Growing up today is in many aspects quite different from growing up in the seventies and the eighties as I did. Not many years have passed but still there are a lot of changes that have taken place. Now, having children of my own and of course meeting children everyday at work, means that I notice these changes and have to reflect about how school and me as a teacher and parent can meet and help the young children of today in a good way.
When I was a child we didn’t have any computer and there were children’s program on TV only during an hour a day. My family didn’t buy a video player until I was a teenager, and I still remember how fantastic I thought it was to watch a rental movie the first time at home! Today most children have a computer at home, many have got their own, and the TV offers programs during the whole day non stop. Many children spend several hours every day in front of their computer or TV. I believe it is very important and a great challenge for the adults not to let the computer and TV rule the children’s lives. Instead of sitting still they need more physical activities, for instance playing football, climbing trees or biking.
In my school, as in many others, we focus a lot on reading, and the more experienced teachers say they notice a big difference in the ability to read and concentrate on reading between children of today and children twenty years ago. It seems as if reading books is an activity that many children of today are not very used to, and that’s sad I think, since there are so many exciting and wonderful stories to read. I read aloud a lot, both to my pupils and to my son and daughter, trying to make them discover the fascinating world of books.
An even greater challenge that the adults have today is to help children believe in themselves. Since TV and the computer play a greater role in the children’s lives today they also get influenced by commercials and different stereotypes from TV-series. We have to help our children to build their confidence so that they feel they are good enough and can make choices that are good from their perspective. In this world there are so many opportunities in way of living and what to do, which is fantastic but it can also make it hard to make up your mind and feel happy about your decision. If we can make children feel happy about themselves I’m sure they can handle the experiences and challenges in life in a much better way and learn from it instead of feeling as a failure.
And the absolutely most important thing to make children feel happy about themselves is to let them know that they are loved.
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You have written a very interesting blog and I liked to read it. You have also done a good comparison between today and yesterday. I liked the experiences of your own that you told us and it´s clearly that you have thought a lot about this assignment. The paragraphing is perfect, I think, and the last paragraph tells us something very important.
SvaraRaderaThe only thing I suggest you to think about for your next blog is to sometimes use a little bit shorter sentences. I can see that in some sentences there are many words especially these which begin with:
Now, having children...(paragraph 1)
In my school...(paragraph 3)
If you do these as 2 sentences it would be more esay to read.
Perhaps you don´t use many connecting words but for me it doesn´t matter. The text is easy to read and there are no problems to follow the train of thought.
Well done!
Dear Anna,
SvaraRaderaThank you for a well structured and interesting text! I enjoyed reading it and agree with you in what you say.
You start out very nicely by giving a background to the topic you write about, and the very first sentenc works well as a topic sentence making it clear to the reader what your text is about.
The subsequent paragraphs have very clear themes, TV and computer in the second, reading in the third, and self confidence in the fourth. Each paragraph is introduced by a topic sentence and it is easy to follow the text. You use pronouns as linking devices, which is good. Perhaps you could think a bit more about other types of linking devices to make your texts even better?
Your finishing paragraph consists of only one sentence. I think your text would have had a more powerful finish if you had briefly summarised your main points (in a sentence or two) and then made your finishing remark.
Your language is fine! However, as pointed out by Åsa, you have a couple of long sentences. Also, give some thought to whether you use words in the generic sense or not. For instance, in the case of "adults", there are cases where it would have been better to leave out the article. In the fouth paragraph you write about "experiences and challenges ", and you should refer back to "them" rather than "it".
Best,
Marika
Dear Anna,
SvaraRaderaYour blog is very interesting to read and it is easy to follow.
You bring experience both from your life as a mother and as a teacher which I think is good. That you take up something as important as self-esteem in your text is also good.
And as Åsa and Marika already have pointed out it is very good structured and you have a very good language. So I don’t know what more to say!?
Of course I agree with you that the most important thing is to let the children know that they are loved.
Best regards,
Frida Emanuelsson
Dear Anna!
SvaraRaderaI really enjoyed reading your blog! The theme was very interesting and it was easy to follow your thoughts. I agree with you in many things you write. You have very good paragraphs and especially the last paragraph was very interesting to read.
You present your text very good in the topic sentence and you follow it through. The text is well structured and you have a “train of thoughts”.
The only thing I have as a critic is that your sentences sometimes are a bit long. Now and then it’s hard to follow you but that something you already have got comments on, no need for me to repeat what to do about it.
You use a good language and fine word choice, not very complicated words which makes it easy to read.
And yes, I also think that the most important thing we are obligated to do is to make our children feel happy about themselves and to let them know that the are loved.
Looking forward to read your next blog!
Best regards,
Anna-Karin