Category Archives: Politics

Politics

Did New York City Forget How to Teach Children to Read? This fall, Eric Adams is pivoting to phonics.

By Caitlin Moscatello, Sept. 13, 2023

Illustration: Erin Jang

The debate about the best way to help children learn to read goes back more than 100 years, but an overwhelming body of data has shown the benefit of having kids sound out letters and words.

One of the largest analyses of such studies is a 2000 report by the National Reading Panel, which found that phonemic-awareness instruction helps kids learn to read and boosts comprehension, while teaching systematic phonics “makes a bigger contribution to children’s growth in reading than alternative programs providing unsystematic or no phonics instruction.”

President George W. Bush used the report as the foundation for his own reading initiative, which stressed phonics for early readers.

Even that report left the door open for proponents of balanced literacy, noting that phonics “should be integrated with other reading instruction to create a balanced reading program.”

Plenty of educators listened to this part loudly — despite the fact that those advocating for more phonics were never saying phonics only. “When I started on this journey, I was like, Phonics? That’s what George Bush wanted. Phonics? That’s what happens in red states,” says Danielle, a teacher in New York who, like many of the two dozen people interviewed for this article, requested we use her first name out of concern for professional consequences.

Source: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/09/new-york-city-schools-how-to-teach-children-to-read.html

Site for the first atomic blast opens for one day in October – here’s how to go

By Kathleen Bangs, CNN, Updated 12:46 PM EDT, Tue September 12, 2023

Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Shutterstock, Tourists pose at Ground Zero, marked by a black stone obelisk, back in April 2015.

It’s one thing standing in line to watch the blockbuster film “Oppenheimer.”

It’s another thing entirely queuing up in a remote desert to experience the location of the film’s most pivotal scene.

But if you’re a fan of atomic history and can swing central New Mexico this October, your pilgrimage through the Jornada del Muerto (Dead Man’s Journey) will be so worth the effort.

Saturday, October 21, presents a rare opportunity to visit not just one but two scientifically significant and movie-famous destinations on the same day – each occupying opposite ends of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Editor’s Note: One part of my screenplay-in-progress is set at the Trinity Site in New Mexico…

Source: https://www.cnn.com/travel/trinity-site-open-new-mexico-oppenheimer/index.html

Stephen King Knows Anti-Vaxxers Are Going to Hate His Latest Book: ‘Knock Yourself Out’ | Rolling Stone

The horror writer talks Holly and why he chose not to erase Covid from the detective’s world

By Brenna Ehrlich, September 5, 2023

Author Stephen King wrote his latest book during the pandemic — and Patrick Semansky/AP

THIS POST CONTAINS spoilers for Stephen King’s new book Holly, which comes out today.

Stephen King is readying himself for a flood of hate when his next book, Holly, drops on Sept. 5. “I think that a lot of people are not going to like it,” he says. “I think that a lot of people — particularly people on the other side of the Covid issue and the Trump issue — are going to give it one-star reviews on Amazon.

But all I can say to those people is, ‘Knock yourself out.’”

While inviting bad reviews before publication may seem like an odd sentiment from one of the most prolific, acclaimed horror writers of all time, well… a lot of things are topsy-turvy these days.

And unlike many writers who have released books over these past few years, King — as is his custom — doesn’t shy away from that discomfort in Holly, which follows the PI he introduced in the Mr. Mercedes series, as she attempts to solve a string of disappearances during the height of Covid.

Source: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/stephen-king-interview-holly-anti-vaxxers-1234816605/

Three Shots for Fall: What You Need to Know | The New York Times

The F.D.A. approved a new shot to protect infants from a deadly respiratory virus. And here’s what we know about who should get the flu, Covid and R.S.V. vaccines, and when.

By Apoorva Mandavilli, Sept. 6, 2023

This fall, in addition to the flu and Covid vaccines, older Americans will be able to get a shot for respiratory syncytial virus.Credit…Frederic J. Brown/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Most Americans have had one or more shots of the flu and Covid vaccines. New this year is the first shots to protect older adults and infants from respiratory syncytial virus, a lesser-known threat whose toll in hospitalizations and deaths may rival that of flu.

Federal health officials are hoping that widespread adoption of these immunizations will head off another “tripledemic” of respiratory illnesses, like the one seen last winter.

For people with insurance, all the vaccines should be available for free.

“This is an embarrassment of riches,” said Dr. Ofer Levy, director of the precision vaccines program at Boston Children’s Hospital and an adviser to the Food and Drug Administration. Here’s what he and other experts say about who should receive which immunizations, and when.

Editor’s Note: Read more, see link below for original item…

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/article/flu-covid-rsv-vaccines.html

Conservative book ban push fuels library exodus from national association that stands up for books

By MEAD GRUVER, Updated 4:35 AM PDT, September 5, 2023

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — After parents in a rural and staunchly conservative Wyoming County joined nationwide pressure on librarians to pull books they considered harmful to youngsters, the local library board obliged with new policies making such books a higher priority for removal — and keeping out of collections.

But that’s not all the library board has done.

Campbell County also withdrew from the American Library Association, in what’s become a movement against the professional organization that has fought against book bans.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/library-book-ban-association-withdraw-7f5743a9e464433a745697f9111d7f6b

Get Rid of Your Books | Slate

Couldn’t you use a little extra space?

By Dorie Chevlen, Aug 20, 2023, 5:53 AM

This is One Thing, a column with tips on how to live. 

I approved the headline, so I get why you’re mad. But bear with me a second.

Photo illustration by Slate. Photos by Getty Images Plus.

I love books. I love the smell of them, the weight of them in my hand, the appearance of their
spines all lined up on a shelf. I love walking down the aisles of a library, perusing pages at my
local indie, and of course—above all else—I love reading them. I love reading them so much that I studied literature in college and then, still unsated, I went on to become a professional writer.

Source: https://slate.com/culture/2023/08/get-rid-of-books-decluttering-reading.html