mistaken cause-and-effect example when reading “facts” in newspapers and even health journals.  Enjoy!

 A Process for Avoiding Deception  397 words
http://factchecked.org/tools-of-the-trade/

  • Keep an open mind. Most of us have biases, and we can easily fool ourselves if we don’t make a conscious effort to keep our minds open to new information. Psychologists have shown over and over again that humans naturally tend to accept any information that supports what they already believe, even if the information isn’t very reliable. And humans also naturally tend to reject information that conflicts with those beliefs, even if the information is solid. These predilections are powerful. Unless we make an active effort to listen to all sides we can become trapped into believing something that isn’t so, and won’t even know it.
  • Ask the right questions. Don’t accept claims at face value; test them by asking a few questions. Who is speaking, and where are they getting their information? How can I validate what they’re saying? What facts would prove this claim wrong? Does the evidence presented really back up what’s being said? If an ad says a product is “better,” for instance, what does that mean? Better than what?
  • Cross-check. Don’t rely on one source or one study, but look to see what others say. When two or three reliable sources independently report the same facts or conclusions, you can be more confident of them. But when two independent sources contradict each other, you know you need to dig more deeply to discover who’s right.
  •  Consider the source. Not all sources are equal. As any CSI viewer knows, sometimes physical evidence is a better source than an eyewitness, whose memory can play tricks. And an eyewitness is more credible than somebody telling a story they heard from somebody else. By the same token, an Internet website that offers primary source material is more trustworthy than one that publishes information gained second or third-hand. For example, official vote totals posted by a county clerk or state election board are more authoritative than election returns reported by a political blog or even a newspaper, which can be out of date or mistaken.
  • Weigh the evidence. Know the difference between random anecdotes and real scientific data from controlled studies. Know how to avoid common errors of reasoning, such as assuming that one thing causes another simply because the two happen one after the other. Does a rooster’s crowing cause the sun to rise? Only a rooster would think so.

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Update to the Update on THE Ohio State University

OK–now The Ohio State University was actually able to copyright the word “The“!

Below is a link that gives updated information a previous blog about the word “the”.

https://qz.com/2181567/ohio-state-secures-the-trademark-for-the-word-the/

The good news that I discovered when reading the article linked above is that “the” is just owned by OSU for use for on sportswear and other kinds of memorabilia. We can still use it as a structure word. When I learned that they one the right to own it, I was about to get humorously creative in how to substitute in everyday speech.

Ok, I think I’ll still do it. And I would love you to send some more!

Let’s go across the street. — Now–let’s go over there. I need to find the key to the car. Now–I need to find my key to my car. Is the mail here yet? Now–Is there any mail yet? What is the weather forecast? Now–Is it going to be sunny, rainy, windy, hot, humid or all of it?

Now it’s your turn to get creative!

My former blog:

Our most recent blog was about the word “the” which is the most commonly used structure word and which usually doesn’t really have any meaning.

However, The Ohio State University (my Alma Mater) alphabetizes itself under T instead of O.  Recently I shared that they were trying to copyright the word THE when used with any reference to it.  Very embarrassing as most of those who saw the news articles were making fun of this effort.  The update is that the efforts were not successful.  Feel free to use THE anytime you wish.

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“The more that you read, the more things you’ll know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.“–Dr. Seuss

Read Across America

1st graders listening to Seuss

I am re-blogging this from several years ago because March is National Reading Month and Tuesday, March 2nd is Dr. Seuss’s birthday.  My college isn’t putting this together anymore so it makes me a little sad to not be participating in this way but it is a fond memory of reading to kids in a school where I once taught.  We can all celebrate the day and month by encouraging young readers and ourselves to celebrate reading.

I love Read Across America for personal reasons.

I started my career in education as a first grade teacher.

I wanted to be a person who made sure that kids just starting out would like school and like to read. And since co-founding Advanced Reading Concepts in 1977, I love what I do with teens and adults for a similar reason. I help prepare them for additional  learning and to rekindle and have time for a love of reading again. I also help those who never liked to read become readers–so I am sort of starting them off as well.

Once a year I get to go back to my beginnings as a teacher.  I volunteer to read stories to grade school children through The Ohio State University’s Colleges of Education and Human Ecology and the College of Arts and Sciences’ participation in Read Across America.

Read Across America

Reading at Barrington Elementary

On Monday I read to a first grade class at Barrington Elementary School. It was great fun! My son and grandchildren went to Barrington, and the volunteers were teachers who had taught them! I read Dr. Seuss’s Great Day for Up and I Am Not Going to Get Up Today. A good choice I thought for a cold Monday morning.

