The Reading Horizons program has helped countless individuals obtain the skills they need to acquire and maintain a job.

Every day, Reading Horizons receives calls from individuals interested in its program in order to help them gain employment in this troubled economy. Every aspect of finding, acquiring, and maintaining a job requires basic reading and writing skills. Most jobs require the applicant to read at or above a 10th-grade reading level. Despite the need for literacy skills in the workplace, it has been reported by the National Institute for Literacy that more than 20% of adults read at or below a 5th-grade level – far below the level needed to earn a living wage (National Institute for Literacy, “Fast Facts on Literacy,” 2001). With the tight job market and suffering economy, there are several reasons why improving literacy skills is so important:

1. The need to increase basic writing and spelling skills to fill out applications and create resumes

2. The need to increase reading ability to read materials associated with a job, most of which are at a high school level

3. The uncertain economy and job market have created a desire and need to improve job skills to maintain employment or to open other opportunities.

4. The need to improve reading rate and efficiency to accomplish tasks in a timely manner for job security

5. The need to improve reading/writing abilities to increase the opportunity for advancement within a company

Reading Horizons can help individuals overcome these difficulties through its research-based reading program. www.readinghorizonsathome.com

Related posts:More kids improve literacy and learning skills $600,000 Grant Aims to Improve Language Skills of Hispanic Government of Canada Helps Adults in B.C. Improve Their Literacy and Essential Skills

Contrary to popular belief, some very smart, accomplished people cannot read well. This unexpected difficulty in reading in relation to intelligence, education and professional status is called dyslexia, and researchers at Yale School of Medicine and University of California Davis, have presented new data that explain how otherwise bright and intelligent people struggle to read.

The study, which will be published in the January 1, 2010 issue of the journal Psychological Science, provides a validated definition of dyslexia. “For the first time, we’ve found empirical evidence that shows the relationship between IQ and reading over time differs for typical compared to dyslexic readers,” said Sally E. Shaywitz, M.D., the Audrey G. Ratner Professor in Learning Development at Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics, and co-director of the newly formed Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity.

image

Using data from the Connecticut Longitudinal Study, an ongoing 12-year study of cognitive and behavioral development in a representative sample of 445 Connecticut schoolchildren, Shaywitz and her team tested each child in reading every year and tested for IQ every other year. They were looking for evidence to show how the dissociation between cognitive ability and reading ability might develop in children.

The researchers found that in typical readers, IQ and reading not only track together, but also influence each other over time. But in children with dyslexia, IQ and reading are not linked over time and do not influence one another. This explains why a dyslexic can be both bright and not read well.

“I’ve seen so many children who are struggling to read but have a high IQ,” said Shaywitz. “Our findings of an uncoupling between IQ and reading, and the influence of this uncoupling on the developmental trajectory of reading, provide evidence to support the concept that dyslexia is an unexpected difficulty with reading in children who otherwise have the intelligence to learn to read.”

Typical readers learn how to associate letters with a specific sound. “All they have to do is look at the letters and it’s automatic,” Shaywitz explained. “It’s like breathing; you don’t have to tell your lungs to take in air. In dyslexia, this process remains manual.” Each time a dyslexic sees a word, it’s as if they’ve never seen it before. People with dyslexia have to read slowly, re-read, and sometimes use a marker so they don’t lose their place.

“A key characteristic of dyslexia is that the unexpected difficulty refers to a disparity within the person rather than, for example, a relative weakness compared to the general population,” said co-author Bennett A. Shaywitz, M.D., the Charles and Helen Schwab Professor in Dyslexia and Learning Development and co-director of the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity.

Sally Shaywitz estimates that one in five people are dyslexic and points to many accomplished writers, physicians and attorneys with dyslexia who struggle with the condition in their daily lives, including Carol Greider, the 2009 Nobel laureate in medicine. She hopes to dispel many of the myths surrounding the condition.

“High-performing dyslexics are very intelligent, often out-of-the box thinkers and problem-solvers,” she said. “The neural signature for dyslexia is seen in children and adults. You don’t outgrow dyslexia. Once you’re diagnosed, it is with you for life.”

Shaywitz also stresses that the problem is with both basic spoken and written language. People with dyslexia take a long time to retrieve words, so they might not speak or read as fluidly as others. In students, the time pressure around standardized tests like the SATs and entrance exams for professional schools increases anxiety and can make dyslexia worse, so the need for accommodations is key in helping those with the disorder realize their potential, she says.

