The above linked article is well worth the read. Will Richardson blogged about this article, which is how I found it. I found his blog post via Twitter, for those who are interested.

Some of my thoughts, briefly tonight, are that reading and literacy need to be taught to our students. By reading I mean all kinds of reading–both online and offline. There really needs to be an exposure to all kinds of text, including long novels, good non-fiction essays, and even short blog posts read through an rss feed aggregator. I agree with this quote on page four from the article:

Even those who are most concerned about the preservation of books acknowledge that children need a range of reading experiences. “Some of it is the informal reading they get in e-mails or on Web sites,” said Gay Ivey, a professor at James Madison University who focuses on adolescent literacy. “I think they need it all.”

This is a good article and a good topic to consider. As school begins in a little over two weeks for me, this article is one that I will ask teachers to read and discuss.