Read and Write Across the Curriculum






 * Before Johannes Gutenberg invented his printing press in 1454, there were only about 30,000 [copies of] books throughout the whole of Europe, nearly all Bibles or biblical commentary. By 1500, there were more than 9 million [copies of] books. Today there are more than a trillion [copies of] books. (http://www.didyouknow.cd/words/gutenberg.htm)

Introduction
The Sumerians developed writing and reading more than 5,000 years ago, and then they developed schools to teach reading and writing. Quoting from MacroHistory: Prehistory to Yesterday:


 * Sumerian writing is the oldest full-fledged writing that archaeologists have discovered. The Ubaidians may have introduced the Sumerians to the rudiments of writing and recorded numerical calculation, which the Sumerians used with the rise in trade and to calculate and to keep records of supplies and goods exchanged. The Sumerians wrote arithmetic based on units of ten— the number of fingers on both hands. Concerned about their star-gods, they mapped the stars and divided a circle into units of sixty, from which our own system of numbers, and seconds and minutes, are derived.

Thus, our educational system has had more than 5,000 years to develop effective processes for helping students learn to read and write. As the quote at the start of this document indicates, it took a very long time before books started to become commonplace.

The population of Europe in 1450 is estimated at 50 million. Thus, the estimate of books given in the quote at the beginning of this document suggests that there was less than one book per 1,500 people. The population was increasing at the time. Thus, by the year 1500 it may well have been about 60 million, with about one book in print for every six or seven people. It is only in the past few hundred years that ordinary people could afford to have a small personal library of books.

The Web has greatly changed the availability of books and other library-type materials. The Web can be thought of as a virtual library. It is by far the world's largest library.

The Teaching of Reading
In a modern program of teaching reading, students engage in reading in a variety of genre. There is a clear sense of direction to help students learn to read well enough so that they can read to learn. The standard rule of thumb is that an average reader can read well enough by the end of the third grade so that reading to learn can be a significant component of the overall teaching and learning program starting in the fourth grade.

Reading instruction and practice, both in the language arts program and across the curriculum, continue to improve a student's ability to read to learn. By about the seventh grade, reading to learn may be a typical student's quite significant (if not dominant) approach to learning.

Information and communication technology affects this overall learning to read and reading to learn progress in a variety of ways. For example, there is a difference between reading text from a computer screen and from a printed page. Research suggests that reading from a screen is somewhat slower. Some students experience eye strain from reading a computer screen. Until quite recently, hard copy books have been more portable and convenient to use than electronic books.

A different type of difficulty is that the computer has made possible interactive, non-linear text. Moreover, a computer presentation of information may be multimedia. There is a difference between reading a printed book that includes pictures and graphics, and reading a computer document that includes text, still and motion graphics, sound, and interactivity leading to multiple possible pathways through the document.

The Teaching of Writing
Even at its simplest level, writing is an aid to human memory and a way to communicate information to others. For example, there is a grocery shopping list on the refrigerator door in my house. My wife and I both add to the list from time to time. I then use the list when I go grocery shopping.

The simple use of reading and writing as a way to maintain and communicate lists greatly empowers the readers and writers. Important information can be stored over time, transported over distances, and then used when needed.

A lists might contain names of citizens, the amount of taxes paid in the previous year, and a few other pieces of data about the person and his or her family. A list might contain names and quantity of the trade goods a caravan is carrying. A list might contains items sold and the price. Thus, simple lists can make a large contribution to government and business.

As one moves beyond simple lists, writing gets to be a complex and challenging discipline. It takes many years of study and practice to get to be a reasonably good writer. Most colleges require freshmen students to take a writing course. This is deemed necessary even though the students have been writing for many years. The typical college freshman has not yet achieved a level of writing quality that is deemed appropriate for a college educated person.

