June 14, 2025 • 41 mins
TD Flenaugh and Lauren Moseley discuss the importance of fostering a love of reading in children. They share personal anecdotes about their favorite childhood books, such as "Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss and "I Can Read" books. They emphasize the value of making reading fun and relatable, suggesting libraries and bookstores as affordable resources. TD recalls the impact of Judy Blume's books on her understanding of personal growth, while Lauren highlights the joy of poetry and the creative process. They also discuss the benefits of integrating reading with creative activities, like comic books and storytelling, to engage children and enhance their learning experience.
We drop new episodes every Saturday at 5 p.m. Pacific Time.
Follow us:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/fallingforlearning/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/fallingforlearning/
https://linktr.ee/falling4learning
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
TD Flenaugh (00:05):
For the love of reading. So today we are going
to talk about our beautifulmemories we had as readers, and
then how you could recreate someof that with literature, and
we're going to get into all thedetails about our range of our
reading history. Okay, stickaround and get them tips you
(00:29):
need to make sure your child canfall in love with reading. Hi.
Thank you so much for joiningthe Falling for Learning
Podcast. We have this podcast tohelp parents and caregivers with
having the resources, strategiesand tools needed to make sure
that their children are on trackfor learning and to stay on
track for success. Welcome Ms.
Moseley for coming on to ourshow. We're gonna get into a
(00:54):
conversation about the love ofreading and all of like these
beautiful books that we used toread when we were kids. So what
was one of your like favoritebooks as a kid,
Lauren Moseley (01:10):
you know, um, I was, I think I shared with you
before I was not the bestreader, but I loved Dr Seuss. I
think that was one of the firstbooks that I could read. I think
it was Cat in the Hat. And Ireally loved it because it
rhymed and the characters weresilly, and the notion of a cat
(01:34):
in a hat and, you know, greeneggs and ham and just the
ridiculousness of it, so it justkind of took the pressure off of
me, feeling like reading had tobe serious and you had to read
correctly, and you had to havethe right pacing, and you had to
say all the words correct. Itjust made reading fun and okay
(01:57):
pressure. It was just fun, goodold fun, silliness
TD Flenaugh (02:01):
that is such, like a key ingredient, right? I
think, you know, there was anauthor that I heard speak, and
he was saying how, a lot ofpeople, you know, if they're
choosing books for kids, it's,it's like serious books or like
important information orimportant message, and when they
(02:21):
were, you know, asking kidslike, what do you want to read?
It was like, funny, gross stuffthat is, you know, fun, gross,
entertaining. That's the stuffthat they like, you know, maybe
a little scary, like things areon the edge. So I think one of
the key ingredients for helpingyour child to fall in love with
(02:43):
reading, and especially in thesummer months, when they have
more extended time to read, isjust thinking about their choice
and thinking about what might befun, interesting, funny and even
gross, right? Don't think interms of like, I'm not
interested in it. Like, notabout what you're interested in,
what they would be interestedin, taking them to the library
(03:05):
and being able to explore takingthem to bookstores. I say the
library. I mean, keep it cheap,you know. But if they if you
have to buy it, you know? Iguess so. But I would say
library. There's unlimited andthen you'll get tired of the
book, or you'll read the book,you look for another one and
there's more. So, yeah, that'sreally, what was your favorite?
(03:28):
So I really, like, if we'rethinking about early readers, I
was a, I can read books, person,right? Like, what we didn't
have, like, remember, I grew upin Alaska, we did not have,
like, the sweet pickles books orwhatever. But when I watched,
(03:50):
um, PBS or whatever that was, Iwas watching, and they were
like, sweet pickles books orsomething, I was like, Mom, I
want those sweet pickles bookslike I wanted it. I even said,
like, Thanks, mom, sweetpickles. And my mom hated it.
Later on, she told me she hatedit, but I loved saying that and
but I never have the sweetpickles books. I found some in a
(04:12):
library or, like, in a schoollibrary before, but we didn't
have sweet pickles books. But Idid get the I can read weekly
readers, Weekly Reader books. SoI did convince my mom to get the
book $7.65 per pack or whatever.
I don't know that we got thelittle books. They came in a
little box. So that was reallyexciting to me to get, like
(04:34):
these Weekly Reader books. Andmaybe they came once a month or
twice a month, I don't know, butI love those books. There was
like a little bear and we therewere several little bear books.
I can't remember. Was it aseries of No, no. They were like
book makers. You know how theyhave, like those golden books?
(04:58):
And. Had, like, the little So,yes, there's little golden
books, but these were calledWeekly Reader books, and you
could just, it was kind of like,I don't know if you guys know
about like those CD, but theonce a month CD, right? But
these were like, once a monthbooks, or they call it weekly
readers, but I don't think theycame every week, or if they I
(05:20):
guess you could choose the thefrequency or whatever, right? So
that was what I really liked. Ireally liked those Weekly Reader
books, and they were like and Ican read book like they were
leveled. And then I also wasable to my mom and I were
talking about how to bump it upwhen it got a little when I got,
(05:42):
you know, to a different stageof my reading development,
right? I was like, Oh, these arekind of easy. So now I could do
my own, like, book, because I'mgood at it, you know, I'm better
at reading. So I know littlebear was part of them, but for
what, oh, the frog and toad.
Frog and Toad was in that set aswell. So those were a couple of
(06:07):
the, you know. So it wasn't abook series. It was kind of like
a book maker or a publisher orsomething like that. And so I
got those books, and those keptme engaged, as well as the
library.
Lauren Moseley (06:20):
Yeah. So do you remember, um, getting highlight
books? To remember the highlightmagazines, I specifically
remember going on Saturday tothe beauty shop with my mom, and
they would have all of themagazines, and sometimes in
those magazines, they would havein the magazine rack, it would
be highlight books, and it wasbasically a kid's magazine. It
(06:43):
had articles about, I don't knownature, and then sometimes it
would have cartoons and it wouldhave puzzles. Yes,
TD Flenaugh (06:53):
you threw me off.
Yes, you threw me off. When yousaid, Do I remember getting the
Highlight books? And I was like,No, I didn't get those books. So
now, now what you're saying,Yes, I would see them in
different places. So I feel likemaybe my teacher had it in
there. Maybe they were in thedentist office. Yes, there are
different places. So yes, I doremember that. But when you
(07:13):
said, when you said, Do Iremember getting them like, no,
no, I can't believe I got theWeekly Reader books, because I
feel like we were like, a littlestruggling, you know, but my
mom, I mean, that was one thingthat I could kind of guilt trip
my mom into, and I've talkedabout this a little bit before,
is like, I need these books.
Like, Mom, I need the WeeklyReader I need. And I was not a
(07:41):
kid that asked for a lot ofstuff, either. And my
grandmother was also one whopointed that out, like, you
don't really ask for a lot ofstuff. So like, if you ask me,
I'll give it to you, because youdon't ask for a lot of stuff,
you know, because I kind of feellike, I felt like, okay, we're
struggling a little bit. Butwhen it came to the books, I was
like, I need this book, thisbook I need, and pretty much, if
(08:02):
I asked for a book, they gave itto me. But I did do a lot of
library books, right? Butcertain books I liked getting in
the mail and stuff like that.
So, yeah,
Lauren Moseley (08:14):
I remember we had the and I think they still
have the where you order thebooks you you send in your money
and you give it to your teacher.
TD Flenaugh (08:23):
Yes, book orders. I love that. Every once in a
while, like Scholastic, orsomething like that, it was
scholastic. Yeah, yeah, I thinkso. I think scholastic has
cornered the market, andScholastic, if you want to
sponsor us, we're here. Let's doit,
Lauren Moseley (08:41):
because I know I got a lot of every time there
was a Scholastic Book order,yeah, I ordered tons and tons of
books. And again, I wasn't agreat, great reader, but I
remember being very interestedin and I understood that reading
and writing had power. Iremember being super young, and
(09:02):
my neighbor next door thislittle old lady, I think her
name was Mrs. Gordon. And I toldmy friend, hey, I'm gonna write
a letter to Miss Gordon and askher for candy. Now, again,
barely knew how to read, barelyknew how to write, but I took a
piece of paper and I wrote loopsof what I guess were cursive
ease. And I just said, MissMorgan, we have been very good
(09:25):
today. Can we please have candy?
