Texting may help improve students informal writing skills

Despite a myriad of concerns, reports the Charlotte Observer, about the increasing use of text messaging by teens, some teachers and researchers say texting does not interfere with students' ability to use language properly and may in fact help students better express themselves through informal writing. "Writing is good. Writing is expressing thoughts. Expressing thoughts is good. We just don't like their modality," says Larry Rosen, a researcher and author of a book on the issue.

NC MS Uses iPod Touch Games to Help With Fiction Writing

At one North Carolina middle school, language arts students are using an iPod Touch game to help them develop different perspectives as they create characters and write fiction. The school may use the technology in other classes as well, says school Principal Edith Skipper. "This is how they learn, this is how they communicate with their world," she said. "We're running as fast as we can just to keep up. All of education is."

NCTE's Online Writing Gallery for Students Goes LIVE

Students and individuals nationwide are submitting their writing to the National Gallery of Writing, which posted their work online this week in celebration of the first National Day on Writing -- coordinated by the National Council of Teachers of English. Educators say the day and the writing project are intended to promote writing of all kinds by authors of all ages and backgrounds. See this story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Restructure Middle School Around Literacy: New Report Recommends

"Time to Act," a new report from the Carnegie Corporation's Council on Advancing Adolescent Learning, recommends restructuring middle and high schools around literacy. Schools should hire teachers skilled in literacy instruction across content areas, the Council says, and literacy training should be fully integrated into pre-service education and professional development for both teachers and principals. The report also calls for increased federal investments in middle level programs like Striving Readers, especially in high-needs schools, and for increasing emphasis on reading comprehension "within the nuanced context of each subject area." This link leads to a download page that includes both the main report and five key resource reports.

How Technology Changes the Way Kids Communicate

The current issue of PARENTING magazine addresses the impact of young people's gaming, texting and other Web 2.0 habits. Excerpt: "Scientists are just starting to study the social effects of these new types of communication, and much of their research focuses on adults and teens, not kids. By poking through those studies, though, it is possible to glean a few likely answers -- and, it turns out, there's much to be hopeful about."

Beyond Books: What is Literacy In A Digital Age?

According to this cover story in the current neatoday magazine: "....educators across the country are employing an array of digital tools—blogs, wikis, videos, and social media—to tap into their passion for collaborating, creating, and sharing."

Educators train in program to teach handwriting

The Washington Post reports: Some teachers in Virginia's Arlington County are learning to teach proper handwriting through a program called Handwriting Without Tears that uses music and and movement to teach students how to grip a pencil and form letters. Though some schools have abandoned handwriting lessons for typing classes, the training program emphasizes the importance of good handwriting and ways to teach it effectively.