Students typically begin their learning of reading and writing well after they have learned quite a bit of oral communication. In some sense, reading is a process of translating the patterns of writing on paper or on a screen into patterns of word sounds in one's head. Reading builds upon the listening skills that students have already developed.

Similarly, writing builds on the speaking skills that students have already developed. If a written language is highly phonetic, then a student's initial challenge in writing consists of learning to form written characters, learning to to do a phonetic translation of sounds into words, and some rules for punctuation.

A student's initial challenge in learning to write is greater if the written language is not very phonetic. English provides a good example of such a natural language. And, consider the challenge of learning to write Chinese or Japanese.

Moreover, the challenge in writing well is much larger than just getting spoken words onto a page. Voice input computer systems are getting relatively good at this task. They do this in a mechanical, non-thinking, non-understanding manner. Such machines lack important knowledge and skill provided by a good secretary who is taking dictation or transcribing from a tape.

Writing is also a challenge because of its permanency allows it to be carefully scrutinized over time, outside the context of face to face conversation. In face to face conversation, communication is aided by context, by gestures, by interaction, and by the ability to say, "I don't understand what you just said."

Oral communication has considerable tolerance for errors in grammar. The generally accepted standards for written communication are much higher than for oral communication. Errors in spelling, grammar, sentence construction, and overall communication are not well tolerated in written communication.

If a child grows up in a home environment where high quality oral communication where a "standard" version of the native language is the norm,the child will have a considerable advantage in learning writing. Even then, however, written language is, in some sense, a foreign language. For students who have learned oral language that is far removed from a "standard" version of an oral natural language, the challenge of learning to write well quite high.

Reading, Writing, and ICT
Information and Communicate Technology (ICT) brings some new dimensions to reading and writing. A Web page can contain colorful text and graphics (pictures, drawings). In that sense, it is like a page from a magazine, newspaper, or book. However, it can also contain sound and video. In that sense, it is like a audio or video recording. It can also be interactive, accepting input via voice, touch screen, mouse, keyboard, and so on.

Reading and writing in an interactive multimedia environment certainly overlaps traditional reading and writing of print (hard copy) materials, but brings in other media and interactivity. Thus, our current educational system is faced by the challenge of helping students learning to read and write in this interactive, multimedia environment. You might want to think about this as four challenges all rolled into one:


 * Learning "traditional" hard copy reading and writing.
 * Learning "traditional" hard copy photography, videography, drawing, and animation.
 * Learning "traditional" audio production and recording.
 * Learning to do and combine 1 to 3 together in a computerized interactive digital environment.

The fourth item vaguely relates to the type of interactivity that goes on in a spoken conversation or in an exchange of a sequence of written communications. However, there are huge differences between human to human oral or written communication abilities, and the best of current human to computer & computer to human artificially intelligent computer systems.

Changes Being Wrought by ICT
Here are several of major communication changes that have been going on during the past decade.


 * 1) There has been a substantial decline in the number of hours per week that children watch TV, and a substantial increase in the number of hours per week spent playing computer games.
 * 2) There has been a substantial increase in the number of hours per week that children spend reading books. This has been somewhat countered by more time spend browsing the Web, for example reading blogs and participating in Social Networking sites.
 * 3) There has been a huge increase in texting messages via cell telephone. The abbreviations, spelling, and grammar in such written communication is a far cry from the written communication being taught in schools.
 * 4) The yearly worldwide production of cell phones has grown so it is now between one per six people and one per seven people. The more advanced types of cell phones include a variety of devices for still and video photography, recording and listening to music, playing games, and watching TV.

Information and communication technology has also brought a number of relatively powerful "empowering" tools such as:


 * 1) The Web.
 * 2) Word processing, desktop publication.
 * 3) Computerized spelling and grammar checkers.
 * 4) Easily portable multimedia presentation systems.
 * 5) Digital still and motion photography and editing.
 * 6) Computer animation.
 * 7) Digital music—composition, editing, and performance in this environment.
 * 8) Virtual realities. (Not yet as good as the Holodeck in Star Trek, but steadily improving.)
 * 9) Inexpensive games and toys that talk, play sounds and music, accept input from the toy user, and so on.

