Progressing Literary Technology
Thinking back, there were quite a few methods of writing that I've used throughout my life. Way back when, in elementary and preschool, I always loved coloring and doing the various activities coloring and activity books and madlibs, etc, had to offer me. I remember having this plastic case of 100 Crayola Crayons, complete with pencil sharpener, for the longest time. That thing would tag along with me in the car with Mom and Dad, and sometimes even in restaurants and the doctor's and dentist's waiting rooms. I used them all the time (of course along with the occasional use of markers, usually Crayola, and water paints), often for my early school assignments that required drawing or artwork of some sort. Obviously, the pencil was key in school around this time as well. While cleaning out my room to pack for freshmen year at college, I came across a huge collection of these historical artifacts of myself: coloring books, the dreaded 7th grade journal from reading class, magazines, birthday Christmas Halloween Thanksgiving cards, and a journal I had totally forgotten about from when I was maybe 5 or 6.
Internet!
A data visualization of Wikipedia as part of the W...
Podcasts ScreenshotAll of these things resembling, bring back my childhood days. All of them scribbled with marker or crayon or childishly scrawled in big, carefree pencil-drawn letters. Unfortunately, however these writing utensils may bring back fuzzy memories of our past, they are merely tools in forming an educational basis for helping kids to become literate.
When people reach a certain level of literacy, they are exposed to the tools of writing that are actually used in the real world. For me, this age was around late elementary or middle school. My first real exposure to computers in school was in maybe 4th or 5th grade, but the curriculum's emphasis...