On Tuesday I read to a kindergarten class and a second grade class. I had taught first grade at Prairie Norton shortly after graduating from OSU and loved it. Volunteering there brings back great memories. For Prairie Norton I chose When Papa Snores by Melinda Long (a favorite with my grandsons) and “Stand Back” Said the Elephant, “I’m Going to Sneeze!” by Patricia Thomas, a favorite book to read when I taught first grade.

Read Across America is designed to motivate children to read because children who read do better in school. NEA’s Read Across America also provides NEA members, parents, caregivers, and children the resources and activities they need to keep reading on the calendar 365 days a year. In addition to the 3.2 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers who make up NEA membership, some 50 national organizations and associations give their support.

It might be too late to participate in this year’s annual event, but NEA’s Read Across America has resource materials which offer numerous opportunities for involvement in children’s reading throughout the year. According to their website, “The only thing you need to do is plan how, where, and when you will read to a child or teen in your life–everyday.” The Read Across America has a Fan page and Cause page on Facebook and also has the Read Across America Channel on Schooltube.com for videos. Remember: “You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read with a child.”

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Bonnie James

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Today’s Exhausted Superkids–the Value of Sleep

This blog becomes new again when the Washington Post published this article:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/parenting/2022/01/18/kids-teens-more-sleep . I originally posted it with this opinion piece in 2015 that appeared in the New York times written by Frank Bruni: Today’s Exhausted Superkids.  Unfortunately, nothing has changed.  It must be addressed.

It really speaks to what I have been finding in teaching our summer speed reading courses and talking with parents trying to juggle yet another thing into an already too short summer schedule.  I’ve been seeing this for a while now, but it has gotten worse and worse.  Add to the scene the sports coaches who believe that the children should spend the entire year concentrating on their one particular sport at the expense of time for anything else.

When I tell my sleepy headed students the benefits of being in the class on the first day, I tell them that a great reason to learn to do homework faster is to be able to GET MORE SLEEP!

Thanks for the great article, Frank.  Here it is:

There are several passages in the new book “Overloaded and Underprepared” that fill me with sadness for American high school students, the most driven of whom are forever in search of a competitive edge. Some use stimulants like Adderall. Some cheat.

But the part of the book that somehow got to me most was about sleep.

It’s a prerequisite for healthy growth. It’s a linchpin of sanity. Before adulthood, a baseline amount is fundamental and nonnegotiable, or should be.

But many teenagers today are so hyped up and stressed out that they’re getting only a fraction of the rest they need. The book mentions a high school in Silicon Valley that brought in outside sleep experts, created a kind of sleep curriculum and trained students as “sleep ambassadors,” all to promote shut-eye.

The school even held a contest that asked students for sleep slogans. The winner: “Life is lousy when you’re drowsy.”

Sleep ambassadors? Sleep rhymes? Back when I was in high school in the 1980s, in a setting considered intense in its day, the most common sleep problem among my peers was getting too much of it and not waking up in time for class.

Now the concern isn’t how to rouse teens but how to lull them. And that says everything about the way childhood has been transformed — at least among an ambitious, privileged subset of Americans — into an insanely programmed, status-obsessed and sometimes spirit-sapping race.

Take one more Advanced Placement class. Add another extracurricular. Apply to all eight Ivies.

Lose a few winks but never a few steps.

“Overloaded and Underprepared,” published on Tuesday, was written by Denise Pope, Maureen Brown and Sarah Miles, all affiliated with a Stanford University-based group called Challenge Success, which urges more balanced learning environments. The book looks at homework loads, school-day structures and much more.

And it joins an urgently needed body of literature that pushes back at helicopter parenting, exorbitant private tutoring, exhaustive preparation for standardized tests and the rest of it. This genre goes back at least a decade and includes, notably, Madeline Levine’s “The Price of Privilege” and Paul Tough’s “How Children Succeed.”

But it has expanded with particular velocity of late. “How to Raise an Adult,” by Julie Lythcott-Haims, came out last month. “The Gift of Failure,” by Jessica Lahey, will be released in two weeks.

There’s a unifying theme: Enough is enough.

“At some point, you have to say, ‘Whoa! This is too crazy,’ ” Pope, a senior lecturer at Stanford, told me.

Sleep deprivation is just a part of the craziness, but it’s a perfect shorthand for childhoods bereft of spontaneity, stripped of real play and haunted by the “pressure of perfection,” to quote the headline on a story by Julie Scelfo in The Times this week.

Scelfo wrote about six suicides in a 13-month period at the University of Pennsylvania; about the prevalence of anxiety and depression on college campuses; about many star students’ inability to cope with even minor setbacks, which are foreign and impermissible.

Those students almost certainly need more sleep. In a study in the medical journal Pediatrics this year, about 55 percent of American teenagers from the ages of 14 to 17 reported that they were getting less than seven hours a night, though the National Sleep Foundation counsels 8 to 10.

“I’ve got kids on a regular basis telling me that they’re getting five hours,” Pope said. That endangers their mental and physical health.

