Faculty Spotlight
January - February 2006
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21st Century Literacy Explored in English 101Dr. Jenn FishmanAssistant ProfessorDepartment of English |
When is the first time you remember using technology to communicate? Jenn Fishman remembers writing her name with a crayon—and help from her preschool teachers. She was 3 ½ years old.
For Dr. Fishman, an Assistant Professor of English and a specialist in Rhetoric and Composition, the study and teaching of literacy begins with writing and technology, broadly defined. As her childhood memory suggests, Dr. Fishman believes that writing is deeply personal (i.e., the act of writing your own name) and fundamentally social and collaborative: "We write and we learn about writing by working together with other people." She is also quick to point out that writing depends on different tools or technologies, and becoming a writer means becoming adept at using what is available effectively, whether crayons or Blackberries, pencils or personal computers.
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