And I just figured if I spokewhile I did that, that's what
TD Flenaugh (09:30):
it said. Hold on.
Hold on one second. No, why wasMiss Morgan the one you were
asking for candy?
Lauren Moseley (09:38):
You know, she was always home. She was the
little old lady that lived nextdoor, and she was always at
home. She was always outside onher little front porch, and, you
know, sitting out theresweeping. And I just would
always see her, and I just feltlike she should be able to get
candy. He looked like some youmay have given me candy at one
point, and I just
TD Flenaugh (09:58):
figured she's now the. Source of candy,
Lauren Moseley (10:04):
motivator for me to learn how to write.
TD Flenaugh (10:06):
Because I did, yeah, I was very fluent in the
loops as well, right? That wascursive writing at one point,
the loop, loop, loop, and thissays this, and you just explain
it to people, right?
Lauren Moseley (10:21):
And I realized that it did not say what I
thought it said, because when Igave this, she looked at it and
smiled and closed the door anddidn't come back out with candy
at all. So I figured I need toreally learn how to write,
because
TD Flenaugh (10:37):
the power, the need to communicate was there, right?
Because you did not get yourrequest fulfilled. Okay, okay,
all right,
Lauren Moseley (10:49):
books. Books were my thing. And I even have
my mom keeps everything, okay,if you go and look in her attic,
or, you know, open up some ofthose boxes in the garage. Some
of my old books are still there.
Okay, literally keeps everything
TD Flenaugh (11:07):
so an early author, okay, we're hearing more about
your gifts. Okay, so I talkedabout early books, like those
weekly readers, but what reallywas, what really helped me with
reading like really drew me in.
Further into reading was likethose Judy Blume books I did go
through the I did go through,like the Beverly Cleary books,
(11:31):
like Ramona and bees Beezus.
They were very funny. But Ithink Judy Blume, you know, she
would write about things that Iwasn't ready to talk about. But,
of course, I was thinking aboutit. I was curious about it. You
know, are you there? God, it'sme. Margaret, one of, like, my
(11:53):
favorite, my parents were like,arguing at the time. And I have
this book where people's parentsare are, you know, divorcing.
And, you know, I even, it evenhelped me like to like, as my
parents were arguing, there was,like, a split between my
parents. For a little bit, I wasfeeling a little bit, matter of
(12:13):
fact, like it's kind ofhappened. Sometimes it happened
differently in my family.
Obviously, then, you know,obviously, there's going to be
differences, but it made me feellike I could handle this, or
like, you know, this happens toother people, you know. So I
think that, you know, likingboys, you know. I think there
(12:34):
was even a chance I must, Imust, I must, my best. Yes, yes,
yeah. These are things thatlittle girl, I didn't I did not,
you know, no, but just knowingthat someone else out there, you
know, because that's veryembarrassing to talk about, that
(12:55):
you want bigger boobs, or youwant boobs, right? And then,
like, just the weight, right?
And then, you know, other peopleare, they're popping them out,
and you're, you're not gettingthem popping out, not not, but
you could just see themdeveloping, is what I'm trying
to say, yes. And I was waitingto develop, you know. And it was
(13:16):
like taking forever, and, youknow, of course, forever, maybe,
you know, six months when you're12, or, you know, you're like,
is it here? Are they here yet?
Are they coming yet? Are they,you know, but I didn't have any
growth spurts. I'm a prettysmall person. I've been small,
and I'm the person who growsout, wears out my clothes. I
(13:38):
don't really grow out ofclothes, like, once I'm Yeah,
yeah, once I am done with them,I've had them so long, you know,
when I was a kid that usuallynobody else would have them,
because I don't. I didn't reallyhave growth spurts. I was, I
grew small me, you know, alittle bit. So it was a lot of
(13:58):
waiting. I didn't have a growthspurt, you know. So it was a lot
of waiting for and I would feellike other girls were just
overnight, you know? I felt likeI noticed that they had some
development. And I didn't, youknow, my wife was very snail
pace, snail pace for me. So JudyBlume helped me, you know,
(14:22):
writing about it, talking aboutit, because I'd be definitely,
like, definitely afraid oftalking to anyone about that,
you know, development and all ofthat. Another book, Philip Hall
likes me, I reckon, maybe right.
Another book, not Judy Blume,but you know a black girl, and
(14:46):
you know, again, you have anidea. You know, you know, when
you're attracted to someone,they're attracted to you. Are
they attracted to you? Maybethey are, I think perhaps,
maybe. And that title said itall. All right? Philip Hall
likes me, I reckon maybe, like,I'm sure he does, but I'm not
sure, like, you know, in thatjust how to deal with that and
(15:08):
just how to think about that,and also, like, you're not
crazy, like, other people arehaving these same kind of
thoughts and these same kind offeelings, right? And again, it
just helps you to, like, dealwith things, right? Because I'm
was a fairly quiet kid, like,very much, like internal dialog
driving myself crazy, right?
Because I also haveperfectionism, and then also
(15:30):
just, you're the star in yourown life, and you just think,
this is the only, you're theonly person in the world that's
dealing with these things,right? Feeling this, and then
reading about it, you're like,Okay, this is kind of normal,
right?
Lauren Moseley (15:51):
Oh, I remember, I remember those. I think my
favorite one was, was eithertales of the fourth grade
nothing, or what's the one wherehe has the little, the little
super fudge. And I rememberdoing a book report on Super
fudge, and as part of my, Idon't know, I wanted to give
(16:11):
out, I think it was chocolatecovered worms. That was
something in the book where thekid ate some worms. And so I
literally made, I took someTootsie Rolls and rolled them
out to look like worms, and Ipassed them out my classmates to
pretend like they were eatingworms, all into not only did I
want to present my book report,but I wanted to make it
(16:33):
memorable, and I think socreative. Yeah, I do remember
doing I'm impressed. Yes, I wasquite theatrical in my
presentation. That was great.
TD Flenaugh (16:46):
I would have thought about that. Me, I'm
like, the type that will starttalking about the book, and then
TD tell you all about the bookand like, and then in chapter
two, and then what happened inthis like, so I've told you the
whole book, so that was more meand my brother was like, be
quiet, you know, like Ana, let'stalk about some real things that
(17:07):
happened, like, but this book,um, and I still really like
stories and stuff like that too.
Um, so thinking about, like, howto, like, recreate some of this
for your kid, right? Like, havebooks right that have like crazy
stuff in it, like, you know, thethe worm sandwich, or whatever
it was, I remember, I don'texactly remember what they're
(17:31):
called, but yes, they had, likeworms, recreating some of the
things in the story exactly withmy daughter. I love the library,
and because we could get two ofthose books, so I could read a
book and she could read a book,I feel like it's so important
for them to own the book.
Owning. Owning means that I'mnot holding the book for them
(17:54):
and pointing to the word forthem. She has her own book. She
is looking at it. She's pointingat it. She's reading it. I read
a little bit. She reads a littlebit. You know, it's not a big
deal. She makes a mistake. Helpher with the word, just creating
a fun environment. And then, youknow, as teenagers, or pre
(18:16):
teens, right? Because a lot oftimes this is when they start
reading the books when they'repre teens, kind of directing
them towards books that you'llhear like that are great for pre
teens that'll approach thesetopics, because kids aren't
going to talk to you about it,unless you just are one of those
gifted parents, or just arelucky enough to have that open
relationship with your child,having a book or something like
(18:39):
that for them to talk about orto think about or process some
of these feelings, is soimportant, and it'll help them
fall in love with with reading,because it's talking about
things that they're interestedin. Because ultimately, the way
we talk to them about it isprobably going to be a little
preachy, is going to be a littlebit outdated, but being able to
(19:01):
approach it to someone else'seyes and see how they deal with
it is going to help them dealwith it. So I think sometimes we
think about reading as such aserious thing, it is serious,
but we also have to think aboutlike, the social, emotional
benefits of reading, because itreally helps the kids, maybe not
open up, but actually open uptheir mind. They may not open up
(19:24):
to you, but they'll open uptheir mind about how to deal
with things. And it really doesmake them wiser, because they're
processing their ideas. They'rethinking about their thinking.