The study was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Citation: Psychological Science (January 1, 2010)

Related posts:Teaching Kids How to Study is Key to Mastering Exams, State-Mandated Tests

Can you identify at least 80 art masterpieces by sight?

A Concordia University Chicago professor says children should be able to identify at least that many by the end of 8th grade. And she’s developed a downloadable learning tool to help teachers encourage a knowledge of art history at a young age.

Debra Herman, M.F.A., Concordia associate professor of art and art education, has spent the last three years developing comprehensive, grade-specific art history lessons that teachers can download online for free.

She and the University have just launched “Artists and Their Art: Sharing Visual Stories,” her curricula of core art knowledge for elementary and middle-school students, at www.cuchicago.edu/artlessons.

Lessons for grades one through five are online now. Each grade level features 10 lessons, one per month for the academic year September through June.

Among the great works and lessons featured are Winslow Homer’s “The Country School,” Wassily Kandinsky’s “Improvisation 31 (Sea Battle)” and Mary Cassatt’s “The Letter.”

Lessons for grades six and seven will be added over the next year, and lessons for grade eight, by 2012.

Each lesson highlights one specific work of the artist with compositional information about the work and suggested questions for classroom discussion. The lessons place the artists in historical context and provide biographical sketches, extensive bibliographies for additional reading and suggestions for hands-on art production projects related to the artists and the types of art they produced.

“So many teachers today focus only on art production—the making of art—because few have the time or resources to include a historical perspective in teaching art,” Herman said. “Having been a Lutheran school teacher, I know time is not plentiful.”

Yet students most effectively learn and experience art through a discipline-based approach that encompasses art production, aesthetics, criticism and history, Herman said, citing research in art education through the Getty Foundation.

“When students know about art from the maker’s perspective and the context of what was happening in the world at the time the work was made, so much more is learned and appreciated,” Herman said.

“And, it’s a great link to examining the kinds of art made in current conditions when viewed from current economic, social, political, religious and other perspectives.”

Working with available public domain images, Herman’s lessons focus on artists through the 19th century. Whether known or relatively unknown, “all lived interesting lives in addition to their contributions of art,” Herman said. “I also tried to include women, which was not easy because there is sometimes not a lot of recorded history on women artists in the 14th through 19th centuries.”

“Artists and Their Art: Sharing Visual Stories,” was funded by the Chicago-based John and Frances Beck Foundation, which promotes literacy and learning among children, youth and adults.

“With the technology available today and arts education programs in need of teachers and support, the board agreed Deb’s project was unique, needed and worthy of the foundation’s support,” said foundation trustee Charles W. Laabs, Ed.D, a Concordia professor emeritus of educational leadership.

Find “Artists and Their Art: Sharing Visual Stories” online at www.cuchicago.edu/artlessons.

Related posts:TechForEducators.com Unveils World’s Largest Public Library Advertisement Independent Schools Adopted New Curricula and Teaching Methods Popular Teacher Site Launches for U.K. Educators

Today, BAM Radio Network, the education station online, announced that the International Reading Association (IRA) has launched Reading Radio powered by BAM. The new media resource will give IRA’s 85,000 members, reading professionals, teachers, reading specialists, faculty, and researchers worldwide access to the best thinking on the evolution of literacy in the digital age. Standards, assessment, and parent involvement are a few of the topics that will be addressed on IRA Reading Radio.

Each monthly installment of IRA Reading Radio will feature IRA Executive Director William B. Harvey interviewing an expert on a key topic in reading education. The first program features an interview with Peter Johnston, chair of the IRA/NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) task force, which prepared the recently revised Standards for the Assessment of Reading and Writing.

The program will be Nanocasted on the IRA web site at http://www.reading.org/, distributed to members through the organization’s newsletter and syndicated on the BAM Radio Network at http://www.bamradionetwork.com.

No related posts.

Do only computer scientists need an education in computer science? In today’s innovation-driven economy, the answer is ‘not anymore’.

Since the skills learned in computer science, like complex problem solving and analytical reasoning skills, are important for building a foundation for numerous careers including jobs in science and technology, as well as jobs in marketing, journalism and the creative arts, most people will need an education in computer science. Even though the United States is a leader in the field of computer science at the college level, most middle and high school students receive no exposure to computer science. One major obstacle to educating young students in computer science is finding a space for a computer science class in an already overburdened K-12 curriculum.

