Introduction

What is literacy? Not too long ago the answer was easy: being able to read and write to a degree that one could access meaning (reading) and communicate ideas and information (writing) made one literate. Since the proliferation of the Internet, and more specifically web 2.0, any traditional notion of what it means and what is required to be a literate person has been thrown for a very big loop. This blog site seeks to explore and share what is happening in the world of literacy education, examine how the traditional strands of reading, writing, speaking, and listening are intersecting, overlapping, and converging with the "new literacies" (visual, digital, critical, and media), challenge and expand pre-Internet definitions of literacy, and somehow piece together an ever growing quilt of ideas of what it means to be literate in the 21st century.

This spring I will graduate with a Masters Degree from Fordham University's Advanced Literacy and Learning Program. My fellow students, professors, and I have had the luxury to debate many issues in this education hotbed. I entered the program with the end goal of becoming a reading teacher, yet I have gained so much more. More knowledge, yes, but also the belief that being academically, socially, and politically literate is more crucial than ever.

I invite anyone who is interested in this subject to join in the conversation and continue the dialogue.

To see my work as a children's book author, please visit my website here.