They're looking at how someonehandled something that was
really bad, right in the book,and then they're really making
an idea about how they'll dealwith this or or how they'll
(19:45):
approach it in a thoughtful way.
The rewrite method and therewrite method workbook are your
go to resource for helping kidsto learn, to feel. Fall in love
with writing. It has the tips,tools, resources, strategies and
skill building activities tohelp kids fall out of writing,
(20:11):
hoot and into loving to write.
Get your book set today,
Lauren Moseley (20:29):
right, right. I was with my goddaughter, and she
had a book and it said IRL onthe cover. And I was like, What
is IRL? And, you know, she saidit's, it's, it's in real life.
And I'm like, what does thatmean? And so she's Tell me a
little bit about this book, andI'm not going to give it away,
(20:49):
because, you know, I definitelywant people to to to read it
themselves. But this book was sointeresting how she explained
the main character is a kid whois in Alaska and is online
learning, and the kids in herclassroom are, I guess I could
(21:11):
tell you this part, they arethey're not alive. And I thought
that's really creepy. Are you?
Are you okay with this? Soundsreally, really creepy. And, you
know, she starts telling me alittle bit about this book, but
it's so fascinating about howshe's she's in and, you know,
developing relationships likekids do with these kids, and
(21:34):
they're all online, and at somepoint, the kids have to go back
into in person learning, andthat's when you discover that
these kids are not kids, they'reghosts. And my I
TD Flenaugh (21:48):
think you're giving away too much. You definitely
need to have, we need to haveyour niece on about right? Okay,
you
Lauren Moseley (21:56):
still have to read the whole thing, but I'm
saying how she was so investedin it, and invested in the
characters, and her eyes justlit up when she was explaining.
She's like, and then, and thenthis happened, and then this and
I'm like, Oh my gosh. So Irealized, wow, you know, just to
have something that is fantasyand where you have to figure
things out, and you're, you'relike, what's real and what's,
(22:19):
what's, you know, what is notreal, and trying to figure out
what characters are real people,and, you know, are there hints
and clues? And so it was. I justfelt like it was such a mental
exercise reading this book. Youknow, I looked through some of
the chapters just to read itreally quickly so I could be as
excited as she was, but I justthought, Wow, what an exciting
(22:44):
journey books can be, you know,and just giving kids the
opportunity to have books thatare really interesting to them,
and how she just, you know, waslike, I can't wait for the next,
you know, the next adventure.
Like books to her, are such anadventure. And to like own and,
yeah, the creativity of it all.
So yeah, maybe we should haveher, have her on. And, yeah, I
TD Flenaugh (23:09):
think we should. We haven't had a kid on the
podcast. We need to have that.
Yeah, that'd be really fun.
Okay, I love that. Um, so whatwere some books that you had,
like, you know, that were like,helped you, like, deal with some
a teen, adolescence thing,anything like that for you, or
(23:31):
that stood out for you, thathelped you process something?
Lauren Moseley (23:35):
Yeah, um, I'll tell you. I, I always go back to
the fact that I was not anamazing reader, and I don't even
think I enjoyed it as much as Ididn't enjoy the pressure. I
felt like there was a lot ofpressure to read well and to be
able to answer comprehensionquestions afterwards. But I
(23:59):
remember getting into poetry andreally finding a lot of joy and
a lot of comfort, because reallythe the Shel Silverstein was,
like, my favorite, oh yeah,yeah. It was like, little
passages that hacked a punch.
You know, it wasn't a long,wasn't a lot, it wasn't chapters
and chapters and chapters ofreading, but these little short
(24:21):
stories and these little arts ofwork where words were important
and the flow and the rhythm ofwords, and I just remember
thinking, hey, you know, I'm,I'm kind of an, I think I
discovered that I was more of anartist, and that there was
something about the creation ofor how people put together words
(24:46):
that was really intriguing tome. And again, you know,
motivated me to keep trying.
Motivated me to learn new wordsand learn how to put words
together. In a way that thatrhymed or made a made a rhythm.
(25:06):
You know what I mean? Yeah, andI his characters that he, that
he drew, and so I just remember,you know, even trying to copy
some of the characters, andreally finding a lot of joy in
being a great artist, and eventoday, I'm pretty creative, and
I like to draw, and it made mefeel a little bit more
(25:28):
comfortable in being a studentand knowing that this quirky
kind of silly part of me, youknow, even though my teachers
didn't really appreciate it, youknow, that maybe one day I could
grow up to write poetry, or Icould grow up to write a song or
be an artist, and those werethings that, you know, I took a
(25:52):
lot of pride in, and I wasreally, you know, became kind of
good at, you know,
TD Flenaugh (25:58):
absolutely I love, I love that. I mean, for poetry,
I really started like in fourthgrade. Well, let's go to the
roots, right? I did like littleEaster poems and stuff like
that. So that's one of thethings I did in church, is
Easter poems. And somethingweird about me is that I was a
(26:21):
very, like, quiet child, like,even, like, even have a little
social phobia sometimes, like,very socially awkward. But one
thing is that if someone askedme to, like, do a speech, or to
sing in front of people orsomething like that, I would, I
would do it like that wasn't anissue, but, um, which I think,
(26:46):
you know, is not that common.
And so I, you know, I remember,like at church, sometimes they
would ask other kids to dothings, or my parents didn't go
to church with me when I wasreally little, so they didn't
really have a relationship withme, or my parent like to know
me. So the other, you know,families knew each other, and
(27:08):
the moms would visit each otheror whatever, and they would have
play dates and and so they wouldbe like, Oh, I have a song for
you. I have something for foryou know, because they knew each
other outside of church, but Iknow they didn't ask me, and I
was like, hey, but I never saidanything. I was very quiet. But
when I taught when I'm talkingto you about it, it makes me
(27:31):
think, like maybe they justthought I was very quiet or I'd
be too shy to do it, becauseit's not that common to be
quiet, to be a quiet or shyperson and then be like, Oh
yeah, I'll do a speech. I willread out loud. I will do, you
know, which I was just likehappy to do and still like to do
to this day. Um, but you know,obviously that's part of
(27:52):
reading. You read those you do.
You read it repeatedly. You addexpression. You really learn
what those words mean. And thenlater on, when I got into fourth
grade, I was in a speech contestdoing. Emily Dickinson, I don't
even remember that poem, becausethen the next year, fifth grade,
(28:13):
I was in a So Emily Dickinson, Iwas in Alaska. Fifth grade, I
was in Pomona. I moved to Pomonawith my mom, and I was in a
speech contest, and we did likeNegro dialect, and I did Paul
Laurence Dunbar's I did a speechcontest when I was doing it in
(28:36):
the Negro dialect that PaulLaurence Dunbar was writing his
poem in, and I did AngelinaJohnson, right? So it was about
Angelina Johnson come swingingdown the line. So it was about
like a wonderful like she was adancer. And then there was
another one I did later on,which like Melinda, when Melinda
(28:59):
sings. And that was also withPaul Laurence Dunbar, yeah. So I
really got into that. And thatalso, it was like interpretive
so you that had to do yourexpressions, you had to, you
know, you used Negro dialect andunderstanding that, and also
just learning how to, like,learn more about the culture.
(29:21):
Like people came to America notknowing English, right? And so
they were just like, using thelanguage as best they could. And
that's just like part of, youknow, why people, some people,
speak the way they do. And youknow, over time is, you know,
over the generations, it's lessand less of that, but it just
(29:41):
understanding where it comesfrom. Yeah, yeah. So it was,
like, my four way foray into,like, maybe do what I'm doing
today, like podcasting andstuff. Like just finding my
voice poetry was helpful inthat. Like, speaking up for
myself and and, you know, youknow. Discovering, you know, I
had something to say, and beingable to articulate my feelings,
(30:04):
emotions share with otherpeople. So, yeah, wow,
Lauren Moseley (30:11):
yeah. And I was thinking too, you know, being a
kid, that was very, you know, Iwasn't shy at all, but I needed
maybe a different type ofapproach in terms of teaching me
how to read. And so I rememberthinking, when I become a
teacher one day, I'm going tomake sure reading is fun. You
(30:34):
know, I went to Catholic schooland it was, it was not
necessarily fun. It did not lenditself. I was very outspoken, a
little bit of a wild child.
