Thing # 15

The web 2.0 idea and tools are great ways for making classroom learning in this new century more interesting. The articles about library 2.0 were very interesting. Libraries can be more important – we do truly need all the technology – it is what catches the interest of the kids – and it makes the information accessible to many when they are unable to get to the library.
Yet, there is nothing to compare to snuggling up with a book, smelling the book, savoring the experience – a parent’s holding a child in his or her lap while reading a book or snuggling up with a book on a rainy day. There is a time and a place for the technology and I do really love using it often and yet, I do hope that we never do away with books. I and also my children have fond memories of trips to the library and an image I will always remember is when I took a 4 year old child for her first trip to the library and she is so excited as she sat on the floor, surrounded by books, picking up one after another, holding it to her chest, rubbing the cover, and reading – or actually looking at it, smiling as if she had been given a million dollars – and she began a hopefully lifelong love affair with books and reading.