Information Explosion

"There has never been a time in our history when so much information has been available to the general public, and never before have our lives depended so much on our ability to use information successfully." Source: information Anxiety

This was the first quote given to me by my professor during my Foundations of Literacy class a few weeks ago.

She then proceeded to state the following:

1. More new information has been produced in the last 30 years than in the previous 5000.

2. The Sunday issue of the New York Times contains more information than the average person in the 17th century would encounter in an entire lifetime.

3. In the early 1300s, the largest library in Europe had 1338 volumes. Today's largest libraries have an inventory of well over 8 million books.

4. The volume of information doubles every two years. By 2010 the volume of information will double every nine months. By 2020 information will double every 73 days.

5. Ninety percent of the reading our students will do as adults will be for the purpose of acquiring information.

Our professor then stated that, “Never before in our history have children faced a world where their future success will literally depend upon their own ability to read.....and not only be able to read but to be able to process what it is they have read.”
We then, as educators, discussing how important it is for us to not only teach students how to read effectively but also teach children how to LOVE reading.
Ironically, after a lengthy discussion on what our duties as teachers are, the topic of mothers came up. We were discussing our personal "reading time lines" and the experiences we have had in our own lives that have shaped our opinions and attitudes regarding reading. Interestingly, without exception, every teacher brought up an experience they had with their mother as a child. We each ended up sharing a time when our mothers read us a story, or when our mothers taught us nursery rhymes, etc. We all concluded how important those experiences were and how most of them happened before kindergarten (or at least in the lower grades). We then discussed how most of our mothers were stay-at-home mothers and were able to read to their children...who valued the opportunity they had to read to their children. As a teacher, I once again was made aware of how powerful and important a mother's influence and role can be in the life of their child. May we never forget how important the role of a mother is….or forget to read to our future generation and instill in them a love for reading!



Thanks mom for reading to us kids! I will always love Blueberries For Sal because of you! I will always keep in my heart your hand guiding mine over the Hymns at church or the fight I had with my siblings to get to sit in your armpit to hear Secret Garden or Trumpet of the Swans...or many of the other books you read to us kids. I will never forget how you insisted on us eating in silence while you read to us the Book of Mormon during breakfast (although I think as a child I was glad when that time passed ;-). I will always love to read and you have directly influenced that! Thank you, thank you! It's effects are so far reaching.....You are amazing mom....and I love you!