Campfire Tip #9: Read Books!
I’ve had a taste of what it’s like to grow up in rural Virginia because I’ve read Bridge to Terabithia.
I know how veterinarians assist cows giving birth because I’ve read All Creatures Great and Small.
I’ve seen how humans and octopuses can develop friendships because I’ve read The Soul of an Octopus.
I have insights into the class structure of late eighteenth century England because I’ve read Sense and Sensibility.
While these tidbits about life might seem inconsequential (how often do you need to know the ins and outs of human-octopus friendship?), when added together, they represent my fund of knowledge about the world. A fund of knowledge means all of the abilities, cultural insights, and information people glean just from living life—and from reading books.
When the time comes for students to learn—to synthesize their relationships and experiences and readings—nothing is more important than their fund of knowledge. Making sense of new information without a prior foundation of learning is like trying to jump in sand; you can get a little air, but you’d go much higher from solid ground. This foundation provides a framework with which to interpret the world.
Not only is a fund of knowledge essential for processing new information, but it also nourishes students’ creation of their own big ideas. Forming ideas from a blank slate is nearly impossible. From a base of learning, however—that’s a different story. Just as flour and eggs and sugar are essential ingredients for a cake, stories and settings and characters are the ingredients for forming original ideas. We need fodder to gently daydream and boldly imagine.
This fodder stems both from living vicariously through characters and from one’s own experiences. In class, I get excited when students connect an element of literature to their own lives, like dance class or theater or swim team. They’re drawing on their fund of knowledge and making literature come alive!
With every new adventure, be it through story or experience, a student’s fund of knowledge gets a little deeper, a little wider. My hope is that as students learn more about the world, they also learn more about themselves—and harness the courage it takes to voice their big ideas.
~Claire S.