Tales of Literacy for the 21st Century

Tales of Literacy for the 21st Century
Author: Maryanne Wolf
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2016-07-21
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0191036137

The Literary Agenda is a series of short polemical monographs about the importance of literature and of reading in the wider world and about the state of literary education inside schools and universities. The category of 'the literary' has always been contentious. What is clear, however, is how increasingly it is dismissed or is unrecognised as a way of thinking or an arena for thought. It is sceptically challenged from within, for example, by the sometimes rival claims of cultural history, contextualized explanation, or media studies. It is shaken from without by even greater pressures: by economic exigency and the severe social attitudes that can follow from it; by technological change that may leave the traditional forms of serious human communication looking merely antiquated. For just these reasons this is the right time for renewal, to start reinvigorated work into the meaning and value of literary reading. Being Literate in the 21st Century wrestles with critical, timely questions for 21st-century society. How does literacy change the human brain? What does it mean to be a literate or a non-literate person in the present digital culture: for example, what will be lost in the present reading brain, and what will be gained with different mediums than print? What are the consequences of a digital reading brain for the literary mind and for writing itself ? Can knowledge about the reading brain and advances in technology offer new forms of literacy and new forms of knowledge to the peoples in remote regions of the world who would never otherwise become literate? By using both research from cognitive neuroscience, psycholinguistics, child development, and education, and considering literary examples from world literature, Maryanne Wolf plots a course that seeks to preserve the deepest forms of reading from the past, while developing the cognitive skills necessary for this century's next generation.

Tales of Literacy for the 21st Century

Tales of Literacy for the 21st Century
Author: Maryanne Wolf
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 211
Release: 2016
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0198724179

Introduction -- A linguist's tale -- A child's tale -- A neuroscientist's tale of words -- The deep reading brain -- A second revolution in the brain -- A tale of hope for non-literate children -- Epilogue.

Tales of Literacy for the 21st Century

Tales of Literacy for the 21st Century
Author: Maryanne Wolf
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 211
Release: 2016-06-24
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0191036129

The Literary Agenda is a series of short polemical monographs about the importance of literature and of reading in the wider world and about the state of literary education inside schools and universities. The category of 'the literary' has always been contentious. What is clear, however, is how increasingly it is dismissed or is unrecognised as a way of thinking or an arena for thought. It is sceptically challenged from within, for example, by the sometimes rival claims of cultural history, contextualized explanation, or media studies. It is shaken from without by even greater pressures: by economic exigency and the severe social attitudes that can follow from it; by technological change that may leave the traditional forms of serious human communication looking merely antiquated. For just these reasons this is the right time for renewal, to start reinvigorated work into the meaning and value of literary reading. Being Literate in the 21st Century wrestles with critical, timely questions for 21st-century society. How does literacy change the human brain? What does it mean to be a literate or a non-literate person in the present digital culture: for example, what will be lost in the present reading brain, and what will be gained with different mediums than print? What are the consequences of a digital reading brain for the literary mind and for writing itself ? Can knowledge about the reading brain and advances in technology offer new forms of literacy and new forms of knowledge to the peoples in remote regions of the world who would never otherwise become literate? By using both research from cognitive neuroscience, psycholinguistics, child development, and education, and considering literary examples from world literature, Maryanne Wolf plots a course that seeks to preserve the deepest forms of reading from the past, while developing the cognitive skills necessary for this century's next generation.

Reader, Come Home

Reader, Come Home
Author: Maryanne Wolf
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2018-08-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0062388797

