New Blog Literacy Debate " R U really Reading"

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all have read the article for this weeks' paper and discussion and feel as passionated about speaking about it as much as I do... lol..

After reading the article, I came to the conclusion that our country has not only became soft, enabling parents for our children, but also allowed society to change us teachers for the worst. Now, do not get me wrong, I do feel that literacy is VERY important and NEEDS to be targeted. However, to change our teaching strategies, and the ways to evaluate our students is ridiculous. Just because students scores are going down because of the increase in social media and technolgy should not mean WE need to retrack and reform. What the internet is doing is taking away the very essentials that our genreation learned and strive on. The internet is creating and promoting creativity, fake social identities, ways to get around your assignments( Short cuts). The internet is taking away our children's ability to reason (inference), bulid conclusion, physical interaction, and sturdy informative bases to build on.

Our country at one point was a "Superpower" in regards to education because of they way they learned. Fifty years ago when you went to schools and read your textbook, listened to your teacher, and  research information that wasn't S-P-E-L-L-E-D out for you; you actually learned the WHOLE topic and it allowed you to created a strong point for discussion and/or for a movement. With the internet, we as Americans are losing our identies, confidence, and are coming to the table with weak points that can be broken. When I say coming to the table; I mean how many times can you testify that our politicians have made stupid decisions, comments, or presented forums with grammatical errors in writing and in speech. Why is that? Because the internet has allowed us to take short cuts... it allows our students to google their HW and copying their papers for approval.

AGAIN, I think TECHNOLOGY is GREAT!!!! Although, it should be used to advance our special needs students; it should be used to show media like topic videos, presentations, current events, and etc. If the country is going in this direction then as a whole we need to reevaulate the state testing. Because in the end we are killing our students with these inferencing reading comprehension quesions and eassy that is going to allow them to speak freely.

In conlcusion, as a teacher, coach, and athletic; I have seen this movie before and it's not turning out good. Years ago, we had certian sports/activities taken away from the physical education department, because of AN accident. Because of these actions you can see the new athletes of today are much more likely to quit a sport, not participate in an activity, and will not give 100 percent effort. These habits are created, and is not innate. Students in class will soon be able to take any assignment a teacher gives out and get the answers from the internet.

Any way, I feel I just did a rant, so i'm stopping...lol.... HAPPY READING