Over the past few months, and possibly longer, I’ve read several articles alternately lamenting decreased reading skills or praising the increased popularity of reading among American Teens.
Not that this is a contradictory statement.
It’s perfectly possible to have kids reading more, lots more, but still have poor comprehension skills. If all they are reading is a steady diet of Twilight - and I mean LITE - then it’s not surprising that they might find college-level material daunting.
Today, in fact, I had a little talk with my dear Tween, and suggested that although summer vacation is a lovely time to relax with some light fare (she’s currently reading the Peaches series,) she also needs to give more challenging books a chance.
We’ll see how that goes, but for now, she’s interested in giving Little Lord Fauntleroy a chance. Some of my all-time favorites - The Little Princess, A Secret Garden, and Little Women - aren’t even up for consideration. But, I have high hopes that she’ll love another of my favorites - Oliver Twist (the unabridged version.)
We also added a few books to tackle when she is a Teen - Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.
Still, we weren’t done with our discussion.
Nowadays, it’s not enough to be able to read novels and non-fiction texts well. To succeed in school, and in life, it’s also important to be able to cover and synthesize massive quantities of information.
A teenager should be able to keep up with national and world news, and it doesn’t hurt to know how to keep up with information relevant to a particular interest.
Fortunately, modern Internet technology makes it unbelievably easy to do just that.
The Google Reader
If you use any of the Google programs, you may already be aware of the Google Reader, but you may have been unimpressed. Last February, when I wrote about controlling online information with RSS Feed Readers, I personally chose the snazzier Bloglines.
Now that I’ve watched Ed Dale’s video; however, I’ve seen the light.
With the Google Reader fully optimized, you can scan through hundreds of articles in minutes, quickly gleaning the information that you need, and saving those that require a deeper look.
And, there is so much more that you can do with that information, all within one window.
Imagine the research possibilities for a student, a scientist, a writer, literally anyone.
You can take a peek at some of the articles that I found in my Google Reader on Sandra Foyt’s Shared Items.
30 Day Challenge
All of Ed Dale’s video tutorials, and many more, can be found on The 30 Day Challenge website.
This Internet Marketing challenge, which promises to teach you how to earn your first $10 online, launches August 1, but it’s well worth your time to explore the PreSeason Training materials even if you don’t want to do the challenge.
The video tutorials cover some of the best Internet tools available, and Ed Dale does a fantastic job of breaking down the lessons, step-by-step, so that anyone can understand them. And I do mean anyone! The challenge members include people from all walks of life, and every corner of the globe, with lots of children and seniors in the mix.
Nowadays, it’s vitally important to learn how to effectively promote - a product, a cause, your art, or yourself - to succeed in the competitive digital age.
My entire family, and a few young friends, have all registered to participate in this challenge.
If you do decide to register for the 30 Day Challenge, please use my personalized tracking link so I can earn Referral Points ’cause “points make prizes. And boy, do we have some prizes to give away.”
CLICK THIS LINK http://www.ThirtyDayChallenge.com/challenge/24104
And, consider joining our Digital Natives Team that is open to Teens, Tweens and their families. Once you’ve registered for the 30 Day Challenge, you can join the Digital Natives in the Team Talk Forum.
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