Ursula Wolz, researcher from the College of New Jersey, developed an innovative solution for providing students with an education in computer science with the support from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Unlike traditional computer science courses where students learn computer science programming through a textbook, Wolz and her team decided to take advantage of how 21st century journalism is becoming more dependent on computer science. Wolz and her colleagues started a summer institute and an afterschool problem where students learned computer programming skills while developing an online magazine.

The summer institute not only exposed the students to computer science, but also attracted them to computer science through the interactive journalism, which showed the students that computer science skills are needed in a number of different professions to solve a diverse set of real world problems.

In their project, which is funded by the NSF’s Broadening Participation in Computing program, Wolz and her colleagues designed an Interactive Journalism Institute for Middle Schoolers (IJIMS). IJIMS is a partnership between The College of New Jersey and Fisher Middle School in Ewing, New Jersey. They recruited middle school teachers, mostly language arts teachers, for a one-week institute where they learned how to create an online magazine.

During the second week, the teachers were joined by rising 8th grade students and the teachers became mentors to the students. During the two weeks, the teachers and students learn how to use Scratch, a graphical, syntax free, computer programming language. Since coding in Scratch is done with graphical blocks that snap together, much like LEGO bricks or pieces of a puzzle, it is easy for computer programming novices like middle school teachers and students, to learn how to program interactive animations and videos.

During the summer institute, students researched, prepared interviews, videotaped, edited the interviews and developed Scratch projects to supplement their stories with animations or games. At the conclusion of the two weeks, the teachers and students had developed an online magazine.

There were 16 students in the first summer. By the second summer institute, the number of students had increased to 30. This strong interest in the project led the teachers and students to develop an afterschool program to run the online magazine during the academic year. The articles developed by the students for the online magazine concern a diverse set of issues. Articles span from interviews with the city mayor to articles discussing complex issues like the death penalty and animal rights.

Wolz and her team wanted to use the summer institute and afterschool program as a way to expose students to computer programming, teach them a graphical computer programming language, show them how computer programming is used outside of traditional computer science areas and to increase the students’ confidence in their ability to use computing methods.

The researchers surveyed the students to see whether they had achieved their goals and discovered that they had been very successful. The survey found that students had changed their perception about computer programming.

After participating in the summer institute, the students no longer held several common beliefs about computer programmers, like computer programmers work by themselves or computer programmers are not creative. The survey also found that after participating in the summer institute, the students reported that there was a similar relationship between computer science and journalism.

Finally, the survey found that after participating in the summer institute, the students reported a significant increase in their competence in the area of computer science. At the end of the summer institute, there were a larger number of students saying that they could create a computer program as compared to the first day of the summer institute.

This unique project is a solid example of how to teach computer science skills and attract young students to computer science by using a non-traditional computer science field. By implementing a computer science curriculum outside of school hours, Wolz and her team found a solution to the problem of implementing a computer science curriculum without removing courses from the curriculum or increasing the curriculum load.

In addition, this project demonstrates how to teach the skills learned by computer science such as complex problem solving and analytic skills by using a non-traditional computer science problem. The researchers taught computer programming to students by using the real-world problem of how 21st century journalism is becoming more interactive. To work in this new interactive journalism field, a 21st century journalist will need the computer programming skills required to create animations and videos to accompany their stories.

Related posts:Five High School Science Teachers Embark on Unforgettable Science Adventure Arizona Science Center launches ‘Young Science Correspondents’ program Children’s Creativity with "Curious Corner," a New Interactive Web Site

With growing importance being placed on standardized testing, parents and educators alike are finding that adequate preparation for state-mandated tests and in-classroom exams is critical. The U.S. Department of Education reveals that while most students make steady progress during the school year, they tend to fall behind during holidays and summer months. A solution is needed that helps students continue academic progress during their breaks and achieve higher scores on crucial tests when school is back in session. Come January, schools across Georgia will begin preparing for CRCTs, and the pressure is on principals and teachers to produce.