In brief summary, the communication world of today's children is significantly different than the communication world of typical middle age and older adults. To such children, some aspects of what goes on in school see archaic.

Impact of ICT on Professional Writers
People who want to become professional authors of books, short stories, magazine articles, and so on often struggle for years early in their careers, before they can eventually make a living by writing.

RU Sirius asked 10 writers to address the question, "Is the Net good for writers?" Here is a piece of an answer provided by Mark Amerika:


 * The short answer is yes, but as I suggest in my new book, META/DATA, we probably need to expand the concept of writing to take into account new forms of online communication as well as emerging styles of digital rhetoric. This means that the educational approach to writing is also becoming more complex, because it's not just one (alphabetically oriented) literacy that informs successful written communication but a few others as well, most notably visual design literacy and computer/networking literacy.

Here is a piece of an answer provided by Erik Davis:


 * Many of the changes in the book industry and print publications are more obviously related to the rise of the internet. One of the worst developments for me has been the increasing brevity of print pieces, something I do blame largely on the fast-moving, novelty-driven blip culture of the internet and the blogosphere. When I started writing for music magazines, I wrote 2000-plus-word articles about (then) relatively obscure bands like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. Now I write 125-word reviews for Blender. I don't even try to play the game of penning celebrity-driven profiles in mainstream music mags anymore, where feature lengths have shrunk all around and the topics seem more driven by the publicists.

Here is a piece of an answer from Mark Dery:


 * Do I sound bitter? Not at all. But we live in times of chaos and complexity, and the future of writing and reading is deeply uncertain. Reading and writing are solitary activities. The web enables us to write in public and, maybe one day, strike off the shackles of cubicle hell and get rich living by our wits. Sometimes I think we're just about to turn that cultural corner. Then I step onto the New York subway, where most of the car is talking nonstop on cellphones. Time was when people would have occupied their idle hours between the covers of a book. No more. We've turned the psyche inside out, exteriorizing our egos, extruding our selves into public space and filling our inner vacuums with white noise.

Here is a piece of a response by John Shirley:


 * A recent study suggested that young people read approximately half as much as young people did before the advent of the internet and videogames. While there are enormous bookstores, teeming with books, chain stores and online book dealing now dominate the book trade and it may be that there are fewer booksellers overall. A lot of fine books are published but, on the whole, publishers push for the predictable profit far more than they used to, which means they prefer predictable books. Editors are no longer permitted to make decisions on their own. They must consult marketing departments before buying a book. Book production has become ever more like television production: subordinate to trendiness, and the anxiety of executives.

The responses given above support a pattern that ICT has changed the world of reading and writing. One the one hand we have "traditional" reading and writing, with standards that have been developed over hundreds of years. On the other hand we have the ICT-based cell phones, text messaging, blogs, email, interactive multimedia Web pages, and so on that can be considered as new genres.

Comments by B Chambers 10/19/07
As a teacher, I concur that computers--games and television have influenced children. However, I do think you can teach children to love to read books. I had a boy in a past class that just loved to play video games, watch television, and he particularly loved anything that had to do with Star Wars. He was reading below grade level (grade level is third grade). I provided rewards for reading Accelerated Reading books and taking tests. The boy loved this. He left my room reading on a fifth grade level.

As far as writing, this boy could not write a complete sentence before coming to my class. With practice in my class, he was using an organizer (four square) to prepare his paper. Then, this boy could write a rough draft of his paper. Finally, he was able to write his paper in a final draft. Furthermore, his paper was not just one sentence. He was able to write a two-page paper. His ability to read bridged over to his ability to write.

Through reading chapter books, this boy was able to capture the essence of oral and written communications. This boy is not an atypical student. Most of my students are just like this little boy. It is my duty as a teacher to inspire children to not only read but learn to love to read, to be a reader for life.

