March 10, 2008 (Vol. 7, No. 4)

Expert on Youth Literacy to Speak at Lehman March 26

Dr. Donna Alvermann, an expert on youth literacy education, will give a talk at Lehman March 26 about the widening gap between the way reading and writing are taught in school and how these skills are being used in email, instant messaging, and other forms of communication outside the classroom.

Her lecture, entitled "Inviting Popular Culture into Literacy Instruction," will take place from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Lovinger Theatre. The event is free and open to the public, but reservations must be made through Dr. Gaoyin Qian, acting associate dean of education, at 718-960-8307 or gaoyin.qian@lehman.cuny.edu.

Dr. Alvermann believes that the gap between traditional in-school literacy practices and growing extracurricular literacy practices has implications for pedagogy and curricular decision-making, but that teachers and teacher educators have generally not explored these implications. She asks, "What are our students missing as a result?"

Dr. Alvermann is University of Georgia Distinguished Research Professor of Language and Literacy Education. She teaches courses at the university on young people's literacies (digital, visual, and print), and from 1992 to 1997, she codirected the National Reading Research Center, funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Her books include Content Area Reading and Literacy: Succeeding in Today's Diverse Classrooms (5th edition); Reconceptualizing the Literacies in Adolescents' Lives (2nd edition); and Adolescents and Literacies in a Digital World.

The lecture is sponsored by Lehman's Division of Education, the Graduate Program in Literacy Studies, the Office of the Provost, and the Office of Associate Provost for Undergraduate Studies and Online Education.

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