I’ve always found society and people very interesting.  One societal trend that has always interested me is generational differences.  It is interesting how much it is believed that the era we are born during affects our values and behaviors.  I like to think I’m not extremely similar to the people around me (individualism is a characteristic of my generation) so I don’t think I can be summed up by a list of characteristics.  But I can definitely see how there is some validity to the list of characteristics that describes my generation.  Of course everyone does have a different personality and a list to sum up an entire generation will have many exceptions.  That said, the following is a popular list of characteristics used to sum up those born into generation y:

• Tech-Savvy
• Multi Tasking
• Family-Centric
• Team-Oriented
• Socially Conscious
• Individualistic

I found an article the other week titled: Generation Y Children are Harder to Teach. The article discusses how students born during Generation Y (1981 to 1999, differs with every source) are more difficult to teach because they have grown up with technologies that provide instant gratification and entertainment.  Life has become increasingly more about being entertained and making everything more convenient and efficient and students are less impressed by the teaching strategies of their teachers.  Dr John Dunford from the Association of School and College Leaders said:  “The job of the teacher is immensely harder than 10 years ago.  A culture of ‘instant gratification’ is making today's schoolchildren harder to teach… Youngsters live in a world dominated by reality television and celebrities where success appears to come instantly and without any real effort… It is difficult for teachers to compete.  Success in learning just doesn't come fast enough.”

Depending on the validity of this theory multi-sensory instruction  has become increasingly important when teaching students born during generation y.  Because these students are more difficult to entertain it is important to use instruction that will keep them engaged and focused.  Programs like Reading Horizons and others that use multi-sensory instruction would be beneficial for teaching current students. 

Despite this theory that generation y students are more difficult to teach I also found an article that discussed how generation y is the most education-minded generation in history. 
 
From the article:

“Generation Y'ers are the most education-minded generation in history. Even more than their elders, they have the perception that a higher education will lead them to a better professional situation.”

So despite all the articles I found about generation y being lazy and not very career-oriented there is also solid debate in the other direction.  Please share your opinions on teaching younger students and any trends you have noticed over the years or on this topic in general. 

Hi, my name is Angela and I am the Public Relations Assistant for Reading Horizons.  I have been with the company for just over 6 months and I have learned a lot in my time here.  I have just been added to the list of featured bloggers for Reading Horizons and I am excited to begin to share what is happening at Reading Horizons. I have written several of the most recent blog posts via my supervisor’s account. I will now be posting on my own accord and the other featured bloggers will continue to write weekly posts.

I am not an expert on reading or literacy by any means but have recently discovered my passion for the subject as I have worked for Reading Horizons. It was an unexpected discovery. I graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing in August of 2009 and was eager for a job and probably applied for over 200 different jobs. When Reading Horizons contacted me for an interview I didn’t remember sending in a resume. I was at the point where I would apply for almost any job I might be qualified for. I did some research on the company via www.ReadingHorizons.com and I wasn't sure what to expect. When I found the website I realized that they were a reading company. I agreed that promoting literacy was a good cause but I had not envisioned myself doing marketing work for a reading company. I was told that because of the high volume of resumes they had received they were having everyone who was interested in the job come during one of several time slots and they would quickly interview everyone.  Once I found out that my chances where slim because of the number of applicants, I was almost tempted to not go to the interview.  But because of the difficulty of getting even one job interview I decided I would go. When I arrived I sat in a room with at least 10 other people and even as I sat in there I felt discouraged and even thought of leaving, but I stayed. I have never been particularly strong when it comes to job interviews but miraculously it went very well. The job I was applying for was to answer the phones throughout the day as the Secretary and as I was being interviewed by the President of the company he told me he thought I might be overqualified for the job because I had just received my Bachelor’s degree. In frustration I explained: “I’m either overqualified or under qualified for every job!” On the spot he started thinking about ways the company could use my Marketing skills and told me to wait for the Marketing Manager to get back from her honeymoon in a week and he would have her call me in for another interview. She wanted to have an employee focus specifically on Public Relations and Social Media within the Marketing department and that’s how I started working at Reading Horizons.