Sorry, sister Don John Dominic.
Don John, Don John Dominic washer name
TD Flenaugh (30:54):
So Don Johnson from Miami, Vice nurse Wayne.
Lauren Moseley (31:02):
Yeah. She I probably gave that lady a few
few white hairs. But, you know,just thinking about how I
learned and what what madelearning fun for me, I kind of
think now, as a teacher, thoseare the things that I
incorporate for my kids, like Inever want them to feel
embarrassed if they can't readvery well. And I always want to
(31:23):
make it fun. We do lots ofreaders, theater and great songs
into our day, and put the lyricsup on on the, you know, the
screen, so they can sing alongand, like, read the words too.
Just try to make kids see thatreading is, you know, it, it's
like a portal into into whateverland you want to go to, like
(31:48):
books can take you anywhere andto and to get it. Because I
think that's what I needed, andjust the freedom to create and
be creative. So I definitelylook at myself now and think,
yeah, I think my strengths werereally born out of the things
that were my weaknesses when Iwas a little kid.
TD Flenaugh (32:11):
That's, that's dope, like I was good way to
think about it. And I think likebringing it back to like, what
can you do for your kids? Ithink, that might be a way in,
right, like poetry or recitingpoetry. It might be a way in for
them to, like, you know,discover that they are more
(32:32):
artistic, or discovering thatthey like to speak in front of
others and they like to sharetheir message or perform or
whatever. So you know, even ifyou feel like they're quiet,
just ask if they're willing todo what they might they might be
like. Don't assume that kidswon't, because one thing doesn't
mean one another. Right beingquiet or shy in social
(32:56):
situations doesn't mean thatyou're not happy to get up and
perform and, you know, shareyour your voice and your talent.
So just try it out like askthem. Don't try to force them.
You might do it for them to showthem. You might take them where
other kids are doing it. Ormaybe they'll just be
(33:16):
comfortable doing it at home.
They may not do it anywhereelse, but, but it is a way that
we're thinking about differentavenues to help your kid to fall
in love with reading and to getinvolved with literature, and
for it just to be beyondsomething that they have to do
in school, right? Yeah, yeah,
Lauren Moseley (33:37):
yeah, make it a comic book, like turn something
that they're learning into acomic strip. I remember, I used
to love drawing pictures andputting the little speech
bubble, and that was another wayto kind of make it something
that was palatable for me, like,let me, let me create it in a
(33:58):
way that makes sense for me asa, you know, as an artist and as
someone who's kind of creativeand love the love the idea of
creating a story or retelling astory in my own way. So I think
that's really fun for kids toget, letting them get it, get
that opportunity to or, or takethe end of a story and turn it
(34:21):
in, like, what? What if? Yeah,what, what? What could you do at
the end of the story that wouldbe totally different, that would
totally turn the story on itshead, and giving kids the
freedom to do that,
TD Flenaugh (34:33):
yeah, that really makes me think about like I was
teaching. Some people call ithumanities. I actually never
called it that, but I was asixth grade English history
teacher for about 10 years or 10years, 11 years or so. And one
thing that we did is I did teachancient his ancient history that
(34:53):
you know, English and history,so ancient history, and when we
were learning about for. Sampledthe Silk Road, I had them learn
about the different perils, thedifferent dangers. There were
even bandits that came and stolethings from people, the kind of
animal that you would betraveling with through the
(35:14):
different types of terrain.
Sometimes you would have aBactrian camel. Sometimes you
would be on, you know, a mule ora horse or whatever. So after
they learned about these things,then I told them they needed to
create a silk road traveljournal. They were going to
prepare a journal to see, youknow, have characters like what
(35:34):
you know, because we knew thesedifferent countries were
interacting sometimes for thefirst time, through the silk,
you know, for these travel traderoutes. And so like, what is
your mode of transportation?
Where are you going? What do youbring with you? What's your
culture? You come from Italy?
Are you coming from Egypt? Whereare you coming from? What are
(35:54):
the name of your characters? Andthen we're gonna have at least
four journal entries to see,like, You got to have something
wrong that happens based on whatwe've learned about you know
that there may be a problem withfinding water. You're traveling
through the desert. You may youknow that you might get a bandit
that goes after you, whatever itis, right? And they loved, they
(36:15):
love these things. And theylike, sometimes they like to
kill some of the care. Like, Oh,he didn't make it. He stopped,
you know, he went and looked outand found him, you know, saw a
mirage, and kept going that way.
And there really was no waterthere, and we didn't catch, you
know, yeah, so they, they lovedto either kill the characters
(36:37):
or, you know, you know, figureout how they're going to take
care of themselves, learn basedon their learning. So getting
really creative about somethingfactual that they're learning
about, but how they can make itinto, like, a fictional story,
and they're really applyingtheir learning instead of like,
what are three ways that youmight have a problem in the
desert, right? Instead of that,like, No, my character, you
(37:02):
know, be Lyle, went on thedesert. He brought his blah,
blah, blah. We got caught in asandstorm, whatever it was. They
just love to do that. And so,you know, that was a way like to
bring into some creativity, butalso it was very much fact based
on what they were learning aswell.
Lauren Moseley (37:21):
See, I needed you as a teacher when I was a
kid, that's what I needed,because I was the one making up
the story. My teachers would belike, that's not what it said.
Yeah,
TD Flenaugh (37:37):
yeah. That was a great thing about teaching
English in history, like youcould put that narrative with
that informational right, like,that is historical fiction, like
we are going to travel on theSilk Road. And they just loved
it. It was just, it was one oftheir favorite things to do, to
talk about it. Think about thefood that they might bring.
(37:58):
What's unique to that region.
Who are they going to tradewith? You know what? They're
setting off on their mission togo and get so it was one of the
most fun we had teaching,teaching and the kids learning
about that
Lauren Moseley (38:12):
sounds like those. I survived books, which I
love, love, love, love. I wasalready teaching when those
books came out, but I wouldevery time there was an I
survived book. I'm like, guys,we're gonna read I survived 911
or I
TD Flenaugh (38:25):
survived I don't know that. I don't know that, so
we're gonna definitely put thatin the show notes. What are some
I survived books? Okay, so tellus more about that. It
Lauren Moseley (38:33):
sounds just like what you're talking about.
They're, they're non fictionstories with the fictional
character that are that's goingthrough, you know, escaping the
falling towers of 911 you know,it's not a it could have
happened, but the adventure issomething that's completely made
up, but it's in the time periodwhen some actual events are
(38:57):
really happening. So it's just avery creative way to approach,
you know, real history thatcould be dry and maybe distance
from kids, right, make it morerealistic, you know, because
sometimes the characters arekids, and you're following
character through thesedifferent, you know, situations
(39:17):
and, yeah, and it just, it justbrings it to life. It just gives
it a different feeling, becauseit's not just information that
you're getting that you're kindof separated from, but you
really get immersed in theexperience. So yes, I survive.
Love those books. Love them.
TD Flenaugh (39:37):
Love them. Well, I hope that you guys got some
great tips and strategies tohelp get your kids to fall in
love with reading and writingand literature, right. We thank
you for joining us today. Makesure you're doing something
today to give your children thecompetitive advantage. Thank you
Lauren Moseley (39:57):
and thank you.
This was great.
