Group items tagged

The author of a new book says no, and talks about how a site spawned by an Ayn Rand enthusiast became our most popular encyclopedia. This is an interview about the book. Those of you interested in this should check out the book being discussed.

Glazer, Sarah. "Future of Books" 2010. CQ Researcher. Vol 19. pg 473-500. Web. 20 Nov 2010. This article is about how books are going from being the print form to the electronic for as e-books. It includes how they are adding things such as video, sound, and graphics to the text. Some people fear that this will cause the loss of literacy and the dangers the world's store of knowledge will face if it becomes completely digital. While e-books still don't take up a large portion of books sold, it is predicted to increase as the main group of consumers, middle-aged women, is replaced with newer generations.

This is a link to the listing for this book on OhioLINK. It sounds like it might be helpful to those doing research on literacy development, how we learn to read. As the description implies, this might be an easy introduction to a rather complex topic. Wolf, a professor of child development at Tufts University, integrates psychology and archaeology, linguistics and education, history and neuroscience in a truly path-breaking look at the development of the reading brain-a complicated phenomenon that Wolf seeks to chronicle from both the early history of humanity and the early stages of an individual's development ("unlike its component parts such as vision and speech... reading has no direct genetic program passing it on to future generations"). Along the way, Wolf introduces concepts like "word poverty," the situation in which children, by age five, have heard 32 million less words than their counterparts (with chilling long-term effects), and makes time for amusing and affecting anecdotes, like the only child she knew to fake a reading disorder (attempting to get back into his beloved literacy training program). Though it could probably command a book of its own, the sizable third section of the book covers the complex topic of dyslexia, explaining clearly and expertly "what happens when the brain can't learn to read." One of those rare books that synthesizes cutting edge, interdisciplinary research with the inviting tone of a curious, erudite friend (think Malcolm Gladwell), Wolf's first book for a general audience is an eye-opening winner, and deserves a wide readership. (From the description on Amazon.com.)

Willis, Margaret. "Harry Potter and the Great Reading Revolution." Literacy Today 52 (2007):24-25. Ebscohost. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. This article is about how the Harry Potter saga encouraged children, especially boys, to read. Boys give up on reading faster than girls do and boys are more picky when picking a book to read. The fantasy genre appeals to boys more because of the adventure and that their minds can travel to a different world in their imagination. Harry Potter and other fantasy books have helped children read more books.

Langer, Judith A., and Urbana, IL. National Council of Teachers of English. "Effective Literacy Instruction: Building Successful Reading and Writing Programs." (2002): ERIC. EBSCO. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. This book is about programs created to help students and their learning. The programs have been reinvented in order to help prepare students. The programs are also useful to help students become better with their literacy. The book also discusses 25 specific schools who are trying to improve there teaching skills. It focuses in on the teacher techniques and credibility. It is split into two sections, discussing the key characteristics of successful English and also field research like the types we will be using for this paper.

Brennan, Susan A., Gayle J. Luze, and Carla Peterson. "Parents' Perceptions of Professional Support for the Emergent Literacy of Young Children with Visual Impairments." Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness 103.10 (2009): 694-704. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. A survey was taken of parents who are raising a visually impaired child. The survey concentrated on what types of activities parents engaged with their child. The survey found that it was important for parents to read out loud to the children because it helped them understand "book related" concepts. Concepts such as turning the page, reading left to right, and understanding that books relay a message. This article also states that a parents cannot offer the support their child needs without professional help. Often times parents want to read to their child, but find that they don't know how to go about it, or even what books they should read to them. The article lastly states that parents should also learn Braille. This will open up more opportunities and experiences that a child can have. An experience such as having time as a family to learn Braille and make it a more fun and enjoyable experience for the child.

Pogrebin, Robin."Book Tackles Old Debate: Role of Art in Schools." New York Times. New York Times, 4 Aug. 2007. Web. 21 Nov. 2010. Pogrebin gives both sides in the debate over whether the arts really influence academics. She gets perspective from recent research and mainly the experience of two art teachers and co-authors of a book on the same topic. The article is mainly composed of quotes from the two authors. They explain how important the arts are, and how some people support the arts because it helps build skills in other areas. They support that this could be true but that art should be valued in and of itself, and therefore should always be existent in education.

