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: BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog

Too busy to read

Children's publisher Scholastic released findings yesterday showing that many students have excuses for not digging into a book to read for fun. BoardBuzz learned more from this article in USA Today that said many children have difficulty in finding a book they like, or in other cases are too tired out from homework to enjoy reading. Both are excuses we hear often. What we did find interesting was how students connected reading to the Internet; "High- frequency" Internet users were among the kids who are more likely to read books for fun every day.

The survey also finds that children age 9 or older don't see much difference between reading a book and reading online. "Kids don't have that vision" of the Internet as detracting from books, Harmeling says. "They see them as supplementing each other." In fact, nearly two-thirds say they have trawled the Internet for information on a book or author, visited fan websites or written an online book review.

BoardBuzz is very proud of the work that school boards across the country are doing to integrate educational technology into their curriculum to make truly amazing 21st century classrooms, but this survey reminds us not to overlook some of the basics. As technology becomes a core part of curriculum, BoardBuzz still encourages students to make time for books. We're glad that some students have taken the initiative to search for new titles and authors online and hope the trend continues. Have you found a way for to encourage kids to be excited about reading for fun, while working with the newest technology? Tell us about it.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on June 12, 2008 (boomark / email).