Smartphones and tablets aggravate the problem, keeping kids connected and distracted long after lights out. But in communities where academic expectations run highest, the real culprit is panic: about acing the exam, burnishing the transcript, keeping up with high-achieving peers.

I’ve talked with many parents in these places. They say that they’d love to pull their children off such a fast track, but won’t the other children wind up ahead?

They might — if “ahead” is measured only by a spot in U-Penn’s freshman class and if securing that is all that matters.

But what about giving a kid the wiggle room to find genuine passions, the freedom to discover true independence, the space to screw up and bounce back? Shouldn’t that matter as much?

“No one is arguing for a generation of mediocre or underachieving kids — but plenty of people have begun arguing for a redefinition of what it means to achieve at all,” wrote Jeffrey Kluger in Time magazine last week. He noted, rightly, that “somewhere between the self-esteem building of going for the gold and the self-esteem crushing of the Ivy-or-die ethos, there has to be a place where kids can breathe.”

And where they can tumble gently into sleep, which is a gateway, not an impediment, to dreams.

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Breaking Free of What Holds Us Back

Below is “The Story of the Elephant and the Rope” from WeWan Institute.

At Advanced Reading Concepts, we teach people to read faster with better comprehension.  We find many people who don’t think they can change and break free to their full potential.  If given the chance, we help them amaze themselves by breaking free. We teach people to let go of their old reading habit and beliefs about their abilities and give them skills to excel in reading speed and comprehension to have the confidence to reach their education and life skills. When I saw the following analogy of beliefs that get in the way on the blog of the WeWan Institute, I got permission to re-post it from thekeepers@Waywan.org. I hope you find it helpful!

The Elephant and the Rope

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” the trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The elephant will always believe the rope will hold him until he tests it.

The man was amazed. These animals could, at any time, break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were anchored right where they were.

How many of us are still tied to an idea, a place, a person, a way of life, by the same old rope that’s been holding us there for years?

How many of us are chained to a belief in our own failure with just the finest of threads and yet refuse to break the bond and surge forward into success?

What was, is not necessarily what still is. Who we were then, does not dictate who we are now. We learn new concepts, grow our skill sets, meet new people, with new ideas, and fill our hearts and brains with new energy with every breath we take. 

I have met people – I’m certain you have as well – who refuse to budge from who they are, what they know (or think they know), and what they believe in. These are people who fail to thrive, as the phrase goes. They are tied to the familiar beliefs with a rope of their own making. 

Breaking that rope, being free of it, requires an open mind and a willingness to change. The elephant will always believe the rope will hold him until he tests it. First perhaps tentatively, and then more forcefully. Discovering the rope will still hold him the first time he tries is not enough. He must try and try until at last he breaks free. 

Failure is part of learning.

Some say there is no such thing as failure, only experiences. I believe that to be true. If each time any of us failed we gave up and decided never to try again, we would still be in the dark ages.

Have you ever head of Dr. Paul Erlich and his 606 tries to find a cure for syphilis? Probably not… the subject matter is still hush-hush for a couple of different reasons. First being the “unseemly” nature of the disease he was trying to cure. 

Secondly, and most relevant to this article, is that he was ridiculed and even brought to court during and after his work to find “Compound 606,” the cure itself. It was named 606 because he numbered every attempt until he got to the one that actually worked. It took him 606 tries. The substance is now called Arsphenamine, it was the very first antimicrobial agent.

Dr. Erlich never gave up despite being repeatedly told he was wasting funds and time steadfastly working to find what he called, “magic bullets,” chemicals injected into the bloodstream that would fight infectious diseases. He was a pioneer in antibiotic chemotherapy which led to modern cancer treatment. He was a forerunner in strides to understand the human immune system.

He was ridiculed, denied funding, and even accused of murder after the cure had been found and proven to be effective for most of the people given it.

Modern medical science would be very different today had it not been for Dr. Paul Erlich refusing to quit yanking on his ropes. In his case, he freed us from the mysteries of microbial infectious disease.

He is but one example of refusing to be constrained by old ideas and notions. For any person or group to continue forward progress, it takes bold ideas and conviction to breakthrough ignorance and that which was believed impossible.

What small rope is holding you back? What voices have you been listening to telling you you are not good enough, not smart enough, not bold enough? What ideas have you bound to old ways of thinking?

Never stop testing the rope, my friends. One day, you will break free and see a world you only dreamed of previously. Walk to the horizon then, and when you get there you will be able to see even further.

No borders. No fences. No walls. Unbound. (~Robbie Robertson, songwriter & musician)

kvp:99

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Dispatch Column: Repetition Creates an Illusion of Truth in our Minds

On March 28, the Columbus Dispatch ran this column by Lisa Fazio. I feel it is so important and true that we all need to remind ourselves of this. Do you agree?

https://www.dispatch.com/opinion/20200328/column-repetition-creates-illusion-of-truth-in-our-minds

“In one of his radio addresses, Franklin Roosevelt once said, “Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.” Unfortunately, he was wrong.

