Based on Gramsci's criticism of the intellectual hegemony of dominant social groups, this article discusses the teaching of reading and writing to children under the perspective of literacy in the digital universe. It presents action-research involving children with serious problems of self-esteem, and with difficulties in learning writing and reading. They were inserted in concrete situations of uses of writing on the Internet. Thus, the research tried, from the knowledge about computer manipulation to the learning of writing some digital genres, to achieve a cultural revolution in those children's lives. The results show that the children may discover themselves as subjects of their learning, even improving their self-esteem, and also developing a critical attitude towards the manner of writing of their interlocutors. Writing on the Internet, therefore, helped them to understand that writing serves various purposes, other than carrying out school tasks.
Digital genres; teaching of reading and written; digital literacy