TD Flenaugh (39:58):
You. Thanks again for supporting the falling for
learning podcast. New episodesgo live every Saturday at 5pm
you can watch us on youtube.comat falling for learning or
listen on all major podcastplatforms, such as Apple,
(40:19):
Google, Audible, Spotify andmuch more for more resources,
visit falling in love withlearning.com. We really
appreciate you. Have a wonderfulweek. Thanks again for
supporting the falling forlearning podcast, new episodes
go live every Saturday at 5pmyou can watch us on youtube.com
(40:45):
at falling for learning, orlisten on all major podcast
platforms such as Apple, Google,Audible, Spotify and much more
for more resources, visitfalling in love with
learning.com we reallyappreciate you. Have a wonderful
week.
For the love of reading. So today we are going
to talk about our beautifulmemories we had as readers, and
then how you could recreate someof that with literature, and
we're going to get into all thedetails about our range of our
reading history. Okay, stickaround and get them tips you
(00:29):
need to make sure your child canfall in love with reading. Hi.
Thank you so much for joiningthe Falling for Learning
Podcast. We have this podcast tohelp parents and caregivers with
having the resources, strategiesand tools needed to make sure
that their children are on trackfor learning and to stay on
track for success. Welcome Ms.
Moseley for coming on to ourshow. We're gonna get into a
(00:54):
conversation about the love ofreading and all of like these
beautiful books that we used toread when we were kids. So what
was one of your like favoritebooks as a kid,
Lauren Moseley (01:10):
you know, um, I was, I think I shared with you
before I was not the bestreader, but I loved Dr Seuss. I
think that was one of the firstbooks that I could read. I think
it was Cat in the Hat. And Ireally loved it because it
rhymed and the characters weresilly, and the notion of a cat
(01:34):
in a hat and, you know, greeneggs and ham and just the
ridiculousness of it, so it justkind of took the pressure off of
me, feeling like reading had tobe serious and you had to read
correctly, and you had to havethe right pacing, and you had to
say all the words correct. Itjust made reading fun and okay
(01:57):
pressure. It was just fun, goodold fun, silliness
TD Flenaugh (02:01):
that is such, like a key ingredient, right? I
think, you know, there was anauthor that I heard speak, and
he was saying how, a lot ofpeople, you know, if they're
choosing books for kids, it's,it's like serious books or like
important information orimportant message, and when they
(02:21):
were, you know, asking kidslike, what do you want to read?
It was like, funny, gross stuffthat is, you know, fun, gross,
entertaining. That's the stuffthat they like, you know, maybe
a little scary, like things areon the edge. So I think one of
the key ingredients for helpingyour child to fall in love with
(02:43):
reading, and especially in thesummer months, when they have
more extended time to read, isjust thinking about their choice
and thinking about what might befun, interesting, funny and even
gross, right? Don't think interms of like, I'm not
interested in it. Like, notabout what you're interested in,
what they would be interestedin, taking them to the library
(03:05):
and being able to explore takingthem to bookstores. I say the
library. I mean, keep it cheap,you know. But if they if you
have to buy it, you know? Iguess so. But I would say
library. There's unlimited andthen you'll get tired of the
book, or you'll read the book,you look for another one and
there's more. So, yeah, that'sreally, what was your favorite?
(03:28):
So I really, like, if we'rethinking about early readers, I
was a, I can read books, person,right? Like, what we didn't
have, like, remember, I grew upin Alaska, we did not have,
like, the sweet pickles books orwhatever. But when I watched,
(03:50):
um, PBS or whatever that was, Iwas watching, and they were
like, sweet pickles books orsomething, I was like, Mom, I
want those sweet pickles bookslike I wanted it. I even said,
like, Thanks, mom, sweetpickles. And my mom hated it.
Later on, she told me she hatedit, but I loved saying that and
but I never have the sweetpickles books. I found some in a
(04:12):
library or, like, in a schoollibrary before, but we didn't
have sweet pickles books. But Idid get the I can read weekly
readers, Weekly Reader books. SoI did convince my mom to get the
book $7.65 per pack or whatever.
I don't know that we got thelittle books. They came in a
little box. So that was reallyexciting to me to get, like
(04:34):
these Weekly Reader books. Andmaybe they came once a month or
twice a month, I don't know, butI love those books. There was
like a little bear and we therewere several little bear books.
I can't remember. Was it aseries of No, no. They were like
book makers. You know how theyhave, like those golden books?
(04:58):
And. Had, like, the little So,yes, there's little golden
books, but these were calledWeekly Reader books, and you
could just, it was kind of like,I don't know if you guys know
about like those CD, but theonce a month CD, right? But
these were like, once a monthbooks, or they call it weekly
readers, but I don't think theycame every week, or if they I
(05:20):
guess you could choose the thefrequency or whatever, right? So
that was what I really liked. Ireally liked those Weekly Reader
books, and they were like and Ican read book like they were
leveled. And then I also wasable to my mom and I were
talking about how to bump it upwhen it got a little when I got,
(05:42):
you know, to a different stageof my reading development,
right? I was like, Oh, these arekind of easy. So now I could do
my own, like, book, because I'mgood at it, you know, I'm better
at reading. So I know littlebear was part of them, but for
what, oh, the frog and toad.
Frog and Toad was in that set aswell. So those were a couple of
(06:07):
the, you know. So it wasn't abook series. It was kind of like
a book maker or a publisher orsomething like that. And so I
got those books, and those keptme engaged, as well as the
library.
Lauren Moseley (06:20):
Yeah. So do you remember, um, getting highlight
books? To remember the highlightmagazines, I specifically
remember going on Saturday tothe beauty shop with my mom, and
they would have all of themagazines, and sometimes in
those magazines, they would havein the magazine rack, it would
be highlight books, and it wasbasically a kid's magazine. It
(06:43):
had articles about, I don't knownature, and then sometimes it
would have cartoons and it wouldhave puzzles. Yes,
TD Flenaugh (06:53):
you threw me off.
Yes, you threw me off. When yousaid, Do I remember getting the
Highlight books? And I was like,No, I didn't get those books. So
now, now what you're saying,Yes, I would see them in
different places. So I feel likemaybe my teacher had it in
there. Maybe they were in thedentist office. Yes, there are
different places. So yes, I doremember that. But when you
(07:13):
said, when you said, Do Iremember getting them like, no,
no, I can't believe I got theWeekly Reader books, because I
feel like we were like, a littlestruggling, you know, but my
mom, I mean, that was one thingthat I could kind of guilt trip
my mom into, and I've talkedabout this a little bit before,
is like, I need these books.
Like, Mom, I need the WeeklyReader I need. And I was not a
(07:41):
kid that asked for a lot ofstuff, either. And my
grandmother was also one whopointed that out, like, you
don't really ask for a lot ofstuff. So like, if you ask me,
I'll give it to you, because youdon't ask for a lot of stuff,
you know, because I kind of feellike, I felt like, okay, we're
struggling a little bit. Butwhen it came to the books, I was
like, I need this book, thisbook I need, and pretty much, if
(08:02):
I asked for a book, they gave itto me. But I did do a lot of
library books, right? Butcertain books I liked getting in
the mail and stuff like that.
So, yeah,
Lauren Moseley (08:14):
I remember we had the and I think they still
have the where you order thebooks you you send in your money
and you give it to your teacher.
TD Flenaugh (08:23):
Yes, book orders. I love that. Every once in a
while, like Scholastic, orsomething like that, it was
scholastic. Yeah, yeah, I thinkso. I think scholastic has
cornered the market, andScholastic, if you want to
sponsor us, we're here. Let's doit,
Lauren Moseley (08:41):
because I know I got a lot of every time there
was a Scholastic Book order,yeah, I ordered tons and tons of
books. And again, I wasn't agreat, great reader, but I
remember being very interestedin and I understood that reading
and writing had power. Iremember being super young, and
(09:02):
my neighbor next door thislittle old lady, I think her
name was Mrs. Gordon. And I toldmy friend, hey, I'm gonna write
a letter to Miss Gordon and askher for candy. Now, again,
barely knew how to read, barelyknew how to write, but I took a
piece of paper and I wrote loopsof what I guess were cursive
ease. And I just said, MissMorgan, we have been very good
(09:25):
today. Can we please have candy?
And I just figured if I spokewhile I did that, that's what
TD Flenaugh (09:30):
it said. Hold on.
Hold on one second. No, why wasMiss Morgan the one you were
asking for candy?