The author of the acclaimed Proust and the Squid follows up with a lively, ambitious, and deeply informative book that considers the future of the reading brain and our capacity for critical thinking, empathy, and reflection as we become increasingly dependent on digital technologies. A decade ago, Maryanne Wolf’s Proust and the Squid revealed what we know about how the brain learns to read and how reading changes the way we think and feel. Since then, the ways we process written language have changed dramatically with many concerned about both their own changes and that of children. New research on the reading brain chronicles these changes in the brains of children and adults as they learn to read while immersed in a digitally dominated medium. Drawing deeply on this research, this book comprises a series of letters Wolf writes to us—her beloved readers—to describe her concerns and her hopes about what is happening to the reading brain as it unavoidably changes to adapt to digital mediums. Wolf raises difficult questions, including: Will children learn to incorporate the full range of "deep reading" processes that are at the core of the expert reading brain? Will the mix of a seemingly infinite set of distractions for children’s attention and their quick access to immediate, voluminous information alter their ability to think for themselves? With information at their fingertips, will the next generation learn to build their own storehouse of knowledge, which could impede the ability to make analogies and draw inferences from what they know? Will all these influences change the formation in children and the use in adults of "slower" cognitive processes like critical thinking, personal reflection, imagination, and empathy that comprise deep reading and that influence both how we think and how we live our lives? How can we preserve deep reading processes in future iterations of the reading brain? Concerns about attention span, critical reasoning, and over-reliance on technology are never just about children—Wolf herself has found that, though she is a reading expert, her ability to read deeply has been impacted as she has become increasingly dependent on screens. Wolf draws on neuroscience, literature, education, and philosophy and blends historical, literary, and scientific facts with down-to-earth examples and warm anecdotes to illuminate complex ideas that culminate in a proposal for a biliterate reading brain. Provocative and intriguing, Reader, Come Home is a roadmap that provides a cautionary but hopeful perspective on the impact of technology on our brains and our most essential intellectual capacities—and what this could mean for our future.

Proust and the Squid

Proust and the Squid
Author: Maryanne Wolf
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2017-08-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0062010638

“Wolf restores our awe of the human brain—its adaptability, its creativity, and its ability to connect with other minds through a procession of silly squiggles.” — San Francisco Chronicle How do people learn to read and write—and how has the development of these skills transformed the brain and the world itself ? Neuropsychologist and child development expert Maryann Wolf answers these questions in this ambitious and provocative book that chronicles the remarkable journey of written language not only throughout our evolution but also over the course of a single child’s life, showing why a growing percentage have difficulty mastering these abilities. With fascinating down-to-earth examples and lively personal anecdotes, Wolf asserts that the brain that examined the tiny clay tablets of the Sumerians is a very different brain from the one that is immersed in today’s technology-driven literacy, in which visual images on the screen are paving the way for a reduced need for written language—with potentially profound consequences for our future.

Reading and the Reader

Reading and the Reader
Author: Philip Davis
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2013-10-03
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0199683182

Reading and the Reader defends the value of reading serious literature, investigating the role of the reader in the human search for meaning outside as well as inside of books.

Not One Damsel in Distress

Not One Damsel in Distress
Author: Jane Yolen
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2000
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9780152020477

A collection of thirteen traditional tales from various parts of the world, with the main character of each being a fearless, strong, heroic, and resourceful woman.

Teaching with Story

Teaching with Story
Author: Margaret Read MacDonald
Publisher: August House Publishers
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9781939160720

This invaluable resource book includes everything teachers and librarians need to know for using storytelling in their classrooms with ready to tell tales correlated to the Common Core Standards.

Technological Tools for the Literacy Classroom

Technological Tools for the Literacy Classroom
Author: Jeff Whittingham
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 377
Release: 2013-04-30
Genre: Education
ISBN: 146663975X

"This book combines practical and effective classroom practices with the latest technological research findings utilized in literacy instruction"--Provided by publisher.

Telling Stories Differently

Telling Stories Differently
Author: Janet Condy
Publisher: AFRICAN SUN MeDIA
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2015-09-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1920689850

ÿThe aim of this book is to share a relatively loose collection of studies using digital storytelling as a pedagogical tool in Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). The book takes an informed social justice approach to teaching and learning, at the heart of which is the exploration of DST as a practice of voice and agency. Voice and agency are important in excavating and recovering subjugated identities, and moving the concerns of those occupying subaltern spaces to the mainstream of teaching and learning. Yet this discursive shift is not without inherent challenges. Multi-modal technologies are reflective of wider inequities in the so-called technological divide. Whilst this is a book about higher education, there are important lessons for schooling. On the one hand, the book is a powerful demonstration of the potential of DST for enhancing learning in schools, particularly in schools serving the poor and marginalised. On the other hand, improving teaching and learning in higher education, through the creative use of technology, is essential to overcome the learning challenges of those entering tertiary level institutions.