Repetition does affect what we believe, and this quirk of human nature is now threatening our democracy. In an age where politicians tell — and repeat — easily disprovable lies all the time, we need to be more careful than ever not to throw fuel on the fire.

I should know: I’m a psychologist who specializes in the science of misinformation.

More than 100 research studies in the past 40 years, including my own, have all found the same thing — repetition increases belief. When people hear a statement twice, they’re more likely to believe that it’s true as compared to when they’ve only heard it once. Researchers call this the “illusory truth effect.”

Research studies have found illusory truth effects for trivia statements, political opinions, product information, even false news headlines. It occurs when the statements are repeated immediately or across multiple weeks.

Most important, while our prior knowledge helps us decide which statements are true or false, it does not protect us from the illusory truth effect. Repetition increases perceived truth even when the statement contradicts what we already know. For example, college students who heard the false statement, “A wasp is an insect that makes honey,” twice were more likely to say that it’s true than if they only heard it once.

On average, things that you hear multiple times are more likely to be true than something that you are hearing for the first time. But when false statements are pervasive, lies win.

Unfortunately, we now live in such a society — one where some falsehoods are repeated just as often as the truth. And while misinformation and lying politicians have always been a problem, modern technology allows these falsehoods to be spread faster and farther than ever before.

Part of the responsibility for fixing this problem lies with the media. Headlines and tweets should never report false statements without identifying them as false.

A recent study by Media Matters examined the Twitter posts of major media outlets over a three-week period during the summer of 2019. There were 653 tweets that referenced a false claim made by President Donald Trump. Half of the tweets did not mention that the information was false or misleading. Given that most people simply read a headline or social media post without clicking through to the full article, the news media are exposing readers to false information.

To be sure, reporters have a responsibility to report on and refute politicians’ falsehoods, but they also need to be aware of the risk of making the falsehoods more believable with repetition. It is irresponsible to simply repeat the false statements without indicating that they are incorrect.

Individuals also can play a role in improving the quality of information we see. We control what spreads on social media and can be responsible for what we share and publicize. We’ve found that simply asking people to pause and think about how they know that a headline is true or false reduces their intention to share false information.

You can try to implement that pause in your own social media habits. In addition, don’t share stories without reading them first, and double-check information when it feels too good to be true.

We would all like to live in Roosevelt’s world where repetition does not affect what we believe. But the fact is, it does, so we all — journalists and average citizens alike — need to be careful about what we repeat.”

Lisa Fazio is an assistant professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University.

So important to remember in these times!  Stay safe!

 

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The is about to be a copyrighted content word!

As THE Ohio State University is all in the news lately about copyrighting the word “the” including Joe Blundo in the Columbus Dispatch https://www.dispatch.com/entertainmentlife/20190818/joe-blundo–trying-to-skirt-thee-latest-ohio-state-trademark, I decided to re-post “our blog about “the”.

               “The” as a Content WordThe OSU t-shirt

The” is a structure word that is often used as a content word as in it is referring to the only thing or only one that matters.

E.g. as an ordinary structure word:  “I’m going to get “the” groceries.”

red OSU

The Ohio State University Alumni Club of San Diego

As a content word:
The” Ohio State University.  Really.  The university is alphabetized under the t’s  in lists of schools!

My own personal use of “the“:
The” Lake (Lake Erie)
The” Bay (Put ‘n Bay)
The” Boat (our boat at Lake Erie)
The” Island (Washington Island)
The” Cabin (our place on “the” Island)
The” Cats (ours of course)!

When students were introducing themselves at the speed reading course I was teaching for Upper Arlington’s summer school  some of them said “I go to “the” High School” as opposed to any other schools that might be represented in the group.

Sometimes the word “the” can be very confusing.  If it’s being used to define “the” only item but instead it could be one of many, it creates poor communication.  As in on “the” Boat when “the” Captain asks me to get “the” Line–there are a lot of lines (ropes) on a sailboat, he is “the” only person who knows what he wants but I am supposed to!

Often  the word “the” requires insider information.  Here in Columbus when people say they are going to “the” Shoe, they are referring  to “The” Ohio State University’s football stadium — not to footwear!   Just like reading, it takes prior knowledge to understand the context.

The word “that” can also be problematic as in getting the request to get “that” thing by the previously mentioned Captain!   There are a lot of things!  English teachers and writers are good at clarifying what “the” and “that” are referencing.  The rest of us think you should just know!

How do you use “the”?  Share with us.  And what do you think of The Ohio State University wanting to own the word?  Respond to The Speed Reading Plus Blog!

