Mary Jo Fresch provides edification to teachers and students across the country.
Edification, as she might define in one of her 20 education books published for teachers, is the process by which one gains greater understanding of something. Fresch says learning vocabulary words is best when given context – so, there you have it. Fresch offers edification through her knowledge of the education world and how best to reach kids through literacy.
Fresch has lived in Dublin since 1988, although she took three years off to live in Melbourne, Australia with her husband after he was transferred at work. They returned in 1995 and have been in the same house ever since.
As a retired professor of The Ohio State University for the College of Education and Human Ecology, Fresch has done her fair share of research and studying about how to best teach the youth of America.
Her 20 books include but are not limited to vocabulary, spelling, picture books and more. Her most recent work, Empowering Students’ Knowledge of Vocabulary, which she co-authored with David L. Harrison, will go to schools and teachers across the country.
“I really love talking about words and getting kids excited about the English language,” she says. “The more words they know, the better it is when they go to write and read.”
It’s Fresch’s job to think about learning in a way most people don’t. For example, she says that spelling shouldn’t just be about memorizing a word.
“You need to have some strategy,” she says. “Just memorizing a word is like memorizing a phone number – you can memorize the sequence of letters, but you didn’t really learn the words.”
Instead, she says, teachers can associate a memory with a word so it will stick in kid’s minds.
“What we’re doing as teachers is to make the students more independent in their reading and writing,” Fresch says. “We can give them the strategies to do that.”
A facet of learning that has changed in her years in education is the use of nonfiction books. Fresch says schools are implementing more nonfiction literature into younger grades so they can learn to read while also getting facts about social studies and science.
Reading the Room
Fresch, of course, is the biggest advocate of reading. She realizes all kids have different book preferences and encourages parents to find out what their child’s is.
Fresch and her family.
Her own grandkids mimic Fresch’s love of literature and are always eager to talk shop when they see her.
“One grandson of mine is reading Charlotte’s Web,” she says, “and so, he and I were talking about how good it is. They know grandma loves reading.”
She says in any household, if a parent shows an interest in something, the kids will pick up on it. Because Fresch’s grandchildren know she values reading, they constantly are bringing her homemade books and showing off their storytelling skills.
“You don’t have to be an expert on reading and writing around children,” she says. “You just have to be excited about it.”
That being said, Statista’s 2019 study stating that 75 percent of U.S. adults read at least one book in the year is uplifting, as well as the fact that Americans spend around $110 per year on reading.
Fresch doesn’t downplay the increased use of online reading and knows that digital literacy has a lot of opportunities for readers to go in different directions.
“You can click on a word, and a picture or separate story might come up,” she says. “There’s an opportunity for more engagement.”
Passing on Passion
Fresch having fun with bilingual teachers in Odessa, TX.
Fresch was an avid reader as a child, the kind who stayed up late and hid underneath her covers with a flashlight with a pile of books. She says her parents were also big on literature, and she even still had some of her dad’s old books from the early '20s.
“You see the power if that,” she says. “If, as a child, you see an activity valued, then you’ll emulate it.”
Now here she is with a whole family of readers and 20 published books to her name. Fresch thought she might be done with book writing for a bit after her most recent project, although she still loves blogging and writing in her spare time. However, she just received an email from her friend who prompted the idea of writing a book about partner reading and hopped right back into it.
“I’m always trying to unlock that passion for words and reading with students,” she says. “I’m interested in being part of that in any way I can.”
Top Picks
It’s almost impossible for Fresch to recommend books for young to middle grade kids.
“I think you have to pick favorites based on who you’re recommending them to,” she says.
While she believes there is a canon of books every child should read, such as The One and Only Ivan and Charlotte’s Web, Fresch knows not all kids are going to like them.
“I’d hate to have kids reading something because we told them they have to,” she says. “If they are going to independently read, you have to let them lead the way. There’s a better chance they’ll read if they have choice.”
Mallory Arnold is an editor. Feedback welcome at marnold@cityscenemediagroup.com.
