If you buy a lot of books and end up not liking some of them very much, can I suggest checking them out from your library first?

I worked in bookstores for a long time, and of course lots of my paycheck went directly back into the store. I've ended up "weeding" a lot of those books and donating them to different places just because I knew I wasn't ever going to read them again.

Now I'm a librarian, and I'm realizing just how much money I'm saving by checking books out FIRST. Maybe I check something out and I end up DNF'ing it within 50 pages. Maybe I check something out and I enjoy it, but not enough to read it again. Maybe I check something out and I really love it, but it freaked me out so bad it's tattooed on the inside of my eyeballs and I won't need to read it again (Drew Magary's The Hike, I'm looking in your direction).

Or maybe I check something out and I love it! And then I go buy a copy to own because I know I'll reread it, probably with a pen to mark up the margins in a way I know I can't with a library book!

Idk man. If you want to be more intentional with the way you spend your money, if you want to combat the commercialization of the publishing industry, if you hate that authors are being forced to do all their own marketing on TikTok and that readers are feeling shame about not purchasing and finishing literal hundreds of books per year... Maybe start by going to your local library. You can still post haul photos of library books without spending a dime.

I'm putting this to a poll because I need to know how my fellow human beings process the world.

I work at a motel, and there's a big NO VACANCY sign hung up at eye level on the office door. You can't miss it. It is literally the first thing you see when you visit us; it either says VACANCY or NO VACANCY in big glowing blue neon letters, and yet every single day I will have multiple full grown adults, fluent in English, presumably American or Canadian based on the accent, who completely ignore the sign and ask if we have any rooms. I need to know if they're stupid or selectively literate.

Watched the thing about the Furniture Guy from The Repair Shop tv show learning to read at 51.

Amazed that he scammed his way into uni age 30 and graduated with criminology and philosophy the most wordy of subjects without being able to do the textbook reading.

Holy shit that took some guts, what an absolute madlad (affectionate).

I wish we had resources for teaching adults how to read in aotearoa. I hope the guy who asked our local library for lessons and advice was able to see this, I hope he was able to find someone to teach him.

Lots of "progressive" folks make fun of people for struggling with reading and writing. This is a bad thing. Let's talk about why.

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New Zealand Tertiary Education: Unveiling the Hidden Dangers of Overlooking Critical Aspects

New Zealand Tertiary Education: Current Risks I’ve written about this before, but at the expense of sounding like a broken record I’m going to say it again: When we overlook essential aspects of tertiary education like adult literacy, language and numeracy (LLN), Māori cultural capability, Pacific cultural centeredness, and neurodiversity support, we’re courting trouble at various levels in…

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Lottery

Bloganuary writing promptWhat would you do if you won the lottery?View all responses The question of what to do if you suddenly came into a vast fortune is one that has intrigued and captivated people for centuries. While some might dream of lavish vacations, extravagant purchases, or a life of leisure, I believe that true wealth lies in the ability to make a positive impact on the world. Photo…

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Ok, real quick, speaking as a librarian, you absolutely cannot despair about the adult literacy crisis and shame adults for reading fiction books you do not personally care for or think are "challenging" at the same time. It doesn't work with kids, and it doesn't work with adults.

Here's how to increase someone's reading level:

1) Let them read whatever they choose without shame or judgment. Maybe get them talking about it using open-ended, non-leading questions to encourage critical thinking and comprehension.

2) Let them get bored after a while and seek out different books.

3) Repeat.

I just saw a really stupid take from a Star Wars fan (I know, absolutely unheard of! (heavy sarcasm)) so here is a reminder:

People who ship clones with Jedi are more than aware of the power dynamic. That’s a huge part of what makes them interesting. If we were to to ship Cody with basically anyone else other than Obi Wan, it probably wouldn’t work as well because Obi Wan is precisely the last person who would ever want to pressure him or cross his boundaries.

The Jedi were totally screwed over and backed into a war that goes against so much of what they stand for and on top of that, now they have an entire army of brand new humans to lead. All of those brand new humans are totally unique and just experiencing the world for the first time, even though they’re all mature adults too. It’s a totally screwed up situation which puts so much added pressure onto the Order, so we throw romantic feelings on top of that and we’re not supposed to find that absurdly compelling?

Obi Wan is literally defined by his empathy and his kindness. The reason shipping him with Cody works so well is because there is no one who represents what the Jedi are meant to be better than him. Goodness is at the core of his character. There would never be a day that he didn’t value Cody’s wellbeing over his own feelings. Not to mention that they’re both so dedicated to their beliefs and responsibilities that a relationship is never even realistically an option while the war is going on.

Codywan is about the yearning. It’s about them both knowing they have feelings for each other and not being able to do anything about it because they are fighting for something much bigger than themselves. It’s about the infamous “after the war” conversation that they never got to have. It’s about them meeting again on Tatooine years later, finally on equal footing and completely alone in the galaxy, bonded together by their grief.

That’s why people love Codywan. The suggestion of anything otherwise is just an insult to the hard work all the artists and writers have put into making some of the most incredible fanfiction and fanart and fanon lore I’ve ever seen in any fandom ever.

P.S.— the portrayal of something in a piece of media doesn’t equal the condoning or promoting of that sort of behaviour. I thought we’d long since established that. Let’s use our brains here.

Women account for 60% of the World's illiterate Population.

To #LeaveNoOneBehind. That’s what #Literacy is all about.

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Scaffolding Professional Conversations in Vocational Education: Strategies for Success

Unlock the power of effective communication in vocational education with our latest post on scaffolding professional conversations. Discover practical strategies and insights to support apprentices' skill and knowledge development

Scaffolding Professional Conversations in Vocational Education Assessments Recently, I collaborated with vocational educators on designing questions for oral assessments of trades and vocational subjects. Given the high speaking and listening demands for interactions between assessors and trainees, this work aligned with Step 6 of the Learning Progressions for Adult Literacy. Technical and…

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honestly i hate how that “maybe the curtains are just blue” post has become shorthand for anti-intellectualism and shit bc as someone who has an utter passion for media analysis now, I WAS THAT PERSON IN HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASS.

english class never taught me how to analyze stories, it taught me how to remember what things the teacher said were “symbolism” and how to take quizzes where we had to match a quote to the character who said it. i didn’t give a shit about any of it, bc literally why should i. it was bullshit.

there’s this idea online that people are forgetting or rejecting what they learned in english class when they’re bad at media analysis, and maybe that’s a little bit true, but i think the much bigger problem is they never learned it in the first place. cinemasins & “maybe the curtains are just blue” aren’t convincing people to abandon an intellectualism they already had, they’re filling a void.

when all you learn in high school is to write on the test “blue = depression”, why is it surprising that so many people don’t give a shit about the curtains.

Phoenix Haven Africa To Graduate 25 Women From Adult Literacy Program.

Phoenix Haven Africa To Graduate 25 Women From Adult Literacy Program.

Phoenix Haven Africa Inc is a non-profit charity organization started in the United States aiming to better Liberia and its people. They aim to further the education of Liberia’s youth and adults to make them skilled and independent. Phoenix Haven Africa believes in working on all fronts to improve the lives of everyone in Liberia, regardless of their age. In 2022 they started our women’s…

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