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Fake News Precedes Us

Preceding articles from this blog have talked about Fake News.

The following article from the Columbus Dispatch is written by Brad Lepper, the curator of archaeology at the Ohio History Connection.  He says that through the years, scientists have had to devote considerable effort to debunking so-called “alternative facts.  Does this make us feel better about today?

Peter Hancock, a psychologist at the University of Central Florida, has studied several examples of what you might call alternative artifacts, and in his new book, “Hoax Springs Eternal: the psychology of cognitive deception,” he shows why some hoaxes are more successful than others.

Hancock argues that prospective perpetrators of hoaxes must “identify the dream” of their target audience. In other words, they determine what the victims of their scam fervently want to be true so they can give it to them.

Ohio’s most infamous fake artifacts Newark Holy Stonesare the so-called Newark “Holy Stones.”

These are several carved stones engraved with Hebrew writing found at the Newark Earthworks and nearby mounds between 1860 and 1867. Some scholars believed these artifacts proved that ancient Israelites had something to do with building Ohio’s amazing earthworks, but my colleague Jeff Gill and I have shown they are clever forgeries.

Hancock argues that successful hoaxes are never “too perfect.” By “creating something that is suggestive, indicative and open to interpretation, you have made an artifact that many people can use to support their view of the world.”

The creators of the Newark Holy Stones did this so well that it has been hard to identify the primary target of the hoax.

Members of a local Masonic Lodge believed the Holy Stones showed that ancient Masons built the Newark Earthworks. Some Latter-day Saints believed they provided confirmation of the Book of Mormon.

But Jeff and I say the Holy Stones were tailor-made to fulfill the dreams of the Rev. Charles McIlvaine, then the Episcopal bishop of Ohio. In 1839, McIlvaine expressed his belief that someday artifacts would be found in the mounds of Ohio that would prove that “all the races of men have descended from one common stock.”

Why was this so important?

McIlvaine was an ardent support of emancipation. Finding Hebrew artifacts in ancient Ohio mounds would prove that America’s history was part of biblical history. And if biblical history was true, then the indigenous peoples of America — as well as the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa — were children of Adam and Eve and not separate creations of sub-humans.

This would mean that slavery was an intolerable injustice that must be abolished.

The Newark Holy Stones, if authentic, could have made McIlvaine’s dream come true. Instead, these ersatz artifacts offered nothing but false hope.

Hancock offers timely advice for anyone who wants to avoid falling for fake news. He said we must “reserve our greatest doubt for our most cherished beliefs. Where doubt is our companion, hoax will find it difficult to flourish.”

I am participating with Hancock and others in a symposium called “‘Fake News’ from the Past: Archaeological Mysteries and the Psychology of Deception” on May 13 at the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum in Coshocton, where the Holy Stones are on display. For more information, contact the museum.

blepper@ohiohistory.org

Archaeology: Newark ‘Holy Stones’ are 19th century fake news

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Fake News Confronted by Educators and World Wide Newspapers.

tabloid-news

Tabloid “News”

internet quote picture

Facebook “News”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the picture of the tabloids demonstrates, fake news has been around for a long time and it is still with us at the checkout line at the grocery store! But it is more invasive with  the Internet.

We might be getting sick of the words “fake news” right now due to their overuse and misuse these days. But it is refreshing to know that  good information is out there to help people who choose to take it in to help sort out what is real and fake.

When I was in Bangkok teaching a class for the USAID in January, I enjoyed reading the English version of the local papers.  I found an article about how to spot fake news and to think before sharing (novel approach)!

Then when I got back, our local paper the Columbus Dispatch had a wonderful article about how students are being taught to THINK about what they are reading and how to come up with what is accurate.  Following that, ASCD published an article from the Seattle Times which  released a worksheet to help students lessons on news judgment.

I am sharing the Columbus Dispatch article first.  The next two blogs will be the one from Bangkok and from ASCD (a global community dedicated to excellence in learning, teaching, and leading).  The Dispatch article shows how various area schools are incorporating reading and discussing news articles into social studies, government classes, and writing courses.  I’d love to see a follow-up study to see what kind of conversations might have occurred in the homes where the older generation uses its comfortable sources and the younger one has learned to delve deeper.

Columbus Dispatch:  Teachers confront fake news in classroom lessons

dispatch-article-classroom-picture

Teacher Amanda Suttle’s students know to take with a grain of salt an online article positing that millennials are bad with money and need financial-planning help. It was written by a bank executive. And they get that a photo of mutated daisies, posted online with the claim that they sprouted near Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, could be total bunk. These were examples that she floated this week for her 12-student media-literacy class at Licking Valley High School, just east of Newark, and she’s glad to see their healthy skepticism.

