Communi-cayseeon!

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Newspaper Lady

Published Monday, August 10 2009 - (0) Comments

I have to laugh every time I hear Kevin James give emphasis to his words when his character on "Kings or Queens," "Doug" talks to "Carrie." He gives a little "French" twist at the end of a "-shun" word to let all those who are listening know that he means business. "Infor- mayseeon!" or "Navi-gayseeon" – it cracks me up! All this just to explain the title of this blog, so that you don't think I'm completely nuts. (On a side note, that is way too many parenthesis' for one little paragraph. Ugh!) Anyway….

Communication. This is a big part of my job because I am constantly showing kids how the newspaper is great way to communicate with everyone in a time-efficient, concise manner. People begin to communicate from the time they enter the world with a first cry of "cover me up – I'm freezing!" and "feed me now!" My little one year old boy tries so hard to form words as he babbles on about something he wants to know more about, or try and tell you about – but he can't quite get the message out yet. He tries so hard to point at something and jabbers on like he is giving me an explanation. I'm sure he makes perfect sense to himself, but others around him can't quite grasp the importance of what he's saying. He will learn with time, but he is so eager now because he craves being understood. Communication is vital to life, something I'm learning more and more as I'm living.

Communication doesn't mean just saying words or writing down facts, feelings, or fluff. No, it is much more than that. It means repetition. It means consistency. It means detail and thought and being selective. My mother always used to say "don't write it down if you don't want others to know about it." And she was right. Communication will make or break a situation. Just look at Romeo and Juliet. Because one piece of communication was a little too late, they both died tremendously sad deaths (sorry for that spoiler – go read the play!).

I try my hardest to read the newspaper every day. Using the online edition helps me a lot because sometimes I can't get my little paws on the current print copy. It gives a lot of facts, makes points, gives opinions, and while it may seem that the black and white daily ritual seems outdated, it allows us to unknowingly cultivate the art of communication. How so? Well….

1. Repetition. There are some people out there who hate to repeat themselves, but they are missing the mark of how to communicate effectively. For me, e-mailing, message leaving, verbal one-on-one communication, saying something two or three times is the stuff of good communication. Is it mundane and annoying? At times, yes. But it is needed to get the point across or even simply to have people listen and understand. Where am I going with this? The newspaper is a great way to having the same information to digest over and over and over again. The words won't move, they won't update….they are perpetual, as long as you take care of it!
2. Skim, not 2 percent. If you suffer from the I-have-to-read-every-word syndrome, then the newspaper will help cure you of that! It is a great way to get you skimming, and skimming is a fast way to get a bunch of information (infor-mayseeon! Ok, I'm done). Why is this? Because not everything in the newspaper will appeal to you, so you won't read it all. It will make your eyes skim through to find what means the most to you. I find the art of skimming through books, magazines, and articles most beneficial because it saves me time and helps me get to the information that matters most to me at the time. That is invaluable.
3. EMPHasis. When you talk to others, do you often find yourself placing importance on certain things….things you may want to stick? I know I do. Whether texting, leaving a message, e-mailing, speaking, I will let that person know, by placing emphasis on something, what needs to be remembered. This doesn't really need to be taught, but we can see just how universal of a need this is just by skimming a newspaper (see what I did there? ). Headlines are a great way to understand the emphasis of a story. Images and pictures allow a reader to see the emphasis of the day in color. Without it, not only would life be duller, but highlights would be missing, pertinent information would be left to the side, and communication wouldn't be what it is.
4. The newspaper communicates, duh! You know it and I know it. I realize that many think the world is getting worse and worse, but if we didn't have the newspaper to communicate that to us, we would be less informed, and less informed is dangerous. Socrates, the Greek philosopher, once said, "There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance." While I do not 100 percent believe this, I do believe he was on to something – that knowledge is so essential to life. The more I learn, the more I know, the better decisions I make, the better off I am (I am not saying me, this is YOU too). We all have a common need to know and to gain knowledge; the newspaper is a communcation vessel.

Yes, "communcayseeon" is fundamental. Thousands of books have been written on it. The World Wide Web would be nothing if not for our messaging system. Universities have entire graduate programs on it. Yeah, I think it is pretty darn important.

How does this relate to children? Like I said before, we have the desire to communicate from a very young age. Children learn how to do it from what they see and hear around them from the time they are little. It is our responsibility to teach them the right way to send and get messages. There is interaction, reaction, non-verbal communication and the newspaper . Well, ok, the newspaper is a tool rather than the method, but it is a great way to get kids learning how to read and write and COMMUNICATE. Of all the children I've come across during my classroom visits (and most of them are on the younger side), I have witnessed a tone of eagerness to know what the newspaper holds. They ask questions about photos, headlines, and want to know what the stories are trying to tell them. They want to know and understand and learn and communicate. It's really awesome to see that proverbial light blub go on when they get it; yes, it's the best part of what I do!

So now, here's me wanting you to get communi-cayseeon!! I'm no expert, and will NEVER claim to be on the subject. But it is one major facet of what I do in my job and what I explain to students as to why the newspaper is important. I am so lucky to have my job, and can't wait for a new year of classroom visits with kids, working with them, and communicate on some small level how the newspaper is important in life!

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