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Show PAGE 10 • SUU PREVIEW 1993 Reading Conference aids in teaching SUU education students help more than 100 C'hildren each year with reading. Reading Clinic serves two-fold purpose at SUU Although there are some in our ociety who feel that reading is on the decline, one wouldn't imagine so by peeking into SUU's Reading Clinic, located in historic Old Main Bujlding. The Clinic, under the direction of Linda Marriott, is a bustling center of learning each weekday afternoon as it serves some 120 youngsters per year in the remediation of reading problems as well as helping readers become even better. "We have a wide range of clientele," says Marriott, "including elementary, middle school and high. school studen and even some adults, who find later in life that omehow they slipped by without reading skills and now want to learn." She says that the process is generally more timeconsuming for adults but is easier because the older students have a great desire to learn. The Clinic utilizes a vast amount of resources, including computer software that use such plans as games for reinforcement and motivation. In addition to aiding readers or would-be readers, the Clinic helps SUU's future reading teach rs as well, who, in effect, are already reading teachers by working under supervision in the facility. Those students are SUU junior with a reading minor who are enrolled in ED 410 or 411. The students' work in the clinic serves as lab hours. SUU is sponsoring its 13th Annual Reading Conference on July 8 and 9, 1993. University students, parents, elementary and secondary classroom teachers, resource teachers, and reading educators are invited to attend. Anyone Interested in education will benefit from the conference, says Linda Marriott, reading conference director. The workshops will provide ideas for improving teaching skills and reading programs. '"Exploring New Horizons in Reading' will be the theme," Marriott says, "and, we will have specialists in reading, language arts, and special education present more than 30 workshops throughout the two-day conference. We have p resenters coming from all over Utah and from as far away as Ohio and Arizona." The featured keynote speaker will be Lois Lowry, winner of the 1990 ewbery Award for her book Number the Stars. Her numerous children's works include Autumn Street; Rabble Starkey; Your Move, J.P.; and the popular series about Anastasia Krupnik. She brings her love of movies, music, Hower gardens, and boo.ks to the conference. Her experience as a journalist, photographer, author, mother, and grandmother provide a rich background as a storyteller. Thursday, July 8, Welsford H. "Gus" Oark will also present a keynote address. Mr. Clark is an assistant professor of education at Brigham Young University pecializing in children's literature. He has been honored by Brigham Young University as Professor of the Year. In addition, he has received the "Brigham Award" and "Excellence in Teaching Award ." Mr. Clark enjoys collecting children' books, antiques, and Utah art. Both teachers and students have complimented Professor Clark on his humorous presentations. Participants must prepare early for one of the most popular opportuniti at the conference, Marriott says. "The 1dea Exchange' is a great opportunity for people to exchange copies of their favorite reading or language arts activities or strategies. For example, if participants brings 50 copies of their idea they can trade with others and receive approximately 50 ideas in return." Lois Lowry is the featured keynote speaker for the 1993 Reading Conference at SUU. Book publishers and other organizations will exhibit their programs and materials also. An author's award luncheon is scheduled for July 9 at 1 p.m., and will be held in the new Steve Gilbert Great Hall, located in the Haze Hunter Conference Center. Ms. Lowry will speak to the group and also be available to autograph copies of her books. Students who attend can also receive coll ge credit. Registration for SUU 1 credit ED 492 (undergraduate) is $70; SUU 1 credit ED 590 (graduate) is $70; USU 1 Credit ED 656 (graduate master's) is $95; and tickets for the author's award luncheon are $8.50. To register or obtain further information, contact Linda Marriott, 586-7814, at Old Main 209,351 West Center, Cedar City, UT 84720. Humanities provi~e essential background for all studies James Harrison begins his Humanities 101 cla ses by reminding students of that wonderful scene near the beginning of Dead Poets' Society when John Keating says, "I see that look in your eye that none of this has anything to do with going to business school, right? Medicine, law, business, engineering-these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love--these are what we live for." Harrison and other SUU humanities teachers teach th ir classes as if they are essential to the educational experience. Why? Because they are. The purpose of humanities not to help students gain technical proficiency in one area, but to introduce them to a number of disciplines which direct the use of technical knowledge. "The most important decisions we make as human beings," says Harrison, "are not the technical decisions, although they are incredibly important. The really important moments in our life are when we wrestle with the questions: What is good? What is just? What is true contentment? What does the ideal state look like and how can I help to establish it? How much time should I spend on myself and how much should I spend on others? How should I deal with illness? What is courage? These and questions like them are not dealt with in classes that train students in the techniques of their specialty, but they are crucial to a happy, complete 1ife. II Humanities courses, says Harrison, teach students how to set about finding their own solutions to those knotty problems of life. Humanities 101 concerns itself with the kind of .knowledge Montaigne had in mind when he observed, "A pupil should be taught what it means to know something and what it means not to know it; what should be the design and end of tudy; what vaJor, temperance and justice are; the difference between ambition and greed, loyalty and servitude, liberty and license; and the marks of true and solid contentment." SUU offers several courses in humanities, beginning with HU 101, Introduction to Humanities, which can be used to fulfill a general education requirement and is offered year-round at the university. Others are Philosophy of Values: Truth, Goodness and Beauty; Philosophy of Language: Introduction to Logic; Medieval World View; Shakespeare and the James Harrison teaches that humanities are an essential Renaissance; The West and Wilderness; and The aspect of education. European Enlightenment and its Reflexes. |