The New Childhood by Jordan Shapiro

THE NEW CHILDHOOD by Jordan Shapiro is subtitled “Raising Kids to Thrive in a Digitally Connected World” and will certainly get attention from the subset of parents who are troubled by this issue. That, in fact, is one of my concerns with this book: Shapiro includes many examples, but does he adequately profile all types of children and/or a wide set of parents? He writes in a rather conversational -- sometimes almost “preachy” and repetitive – style. For example, he points out “one of the first things kids learn during their school careers. They adjust to what it means to be ‘on the clock.’” By challenging my thinking about school bells as a factory metaphor versus a monastery setting, Shapiro actually prompted me to reflect on what about the “sacred” are we losing? Is the increased exposure to technology and constant alerts related to the idea that mindfulness is becoming more and more a part of the school day?

I did like how Shapiro structured this book – with chapters grouped under headings for Self, Home, School, and Society and with “takeaways” provided at the end of each chapter. Overall, I am respectful of this author’s perspective and experiences with Sesame Workshop, Brookings Institution, and Temple University, but I did not see any truly concrete suggestions – at least in the “school section” which was my focus.  Shapiro’s comments are provocative, though, and THE NEW CHILDHOOD could make for an interesting all school read. Here are a few quick quotes that merit reflection, especially about future logistics:

“Schools need more interdisciplinary activities that provide students with opportunities to extract information from mixed data sets and turn it into knowledge that becomes relevant in unexpected contexts.”

“Our current education system teaches kids to see themselves as rigid vessels. But the world demands that they be porous membranes.”

“Education can no longer focus on destinations, milestones or fence posts. Now, it’s all about bandwidth.  And, therefore, we need to assess children’s flow capacity rather than their retention.”

Again, I wish that THE NEW CHILDHOOD had provided some actual examples of these ideas being applied. He says, “We are preparing people to receive data, to decode it into information, and to exchange it as knowledge.”  Certainly thinking about Junior Theme, I feel that we do this now.  Could we do more? Yes, and we keep talking about ideas (e.g., how to exchange reactions amongst students to new research), but don’t our students also need a basic, foundational understanding, a commonly accepted set of terms and tools in the academic disciplines? That is the tension.

Best American Magazine Writing and Writing Pictures Books

It feels as though writing and/or journaling could make for a great New Year’s resolution.  Here are a couple of ideas to help with getting started.  Learning the craft of writing (or just being attuned to current events and good writing) means exposing oneself to high quality examples. In fact, we are always looking for short pieces to share with students and this collection (over 500 pages and recently published by Columbia University Press) offers some great ideas: THE BEST AMERICAN MAGAZINE WRITING 2018 edited by Sid Holt for the American Society of Magazine Editors.  Articles from Rebecca Traister, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and others deal with heavy, critical issues like the #MeToo movement, race relations, international atrocities, maternal mortality, and robotics. 

When reviewing this book, I learned that the Ellie Awards are distributed each year by the American Society of Magazine Editors and they have a searchable database of past winners and finalists. Those chosen for this recent edition were published in a variety of places like the New Yorker, ProPublica, Wired, ESPN, NPR and Smithsonian. Other awards and sources for the “best” journalism pieces of 2018 include lists from Longreads, from Longform, via David Brooks (the Sidneys), and/or the Pulitzer Prizes for Journalism. Plus, The Atlantic journalist Conor Friedersdorf will publish a list of 100 choices later in the new year (here are his recommendations for 2017).

Perhaps your interest tends more towards children’s books; in that case, have a look at WRITING PICTURE BOOKS Revised and Expanded Edition by Ann Whitford Paul who taught about writing picture books for ten years through UCLA.  I love that her first section is titled “Before You Write Your Story: Becoming a Picture Book Scholar” because there are so many fabulous examples in this genre. And she provides insightful comments such as on the number of words versus readers’ ages or on the intended audience which really has two components: parents and children. Of course, Paul’s newest edition also includes sections on the details of developing one’s own book whether she is discussing building the frame, creating compelling characters, plotting, finding an ending, or choosing a title. The exercises included here assume that the reader has a rough draft to revise. Then, she continues to the world of publishing with suggestions for creating a mock-up of the book, submitting a manuscript, and a review of self-publishing considerations. Overall, WRITING PICTURE BOOKS is a helpful, valuable resource.

It is always fun when one of our creative writing, language, or art classes tackles a picture book assignment, too. The students have so many fond memories and learn so much! They can consult works like Molly Bang’s Picture This! or Light the Dark. Paul’s text on WRITING PICTURE BOOKS prompted me to pull out Writing and Illustrating Children’s Books for Publication. Created in a collaboration by Berthe Amoss and Eric Suben more than twenty years ago, it is filled with exercises for aspiring writers. We have also previously suggested other books about writing short stories and some additional journaling resources. Enjoy experimenting with them all and have a Happy, Creative New Year!