“I often ask them questions that I don’t have the answers to because I want them to think for themselves and not just tell me what they think I want to hear or what they think the ‘right’ answer is,” Suttle said in an email. “I consider it vital that they learn how to question everything, to resist the urge to believe the single story, the stereotype or the first thing they hear. In essence, I want them to read more and not be easily duped.

Continue reading

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Celebrate Banned Book Week: September 18 – 24, 2022

bannedThe books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its shame.
–Oscar Wilde

This Blog was first posted in 2013.  Banned Book Week is annual observance starting in 1982 sponsored by the American Library Association, in response to challenges to literature found in libraries, schools and bookstores.  This year there have been great articles about Banned Book Week in the Columbus Dispatch Sunday Opinion on September 19 as well as in the Washington Post.

It is even more important than ever as more and more efforts are being made to banish providing information that encourages thinking about topics that some want to keep students from learning about.
It has become difficult for libraries, schools and teachers.   The information below is from what was going on in 2013.

This week is Banned Book Week, and here in Ohio our State Board of Education is marking the occasion by attacking Nobel-prize wining Ohio author Toni Morrison’s 1970 novel The Bluest Eye and recommending that it be banned from the suggested reading list for Ohio high schools.  Board president Debbie Terhar calls Morrison’s book “totally inappropriate,” and board member Mark Smith, president of Ohio Christian University, asserts the book has an “underlying socialistic-communist agenda.”  It’s not evident that either of them has actually read the book.

Set in Morrison’s hometown, Lorain, Ohio, in 1941, The Bluest Eye tells the story of Pecola Breedlove, an eleven-year-old African-American girl who wishes she had blonde hair and blue eyes.  Then she’d be beautiful and her whole life would be so much better.  “I wrote The Bluest Eye because someone would actually be apologetic about the fact that their skin was so dark,” says Toni Morrison.  “I was deeply concerned about the feelings of being ugly.”

In his astute op-ed column for The Columbus Dispatch, Joe Blundo offers his support of The Bluest Eye.  Blundo says the book is entirely appropriate for high school students and finds no trace of communism.  Blundo imagines that the novel, which demonstrates what it’s like to live with poverty, racism, and violence, might make high school students consider experiences outside their own, which might then lead to more reading and then thinking and then questioning of authority.  Says Blundo in a followup to this column, “I highly recommend [The Bluest Eye] for anyone who isn’t afraid of literature.  And if that doesn’t describe every high school kid in Ohio, then the State School Board is doing a lousy job of educating them.”

Expand your own world through literature:  Read a banned book.  Click here for a list of books that frequently end up on the censor’s block, and here for the top ten challenged books of 2012.

Judith Barker and Bonnie James

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Children with Dyslexia or ADD Are Gifted Speed Readers

Students with dyslexia and/or ADD tend to get the hang of speed reading faster than others; in fact, quite often they are the most gifted of speed readers.  Jeffrey Freed and Laurie Parsons explain why this is in their 1997 book, Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World.  All children with ADD and dyslexia are right brained, whereas most other people are left brained.  The right-brain functions include art, music, intuition, imagination, and visualization; the left brain governs analytical thought, logic, language, science, and math.

Unlike normal reading, which takes place in the left brain, speed reading occurs in the right brain.  Students with ADD or dyslexia often struggle with learning to read and are placed in remedial programs, but these programs encourage their readers to slow down and take their time.  This is exactly the wrong thing to do.  It is essential that students with ADD or dyslexia not read slowly, as their “minds work visually and often at a feverish pace.”  What’s more, because “reading is about comprehension, and comprehension is about visualization, a strength of the right-brained population,” these students with ADD and dyslexia excel at speed reading.

If you’re left brained, take heart.  Though most of us are either right brained or left brained, everyone has access to both sides of their brains.  (I, for example, am 59% right-brain dominated and 41% left-brain dominated, at least, according to the results of an online test.)  Speed reading may be more difficult for a left-brained person, but, nonetheless,  it is a skill that anyone can–and should–acquire.

The two sides of Einstein: serious and playful.

 Judith Barker
Bonnie James

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What Do Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, JFK, and Jimmy Carter Have in Common Aside from Having Been President?

Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book.“–Dwight D. Eisenhower

What do Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, and Jimmy Carter have in common aside from having served as President of the Unites States?

  1. They were all Republicans.
  2. They were all Democrats.
  3. They are all on Mount Rushmore.
  4. They were all speed-readers.

The answer is 4.  All of these Presidents were speed readers.  Rumor has it that George Washington and Abe Lincoln were also speed-readers–but we really don’t know.   The Roosevelts were self-taught; whereas, Kennedy and Carter took speed reading classes.  Jimmy Carter participated in speed reading classes at the White House with his wife Rosalynn and daughter Amy and read two books a week even with his busy schedule.  Kennedy took speed reading classes with his brother Bobby. Both presidents then brought in speed reading instruction for their staff so that they would be productive readers as well.   JFK could read 2,500 wpm, in part because he was able to read large groups of words at a glance, and regularly read 6 newspapers front to back at breakfast.

