Question 1 regarding "Redefining Literacy"

Question 1

What do you think "Redefining Literacy" means?

Question 2 regarding "Redefining Literacy"

Question 2

In what formats is being literate important? (Audio, visual, electronic, print, etc)

Question 3 regarding "Redefining Literacy"

Question 3

How much should educators focus on teaching literacy in the classroom?

Raising the Literacy Level Among Teenagers

An article condensed from the November 2006 issue of American School Board Journal. Based on research findings concerning the teaching of reading, writing, and other communication strategies to older students, researchers and practitioners recommend eight strategies for school districts wanting to improve literacy beyond third grade. It is suggested that school districts should focus on literacy, find out what students need and deliver it, provide every student with between two and four hours of literacy instruction every day, redirect literacy professional development money toward training teachers to use literacy-based strategies, find or develop literacy leaders, invest in helping teachers to use literacy-based strategies across the curriculum, keep collecting data on the progress of the literacy program, and encourage the involvement of parents and the community in literacy efforts.

 

Article: Raising the Literacy level among Teenagers

Author: Rebecca Jones

Source: The Education Digest 72 no5 34-40 Ja 2007

 

Article - Redefining Literacy at NSBA T+L Conference

David Warlick, the author of this article, states that literacy today is being overridden by technology. Literacy was initially made up of the 3 Rs (writing, reading, and arithmetic), but now, information is much more networked. Warlick also states that it is important to recognize the truth - accurate information vs. author opinion. There is such an abundant amount of information today. Warlick says that information is “competing for our attention”, so it’s important to not only become critical of what you hear, but learn to communicate effectively using media literacy as well as initial literacy.

http://davidwarlick.com/wordpress/?p=313

Merriam-Webster definition of "literate

Pronunciation:

\ˈli-tə-rət also ˈli-trət\

Function:

adjective

Etymology:

Middle English literat, from Latin litteratus marked with letters, literate, from litterae letters, literature, from plural of littera

Date:

15th century

1 a: educated , cultured b: able to read and write
2 a: versed in literature or creative writing : literary b: lucid , polished literate essay> c: having knowledge or competence literate> literate>

— lit·er·ate·ly adverb

— lit·er·ate·ness noun

Source:
literate (n.d.). Retrieved November 4, 2008, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literate

The Necessity of Diversity

An interview with Sonia Nieto, professor emerita of language, literacy, and culture at the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst is provided. Nieto discusses the achievement gap, public education as the last and best hope of a better life for many people, how schools can address the gap in emotional resources offered to students, multicultural education, learning in a multicultural school, different levels of multicultural education, and teacher emotions.

Article: The Necessity of Diversity

Author: Tracy Crow

Source: Journal of Staff Development 29 no1 54-58 Wint 2008

YouTube - Media Literacy

This video discusses the power of media literacy. The most common type is advertisements, which appear all around us. The second most common type, print media (such as a newspaper), is used to attract people to certain products or persuade people to believe certain information. Television, possibly the most influential device, is the third most common source of media literacy. The video just shows how information is falsely portrayed in the media, so it is important to not believe everything you hear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqz2R8TXSfc&feature=related

Article: Show Me; Principles for Assessing Students' Visual Literacy

This article promotes awareness of student visual literacy; namely, the ability to both process and create multimodal texts (a multimodal text is a source of information presented in several simultaneous and/or alternative modes such as audio, visual, written or interactive) by espousing the two aspects as a complimentary whole. The importance of this dual-aspect literacy is addressed and promoted preceding the development of an assessment framework. Framework development constitutes approximately half of the article body.

Callow, J. (2008, May 1). Show Me: Principles for Assessing Students' Visual Literacy. Reading Teacher, 61(8), 616-626. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ793087) Retrieved October 31, 2008, from ERIC database.

Article: Around the Block and around the World

This article discusses the continual flux of the English language as it is adopted by and adapted to various global niches before being redistributed to the global community. The accelerating rate at which communication occurs globally in turn increases the rate of flux for global English. The issue of readying students to navigate the tumultuous waters of this every-changing literary landscape is addressed and discussed.

Williams, B. (2008, March 1). Around the Block and around the World: Teaching Literacy across Cultures. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 51(6), 510-514. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ787656) Retrieved October 31, 2008, from ERIC database.