Topic: Reading Rainbow Returns!

Have you heard the good news?

1 million dollars raised in one day.

This is potentially my favourite kickstarter ever: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/re … ld-everywh

Reading Rainbow was totally a piece of my childhood, so I'm pretty excited it's coming back. I've been idly refreshing the page, watching the numbers jump thousands of dollars.

Last edited by LatinAlice (2014-05-29 17:13:00)

alicia ♆
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Re: Reading Rainbow Returns!

Always Fair and Balanced:

You-might-want-to-reconsider-that-donation-to-the-reading-rainbow-kickstarter

If Reading Rainbow is so epically popular, then why was the show cancelled to begin with? And now that it’s coming back — as a for-profit company, not a charity — is it really the best vehicle for teaching literacy to “millions of children”?

Not saying I agree. When Eddie tweeted the Kickstarter link I did not walk but ran to the page myself and immediately shared it around. They were already plussing way beyond $1mil at that point and my charity money is tight right now. Anyway, the Post piece makes an interesting argument, and I wanted to share.

Last edited by drewjmore (2014-05-29 17:42:50)

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Re: Reading Rainbow Returns!

It was produced by the local Buffalo PBS station originally. I have no idea if they're involved in this at all.

I write stories! With words!
http://www.asstr.org/~Invid_Fan/

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Re: Reading Rainbow Returns!

Someone shared that counterpoint with me. I'm a bit confused by it, it seems aimed towards people who would throw money at "Reading Rainbow" without reading or even watching the video, expecting it to come back on the air or be free for everyone forever. They're doing it to take their lonesome little iPad app and expand it to other ecosystems, and to think they're doing more is naive.

However, their bigger argument I find to be flawed. They say that teaching focus is now on getting kids to learn how to read, and that's not what Reading Rainbow does; thus, we don't need Reading Rainbow. But I think that's why we [do need it - kids can learn sentence structure and how to spell most basic words in school, but to get them to read after that is a real challenge. I've known too many people who proudly proclaim, "I don't read for fun." These are the same people that make the stupidest mistakes every day in our increasingly text-based world, because if it's good enough for second grade, it's good enough for Facebook.

In short, school can teach kids how to read, but unless they have a parent who's passing on a true enthusiasm (as I did), they need programs like Reading Rainbow, in any incarnation, to make them want to read.

Boter, formerly of TF.N as Boter and DarthArjuna. I like making movies and playing games, in one order or another.

Re: Reading Rainbow Returns!

The project has just surpassed the 2 million mark, and I'm very curious to see what the final total will be with 33 days to go.
I think that there are a lot of excellent charities to donate to if you want to promote literacy. (I'd had to profile several for one of my classes.)
Reading Rainbow's goal was never to teach people to read, but to cultivate a love of reading in children. I was lucky enough to attend an elementary school with an abundance of resources, including educational computer games, which I loved.

Expanding the app to other platforms won't solve America's literacy program. Nevertheless, I'm excited to see something that I grew up with, something that motivated me as a reader, available to a new generation.

Futhermore: the headers are the single best part of this kickstarter. Look at that face.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/002/064/145/6b78765defbb14b67c64fe010cb578a5_large.jpg?1401233651
https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/002/064/135/2c221759ed2e67edc2caef7c1527420b_large.jpg?1401233580
https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/002/064/150/88aacaaf5fbb9cb08bb494c2a38f60db_large.jpg?1401233689

alicia ♆
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Re: Reading Rainbow Returns!

Yeah, I don't think Reading Rainbow is a panacea to illiteracy as much as it is a tool to cultivate excitement around a culture of reading among the youth.  The importance of which, I don't think should be understated.

Not sure if I told this story before, but Sesame Street enabled me to teach myself to read when I was 3.  I am always grateful to it for that.  But what turned me into a pretty voracious reader, was Reading Rainbow, which debuted when I was 5.  There was an excitement around reading as an activity that Reading Rainbow demonstrated, and that's where I think it's strength lies.

Eddie Doty

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Re: Reading Rainbow Returns!

I'm about a decade older than Eddie (bridging the gap between him and Trey), so my only exposure to the show was knowing the funding was partly local (WNED Buffalo). While I was into Sesame Street as a toddler and both my parents were teachers, I still remember the moment when I actually UNDERSTOOD reading. They had been having us go through "Sam I Am" books in Kindergarden. I was doing well, I assume, but my mind didn't connect it to anything. Then, one night, I got up out of bed, turned on the light, and got a Winnie The Pooh picture book off my bookshelf. I opened it... and I understood the words! They had meaning! For the FIRST time, everything my brain had been taking in worked together and provided understanding. I could open a book, alone, and have the story told to me by the printed words!

Life was never the same.

I write stories! With words!
http://www.asstr.org/~Invid_Fan/

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Re: Reading Rainbow Returns!

drewjmore wrote:

Always Fair and Balanced:

You-might-want-to-reconsider-that-donation-to-the-reading-rainbow-kickstarter

If Reading Rainbow is so epically popular, then why was the show cancelled to begin with? And now that it’s coming back — as a for-profit company, not a charity — is it really the best vehicle for teaching literacy to “millions of children”?

Not saying I agree. When Eddie tweeted the Kickstarter link I did not walk but ran to the page myself and immediately shared it around. They were already plussing way beyond $1mil at that point and my charity money is tight right now. Anyway, the Post piece makes an interesting argument, and I wanted to share.

Yeah, Reading Rainbow's always been about an emotional connection, not research based on phenomes and basic skill sets. It's a travel show, not driver's ed.

There are a million reasons a show could be cancelled, especially in the public sphere. This editorial is a logical mess.

It leans on research as a key reason for not supporting this, then proclaims that they aren't operating under how "Crowdfunding is theoretically supposed" to operate. Research shows that high profile projects of any kind draw people to Kickstarter and raise the average amounts of all projects through exposure and, I imagine, more comfortable users.

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Re: Reading Rainbow Returns!

I thought there were 2 points made that had merit:

One was that low income kids are less likely to have the hardware required to use the RR app. That may boil down to racism or classism or something, but it has an odour of truthiness to it. My own between the lines reading of this point: public television might be the most meaningful place for a show like this, and perhaps the goal aught to be getting RR back on there.

The second point that resonated for me was profit. At some point I may be sufficiently motivated to look into it, but RR being organized as a for-profit raises questions for me. Sure there are many many corporations in the educational market, but this is an minor empire built on public grant money. Zack Braff and others have taken flack for crowdsourcing when traditional financing was available to them, this is just another facet of that discussion IMO.

[/devils advocate]

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Re: Reading Rainbow Returns!

$5 million stretch goal, and the criticisms LeVar has heard are all bullshit.

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