As I have learned more about literacy and reading instruction I have developed a passion for the subject. Although I thoroughly enjoy and am interested in Marketing my true passion is Psychology (it just didn’t feel right in College). I care a lot about people’s emotions and society as a whole. Even though I care about people I have learned empathy for different emotions at different stages in my life. The most valuable thing I have gained from working at Reading Horizons is empathy and understanding for people who struggle to learn. In my youth I would become frustrated by the other students in my classes that couldn’t seem to understand and grasp concepts that I thought seemed so simple and straight forward. Because I excelled in school I had teachers that would often give me special assignments to sit by struggling students and help explain what we were learning. I tried my best to be patient but inside I was frustrated.

Luckily, I have gained a better understanding of why many people do struggle to grasp concepts from working at Reading Horizons. I will never again think someone is stupid or incapable because they struggle to pick up a concept. I’ve learned a lot about how people’s brains can be wired differently, especially those that struggle with dyslexia. With my fascination in Psychology you would think I would’ve understood that much earlier in life- but I think I was always more interested in personality differences and emotions than by actual brain functioning. But now I firmly believe that when people struggle to learn something it is because of the way their brain is wired or because they are not receiving instructions the way that is best for their individual learning style. That’s why I believe in Reading Horizons program- it is specifically designed to solve both of those problems. The program is multi-sensory by design and engages an individual's senses (visual, auditory and kinesthetic) in order to activate different parts of the brain.  This type of instruction is specifically sequenced to best appeal to struggling readers.  I love helping educators and struggling readers become aware of the Reading Horizons program.  I receive phone calls daily about how this program changes people's lives.  As for me, the knowledge I have gained at Reading Horizons has changed my perspective on life.

Reading Horizons Updated Logo and Slogan Work to Better Emphasize the Mission and Vision of the Company

Today Reading Horizons, one of the pioneers in reading software, unveiled its new corporate logo and other re-branding elements. The release of the new logo coincides with the release of the redesign of Reading Horizons website: http://www.readinghorizons.com.

Reading Horizons new logo is circular and features stylistic green hills with a bright sunburst emerging over the horizon into a blue sky. The vision statement of Reading Horizons helps explain the new logo: “As our company name suggests, our goal is to provide a dynamic, successful way for people to reach beyond their bounds and discover new horizons by learning to read. Accordingly, Reading Horizons is dedicated specifically to help people learn to read so they can be better prepared to accomplish real life tasks that face them every day and create opportunities to expand their horizons in the future.” The brand slogan – The Foundation for Reading English – expresses how Reading Horizons strives to help learners build foundational skills to help them learn to read English.

Reading Horizons company name and logo has seen several changes over the years.  In the past Reading Horizons has attached HEC (Horizons in Educational Concepts) to its corporate name but with the rebranding the company will now be simply, Reading Horizons.  “We wanted to develop an image that really connected with people, with our company name and the positive image of the places you can go with better literacy skills. I think the new image reflects that,” says Erika Huff, Marketing Manager for Reading Horizons.

About Reading Horizons
Founded in 1984, Reading Horizons has spent the last two decades developing and perfecting computer software based on the effective Discover Intensive Phonics for Yourself (DIP) method first published in 1976. Reading Horizons originally produced only an elementary version of the software but soon became very aware of the need for a sequential, basic reading program for secondary and adult students. Reading Horizons applied for and was awarded a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant from the federal Department of Education to develop the Discover Intensive Phonics software for non-reading adults. The result was Reading Horizons.

Today I read an article about this years Educational Testing Service’s symposium titled “Advancing Learning for Our Diverse Adult Population.”   I’m always excited to see articles that discuss the problems I see everyday because I hope the awareness of these problems will increase.  The article discussed the current literacy problems in American Adults by explaining that a recent study of American adult literacy from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that “about half of adults performed below the level needed to navigate today’s complex society.”  The article discussed the problems this condition presents to the economy and how to improve adult education. 