The Roosevelts both taught themselves to speed read.  FDR began his speed-reading training by reading two or three words at a time, building to reading two or three lines at a glance, and eventually working up to absorbing entire paragraphs.  Sometimes he would glance at a page, then turn the page and consider what the writer was saying.  Teddy read a book before breakfast every day when he was President and sometimes read as many as three books a day.  His comprehension and recall were fantastic:  He could remember all the important points and even quote from the books he read.

There is a bumper sticker that says Readers Are Leaders.  In the case of these presidents, we could say Speed Readers Lead.  I have met many highly successful people who have told me that they had taken a speed reading course along the way, and we have taught many rising leaders.  I taught a high school sophomore last weekend who doesn’t aspire to the presidency, but he has definite leadership goals and this was a step in meeting them. You might not become a president after taking our course, but you will have the tools and confidence to reach your career and education goals.  To honor the Speed Reading Presidents, all who sign up for any of our spring courses by Wednesday, February 28th can save $50 and take it for the student rate of $425.  Become a speed-reader:  You’ll be in great company!

Bonnie James

Posted in reading, reading classes, self development, speed reading, speedreading | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Top Ten Reasons to Visit Your Local Library

This blog was originally published in 2013! But I am putting it out again because I want us to support our libraries more now than ever! I can’t imagine how hard it would be to be a librarian or manage a library in today’s crazy book banning, learning censored time we have right now! So here it is–Libraries are important!

“When I discovered libraries, it was like having Christmas every day.”–Jean Fritz, children’s author

21st century library

In difficult economic times libraries are vulnerable to drastic budget cuts, yet it is in hard times that many people discover the myriad benefits of their local libraries.  By the way, if your library’s budget is threatened, don’t be afraid to speak out.  When Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced cuts to library hours and staff, public outcry was so loud Emanuel restored $3.3 million to the library’s budget.  Cuts were still made, but the public’s voice was heard, and the cuts were far less severe.  Following are ten good reasons to visit your local library.

10. DVDs, DVDs, DVDs.  You can watch newly released movies, television programs, documentaries, and classic flicks for free.  Many libraries have reserve lists.  Get on the list, and your library will contact you when your movie is available.

9.  Movies.  Some libraries show movies regularly.  Sorry, no popcorn.

8.  Music.  CDs of classic rock, musical or movie soundtracks, country, rap, classical, and many other musical genres are available at your local library.

7.  Computers.  All manner of technology awaits you at the library, whether you need to spruce up your resume, read your email, or surf the internet.

6.  Career resources.  Libraries have a large collection of career and job-search materials, host presentations from human resources experts, and offer assistance filling out on-line applications.

5.  Special programs.  Libraries present special events with authors, musicians,  historians, archeologists, world travelers, chefs, and many other experts.

4.  Summer reading programs.  Most public libraries have summer reading programs for their school-age patrons.  Prizes are awarded after so many reading hours have been clocked.  These programs help prevent academic skills from eroding over the summer.

3.  Story time.  Many a patron’s first experience with the local library is as a preschooler listening to a librarian read and act out a book.

2.  Book clubs.  If you can’t find a local book club, check out your local library.  Just like a private book club, everyone reads the same book and convenes afterwards to discuss it.

1.  Books!  Whatever book you desire, your local library can provide it. (Update–hopefully they still can! And always will!) If it’s not in their collection, they can get borrow it from another library.  And it doesn’t cost you a dime.

–Judith Barker(in 2013 and Bonnie James (now)

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Myths About Speed Reading–Are They Really READING It?

I am reposting this because this is an ongoing concern about people who are afraid to read fast–it is all in their inner definition of “reading.”
books

A common question I’m asked after telling people how fast our graduates can read at the end of our courses (average of 1,200 words per minute) is are they really reading it?  So I start our speed reading classes and seminars by having everyone write down their own definitions of reading.  I collect them and after looking them over, I tell them that one of the most helpful things they can do to read faster is to  remember their own adult definition of reading along with the one I give them.  So quick–before you read any further–write down your own definition of reading (to make it easier you can write down how you know you read something).  I’ll wait. …..
…………………………………….Done?  OK!  Did you write down something similar to any of these:  I remember what it was about; I enjoyed the story; I understood the information; I learned something new; I could use it?  Good!  That’s pretty close to ours!  Our official definition of reading is:  “getting information from the source and adding it to what you already know.”*   In other words if you have the information you need for your purpose, you have read it.  If it’s to enjoy a story and you enjoyed it, you read it.  If you need a specific fact for a client or report and you find it, you’ve read it.  If you want to know who won the game and who made the most points and you learn it, you’ve read it.  So, how does remembering this definition make you read faster?  Well, you carry another definition of reading inside of you that was formed when you were a small child–and it gets in the way.
listening to stories
When you were a toddler and you asked someone to read you a story your definition of the word “read” was “tell me a story by saying all those words out loud exactly the same way you said them the last time.” (Ever tried to skip a few pages or words to get a child to bed earlier? It doesn’t work.)  The word “read” meant pronouncing words out loud–exactly right.

