Why Learn to Read?

Back in the 1970's (so last century) students were grabbing calculators for their math homework.  Performing mental math was considered ancient history.  Why learn to do math when a cheap machine can do it for you?

We are now well into the 21st century and students are grabbing their smart phones to dictate text messages.  Spell Check and Grammar Check are turning whatever they say into polished documents.  As for reading, that too is passé.  They simply activate the phone's Text-to-Speech feature, open or snap a photo of a document and the phone soon reads it out loud.

Well, my Language-Arts friends, don't panic. It was once believed that the phonograph would discourage playing an instrument.  Nope.  Think of all those garage bands that started up.  TV didn't put an end to conversation; it gave us more to talk about.  And calculators didn't end learning math, it gave students a way to quiz themselves.  Maybe it is human nature, because we still like to do things ourselves.

You'll offer a modern flair to the old ABC's if you incorporate technology into your lesson plans.  There are many educational games and quizzes on the Internet that you can use during a lesson or have the student use on their own.  Also, ask what would they treasure most, a text from a loved one or a hand-written letter.

Submitted by Bob Burger