Recurring Thoughts on Sara Kajder

My initial attraction to Sara Kajder's book was the title, Bringing The Outside In. My career has been working with the reluctant reader in some capacity, be it diagnosis, teaching, or coordinating programs and services. I am not actually sure what digital storytelling is. i do not fully comprehend how visual read-alouds, images and logographic cues can lead us through a text. Being a well-educated, fluent reader, I keep asking myself, "If I were given a camera, and asked to take pictures of what reading looked like to me, what would the pictures be? Thin I look at my eleven and twelve year old struggling readers and wonder what their pictures would be.

The students Sara describes are a bit older and more technology savvy than my students. Yes, they have command of Power Point and know all the cool bells and whistles to make a presentation look good, but they lack the basic knowledge of the purpose of research, the process of research and the end result and benefits.

I recall as a child reading Mary Poppins. On a spring Sunday afternoon, I was in a rocking chair on the outside porch, reading the scene of the colored chalk drawings on the sidewalk. In the story, it began to rain and the pictures melted away. I suddenly realized that I must have been dreaming. I was at home. I was not on that sidewalk. Even with Dick, Jane, and Sally, I recall reading the words and being able to picture the story in my mind. My students do not seem to have that ability. They give me blank stares when I ask them questions about what they see in their mind's eye. When I write, I hear my inner voice speaking. They do not seem to have that inner voice. I wish that I could somehow share that with my kids.