Yesterday, in our Literacy class, we discussed the pros and cons of reading online, which stemmed from the New York Times artice: Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?. I had watched the video A Family of Readers mostly, because I enjoy the New York Times videos, and it was easier than reading the article... (Uh-oh! What does that say about my online reading.)
Anyway, in class I thought that a really good point was made that any reading is good reading, especially if it is making reading more enjoyable for young people. Also, I think that reading online can help to expose the reader to many different sources on many different topic with relatively little effort.
However, that being said, I am wary sometimes of reading online, because the source could be totally whack or it could encourage bad writing. Working in a school, I encountered several papers that were written as if they were texting the essay to a friend. Yet, perhaps with the exposure to both online reading and hardcore literature they can hopefully better determine what is good writing and what is a valid source.
On a side note, how do I post a video on my blog?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
great post! I'm really bad at reading real stuff (like novels), but reading online is much easier for me. Perhaps because the language is more succinct and direct, rather than metaphorical and complicated. On the other hand, when I get into reading literature, I enjoy it. Of course, that only happens like twice a year.
To post a video, download the video onto your computer, click the filmstrip icon from the blog editing page (where you write your article), Browse for the video, and click upload. Good luck!
I actually wrote about the same thing you did in my blog post this week. Great minds must think alike...similar blog posts, similar debate paper topics :)
I liked the comment you mentioned, that all reading is good reading. I read a similar article also in the NY Times about companies publishing textbooks online. I think there is a big push to put literature and other texts online.
Personally, I could never do without books. I would much rather print everything off and buy the actual book. But I think that is partly because I start to go cross-eyed if I stare at the computer for too long. I grew up in a 'book' family, so I don't know if I could switch to reading online.
i no wat u r saying bout the text spk. i h8 it. ok j/k. There has to be some value in being able to write proper English. But realistically do kids use chat speak more or actual writing? Maybe teachers will have to embrace it instead of fighting against it.
I feel the same way about students reading online. I want to encourage students to read as much as they can, but I was incredibly disappointed to see that a vast majority of students took what the read on the internet to be fact. I think the important part if to make sure that our students are critical of what they read.
Being a foreign language teacher, though, I think you have a unique opportunity. I know students might want to use online translators, but that these are often faulty. I'm imagining a lesson where you try to figure out why these don't work as well and also showing people the facts about how to translate.
Great Post! This topic/article is flying around the "edublogger" world too! It is an interesting question about literacy and what constitutes literacy in the 21st Century. There is a recent study (2007) by the Tomorrow Group called the Speak up Report, which found that overwhelmingly students (grades K-12) prefer to read online! That is shocking to me, because I prefer hard copies, but times are changing. Additionally in Japan, one of the most popular ways to distribute novels is via cell phone rather than hard copy. As a matter of fact in Japan a 23 year old wrote a best-selling novel entirely on her cell phone!
Post a Comment