When Josh Reppun asked me to be a part of the “Fantastical Imaginarium” at the recent Schools of the Future Conference, I said “yes.” Of course, I had no inkling what idea Josh had come up with, but I knew it would probably be pretty amazing.
This was what Josh came up with for my part of this amazing room full of fantastic innovative people:
So I was in a room that envisioned What School Could Be, surrounded by amazing educators like Trish Morgan, Wesley Adkins, and students and staff from West Hawaii Explorations Academy. There were innovative displays from Design Thinking Hawaii, awesome town hall discussions about democracy, education and empathy with Ted Dintersmith and Kapono Ciotti, and numerous other opportunities to engage with outstanding educators. And I was going to discuss Goodnight Moon. It was a little intimidating to think about, but I realized it could work.
Josh sent me a NY Times article about this book turning 75 years old this year. Wow, I had no idea it was as old as my husband (and older than me)! What is it about this simple 131-word book that has endured all these years? This was the starting point for our discussion at the SOTF conference. Every participant had warm memories to share about reading this book to their children or their grandchildren. The rhymes, the simple photos, the colors, the calming routine prior to bedtime - the word that brought nods of agreement was “comfort.”
Then I reached into my bag and brought out these two books, and again, there were smiles and nods from those in our session and “Ohhh I love those books!”
We bought these books for our oldest son back in 1979 when he turned 2, and they were read countless times with all 3 of our sons, as you can probably tell. I shared one of my favorite memories of being a mom. I believe in “quiet time” where our sons needed to entertain themselves. They could play with their toys, read books, make up a game, etc. One day during quiet time, I peeked in on Justin. He had his stuffed animals against the wall, and he was reading Where the Wild Things Are to them. He had memorized the book and was turning the pages, "reading" with expression, making the sounds we made when I read the book to him. I wish there had been phone cameras back then to capture that special moment, but that is a memory that will always bring a smile to my face.
After that, other participants chimed in and shared memories of their favorite books like The Giving Tree, or Corduroy or The Kissing Hand. There was a warmth in these discussions and lots of smiles at these memories. Then I shared that at a recent workshop I was conducting, one of the participants said regretfully that they no longer read aloud to their students because there’s no time in the day to do so. I was so saddened by this comment and asked that teacher if her kids liked story time. It was evident from her response that they did, and she also missed it. “You need to make time,” I gently told her. In fact, one of the teachers at my Goodnight Moon book study said that she works with students who are often disengaged and miss many days of school. She noticed they were coming regularly and asked them what had changed. She had been reading a chapter book to the class, and the students didn’t want to miss out on the next chapter. What a formula for getting kids to come to school! Yes, even older children like to be read to.
In this fast-paced world filled with innovations that are changing the way we live our lives, there is still a need for parents and teachers to read to their children even after they are able to read themselves. There is something magical about holding a book in our hands, pointing out pictures on the pages, asking questions after reading the book, and sharing laughter or tears.
I hope that parents now and in the future will continue to read Goodnight Moon and other classic stories to their children. As this Gillian Strickland quote states: “You may have tangible wealth untold, caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. Richer than I you will never be - I had a mother (or father) who read to me.”
Thank you, Josh, for taking this video of one of the conversations. As you can hear, it was quite noisy in the Fantastical Imaginarium, but the participants were engaged in the discussion.
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