Qwizzy’s World ( www.qwizzysworld.com ), an online study tool that focuses on comprehension instead of memorization, has become a reliable resource for zapping test anxiety and improving scores in the classroom. QW helps students of all ages better prepare for tests, whether they are classroom quizzes/tests or standardized statewide tests like Georgia’s CRCTs. It’s also a fun way to keep kids from losing valuable knowledge they have learned up till the holidays. QW was founded by Forsyth County resident and mother of two, Julie Wilson, who began finding homework time more and more frustrating. As she explains it, homework time at the kitchen table brought on anxiety for her and her son, who was struggling with a couple of subjects. “Endless hours of verbally quizzing, creating quizzes on Microsoft Word and making flash cards left no time for the activities that my son should have been engaging in after a long day at school – like playing sports or playing outside with his neighborhood friends,” said Julie Wilson.

Online quiz sites Wilson explored offered ‘generic’ tests and didn’t correspond with what was being taught currently in her children’s classrooms. Plus, she had no idea how dated the test material was that was being presented online. That’s when the light bulb went off and Qwizzy’s World came together.

Besides helping kids study more efficiently, Julie wanted to make parents’ lives easier, too, alleviating the stress of study time. “The creation of Qwizzy’s World attempts to provide parents and students a web-based self-quizzing tool that reduces preparation time necessary for in-class testing,” explained Wilson. The use of fun and age-appropriate characters makes the site fun to navigate.

Also available is a tutorial called “Wilson the Whiz Kid,” which teaches users how to organize their study materials and create quiz questions from those materials. “Students often have a hard time figuring out how to prepare for a test. By learning how to organize their materials, they will use their time more wisely – as most teachers and homes choolers could tell you. Creating quiz questions is an art, and our tutorial helps users get started in the right direction,” said Wilson.

Here’s how it works. Anyone can establish an account on Qwizzy’s World by activating a 30-day free trial. Then they can begin creating their own tests using study materials, which only have to be entered one time. ‘Qwizzy’ randomizes questions so that quizzes are challenging and exciting, and several quiz formats are available, including multiple choice, matching and others. “You can take a series of quizzes and create an ‘Ultimate Quiz,’ perfect for studying for finals. Both of my kids have had fun doing this, and I have seen their efforts consistently reflected in their grades,” commented Wilson. All quizzes are stored and can be used multiple times when brush-ups are necessary, like winter break.

Some of Qwizzy’s World’s unique features include:

The ‘Buddyshare’ feature is great for teachers and students, as they can create a quiz and share it with other select account holders.

By students entering their own material to create quizzes, they are seeing the material again, and typing it, which helps in retention of information.

It’s great for working parents who don’t have much time to help their kids study. In many cases, parents need to get involved just one time, when students are learning how to use QW.

QW creates efficiency for teachers, as they can divide up material, create a multitude of quizzes for a particular grade, and then share them. The randomizing feature is especially good, as it can help eliminate issues concerning “wandering eyes.”

QW is a great tool for tutors and suits home schoolers perfectly.

Families who use QW help build their students’ test-taking confidence, relieving test taking anxiety.

QW can be accessed from anywhere, any time, making study time and test-making convenient for all.

“Educators I have invited to try Qwizzy’s World have given me nothing but glowing feedback, and they see this tool as an asset to their respective school systems,” commented Wilson. Via Wilson’s newest division, the QW School Campaign, several Forsyth County, GA schools have incorporated QW, utilizing in the classrooms and making available at a discounted price to students. Participating schools earn a percentage back from all enrollments.

Schools in Georgia, Texas and Michigan have embraced the QW School Campaign, and Wilson’s goal is to take the program national. An essay-writing section will roll out in early 2010.

Related posts:Dyslexia defined: New Yale study ‘uncouples’ reading and IQ over time 10 Most Popular Websites for Kids More kids improve literacy and learning skills

The impact of text messaging on the decline of formal writing among teens has been debated in pedagogical circles ever since cell-phone ownership became an adolescent rite of passage in the mid-2000s. But according to a University of Illinois expert in media literacy, not only are critics who argue that texting is synonymous with literary degradation wrong, they also often overlook the bigger role that texting and its distant cousin, “tweeting,” could play in education and research.

Carol L. Tilley, a professor of library and information science at Illinois, says that schools and libraries should consider embracing texting and tweeting as a means of engagement rather than simply outlawing it.