A lot of the article focused on Adult’s going back to college or why they choose not to do so.  I thought it was interesting because the article discussed the benefits of developing a different model for obtaining college degrees for adult learners.  Dr. Thomas Bailey of Columbia University discussed the problems Adults face when going back to college by saying: “The traditional associate’s degree doesn’t fit very well for adult students because many enter with weak academic skills, have less time and incentive to invest in general education courses, have difficulties adjusting to traditional schedules, and state funding policies can work against them since it’s often influenced by the traditional college student model.” Bailey offered this solution for Adult education: “Educational programs must be tailored to the specific needs of working adults but have not been in the past… At community colleges, adults can acquire the skills and credentials they need for the workforce and new jobs, so we need to change how adults get their credentials outside the traditional model… Adult education programs need to be flexible and training-focused and include certificates as well as non-credit instruction.”  I think this is a good idea.  If I was trying to go back to school as an adult with children and was trying to provide for that family as well I would be frustrated taking General Education classes that didn’t directly apply to what I was trying to accomplish by attending college.  Adults usually have a better idea of what they want to do with their life and career then young adults, thus the necessity to explore many fields of knowledge may be extraneous.  I think it would be beneficial to create a program for adult’s that is more specific and training based. 

But there are also needs to make improvements in Adult Literacy for the 50% of adults that struggle with literacy in order for them to succeed in obtaining college degree’s regardless of the requirements.  I’m always impressed by the people who call in wanting to open an Adult Literacy Center.  I also realized the need for a quality adult reading program the other day when reading the comments on this blog titled, The Best Websites to Help Beginning Readers. There were multiple comments on this blog post from readers who wanted a list more catered to adult reading programs.  I added a comment with a link to our website but its disheartening to know there are so many people who could benefit from our program if they only knew about it.  The other day our ESL specialist was reading a forum on reading programs and was frustrated that people weren’t talking about us.  She couldn’t join the conversation because her comments were declined since she was writing about the company she works for but out of frustration she said: “I don’t even want to talk about us because of business; I just want people to know about us because we could help them!”  It’s hard to know you could be helping so many people.  If they only knew…  If you are passionate about literacy, pass this article along or link to it.
Here’s a video of one Adult who learned to read with our program.

A recent study titled: “The Contribution of Multilingualism to Creativity,” has proven there are many benefits for the brain gained through learning an additional language.  English Language Learners (ELL), as well as anyone engaging in obtaining multilingual abilities, were found to have the following benefits and increased mental abilities:

1. The main benefit a person gains when committing to learn English or any language is the ability to communicate with the language itself and create connections with a wider range of the world’s population. 

2. The brain benefits from language learning by undergoing a change in electrical activity.  Before this study it was believed this change in brain functioning only occurred when students had obtained a high level of language ability in the new language, but this study revealed this change may occur at the earliest stages of language learning. 

3. Another benefit of language learning is a “superior memory function.”  Language learning showed an increase in memory capacities, this was especially strong in short-term memory.  This is a huge benefit because it allows the brain to keep information in the brain for longer durations while thinking processes are activated.

4. The brain also benefits from language learning by gaining increased mental flexibility.  The article explains this keeps mental path ways “opened up” which allows a person to use “differing avenues for thought.” Language learning helps “exercise” the brain to keep it flexible and agile. 

5. A person also benefits from language learning by gaining increased problem-solving abilities in all of the following areas: abstract thinking skills, concept formation, creative hypothesis formulation, strengthened capacity to identify, understand and solve problems; the ability to focus on a task by filtering out distractions and extraneous information and an increase in multi-tasking ability.

6. Language acquisition also benefits a person by creating a greater comprehension for how language works and is used.  The study found individuals with multilingual communication were able to better read and interpret social situations, which improved their performance in social settings. 

7. Learning multiple languages also helps prevent the deterioration of brain functioning over time. The study reports that individuals who were multilingual had a decreased rate of 2 to 4 years in the development of age-related cognitive problems such as dementia. 

8. The culmination of all these advantages results in one last benefit: an increased ability in digital literacy. Because of these quickened mental abilities individuals which are multilingual have a noticeable ability to stay up to date with modern technologies.  Reading about this benefit reminded me of this quote: “Our intelligence tends to produce technological and social change at a rate faster than our institutions and emotions can cope with…We therefore find ourselves continually trying to accommodate new realities within inappropriate existing institutions, and trying to think about those new realities in traditional but sometimes dangerously irrelevant terms.” (War: The Lethal Custom, p. 441). Clearly having increased mental agility due to language acquisition helps the average language learners better stay adrift all of the technological and informational changes constantly evolving in today’s world. 

Article: “Languages Smarten Up the Brain”
Study: “The Contribution of Multilingualism to Creativity”