LANGUAGE ARTS-NEW MEXICO

A Literacy Revolution

An age of illiteracy is at hand. Or is it?  Some thoughts on literacy and technology at Wired Magazine.

In the Age of Facebook

From Education Week's Digital Directions:

June  9, 2008

 

Friend or Foe? Balancing the Good and Bad of Social-Networking Sites

     

By Michelle R. Davis

      

Principal Conn McCartan of Minnesota’s Eden Prairie High School had no plans to police the Internet and its social spheres. But in January, he was mailed a computer disk containing photos of students drinking alcohol, and the photos had been posted on the social-networking Web site Facebook. McCartan couldn’t ignore the rule-breaking.

McCartan and his staff interviewed 43 students; 13 of them were subsequently disciplined. Most were members of athletic teams and clubs that have specific prohibitions and penalties for underage drinking.

“Facebook is a public site, but we didn’t go out there looking for it,” McCartan says of the misbehavior that came to light. “Somebody sends us something, and we’re obligated to respond.”

With the advent and rapid growth of social-networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, an increasingly significant portion of school-age socializing takes place online. The result is that school leaders are being forced to deal with a host of unsettled and even unsavory issues—such as when to monitor students’ online activities, and how to deal with the very real results of online socialization that spills into school hallways.

More here.

Take a Lit Trip

Did you ever wish there was an interactive, online map to go with a particular work of literature (The Grapes of Wrath, for example)?  Visit Google Lit Trips and see how the power of Google Earth software is making it possible to accompany your favorite characters on their journeys. 

Closing the Book

Only eleven days until the last Harry Potter book arrives.  Here's Stephen King on saying goodbye (from Entertainment Weekly): 

When it comes to Harry, part of me — a fairly large part, actually — can hardly bear to say goodbye. I'd guess that J.K. Rowling feels the same, although I'd also guess those feelings are mingled with the relief of knowing that the work is finally done, for better or worse.

And I'm a grown-up, for God's sake — a damn Muggle! Think how it must be for all the kids who were 8 when Harry debuted in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, with its cartoon jacket and modest (500 copies) first edition. Those kids are now 18, and when they close the final book, they will be in some measure closing the book on their own childhoods — magic summers spent in the porch swing, or reading under the covers at camp with flashlights in hand, or listening to Jim Dale's recordings on long drives to see Grandma in Cincinnati or Uncle Bob in Wichita. My advice to families containing Harry Potter readers: Stock up on the Kleenex. You're gonna need it. It's all made worse by one unavoidable fact: It's not just Harry. It's time to say goodbye to the whole cast, from Moaning Myrtle to Scabbers the rat (a.k.a. Wormtail). Which leads to an interesting question — will the final volume satisfy Harry's longtime (and very devoted) readers?

Media Education Moves Forward

The Alliance for a Media Literate America has published a set of "Core Principles of Media Literacy Education" which are intended "to articulate a common ground around which media literacy educators and advocates can coalesce."  If you include media literacy in your curriculum, this document is a good resource.  At last American media educators seem to be moving away from their protectionist, "TV rots your brain' stance," toward a focus on critical thinking and analysis (which has been part of the work of British media educators such as David Buckingham and Andrew Goodwyn for years).