Hannah, Mandy Philllips, Kate
There are so many reasons to want school kids to fall in love with reading. There are the the standard 'it is a skill that will help you through life' reasons and the 'it will help you in other subjects' reasons'. But that it not what my so called kindle life kares is all about.
Each of us working with this small, start-up charity is a passionate, long time reader. We love books, whether they be hardback, paperback, or ebooks. Heck, I even read cereal boxes at breakfast, shampoo labels in the shower...I am a reading addict.
When my husband retired from 24 years of service in the Navy and we moved back to the southern middle Tennessee mountains to remodel my grandparent's old home our first step was to put our three kids in school. As a Navy family we had come to realize that education is two-fold: kids get one-half of their education at school and the other half at home. We had learned to make any environment and school setting work.
Sadly, the mountain environment we returned to had not progressed in any way educationally since I had left for college many years ago. Parents - many parents, not all, see no reason for education and only send their children to school because it is required. Teachers do not require homework because they know it will not be done. (This is not so different than inner city schools I have taught in while we have lived off the mountain, but the reasons are sometimes different). In these mountains, the homework cannot be done at home - the parents cannot help- because they cannot read.
We are working on facts and figures, and they are astounding. We will post them as soon as we get the info organized. Adding to the illiteracy is a massive meth problem, (the Aand E special Meth Mountain I think it was called, was filmed less than 30 miles from here on these same mountains).
Wow, I have really gotten off track. You can easily read our sidebar and see why I and a few other parents want to help out in the local schools on this mountain. We spend hours every week in these schools. I have a Master's degree in special ed and have discovered that special ed kids are fascinated by reading with electronic devices. The Kindle is a Godsend for some of these children - the one's who have been lucky enough to be identified. But what about other kids? Even kids without special needs in this area have a million unique needs.
But we are doing so much more than just working with a small population of identified kids ( who we continue to work with every week and love, love, love). We are attempting to get kindles in every classroom and library along with gift cards for books. Kids love technology and teachers are finding great ways to use these devices to motivate kids to read.
We know we will never have the money to give every kid in all of these schools a kindle. Plus, chances are they might be sold for drugs by their parents - who knows at this point? So we are also purchasing loads of books that we can give to kids. We want these kids to have books they can own. Their own library of books - good books.
I love YA books and work with librarians or media specialists, (although that term has yet to reach these mountains!) and some other parents to find what kids are excited about reading. We are purchasing great reading materials, current books and classics.
Using my past teaching experience and the creativity of teachers and other parents we are going into schools and inviting kids to get crazy with books and writing. For example, I may take a quote from a book I am reading and ask students to write for fifteen minutes about the quote, or draw, as music plays. To you this may seem old hat, but for these isolated students it is cutting edge.
I have to admit, this post is all over the place. But I want you to know what we do. Some of the other parents I work with have suggested we film some of the things we are doing and I hope to get permission from the schools, the kids, and the parents to do so...
Bottom line? We need $ to buy kindles, Amazon gift cards, and books for these amazing kids. There is really no future for them here if things remain the same. The mountain are beautiful, but for these kids to have a future - a healthy and positive life here - they will have to leave, get a real education, and return ready to make positive changes in the education system, the government, and much more.
And all of this goes back to those standard reasons to love reading - it follows you wherever you go. Please help us help these kids. Share your passion while we share ours! It may just be one $, but it can be a miracle to the kids of these mountains!
