Comments on: Defining Literacy Today

By: Chris Wilson

Chris Wilson — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:26:48 +0000

I look forward to more intelligent and thoughtful discussions. I love to talk shop. I am new at all of this teaching business having just ended my student teaching. I have a job (thank goodness) and am ready to get started.

By: Steve J. Moore

Steve J. Moore — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:36:29 +0000

You bring up a very good point Chris, maybe this “either/or” scenario is the wrong approach entirely. Thank you for contributing to the discussion!

By: Chris Wilson

Chris Wilson — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:23:46 +0000

Process versus Product. I have to say that I tend to fall more on the process side but not to the exclusion of product. This argument sounds so similar to the canonical debate often held in English circles.

I don’t subscribe to the “either/or” argument there either. I think there is a place for the traditional canon and new canon (or for product and process). I also think there is a place for students to participate in canon.

I promote the use of comic literature in the classroom (wrote my graduate seminar paper on the subject) and I run into these “either/or” debates all the time.

Just found your site on the SGF Blog. Glad to see you there. I’ll add you to my own RSS Feed and keep a watch. Love the discussion.

By: Joe Nutt

Joe Nutt — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:15:08 +0000

I’m researching for a paper on digital “illiteracy” and the whole emoticon issue has just started to intrigue me. Apart from the little research paper I discovered, which suggests there is a major gender issue about who uses emoticons and that males and females respond to them differently, I’ve noticed in my own professional network that even well educated people often resort to them in two key situations. 1) To try and defuse what they know the reader will think read as potentially abrasive statement. 2) When a debate or exchange gets heated and they are trying to neutralise their correspondent.

By: New literacy « Random Thoughts

New literacy « Random Thoughts — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 03:26:54 +0000

[...] interest in my Bloglines feeds, I looked at the education posts on WordPress. I read one called Defining Literacy Today by Stephen Moore. He makes an interesting point: I think that literacy has more to do with [...]

By: Steve J. Moore

Steve J. Moore — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:14:10 +0000

That’s a great example of how transient literacy is today. People’s expression of ideas through emoticons can even be classified with composition. Thank you for your comment!

By: Kobus van Wyk

Kobus van Wyk — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:04:04 +0000

Another example of the journey, rather than the destination!

I agree with your views that the meaning of literacy needs to be reviewed. For example, emoticons could be very useful and its use and interpretation surely are aspects of modern literacy.