“I think if you’re an educator or librarian looking for new ways of to reach out to teens and tweens, then texting is one possibility,” Tilley said. “Over 70 percent of teens have a cell phone, so I think it’s a viable alternate means of engaging with that age group.”

When used as a tool for ubiquitous learning, text messaging and tweeting wouldn’t be tools of distraction, but a means of engagement for this generation of gadget-obsessed teens.

“Teachers could send reminders about assignments, links to study guides or updates on their progress grading major projects by text or by tweet,” Tilley said. “If they’re away at a conference or need to use a sub for a day, they could use Twitter to stay in contact with their class without having to physically be there.”

Students could text reference questions to school librarians without having to ask for a hall pass or having to wait until lunch, Tilley said, and librarians might tweet about new materials added to their collections.

Texting and tweeting could be seen as continuing the tradition of play and economy in language, which Tilley argues is good preparation for more formal writing assignments — provided, of course, that the use of emoticons and text-speak don’t spill over into their final drafts.

“Young people learn about the importance not only of argumentation but also how to deliver a certain message to an audience, especially given the limitations of the medium itself,” she said. “From an educational standpoint, that helps students become more in tune with language.”

Tilley said that Twitter, the popular micro-blogging site that lets users tweet text-based messages that can’t run longer than 140 characters, is actually easier to integrate into instruction than text messaging because “you can broadcast tweets to a wider audience than texts.” “In terms of strategies for creative or critical writing, having a limited number of characters to work with opens up all sorts of cool ways to play with the medium,” she said.

For example, an English teacher could take a famous character from a novel and ask students to tweet from that character’s perspective.

“It’s a good way to get into the psychology of the character,” she said.

Teachers could also challenge students to craft micro-stories complete with a climax and a denouement in 140 characters. Tilley noted that the flash-fiction genre has a distinguished lineage: the famously laconic Ernest Hemingway once wrote a story using just six words — “For sale: baby shoes, never worn” — and is said to have called it his best work.

Tilley argues that most educators make the faulty assumption that text messaging and tweeting are akin to formal writing. According to a recent Pew survey, teens view texting not as writing or as a distraction from “real” communication, but on par with informal conversation.

“People have always spoken informally in short-hand codes,” she said. “With text messaging, you’re using your thumbs to tap out letters on a device you ordinarily use to talk to someone else with. So it’s obviously more conversation than formal correspondence, especially since it allows for that almost instantaneous back-and-forth volley of messages.”

Since texting can be thought of as closer to a dialogue than a formal piece of prose, Tilley said you can’t expect the same level of polish and grammatical correctness to texts or tweets.

“Texting is also dependent on context, interpersonal dynamics and how you construct your messages, rather than the actual content, in some cases.”

In their efforts to turn cell phones into contraband, Tilley said that teachers and librarians might be fighting a losing battle.

“Texting can be a lot more surreptitious than an actual phone call, where you have to hold the phone up and speak into the receiver,” Tilley said. “So just because you can’t have cell phones in a lot of schools and libraries doesn’t mean students won’t try to text on the sly.”

Despite the pervasiveness of cell phones among teens, Tilley said the statistics are mixed as to whether adolescents are actually using Twitter. One of the reasons could be a lack of access to a computer.

“I see an increase in the number of teachers who expect word processed assignments even though they may not provide in-class time for students to use a computer,” she said. “If a student doesn’t own a computer, where are they going to go? They may be able to go to the public library, but there’s often a wait and then a time limit for computer usage.”

Although teachers and librarians have to be aware of the varying levels of access that students have to technology, Tilley said educators should also proactively seek new avenues of access for those vulnerable populations.

“If teachers and librarians can help students be a part of that social context, students will benefit because it keeps the digital divide from widening even further,” she said.

But there’s also the “cool” factor to consider: By the time teachers get around to bringing something new into the classroom, it’s already passé.

“There’s always that danger when embracing something in a school setting that you kill it for the students,” Tilley said. “But helping kids understand the social and contextual role that texting plays in their lives I think is one possible justification. If there are ways educators can incorporate it in providing homework support or building dialogue out of school hours, then I think it could be a useful communications tool.”

Source: http://illinois.edu/

Related posts:Disability.gov Adds Social Media Tools, Disability Resources and a New Design

Niles Technology Group today announced their Achievers Writing Center apps for iPhone and iPod touch. Achievers Writing Center apps are revolutionizing how high school and college students write essays and papers. The apps make it easier to be more successful at writing, and they also significantly reduce the time and money required to produce excellent work. For a fixed, affordable price, each app comes with professional writing center services and more.

