by Michael Novelli | February 03 2009 04:04 PM
A long-awaited federal study finds that an estimated 32 million adults in the USA — about one in seven — are saddled with such low literacy skills that it would be tough for them to read anything more challenging than a children's picture book or to understand a medication's side effects listed on a pill bottle.
Read entire article from Jan. 8, 2009 USA Today by clicking
HERE.
I have noticed when discussing literacy issues many youth workers have reacted with,
"Not my students – they all can read well – our schools make sure of it. Your statistics are skewed by immigrants and the poor." My response is,
"Don't be so sure..." Concluding that low literacy is just confined to a demographic is an oversimplification of the issue.
About 6 or 7 years ago I began to pay careful attention my youth group's reading and comprehension. The group I was leading at the time was mostly from a very high-rated school system with upper middle class families. Parents moved into this community in order for their children to attend these schools, and bragged about it! When we began using
inductive Bible study methods, it became glaringly obvious to me that our students –
the rich kids from the highly touted schools – struggled with reading and comprehension. And we were studying some of the "easier" portions of the Bible!
I think some of the struggle with literacy in our culture has a lot to do with a shift in the way people handle information, communicate and learn.
What do you think? What have you noticed?
by Michael Novelli | August 18 2008 11:15 PM
It’d be nice if the Bible read like a novel from cover to cover. But it’s not a novel. It’s a series of books that have been grouped together—and many of them are out of chronological order.
In technological terminology, a mashup is a Web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool. The Bible is like this—a mashup of different writings from different authors inspired to tell the unified Story of God and his love for people.
In a recent talk, author Scot McKnight suggested we look at the Bible as a “Wikistory,” in which there is “ongoing reworking of the biblical story by new authors who each tell the story in their own way.” McKnight continued, “None [of the books of the Bible] is exhaustive, comprehensive or absolute...they are different stories of THE Story. We don’t have to harmonize them or try to reconcile them. They’re just doing their own versions of the Story, and each has a place in the larger picture.”
Let’s face it—the Bible is often difficult to read and to teach. We’ve got our work cut out for us if we wish to give our students a sense of its overarching story. That’s why storying is the best way I’ve found to give people, young and old alike, a Bible overview with context to all future Bible learning.
(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, Shaped by the Story)
by Michael Novelli | June 18 2008 11:51 PM
One of the defining words for this digital era is
interactive. We’re becoming accustomed to being able to access and create our own media at a moment’s notice. We desire to contribute to our own learning and entertainment like we would any conversation. We now yearn to be a part of shared experience.
This shift in values has significant implications for the way we approach education. Places where we’ve traditionally accessed information—schools, libraries, and museums—have identified this shift and moved to making their learning opportunities more interactive. There is a new set of standards for how we teach others. We are moving away from one-dimensional education with the teachers being the experts who hold the key to information.
Students already have instant access to most information. They’re becoming accustomed to being able to change, interact, and create while they learn.
We teachers and leaders then become guides to help students explore information and use it in the right context. This requires a new vision for our roles as educators. We become “experience architects,” creating environments that help participants dive deeper and explore further into the things of God. This new role requires a significant investment of energy into creativity.
Bible Storying helps us to explore our new roles as experience architects. The storying process encourages us to experiment with all kinds of creative exercises that will foster learning and formation in our students.
(Excepted from my forthcoming book, Shaped by the Story)
