College of Information and Computer Science, Long Island University
Jen runs a website called Contrariwise that focuses on tattoos based on books, poems, lyrics, movies, poems, plays, and quotations. If you have an appropriate tattoo, such as this typewriter tribute to Hemingway (“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”), you can submit a photo. Otherwise, it’s fun to look through. Be sure to check out the pain-o-meter if you are considering your first tat.
Contrariwise website
Published by May 4th, 2008
in literacy and emoticons.
0 Comments
Twenty-five percent of teens surveyed said they used emoticons in school writing and 38% said they used text shortcuts or abbreviations.
Read the full article here
Published by December 29th, 2007
in libraries and literacy.
0 Comments
Anita Ornelas concentrated on the image before her, chin resting in her palm as she considered a single letter on the computer screen: B. “This word has a ‘bah’ sound,” a computerized voice chimed. Although she was born in the United States and speaks fluent English, Ornelas never learned to read or write, for decades relying on her husband to convey directions and instructions. The longtime Escondido resident dropped out of high school in her junior year to raise her first child. When her husband died three years ago, routine tasks became exceedingly difficult.
Read the full article here
Published by December 22nd, 2007
in education, children and literacy.
0 Comments
An important complement to reading, writing and research is information literacy — knowing how to find and assess information and applying it to the subject at hand. According to the American Library Association’s Presidential Committee on Information Literacy, “To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use (it) effectively.” These skills have always been important, but today — because it’s so easy for almost anyone to produce printed information, because of the abundance of biased information sources (particularly online), and because of the difficulty of sifting the reliable from the unreliable — information literacy is critical to becoming a good reader.
Read the full article here
Published by November 3rd, 2007
in gadgets, literacy and reading.
0 Comments
Columnist Steve Johnson writes: “I just read Pride and Prejudice on my BlackBerry. And, against all my own prejudices, all my own pride in the history and tradition of the printed word, I liked it. I liked holding it in one hand, having it always with me, and customizing my fonts and screen color. I really liked reading it in bed without the encumbrance of a book light. I hadn’t expected to fall so easily under the spell of the e-book.”
Read the full article here
Published by October 27th, 2007
in children, literacy and virtual worlds.
0 Comments
Virtual worlds have been attracting a huge amount of interest this year, driven by the success of Second Life, World of Warcraft, Habbo Hotel, Club Penguin and a host of others that have hit the headlines. When faced with something so shiny, baffling and new it is reassuring to see that imaginative artists have always intuitively understood both the charms and the dangers of leaving this world for another. Children’s writers in particular have made it their business to dramatise the process of imaginative escape into other worlds, and so children’s literature is full of that liminal moment when a child crosses the threshold and leaves the safe, ordered world they know for some strange new world in which everything is entirely different.
Read full article here
Published by October 27th, 2007
in innovation and literacy.
0 Comments
Pediatric resident Dipesh Navsaria has a novel way of measuring his young patients’ development during checkups: He puts a book in their hands and watches their reaction. Navsaria, a resident at American Family Children’s Hospital, says the child’s response speaks volumes. If the patient shows interest and curiosity, he can tell if books are a natural part of their life. At a certain age, if the child holds the book right-side up, opens it and turns the pages, the doctor gets a quick read on motor skills.
Read full article here
Published by October 7th, 2007
in education and literacy.
0 Comments
Stony Brook University says it will establish the nation’s first Center for News Literacy, designed to educate current and future news consumers on how to judge the credibility and reliability of news. The center also aims to be a resource for universities across the country, develop curriculum for high school instruction and secondary teacher training programs, design conferences, seminars, lectures and workshops that will bring journalists and scholars together to explore issues related to the reliability of news from print, broadcast and the Web.
Read the full article here
A free (with registration) video instructional series in German for college and high school classrooms and adult learners; 48 fifteen-minute video programs, audio CDs, and coordinated books. Follow the story of Professor Bob Di Donato and Marion, his assistant, as they create a German course using a “German studies” approach. They weave together minidramas set in Germany, interviews with native speakers, and documentary footage on history and culture, all of which help increase fluency in and comprehension of the language. The narratives, presented in natural, authentic German, cover topics such as school, employment, travel, and personal relationships. Time codes on the videos make it easy to find specific segments. Levels 1 and 2 address vocabulary, topics, and structures for basic communication in German; level 3 continues many of these topics but goes into greater depth. The series is also appropriate for teacher professional development.
See full series here
Published by September 15th, 2007
in children and literacy.
0 Comments
One in 10 parents struggle to understand the bedtime stories they read to their children, a survey by adult learning organisation Learndirect has found. Almost a quarter (23%) skip passages they cannot read or invent words to get to the end of a sentence, the poll found. A third of parents also admit to difficulties in helping their children with their maths homework.
Read the full article here
Published by September 15th, 2007
in education, children, literacy and virtual worlds.
0 Comments
Like many 7- and 8-year-old girls online, Emily and Kayla Strickland are regulars to Barbie.com and the virtual world Webkinz. But much to their mom’s delight, the sisters also have been longtime fans of Starfall, an educational Web site whose star is quickly rising among parents, teachers and kids as young as 2 years old.
Read the full article here
Picture a foreign language class and students seated at desks with textbooks and notebooks may come to mind. But English as a second language, or ESL, students at the YWCA learn the language while wading in the swimming pool, corralling a choir, counting pennies and liquefying ingredients in a blender. These innovative methods of teaching English focus on more than grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. Students, young and older, are learning to survive in America, YWCA educators said.
Read the full article here
Published by June 25th, 2007
in American Library Association, awards, literacy and library services.
0 Comments
Applications are available for “Batting for literacy @ your library,” a new award in conjunction with the Step Up to the Plate @ your library program. The award will honor an individual librarian who has used baseball to enhance literacy or library service. The recipient will be awarded a trip to the 2008 Baseball Hall of Fame Game, an annual exhibition game between two major league teams at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. The trip will include a behind-the-scenes tour of the library and museum.
Read the full article here