Lauren Moseley (09:38):
You know, she was always home. She was the
little old lady that lived nextdoor, and she was always at
home. She was always outside onher little front porch, and, you
know, sitting out theresweeping. And I just would
always see her, and I just feltlike she should be able to get
candy. He looked like some youmay have given me candy at one
point, and I just
TD Flenaugh (09:58):
figured she's now the. Source of candy,
Lauren Moseley (10:04):
motivator for me to learn how to write.
TD Flenaugh (10:06):
Because I did, yeah, I was very fluent in the
loops as well, right? That wascursive writing at one point,
the loop, loop, loop, and thissays this, and you just explain
it to people, right?
Lauren Moseley (10:21):
And I realized that it did not say what I
thought it said, because when Igave this, she looked at it and
smiled and closed the door anddidn't come back out with candy
at all. So I figured I need toreally learn how to write,
because
TD Flenaugh (10:37):
the power, the need to communicate was there, right?
Because you did not get yourrequest fulfilled. Okay, okay,
all right,
Lauren Moseley (10:49):
books. Books were my thing. And I even have
my mom keeps everything, okay,if you go and look in her attic,
or, you know, open up some ofthose boxes in the garage. Some
of my old books are still there.
Okay, literally keeps everything
TD Flenaugh (11:07):
so an early author, okay, we're hearing more about
your gifts. Okay, so I talkedabout early books, like those
weekly readers, but what reallywas, what really helped me with
reading like really drew me in.
Further into reading was likethose Judy Blume books I did go
through the I did go through,like the Beverly Cleary books,
(11:31):
like Ramona and bees Beezus.
They were very funny. But Ithink Judy Blume, you know, she
would write about things that Iwasn't ready to talk about. But,
of course, I was thinking aboutit. I was curious about it. You
know, are you there? God, it'sme. Margaret, one of, like, my
(11:53):
favorite, my parents were like,arguing at the time. And I have
this book where people's parentsare are, you know, divorcing.
And, you know, I even, it evenhelped me like to like, as my
parents were arguing, there was,like, a split between my
parents. For a little bit, I wasfeeling a little bit, matter of
(12:13):
fact, like it's kind ofhappened. Sometimes it happened
differently in my family.
Obviously, then, you know,obviously, there's going to be
differences, but it made me feellike I could handle this, or
like, you know, this happens toother people, you know. So I
think that, you know, likingboys, you know. I think there
(12:34):
was even a chance I must, Imust, I must, my best. Yes, yes,
yeah. These are things thatlittle girl, I didn't I did not,
you know, no, but just knowingthat someone else out there, you
know, because that's veryembarrassing to talk about, that
(12:55):
you want bigger boobs, or youwant boobs, right? And then,
like, just the weight, right?
And then, you know, other peopleare, they're popping them out,
and you're, you're not gettingthem popping out, not not, but
you could just see themdeveloping, is what I'm trying
to say, yes. And I was waitingto develop, you know. And it was
(13:16):
like taking forever, and, youknow, of course, forever, maybe,
you know, six months when you're12, or, you know, you're like,
is it here? Are they here yet?
Are they coming yet? Are they,you know, but I didn't have any
growth spurts. I'm a prettysmall person. I've been small,
and I'm the person who growsout, wears out my clothes. I
(13:38):
don't really grow out ofclothes, like, once I'm Yeah,
yeah, once I am done with them,I've had them so long, you know,
when I was a kid that usuallynobody else would have them,
because I don't. I didn't reallyhave growth spurts. I was, I
grew small me, you know, alittle bit. So it was a lot of
(13:58):
waiting. I didn't have a growthspurt, you know. So it was a lot
of waiting for and I would feellike other girls were just
overnight, you know? I felt likeI noticed that they had some
development. And I didn't, youknow, my wife was very snail
pace, snail pace for me. So JudyBlume helped me, you know,
(14:22):
writing about it, talking aboutit, because I'd be definitely,
like, definitely afraid oftalking to anyone about that,
you know, development and all ofthat. Another book, Philip Hall
likes me, I reckon, maybe right.
Another book, not Judy Blume,but you know a black girl, and
(14:46):
you know, again, you have anidea. You know, you know, when
you're attracted to someone,they're attracted to you. Are
they attracted to you? Maybethey are, I think perhaps,
maybe. And that title said itall. All right? Philip Hall
likes me, I reckon maybe, like,I'm sure he does, but I'm not
sure, like, you know, in thatjust how to deal with that and
(15:08):
just how to think about that,and also, like, you're not
crazy, like, other people arehaving these same kind of
thoughts and these same kind offeelings, right? And again, it
just helps you to, like, dealwith things, right? Because I'm
was a fairly quiet kid, like,very much, like internal dialog
driving myself crazy, right?
Because I also haveperfectionism, and then also
(15:30):
just, you're the star in yourown life, and you just think,
this is the only, you're theonly person in the world that's
dealing with these things,right? Feeling this, and then
reading about it, you're like,Okay, this is kind of normal,
right?
Lauren Moseley (15:51):
Oh, I remember, I remember those. I think my
favorite one was, was eithertales of the fourth grade
nothing, or what's the one wherehe has the little, the little
super fudge. And I rememberdoing a book report on Super
fudge, and as part of my, Idon't know, I wanted to give
(16:11):
out, I think it was chocolatecovered worms. That was
something in the book where thekid ate some worms. And so I
literally made, I took someTootsie Rolls and rolled them
out to look like worms, and Ipassed them out my classmates to
pretend like they were eatingworms, all into not only did I
want to present my book report,but I wanted to make it
(16:33):
memorable, and I think socreative. Yeah, I do remember
doing I'm impressed. Yes, I wasquite theatrical in my
presentation. That was great.
TD Flenaugh (16:46):
I would have thought about that. Me, I'm
like, the type that will starttalking about the book, and then
TD tell you all about the bookand like, and then in chapter
two, and then what happened inthis like, so I've told you the
whole book, so that was more meand my brother was like, be
quiet, you know, like Ana, let'stalk about some real things that
(17:07):
happened, like, but this book,um, and I still really like
stories and stuff like that too.
Um, so thinking about, like, howto, like, recreate some of this
for your kid, right? Like, havebooks right that have like crazy
stuff in it, like, you know, thethe worm sandwich, or whatever
it was, I remember, I don'texactly remember what they're
(17:31):
called, but yes, they had, likeworms, recreating some of the
things in the story exactly withmy daughter. I love the library,
and because we could get two ofthose books, so I could read a
book and she could read a book,I feel like it's so important
for them to own the book.
Owning. Owning means that I'mnot holding the book for them
(17:54):
and pointing to the word forthem. She has her own book. She
is looking at it. She's pointingat it. She's reading it. I read
a little bit. She reads a littlebit. You know, it's not a big
deal. She makes a mistake. Helpher with the word, just creating
a fun environment. And then, youknow, as teenagers, or pre
(18:16):
teens, right? Because a lot oftimes this is when they start
reading the books when they'repre teens, kind of directing
them towards books that you'llhear like that are great for pre
teens that'll approach thesetopics, because kids aren't
going to talk to you about it,unless you just are one of those
gifted parents, or just arelucky enough to have that open
relationship with your child,having a book or something like
(18:39):
that for them to talk about orto think about or process some
of these feelings, is soimportant, and it'll help them
fall in love with with reading,because it's talking about
things that they're interestedin. Because ultimately, the way
we talk to them about it isprobably going to be a little
preachy, is going to be a littlebit outdated, but being able to
(19:01):
approach it to someone else'seyes and see how they deal with
it is going to help them dealwith it. So I think sometimes we
think about reading as such aserious thing, it is serious,
but we also have to think aboutlike, the social, emotional
benefits of reading, because itreally helps the kids, maybe not
open up, but actually open uptheir mind. They may not open up
(19:24):
to you, but they'll open uptheir mind about how to deal
with things. And it really doesmake them wiser, because they're
processing their ideas. They'rethinking about their thinking.
