Prompted by a reader’s comment on the difficulty of teaching writing to today’s tech-infused students, language arts teacher Bill Ferriter of The Tempered Radical begins to wonder about the role of writing instruction in our increasingly digitized world. Maybe, he suggests, the students are on to something:
Do you think that the definition of "writing correctly" is changing before our eyes? Could writing play a smaller role in the lives of future generations as technology makes video a more and more accessible--and influential--form of media and communication? Do we already see that transition playing out in the exploding growth of web services like You Tube and Jump Cut? …
Should we begin emphasizing new literacies in our classrooms that will prepare children for the world that they are going to inherit rather than the world we are most comfortable with?
Tough questions for a language arts teacher to be asking. And Ferriter is looking for help with the answers.