So I've tried a couple of times to post from my treo to no avail. It must be this beta version of blogger. I was at NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) and tried to post some reactions to some sessions I saw; frankly I wrote a nice posting during a boring one! Alas those ideas are floating around in cyberspace somewhere.
It's the day after Thanksgiving in the US and I'm working on this talk I have to give to the Mayor of Rochester's Literacy Summit on Tuesday morning. I feel like it's my one shot at making a difference. I know that's not literally true, but it's the first time I've been asked to give a talk to such a policy making audience. The mayor's public mission is to make Rochester "the most literate mid-sized city in America." But the path they are taking uses a definition of literacy as decoding, and they are using old, long discredited arguments about links between "illiteracy" and criminality and locating the "problem" in children and families. They didn't think of asking me originally, but my colleague pushed the issue. So now I'm on the agenda. I'm worried and nervous. I'm trying to figure out how to say what I need to say in a language and tone they will hear; all in twenty minutes! I've basically decided that if I can get the Mayor to question what he means by literacy and to think for a minute before he buys the commercial line hook, line, and sinker, then I've done something worthwhile. Maybe he'll want to talk further.
Wish me luck.
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