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Richardson ISD will be hosting their 8th annual Literary Festival on January 29, 2009 from 4:30-6:30.

This year’s festival features Sarah Weeks, author of more than 30 children’s & YA books, including So B. It, Regular Guy and Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash.

Events include a keynote by Sarah Weeks, booktalks of the current 2×2, Bluebonnet, Lone Star and Tayshas lists, author signing, and a book fair where books by Sarah Weeks and others will be available for purchase.

For more information, download the event flyer.

In working with teachers and librarians, I have noticed that there seems to be an ever-growing divide between the so-called “techies” and the technology illiterate. As technology and the web become increasingly important in our day to day lives, I’m afraid that people who don’t have these skills will cease to be effective in their jobs.

In a recent blog post, Seth Godin listed several basic technology competencies. Take his little quiz. Here are a few of the questions:

• Can you capture something you see on your screen and paste it into Word or PowerPoint?
• Can you open a link you get in an email message?
• Do you have a signature in your outbound email?
• Do you fall for internet hoaxes and forward stuff to friends and then regret it?

These are really basic skills that we all need to have. If there is something on the quiz that you don’t know how to do, I encourage you to find someone to teach you. And if you know how to do these things, teach someone else who doesn’t.

Who knows? You may help someone (or yourself) remain employed!

Photo citation: Collage, uploaded on July 14, 2008 by Editor B.

The New York Times has a very pertinent article that all of us who are interested in the teaching of literacy should read. The article debates the merits of online reading as a means to literacy.

As teenagers’ scores on standardized reading tests have declined or stagnated, some argue that the hours spent prowling the Internet are the enemy of reading — diminishing literacy, wrecking attention spans and destroying a precious common culture that exists only through the reading of books.

But others say the Internet has created a new kind of reading, one that schools and society should not discount. The Web inspires a teenager like Nadia, who might otherwise spend most of her leisure time watching television, to read and write.

Take a look at the article then post your thoughts in the comments. Should we be teaching kids how to read effectively online as well as in print?

Image citation: Study uploaded on June 17, 2008 by Spintwig under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license.