learning to readWhen you got to first grade, you brought your first book home and your parents said to you, “read me your story.”  You sat next to them with your book and you pronounced the words out loud to them–and you needed to say them exactly right. If you made a mistake, you were corrected.  Some people, unfortunately were not only corrected but also scolded.  Or maybe you were reading out loud in reading group and people made fun of you if you said a word wrong.  Again the word “read” meant pronouncing all of the words out loud–exactly right.  Sometimes a parent will say about their child “he says all the words right when I ask him to read to me but he has no idea of what the story was about.”  That’s because he is pronouncing words–and that is different from “reading” –which is getting “meaning”.

Does this ever happen to you?  You try to push your speed, but you are afraid that you “might miss something?”  Do you want to make sure you pronounced every word “just right“?  That’s your inner child with your earliest definition of reading getting in your way.
Remind yourself of your adult definition of reading and you’ll think about looking for and getting the meaning you need.  You’ll be faster and your comprehension will be better!

* Frank Smith, a guru in the reading world says you have to know 30% of what you are about to read or it’s nonsense of noise.  (Another blog will tell how to get that prior knowledge.)

Posted in informaton, Learning, Listening, reading, reading classes, reading improvement, speed reading, speedreading, teachers | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

In Honor of Presidents’ Day I am re-posting the following blog: What Do Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, JFK, and Jimmy Carter Have in Common Aside from Having Been President?

Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book.“–Dwight D. Eisenhower

What do Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, and Jimmy Carter have in common aside from having served as President of the Unites States? Take the quiz below.

  1. They were all Republicans.
  2. They were all Democrats.
  3. They are all on Mount Rushmore.
  4. They were all speed-readers.

The answer is 4.  All of these Presidents were speed readers.  Rumor has it that George Washington and Abe Lincoln were also speed-readers–but we really don’t know.   The Roosevelts were self-taught; whereas, Kennedy and Carter took speed reading classes.

Jimmy Carter participated in speed reading classes at the White House with his wife Rosalynn and daughter Amy. He read two books a week even with his busy schedule.  Kennedy took speed reading classes with his brother Bobby.

Both presidents then brought in speed reading instruction for their staff so that they would be productive readers as well.  

JFK could read 2,500 wpm, in part because he was able to read large groups of words at a glance, and regularly read 6 newspapers front to back at breakfast!

The Roosevelts both taught themselves to speed read.  FDR began his speed-reading training by reading two or three words at a time, building to reading two or three lines at a glance, and eventually working up to absorbing entire paragraphs. 

Sometimes he would glance at a page, then turn the page and consider what the writer was saying.  Teddy read a book before breakfast every day when he was President and sometimes read as many as three books a day.  His comprehension and recall were fantastic:  He could remember all the important points and even quote from the books he read.

There is a bumper sticker that says “Readers Are Leaders.”  In the case of these particular presidents, we could say “Speed Readers Lead.” I hope our future leaders treasure reading as well as I hope you do.

I have met many highly successful people who have told me that they had taken a speed reading course along the way, and we have taught many rising leaders.  I taught a high school sophomore recently who doesn’t aspire to the presidency, but he has definite leadership goals and this was a step in meeting them. After taking our course you will have the tools and confidence to reach your career and education goals. 

Become a speed-reader!  You’ll be in great company! And enjoy President’s Day.

Bonnie James

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Children with Dyslexia or ADD Are Gifted Speed Readers

Since it is National Dyslexia Month, we are re-posting this as it is still helpful and accurate.

Speed Reading Plus Blog!

Students with dyslexia and/or ADD tend to get the hang of speed reading faster than others; in fact, quite often they are the most gifted of speed readers. Jeffrey Freed and Laurie Parsonsexplain why this isin their 1997 book,Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World. All children with ADD and dyslexia are right brained, whereas most other people are left brained. The right-brain functions include art, music, intuition, imagination, and visualization; the left braingoverns analytical thought, logic, language, science, and math.

Unlike normal reading, which takes place in the left brain, speed reading occurs in the rightbrain.Students withADD or dyslexia often struggle with learning to read and are placed in remedial programs, but these programs encourage their readers to slow down and take their time. This is exactly the wrong thing to do.It is essential thatstudents with ADD or dyslexianot read slowly, as their”minds work visually and often at…

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