They're looking at how someonehandled something that was
really bad, right in the book,and then they're really making
an idea about how they'll dealwith this or or how they'll
(19:45):
approach it in a thoughtful way.
The rewrite method and therewrite method workbook are your
go to resource for helping kidsto learn, to feel. Fall in love
with writing. It has the tips,tools, resources, strategies and
skill building activities tohelp kids fall out of writing,
(20:11):
hoot and into loving to write.
Get your book set today,
Lauren Moseley (20:29):
right, right. I was with my goddaughter, and she
had a book and it said IRL onthe cover. And I was like, What
is IRL? And, you know, she saidit's, it's, it's in real life.
And I'm like, what does thatmean? And so she's Tell me a
little bit about this book, andI'm not going to give it away,
(20:49):
because, you know, I definitelywant people to to to read it
themselves. But this book was sointeresting how she explained
the main character is a kid whois in Alaska and is online
learning, and the kids in herclassroom are, I guess I could
(21:11):
tell you this part, they arethey're not alive. And I thought
that's really creepy. Are you?
Are you okay with this? Soundsreally, really creepy. And, you
know, she starts telling me alittle bit about this book, but
it's so fascinating about howshe's she's in and, you know,
developing relationships likekids do with these kids, and
(21:34):
they're all online, and at somepoint, the kids have to go back
into in person learning, andthat's when you discover that
these kids are not kids, they'reghosts. And my I
TD Flenaugh (21:48):
think you're giving away too much. You definitely
need to have, we need to haveyour niece on about right? Okay,
you
Lauren Moseley (21:56):
still have to read the whole thing, but I'm
saying how she was so investedin it, and invested in the
characters, and her eyes justlit up when she was explaining.
She's like, and then, and thenthis happened, and then this and
I'm like, Oh my gosh. So Irealized, wow, you know, just to
have something that is fantasyand where you have to figure
things out, and you're, you'relike, what's real and what's,
(22:19):
what's, you know, what is notreal, and trying to figure out
what characters are real people,and, you know, are there hints
and clues? And so it was. I justfelt like it was such a mental
exercise reading this book. Youknow, I looked through some of
the chapters just to read itreally quickly so I could be as
excited as she was, but I justthought, Wow, what an exciting
(22:44):
journey books can be, you know,and just giving kids the
opportunity to have books thatare really interesting to them,
and how she just, you know, waslike, I can't wait for the next,
you know, the next adventure.
Like books to her, are such anadventure. And to like own and,
yeah, the creativity of it all.
So yeah, maybe we should haveher, have her on. And, yeah, I
TD Flenaugh (23:09):
think we should. We haven't had a kid on the
podcast. We need to have that.
Yeah, that'd be really fun.
Okay, I love that. Um, so whatwere some books that you had,
like, you know, that were like,helped you, like, deal with some
a teen, adolescence thing,anything like that for you, or
(23:31):
that stood out for you, thathelped you process something?
Lauren Moseley (23:35):
Yeah, um, I'll tell you. I, I always go back to
the fact that I was not anamazing reader, and I don't even
think I enjoyed it as much as Ididn't enjoy the pressure. I
felt like there was a lot ofpressure to read well and to be
able to answer comprehensionquestions afterwards. But I
(23:59):
remember getting into poetry andreally finding a lot of joy and
a lot of comfort, because reallythe the Shel Silverstein was,
like, my favorite, oh yeah,yeah. It was like, little
passages that hacked a punch.
You know, it wasn't a long,wasn't a lot, it wasn't chapters
and chapters and chapters ofreading, but these little short
(24:21):
stories and these little arts ofwork where words were important
and the flow and the rhythm ofwords, and I just remember
thinking, hey, you know, I'm,I'm kind of an, I think I
discovered that I was more of anartist, and that there was
something about the creation ofor how people put together words
(24:46):
that was really intriguing tome. And again, you know,
motivated me to keep trying.
Motivated me to learn new wordsand learn how to put words
together. In a way that thatrhymed or made a made a rhythm.
(25:06):
You know what I mean? Yeah, andI his characters that he, that
he drew, and so I just remember,you know, even trying to copy
some of the characters, andreally finding a lot of joy in
being a great artist, and eventoday, I'm pretty creative, and
I like to draw, and it made mefeel a little bit more
(25:28):
comfortable in being a studentand knowing that this quirky
kind of silly part of me, youknow, even though my teachers
didn't really appreciate it, youknow, that maybe one day I could
grow up to write poetry, or Icould grow up to write a song or
be an artist, and those werethings that, you know, I took a
(25:52):
lot of pride in, and I wasreally, you know, became kind of
good at, you know,
TD Flenaugh (25:58):
absolutely I love, I love that. I mean, for poetry,
I really started like in fourthgrade. Well, let's go to the
roots, right? I did like littleEaster poems and stuff like
that. So that's one of thethings I did in church, is
Easter poems. And somethingweird about me is that I was a
(26:21):
very, like, quiet child, like,even, like, even have a little
social phobia sometimes, like,very socially awkward. But one
thing is that if someone askedme to, like, do a speech, or to
sing in front of people orsomething like that, I would, I
would do it like that wasn't anissue, but, um, which I think,
(26:46):
you know, is not that common.
And so I, you know, I remember,like at church, sometimes they
would ask other kids to dothings, or my parents didn't go
to church with me when I wasreally little, so they didn't
really have a relationship withme, or my parent like to know
me. So the other, you know,families knew each other, and
(27:08):
the moms would visit each otheror whatever, and they would have
play dates and and so they wouldbe like, Oh, I have a song for
you. I have something for foryou know, because they knew each
other outside of church, but Iknow they didn't ask me, and I
was like, hey, but I never saidanything. I was very quiet. But
when I taught when I'm talkingto you about it, it makes me
(27:31):
think, like maybe they justthought I was very quiet or I'd
be too shy to do it, becauseit's not that common to be
quiet, to be a quiet or shyperson and then be like, Oh
yeah, I'll do a speech. I willread out loud. I will do, you
know, which I was just likehappy to do and still like to do
to this day. Um, but you know,obviously that's part of
(27:52):
reading. You read those you do.
You read it repeatedly. You addexpression. You really learn
what those words mean. And thenlater on, when I got into fourth
grade, I was in a speech contestdoing. Emily Dickinson, I don't
even remember that poem, becausethen the next year, fifth grade,
(28:13):
I was in a So Emily Dickinson, Iwas in Alaska. Fifth grade, I
was in Pomona. I moved to Pomonawith my mom, and I was in a
speech contest, and we did likeNegro dialect, and I did Paul
Laurence Dunbar's I did a speechcontest when I was doing it in
(28:36):
the Negro dialect that PaulLaurence Dunbar was writing his
poem in, and I did AngelinaJohnson, right? So it was about
Angelina Johnson come swingingdown the line. So it was about
like a wonderful like she was adancer. And then there was
another one I did later on,which like Melinda, when Melinda
(28:59):
sings. And that was also withPaul Laurence Dunbar, yeah. So I
really got into that. And thatalso, it was like interpretive
so you that had to do yourexpressions, you had to, you
know, you used Negro dialect andunderstanding that, and also
just learning how to, like,learn more about the culture.
(29:21):
Like people came to America notknowing English, right? And so
they were just like, using thelanguage as best they could. And
that's just like part of, youknow, why people, some people,
speak the way they do. And youknow, over time is, you know,
over the generations, it's lessand less of that, but it just
(29:41):
understanding where it comesfrom. Yeah, yeah. So it was,
like, my four way foray into,like, maybe do what I'm doing
today, like podcasting andstuff. Like just finding my
voice poetry was helpful inthat. Like, speaking up for
myself and and, you know, youknow. Discovering, you know, I
had something to say, and beingable to articulate my feelings,
(30:04):
emotions share with otherpeople. So, yeah, wow,
Lauren Moseley (30:11):
yeah. And I was thinking too, you know, being a
kid, that was very, you know, Iwasn't shy at all, but I needed
maybe a different type ofapproach in terms of teaching me
how to read. And so I rememberthinking, when I become a
teacher one day, I'm going tomake sure reading is fun. You
(30:34):
know, I went to Catholic schooland it was, it was not
necessarily fun. It did not lenditself. I was very outspoken, a
little bit of a wild child.
