Literacy

According to an article in Converge, a report by North Central Regional Educational Laboratory and the Meteiri Group entitled “enGauge 21st Century Skills: Literacy in the Digital Age,” literacy, the basic ability to read, still counts, among other things.  I should hope so. I think that children today read a great deal more than we think they do: they are constantly in touch with each other, and have invented an entirely new version of short hand. Text messaging has it’s own ciphers and protocols. The ciphers are cross generational, the protocols probably aren’t. I’m not a big txt msgr. I do work with young children, and my own children text, blog, write, and read all the time. In order to use today’s techno tools, one really does have to have a strong reading base. It may even be a motivator for some children.  There are many blogs out there, and young children, young adults et al use them all the time. Now, I have not read the report itself, so I cannot vouch for its veracity.  From my observations, no reading these days equals being out of touch, something the young among us are not fond of.  The Teaching Box is an educational blog that covers a lot of ground, literacy being part of it.  Eduskeptic is another one that encourages reading, to make sure that what you think is true in education can be verified.  Keep reading. It really is necessary, even in the digital world.