Simmons, Gary and Christine Evely. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." Screen Education 38 (2005): 76-83. Ebscohost. Web. 17 Nov. 2010.\n\nThis is a lesson plan for a primary school teacher for teaching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in the classroom. The lesson suggests that you and the class watch the movie and read the book then compare the two. It also has worksheets for naming and describing characters. It also provides questions such as how did Harry change in this movie, lessons learned, etc.

Black, Sharon. "Harry Potter: A Magical Prescription for Just About Anyone." Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 46.7 (2003): 540-545. Ebscohost. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. This artice has different children's experiences with reading and how Harry Potter helped them love to read. It also talks about how fantasy books such as Harry Potter teach symbolism and how the kids can apply it to their lives.

Palmer, Barbara C., Shelly J. Harshbarger, and Cindy A. Koch. "Storytelling as a Constructivist Model for Developing Language and Literacy." Journal of Poetry Therapy 14.4(2001): 199-212. OhioLINK. Web. 3 Nov. 2010. This article lists the benefits of storytelling to young children. When teachers or any adult tells children stories it increases their vocabulary and their listening and reading comprehension. Through story telling, children also learn how to construct a story. They learn what the beginnning, middle, and end are. Once theyl learn how to construct a story, they begin to learn how to write their own stories. Storytelling greatly benefits children's literacy.

Tarasiuk, Tracy J. "Combining Traditional and Contemporary Texts: Moving My English Class to the Computer Lab." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 53.7 (2010): 543-52. Academic Search Complete. Web. This article describes the changes being made by students, due to computers and other technological advances. Not all of these changes are for the better. For example, rather than reading a book, students will rely on sparknotes, instead. Are these technological advances that are being introduced to the classroom being made for positive or negative? This is the question that this article deals with and that makes the reader asks themselves

Altschuld, James W., and David D. Kumar, eds. Evaluation of Science and Technology Education at the Dawn of a New Millennium. London: Kluwer Academic, 2002. Print. This book is about the advantages of the uses of science and technolgoy in a classroom setting. It gives responses from the defferent points of view of students and teachers. You can see what ideas in which both students and teachers agree with and which disagree with. It discusses the pros and cons behind each arguement.

An article that explains a debate that has raged for years in academic circles. When you read online, are you reading or skimming? Is the Internet killing reading or just helping students develop different skills?

Good for background information.

Hartz, Deborah. "Literacy Leaps as Blind Students Embrace Technology." The English Journal 90.2 (2000): 52-59. JSTOR. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. Deborah Hartz is a teacher, who has taught high school English at The Arizona School for the Blind in Tuscan. Hartz uses a variety of technologies to help teach her students how to read. She gives detailed descriptions on the various types of machines and tells the usefulness of each machine. Some of the technology used in the class room include Braille n' Speak, Zoom Text Extra enlargement and speaking dictionaries. Hartz gives suggestions as to classroom design, and having a library in the classroom that also aid in teaching students who are visually impaired. Hartz explains how important technology is when teaching blind students because it motivates them to want to learn to read, edit and write. She says that the invention of more technology has made it easier for people with visual impairments to access Braille books and has made Braille even more popular among students.

A study to be released today by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum [cites] improvements in a range of literacy skills among students who took part in a program in which the Guggenheim sends artists into schools. The study, now in its second year, interviewed hundreds of New York City third graders, some of whom had participated in the Guggenheim program, called Learning Through Art, and others who did not.\n\n

Garmire, Elsa, and Greg Pearson. Tech Tally: Approaches to Assessing Technological Literacy. Washington D.C.: National Academy, 2006. Print. This book is about different methods people are using to make the classroom more technologically advanced. Some people agree with the fact that the classroom setting should be more technologically advanced in order to keep up with the technological advances being made. However, there are some people that disagree with this and are against the idea of advancements of techonology being made in the classroom. It shows people's opinions on what is working and what is not.