The computer is a tool, and it is a fascinating tool to young children. However, it is just that—a tool. It cannot replace reading and writing. Children need to learn reading and writing skills as basic skills. A computer cannot help children fill out a job application when students become adults and go out looking for jobs. However, the ability to read and write will go a long way in helping prepare students to fill out applications and get jobs they really want so they can then buy computers with the money they earn from their jobs.

Reading and writing come first. I hate to see people relying on computers—word processors—to check their grammar and spelling. Spell checks do not catch everything (for example--you want to use the word "and" and you wrote "an"; spell check will not pick up this type of mistake). I have seen a decline in other reading and writing skills. In a recent Learning assessment, my school checked students' knowledge of State Standards. I was absolutely floored at how poor my students performed on the test. I checked to see where the students weaknesses were. I found that children did not know what a Thesaurus was. They did not know that one uses a dictionary to look up a word, and that one uses an encyclopedia to look up facts such as the capital of New Mexico. Students thought that all information is retrieved from a dictionary. In addition, they did not know to use the glossary of a textbook to look up a definition of a word from a text. In the nine weeks of school this year, I do not know how many days we have spent going over this type of information (several days). Now, if I asked a student to look up words, definitions or get me facts about a kangaroo and use the computer, it would not be a problem. They would know exactly what to do. However, if the computer is down and they needed to know what a word means, what would they do? They have no clue. I asked a student what one of the problems could be. He replied, "Students just do not care. It does not mean anything to them.  Just don't take away our computer games."

Comments by ???
I found this article on the Web. Below is it's abstract and below that is the webpage for the full article in PDF format.

Meta-analyses were performed including 26 studies conducted between 1992–2002 focused on the comparison between K–12 students writing with computers vs. paper-and-pencil. Significant mean effect sizes in favor of computers were found for quantity of writing (d=.50, n=14) and quality of writing (d= .41, n=15). Studies focused on revision behaviors between these two writing conditions (n=6) revealed mixed results. Others studies collected for the meta-analysis which did not meet the statistical criteria were also reviewed briefly. These articles (n=35) indicate that the writing process is more collaborative, iterative, and social in computer classrooms as compared with paper-and-pencil environments. For educational leaders questioning whether computers should be used to help students develop writing skills, the results of the meta-analyses suggest that on average students who use computers when learning to write are not only more engaged and motivated in their writing, but they produce written work that is of greater length and higher quality.


 * Goldberg, A., Russell, M., and Cook, A. (February 2003). The Effect of Computers on Student Writing: A Meta-Analysis of Studies from 1992 to 2002. The Journal of Technology, Learning, and Assessment. Accessed at

http://escholarship.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=jtla

Contribution by Mcole 10/19/07
Using technology exclusively to teach reading and writing would be detrimental to our students. Technology is not the be all end all of education. It is a tool. To eliminate the hands-on, teacher-assisted model in these disciplines would limit our children's education. Reading for information in a content area needs to be taught. Simply reading the words on a computer screen does not always lend itself to the retention of information. This is a learned skill.

I like to incorporate both worlds in the realm of writing. We use graphic organizers to brainstorm and organize ideas. A rough draft is utilized to establish the story or report. The web can be used simultaneously for research. Peer editing and/or conferencing is also utilized to assist a student with obtaining the best project they are capable of creating. At this point, the use of word processing would be an excellent way to dove-tail the combination of technology and traditional methods in the field of writing.

Now having established that position on teaching reading and writing to our youth, we must realize that technology is here to stay. We must also be mindful that our students need to be proficient in computer skills. Their future depends upon it.

So whether you are the pencil, paper and hardback book guru or the internet wizard, we need to remember that balance is key to a well-rounded education.

Author or Authors
The first draft of this document was written by David Moursund. Others have made a number of contributions.