Sorry, sister Don John Dominic.
Don John, Don John Dominic washer name
TD Flenaugh (30:54):
So Don Johnson from Miami, Vice nurse Wayne.
Lauren Moseley (31:02):
Yeah. She I probably gave that lady a few
few white hairs. But, you know,just thinking about how I
learned and what what madelearning fun for me, I kind of
think now, as a teacher, thoseare the things that I
incorporate for my kids, like Inever want them to feel
embarrassed if they can't readvery well. And I always want to
(31:23):
make it fun. We do lots ofreaders, theater and great songs
into our day, and put the lyricsup on on the, you know, the
screen, so they can sing alongand, like, read the words too.
Just try to make kids see thatreading is, you know, it, it's
like a portal into into whateverland you want to go to, like
(31:48):
books can take you anywhere andto and to get it. Because I
think that's what I needed, andjust the freedom to create and
be creative. So I definitelylook at myself now and think,
yeah, I think my strengths werereally born out of the things
that were my weaknesses when Iwas a little kid.
TD Flenaugh (32:11):
That's, that's dope, like I was good way to
think about it. And I think likebringing it back to like, what
can you do for your kids? Ithink, that might be a way in,
right, like poetry or recitingpoetry. It might be a way in for
them to, like, you know,discover that they are more
(32:32):
artistic, or discovering thatthey like to speak in front of
others and they like to sharetheir message or perform or
whatever. So you know, even ifyou feel like they're quiet,
just ask if they're willing todo what they might they might be
like. Don't assume that kidswon't, because one thing doesn't
mean one another. Right beingquiet or shy in social
(32:56):
situations doesn't mean thatyou're not happy to get up and
perform and, you know, shareyour your voice and your talent.
So just try it out like askthem. Don't try to force them.
You might do it for them to showthem. You might take them where
other kids are doing it. Ormaybe they'll just be
(33:16):
comfortable doing it at home.
They may not do it anywhereelse, but, but it is a way that
we're thinking about differentavenues to help your kid to fall
in love with reading and to getinvolved with literature, and
for it just to be beyondsomething that they have to do
in school, right? Yeah, yeah,
Lauren Moseley (33:37):
yeah, make it a comic book, like turn something
that they're learning into acomic strip. I remember, I used
to love drawing pictures andputting the little speech
bubble, and that was another wayto kind of make it something
that was palatable for me, like,let me, let me create it in a
(33:58):
way that makes sense for me asa, you know, as an artist and as
someone who's kind of creativeand love the love the idea of
creating a story or retelling astory in my own way. So I think
that's really fun for kids toget, letting them get it, get
that opportunity to or, or takethe end of a story and turn it
(34:21):
in, like, what? What if? Yeah,what, what? What could you do at
the end of the story that wouldbe totally different, that would
totally turn the story on itshead, and giving kids the
freedom to do that,
TD Flenaugh (34:33):
yeah, that really makes me think about like I was
teaching. Some people call ithumanities. I actually never
called it that, but I was asixth grade English history
teacher for about 10 years or 10years, 11 years or so. And one
thing that we did is I did teachancient his ancient history that
(34:53):
you know, English and history,so ancient history, and when we
were learning about for. Sampledthe Silk Road, I had them learn
about the different perils, thedifferent dangers. There were
even bandits that came and stolethings from people, the kind of
animal that you would betraveling with through the
(35:14):
different types of terrain.
Sometimes you would have aBactrian camel. Sometimes you
would be on, you know, a mule ora horse or whatever. So after
they learned about these things,then I told them they needed to
create a silk road traveljournal. They were going to
prepare a journal to see, youknow, have characters like what
(35:34):
you know, because we knew thesedifferent countries were
interacting sometimes for thefirst time, through the silk,
you know, for these travel traderoutes. And so like, what is
your mode of transportation?
Where are you going? What do youbring with you? What's your
culture? You come from Italy?
Are you coming from Egypt? Whereare you coming from? What are
(35:54):
the name of your characters? Andthen we're gonna have at least
four journal entries to see,like, You got to have something
wrong that happens based on whatwe've learned about you know
that there may be a problem withfinding water. You're traveling
through the desert. You may youknow that you might get a bandit
that goes after you, whatever itis, right? And they loved, they
(36:15):
love these things. And theylike, sometimes they like to
kill some of the care. Like, Oh,he didn't make it. He stopped,
you know, he went and looked outand found him, you know, saw a
mirage, and kept going that way.
And there really was no waterthere, and we didn't catch, you
know, yeah, so they, they lovedto either kill the characters
(36:37):
or, you know, you know, figureout how they're going to take
care of themselves, learn basedon their learning. So getting
really creative about somethingfactual that they're learning
about, but how they can make itinto, like, a fictional story,
and they're really applyingtheir learning instead of like,
what are three ways that youmight have a problem in the
desert, right? Instead of that,like, No, my character, you
(37:02):
know, be Lyle, went on thedesert. He brought his blah,
blah, blah. We got caught in asandstorm, whatever it was. They
just love to do that. And so,you know, that was a way like to
bring into some creativity, butalso it was very much fact based
on what they were learning aswell.
Lauren Moseley (37:21):
See, I needed you as a teacher when I was a
kid, that's what I needed,because I was the one making up
the story. My teachers would belike, that's not what it said.
Yeah,
TD Flenaugh (37:37):
yeah. That was a great thing about teaching
English in history, like youcould put that narrative with
that informational right, like,that is historical fiction, like
we are going to travel on theSilk Road. And they just loved
it. It was just, it was one oftheir favorite things to do, to
talk about it. Think about thefood that they might bring.
(37:58):
What's unique to that region.
Who are they going to tradewith? You know what? They're
setting off on their mission togo and get so it was one of the
most fun we had teaching,teaching and the kids learning
about that
Lauren Moseley (38:12):
sounds like those. I survived books, which I
love, love, love, love. I wasalready teaching when those
books came out, but I wouldevery time there was an I
survived book. I'm like, guys,we're gonna read I survived 911
or I
TD Flenaugh (38:25):
survived I don't know that. I don't know that, so
we're gonna definitely put thatin the show notes. What are some
I survived books? Okay, so tellus more about that. It
Lauren Moseley (38:33):
sounds just like what you're talking about.
They're, they're non fictionstories with the fictional
character that are that's goingthrough, you know, escaping the
falling towers of 911 you know,it's not a it could have
happened, but the adventure issomething that's completely made
up, but it's in the time periodwhen some actual events are
(38:57):
really happening. So it's just avery creative way to approach,
you know, real history thatcould be dry and maybe distance
from kids, right, make it morerealistic, you know, because
sometimes the characters arekids, and you're following
character through thesedifferent, you know, situations
(39:17):
and, yeah, and it just, it justbrings it to life. It just gives
it a different feeling, becauseit's not just information that
you're getting that you're kindof separated from, but you
really get immersed in theexperience. So yes, I survive.
Love those books. Love them.
TD Flenaugh (39:37):
Love them. Well, I hope that you guys got some
great tips and strategies tohelp get your kids to fall in
love with reading and writingand literature, right. We thank
you for joining us today. Makesure you're doing something
today to give your children thecompetitive advantage. Thank you
Lauren Moseley (39:57):
and thank you.
This was great.
TD Flenaugh (39:58):
You. Thanks again for supporting the falling for
learning podcast. New episodesgo live every Saturday at 5pm
you can watch us on youtube.comat falling for learning or
listen on all major podcastplatforms, such as Apple,
(40:19):
Google, Audible, Spotify andmuch more for more resources,
visit falling in love withlearning.com. We really
appreciate you. Have a wonderfulweek. Thanks again for
supporting the falling forlearning podcast, new episodes
go live every Saturday at 5pmyou can watch us on youtube.com
(40:45):
at falling for learning, orlisten on all major podcast
platforms such as Apple, Google,Audible, Spotify and much more
for more resources, visitfalling in love with
learning.com we reallyappreciate you. Have a wonderful
week.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.