- Joined
- Oct 17, 2012
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- www.soipondered.wordpress.com
On the same day that the world lost Maya Angelou, LeVar Burton also set out on a track to attempt to bring Reading Rainbow back into the forefront of introducing reading to children. In 2012, Burton brought Reading Rainbow back partially in the form of an monthly subscription app that is doing fairly well. Now he's taking it a step further and reviving Reading Rainbow in the form of webisodes (which won't replicate the previous format exactly) and more content for the app.
I grew up watching Reading Rainbow. So maybe it just opens up a special place in my heart that spurs me into action. However, the intense feelings I have about getting this out to other kids isn't about me. Yes, it helped me and instilled a desire to learn and read, but I'm no longer the target. I can read. I just hope that other kids can be inspired by the content that will be provided. I wrote more about that on my blog, but I won't put out all my feels here because I want to know what others think about the situation.
Not everyone gets the feels over Reading Rainbow like I do and not everyone is on board with this idea. Most of the criticisms such as Washington Post's boil down to this new iteration of Reading Rainbow not being free like the PBS version was. Which gets under my skin a bit because while PBS was free to the public, the app requires just as much behind the scenes stuff to keep it aloft and not crash and burn. Maybe I'm seeing things oddly, but I'm not seeing any negative reasons to not help another program that advocates reading among children.
Now that I've ended my rant, I'm curious what others think positive and negative about the latest incarnation of Reading Rainbow.
I grew up watching Reading Rainbow. So maybe it just opens up a special place in my heart that spurs me into action. However, the intense feelings I have about getting this out to other kids isn't about me. Yes, it helped me and instilled a desire to learn and read, but I'm no longer the target. I can read. I just hope that other kids can be inspired by the content that will be provided. I wrote more about that on my blog, but I won't put out all my feels here because I want to know what others think about the situation.
Not everyone gets the feels over Reading Rainbow like I do and not everyone is on board with this idea. Most of the criticisms such as Washington Post's boil down to this new iteration of Reading Rainbow not being free like the PBS version was. Which gets under my skin a bit because while PBS was free to the public, the app requires just as much behind the scenes stuff to keep it aloft and not crash and burn. Maybe I'm seeing things oddly, but I'm not seeing any negative reasons to not help another program that advocates reading among children.
Now that I've ended my rant, I'm curious what others think positive and negative about the latest incarnation of Reading Rainbow.