Students know that time is a precious commoditythat they cannot get back and that money is finite and must be used wisely. The main goals of Achievers Writing Center are to help students be more successful writing essays and papers, while helping them spend less time and money in the effort.

“Essay writing assistance for students is the perfect example of a highly fragmented market in need of a serious technology makeover. The products and services simply have not kept up with the mobile, smart-phone centered lifestyles of students,” states Michael Niles, President and CEO of Niles Technology Group.

Mr. Niles explains, “Achievers Writing Center apps deliver the mobile technology and content to let students do things that, in the past, required spending time sitting at a computer, making appointments at a school’s writing center, and traveling multiple times to the writing center. As for reliable “writer’s block” email support, well, that is virtually non-existent at writing centers. And, most importantly, if students want help in editing and reviewing the final product, they usually spend more money than they should on another entity that did not even help them write the essay in the first place. Just talking about all the steps and time involved illustrates how difficult and inconvenient it is to receive consistent, reliable professional help.”

Achievers Writing Center apps change the dynamics of essay writing in several significant ways. For a fixed, affordable price, each app comes with professional writing center services and more. There are no hidden charges or hourly credits to track.

Achievers Writing Center apps have step-by-step guidance in writing over 40 different types of essays. Specificity is key to helping a student with a specific type of writing assignment. The apps also come complete with tutorials on writing effectively, footnotes, outlines, and full explanations of the different essay genres. Achievers Writing Center is truly at the forefront because no other writing center offers comprehensive writing apps.

Each app includes unlimited “writer’s block” email support so no more being stuck without a real person to help. There is basically a “writing assistant” in every app ready to assist with any questions throughout the writing process.

The apps have actual writing pages where students can write essays directly on their iPhone or iPod touch. To achieve true mobile essay writing, Niles Technology Group takes full advantage of the computing capabilities and excellent work interfaces of the devices.

And after the essay is complete, the student emails it to Achievers Writing Center. The essay is edited and reviewed with recommendations on how to improve it. This step is the crucial difference between getting an A instead of a B.

No other product provides such complete, start to finish, writing assistance coupled with the convenience and freedom of mobile computing. There are no ongoing hourly charges; no more sitting in front of a desktop computer or carrying a bulky laptop; no more being stuck without help; and no need to hike through the rain or snow to the writing center.

Achievers Writing Center is truly comprehensive high-tech essay writingaid at a student-budget price. The standard all-inclusive app price starts at $14.99 USD. For students that want everything except the essay editing and review, there are versions that begin at $7.99. The apps can be found in the iTunes Store.

Achievers Writing Center: http://www.essaywritingwizard.com/achieverswritingcenter.html
Purchase and Download: http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/niles-technology-group-inc/id318596183
Screenshots: http://essaywritingwizard.com/achieversscreenshots.html

Related posts:New Expanded Preschool Video Portal Includes Free Full Episodes Arizona Science Center launches ‘Young Science Correspondents’ program

Bill Drew, author of a successful new e-book on writing, ‘The Secret DNA of Writing Essays – And Everything Else‘, claims Rhetoric has caused the writing crisis in US public schools. Isn’t that a rather harsh indictment of Rhetoric? “Not really,” said Drew. “What’s the dominant emphasis in teaching essay writing in public schools? Introductions, thesis statements, topic sentences, paragraphs, conclusions – all of those came straight out of Rhetoric. And those are just forms, not content. What if a writer did all those forms right, but the audience had already read the content, the ideas, before? The forms wouldn’t help.”

But forms are necessary, aren’t they? “Yes, you have to have familiar forms to convey new content and new ideas. But Rhetoric doesn’t show you how to create new content.” What about the Topics, the Commonplaces of Rhetoric? “Note that name, ‘Commonplaces’, which means things already shared and already common. Nothing new there, is there?”

So your e-book, ‘The Secret DNA of Writing Essays – And Everything Else‘, teaches content but not form? “No, that’s not right. My book teaches BOTH content and form. You see, teaching only the forms of Rhetoric is a little like that famous picture of the six blind men: each blind man feels only a part of the elephant and tries to imagine what the whole is like. In the case of teaching students how to write essays with Rhetoric, teachers make students focus on the parts of an essay without helping them relate to the whole message of the essay, to ‘What’s new to the reader’. I used to do that, too, until I discovered that the OldView – NewView relationship is the whole message – the whole elephant, if you will – in whatever you write, including essays.”

