Guest lecturer to discuss ways to teach today s kids to be literate
Author: Communications
Posted on Feb 5, 2013
Category: UNB Fredericton
How do we teach children to be literate in today's world? With changing modes of communication, does ‘being literate’ mean something different than it used to? These are a couple of the questions researcher Jennifer Rowsell will touch on during her talk at the University of New Brunswick.
On Tuesday, Feb. 12, UNB's faculty of education will present Dr. Rowsell, Canada Research Chair in Multiliteracies from Brock University, as part of the faculty’s colloquium series. Dr. Rowsell’s lecture, On Being Literate Today, will take place at 7 p.m. in Room 356 of Marshall d'Avray Hall, UNB Fredericton.
A pressing question for educators concerns how best to prepare children to be literate. What are the qualities, skills, and habits that children need to foster in order to communicate effectively as they grow up? It is apparent that education needs to change, but do we actually know what needs to change? For her presentation, she will look across research studies that she has completed over the years with children, parents, adolescents, and teenagers to offer some ways that we can reconsider what it means to be literate.
Modes of communication, other than language and words, are becoming increasingly prominent and even dominant, and our children live in this world quite comfortably. It is time for educators to meet them halfway.
Dr. Rowsell is a Canada Research Chair in Multiliteracies at Brock University’s faculty of education, where she directs the Centre for Research in Multiliteracies. Dr. Rowsell has written and co-written several books, journal articles, and book chapters over the past 10 years, as well as regularly presenting at many national and international conferences.
This free, public lecture is supported by UNB's Early Childhood Centre and the faculty of education. For more information, contact José Domene, research co-ordinator, faculty of education.