Elizabeth-04-08-2012+HALR+Chapter+6

Elizabeth-04-08-2012 HALR Chapter 6

Proficient reading in school

If a returning student from the 20th Century (like me) was proficient in reading throughout the 20th century, it doesn’t mean that he or she can not survive in the 21st century. The reading strategies that worked in the 20th century still work in the 21st century but we have to add multimedia literacy. There has always been some change from generation to generation. We add some new things and discard others but the way the alphabet is presented has changed not the alphabet itself. All I needed to do was to learn computer skills and I leapt into the 21st century. I don’t see what all the fuss is about. Things are easier in a way and more difficult for me in other ways. In the eighties I used to log books home. Now teachers send me what I need to read via PDFs. The texts I need to read are on e-reserves. I can print what I need to. Things are more difficult when teachers give us a midnight deadline to submit our homework on line. They send us homework even before class meets. My job follows me home and school follows me home. Home is a public place now.