How Should Reading Be Taught in a Digital Era?

Both printed texts and digital readers have their places in a 3rd grade classroom at Indian Run Elementary School in Dublin, Ohio.

With the many enhancements to mobile devices, multimedia websites, e-books, interactive graphics, and social media, there's no question that the nature of reading has changed during the past decade.

But has the way reading is taught in elementary schools changed as well? And what should teachers be doing to get students ready for the realities of modern reading?

For now, there's no consensus on exactly how digital skills should be incorporated into literacy instruction. Practitioners have few guidelines, and many are simply adapting their lessons as they see fit. But many literacy experts do agree on at least one thing: kids need to read.