Your focus on the whole instead of the parts sounds very unscientific, Mr. Drew. “On the contrary. For instance, in the 1970s, Physics Professor David Bohm said, ‘We must turn physics around. Instead of starting with parts and showing how they work together, we start with the whole.’ Science has been focusing on the whole first for some time now. Parts are relevant only as they relate to the whole. And the whole in writing is, ‘What’s new to the reader’. Cognitive psychology and linguistics have been moving toward newness and the whole message for some time, now. Writing teachers just haven’t caught on yet.”

How do you think this emphasis mainly on parts happened in writing, anyway? “It started over 2,000 years ago in ancient Greece with the ‘parts emphasis’ in Rhetoric, talking about parts, parts, parts. To be fair, Rhetoric does mention in passing that you have to keep your purpose in mind of persuading your audience, but Rhetoric doesn’t get at all specific about how to do that. It’s simply posturing, really.

“Instead of paying attention to Rhetoric, modern writing teachers should have paid attention to Michel de Montaigne, the Father of the Essay. In the first book ever on essays, Montaigne used the OldView – NewView technique. In each essay, he starts talking about some virtue such as loyalty, mentions what society thinks of it, and then he says, ‘and yet’, which introduces his NewView, which often is a NewView Reverse of society’s view. That was over four hundred years ago, and nobody seems to have noticed but me. If anyone has noticed, it hasn’t made it into the writing textbooks.”

“My company, NewView Options, is trying to turn that around with my new e-book, which is selling well on Amazon.com, and our new computer program to help students create NewView Thesis statements from their own experiences.”

Drew’s e-book, ‘The Secret DNA of Writing Essays – And Everything Else,’ is available now online at http://bit.ly/BuySecretDNABook for $8.50. It is also available on Amazon.com as a Kindle e-book for $9.50 (several positive reviews there). The companion software, NewView Essay Services, which automates the thesis-making process in the e-book, is available at http://bit.ly/SecretDNASoftware on a subscription basis for 3-, 6-, and 12-month terms ($10.50, $15.50, $20.50).

Related posts:TechForEducators.com Unveils World’s Largest Public Library Advertisement Stimulus Helps Schools, but Not as Much as Hoped Independent Schools Adopted New Curricula and Teaching Methods

Washtenaw Literacy, a non-profit organization devoted to eradicating adult illiteracy, is now accepting registrations for the 6th annual Power Tutoring event. Power Tutoring offers a free series of learning workshops for Michigan’s professional and paraprofessional literacy providers. This year, Power Tutoring will take place on Saturday, February 27th. Washtenaw Community College generously donates needed classroom space and equipment for the event.

Workshops provide answers to tutors’ current concerns and focus on practical teaching techniques.

Sessions cover a broad range of topics including: working with advanced learners, making a book come alive, teaching to the test (both COMPASS and TOEFL), ESL tutoring, and more. The event is expected to draw participants from around the state, so early registration is strongly encouraged. Last year, the event attracted nearly 120 tutors and learners.

Participants enjoy networking and sharing ideas about tutoring programs. The event is planned and implemented by a group of mentors: dedicated and experienced Washtenaw Literacy volunteers. “It’s very energizing and motivating to see so many people passionate about eliminating illiteracy,” says Alison Austin, a Washtenaw Literacy staff member and organizer of the Power Tutoring event.

Amy Goodman, Washtenaw Literacy’s Executive Director, notes: “Power Tutoring has become a key component of our fight against illiteracy. While the focus of this event is on individuals, there are also ways for corporations and businesses to get involved.” Washtenaw Literacy offers brown bag lunch presentations, the ABCs of Washtenaw Literacy, to help prospective volunteers learn about all of the ways they can help neighbors who are struggling to read, write or communicate in English.

For more information on Power Tutoring or the ABCs of Washtenaw Literary, please call Washtenaw Literacy at (734) 879-1320 or go to www.washtenawliteracy.org.

Related posts:Free Booklet: Earth Science Literacy Principles New Expanded Preschool Video Portal Includes Free Full Episodes