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Million $ Jeopardy Winner Credits Children's Books

24/4/2019

 
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There's a lot of buzz about the latest record-breaking Jeopardy winner, James Holzhauer, who became the second contestant in the history of the game to win more than a million dollars.  Yes, he has a strategy on how to win BIG.  He goes for the high money clues-- the hardest hints-- because he has a real body of knowledge he can literally count on.  

I am not a die-hard Jeopardy fan, but I've watched it a few times.  How could I not?  It's part of American lexicon.  And I was  pleased that I knew a few of the answers. ( Yet, I couldn't twist my brain around to phrase the answer as a question.)  But the statement that caught my eye in the NY Times article of April 23, 2019, is Holzhauer's attribution about where his knowledge comes from:
           

"As for the sources of his knowledge, Holzhauer has said that an underrated strategy is reading children’s books, which he said are more effective than adult books because they cater to readers who might not be naturally interested in the subject matter."  

I am presuming that he is referring to children's nonfiction because he is mentioning "subject matter," i.e. "content."  He is not referring to "textbooks" or school books or even school.  He's a reader who long ago discovered what we, who write children's nonfiction, hope that the education community and maybe even the patrons of school and public libraries would also discover.  If you want to learn about something new, read a kid's book or two on the subject.  You'll soon learn who the best nonfiction authors are.  They are the ones who treat the reader as an intelligent person (not using over-simplified language or "dumbing down" a subject) but assume that their reader has little or no prior knowledge on the subject.  We write for the uninitiated on content that captivates us as authors so that our writing will also captivate our readers.  We use a lot of the techniques of the best fiction authors and have invented a few tricks of our own.  

​A study in 1988 showed that good writing is memorable. That concept has paid off very well for James Holzhauer.  Maybe those who marvel at the depth of his knowledge  will be inspired to follow Holzhauer's course of study.  He read for pleasure about the real world, he followed his interests when he read, and he studied Jeopardy from childhood to master the moves of the game. He learned that he could play the game and play it well before he became a contestant.  

I'm betting that he's still reading children's nonfiction. 


    


April 16th, 2019

16/4/2019

 
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Ever glimpse a flash of brilliant red fly by your window?  It sure got my attention.  Its name is cardinal, which means "brilliant red" and it's brightness is a measure of its superior health, as read by the much less red female.  She's looking for the reddest, i.e. strongest, mate for her chicks.  None of the dazzling birds  in  iNK author, Sneed B. Collard III's latest book of natural wonders Birds of Every Color,  lose their intensity. The sparkling photographs, taken by Sneed and his son, Braden,  that jump off every page have been carefully curated to amaze and stun the reader.
It's no surprise that this slim, spectacular volume, to be  shared and savored by children and adults, can release the inner bird-watcher in the most uninitiated folk, who previously looked at nature -lovers, with their binoculars and over-sized cameras,  as strange birds of the human variety.  

Did you know that  some birds of a color eat food with the same pigments as their feathers? That makes sense.  But I'll bet you didn't know that the colors of some other birds are caused by the refractive structure of their feathers and how light passes through them and have no pigment in their feathers what-so-ever.  Then there are some nondescript brown birds with feathers containing melanin, the same pigment that colors human skin.  And in the strange-but-true department,   the Blue-footed Boobies have webbed feet that contain the pigment carotenoid, which makes some squash yellow and carrots orange but gives a blue hue to the skin of their feet.

In bird-world, it's mostly the males that sport the fancy feathers, even if it's just a small dash of color most noticeable to the wandering eye of a female.  I have a back-deck in the northeast that overlooks a pond with Canada geese, mallard ducks (love that green head), and a lonely white egret.  The same robins revisit every year and have even built a nest in the wreath near my front door and some soft gray doves, once nested in my garage.  They got used to our rhythms and were safely ensconced every evening before we closed the garage door for the night.  So I'm a lazy bird-watcher, and wait for the birds to come to me.  But Sneed and Braden's Bird's of Every Color may just have the power to lead me astray, at least as far as the nearest aviary.  

Teachers: Can We Bring More Joy of Learning to Your Classroom?

4/4/2019

 
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If you're a teacher, are you frantically grading papers these days as the third marking period comes to a close?  Are you finding that your students and their parents are more concerned with grades than with learning? Are you finding that teaching is more stressful than ever and you are not now the teacher you always dreamed you could be?

Here's an audacious idea:  Why not try using children's nonfiction literature as primary reading material on curriculum subjects?  Here's how you can find some suitable books that are likely to be in your school library.  They are already aligned by their authors to meet your curriculum standards.  
​Go to our free iNK Database and register.  (Your information is safe with us.  We use it from time to time to let you know what's happening with iNK that might interest you.)  Once in the database, click on the subject and grade level you have to teach and then search.  Like magic, you will get a list of books that are fun to read and discuss. Take it to your school and public librarians.  Bring in your treasures and share with your students.  Everyone doesn't have to read the same book on the subject.  They can read different books and discuss the issues from different points of view.  We first published our database in 2009 and have been adding to it steadily.   Last time I checked, for the month of December, 2018, we had 57,000 page views from all over the world from people looking for books.

Think of us nonfiction authors as "professors-at-large" for children.  We know content and speak "child." You can invite some of us into your classroom via our Zoom Room, an extremely robust technology that only requires, on your part, wifi and a webcam.  You can interact with us live at a price much lower than a school visit where you also have to feed and house us.  If you want to see our array of programs, we work through the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration.  Here's a link to our dozens of programs.   


But I have an even more interesting idea.  What if we worked together over a period of time, using curriculum that fits with your school's, built around an author's book?  Your teachers and curriculum personnel could help plan it in a face-to-face strategy session with the author.  Together we could use Google Classroom to create a communal document where the author, teachers, and students contribute their thoughts and exhibit their work as the program unfolds. We could create a classroom writing project using the author's book as a mentor text.  We could build some STEM activities that show how doing science makes the scientist their own primary source.  The Nonfiction Minute is a way for you and your students to get to know each author as a "Brand."  But there is so much more to us than 400-word essays. 

Our program, called Class ACTS (Authors Collaborating with Teachers and Students) would take between three and five weeks and is like having an author-in-residence, as the author is available through email and interactive video conferencing (ivc) on an ad hoc basis.  We  include classroom sets of books.   The more kids read our books and think, the better they will do on the standardized tests because the reading passages on the tests are excerpted from our books.  So, let go of the training wheels that the standardized texts and mind-dulling worksheets represent.  Watch what happens to you and your students.  Discover how the passion for learning is contagious.   Since iNK is a nonprofit, we can apply for grants jointly at no cost to your school.  Let's start thinking and planning for next year. 

If you are intrigued, please contact me, vicki@inkthinktank.org and put "Class ACTS" in the subject area.  


     Vicki Cobb

    *Award-winning author of more than 90 nonfiction books for children, mostly in science.
    *Former Contributor to the Huffington Post
    *Founder/President of iNK Think Tank, Inc.
    *Passionate advocate for the joy of learning for every child and teacher.


    Disclaimer: All opinions, typos, and grammatical errors are my own,  especially small word omissions which I often don't notice in my fervor.  

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iNK Think Tank, Inc. is a nonprofit with the mission of using nonfiction children's literature in classrooms

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