The report Writing Next published by the Carnegie Corporation is a heavy read, but one that we might consider referring to throughout the course. The "meat' of the material is between page 11 and 34. You can skip or skim the rest. It has eleven key recommendations that are worth "unpacking" as we move through our discussions. The report is considered one of the most comprehensive reports on writing since the 1990's. It makes a good companion to our text which we will start reviewing in a few weeks. Does this report contain ideas particularly true to your experience, ideas that you find puzzling, or ones that run contrary to your beliefs?
My first comment is that I loved the YouTube video! I am often thankful that I teach kindergarten where I am usually a little more tech savvy than my students. That would not be the case if I taught a higher grade level.
ReplyDeleteI did find the Writing Next reading to be quite a bit to wade through. The eleven points are interesting though. I was especially interested in the point they made that teaching grammar separate from writing instruction actually had a negative effect. Interestingly enough this is one area that I hear many teachers complain about. They want to put more emphasis on grammar and feel that doing more worksheets, etc. is going to make their students better writers. Sometimes I get the idea that the reason this comes up so often is that assigning worksheets and grading them is more straight forward and “easier” than assigning and grading writing. I don’t at all mean that teachers are avoiding work, just that teaching writing is difficult and grading writing is more subjective than grading many other subjects. Several years ago in ASD there was a writing assessment that was district wide and was scored by groups of teachers. I’m sure it has been abandoned because of budgetary concerns but it seems to me that it was a much more authentic way to assess writing than the SBA tests.
Writing Next dealt with older students than those that I teach but I did note with interest their finding that students without basic writing skills were not able to “write to learn”. I think writing deserves more time than is sometimes given at the very early grade levels. Giving students lots of opportunities to write and quality feedback on their writing from a very early age is crucial to creating students that view themselves as writers.
I browsed the Writing Next pdf over the weekend and it inspired a writing lesson. Due to the randomness of mail, I found myself at a loss of what exactly to do in my middle school language arts class yesterday. (There were other distractions, the Battle of the Books, absent colleague, students pulled for extra support, a quarter of the class absent, etc.) I knew I wanted to do some writing. I recalled the report, spontaneously created a lesson based on all 11 strategies, and inspired the next Isabel Allende and Gary Paulsen. Yes, I’m kidding about using all 11 strategies – I just wanted to balance my initial slacker lack of a plan!
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the strategies, Google had a doodle in honor of Jules Verne and I put those two together. First, using the SmartBoard, I showed students the Google doodle, clicked on a brief article about Jules Verne, and explained his most popular books. Most students had watched the more recent movie renditions of Around the World in 80 Days and Journey to the Center of the Earth. Next, I pointed out the years he had written these books and how visionary his ideas of a submarine and circling the globe had been in the mid-19th century.
Using all that as inspiration, I asked students to brainstorm a list of ideas about future technologies, encouraging creativity. Taping into the idea of collaborative writing, I placed them in groups of 3 or 4 and had them talk with each other – sharing their lists. They returned to their desks and had a minute (I used the Smart time) to add to their list. Students shared some examples with the whole class. Continuing with collaborating and getting them to talk to each other about their ideas for writing (prewriting), I asked students to grab one partner and then for three minutes talk about a story idea based on their list. I reviewed plot diagram and the need for a clear beginning, middle and end. The listening student could only ask questions, then the roles were reversed. The final activity, with only ten minutes left of class, was a quick sketch cartoon of their story. Typically, students are watching the clock because its lunch time, yesterday they were fully engaged. Whew –
I look forward to examining the 11 elements in more depth throughout this course. I don’t know if I did collaborative writing as the authors intended, but the idea of getting students to work together on the creation of a story or piece of writing intrigues me. I often have students work as peer reviewers, but not peer creators. My experience from the other day was encouraging to try similar shifting of individual, group, partner, individual.
• Thankfully our school and district have been great at integrating technology and giving us the time to train and prepare lessons using SmartBoards, slates, clickers, etc. Like a comment on our Office parody video said, "Technology added to a crappy class is a crappy class with technology.” Good teaching is still good teaching, no matter how fancy or entertaining we try to get. That said, I have found that kids do respond to some fancy “reveals” on the SmartBoard in an, ooh and ahh kind of way that then allows me to point out whatever it is that I want them to pay attention to and process. Again, though, the technology is just a tool to enhance solid content that I have been teaching for years. As I take this online class, I am pondering my own stand on the place technology has in education. I have seen lots of kids get online classes shoved on them as a fix-all for everything from credit recovery to advanced/gifted-style enrichment, with mixed results at best. Some classes are little more than clicking the radio buttons and getting a credit at the end, while others, when tied into a real live teacher, albeit one who might be in another town or other state, aren’t bad. It requires serious self-motivation, and in my experience doesn’t work with kids who need a teacher focusing them repeatedly. Also, I know I don’t have to tell this group that the face-to-face human element is essential in this craft of teaching. The longer I do this job the more I feel that reading, ‘riting and ‘rithametic are secondary to being an adult in kids’ often chaotic and lonely lives who gives a damn. In this February of ours, it sometimes is overwhelming to ponder the never ending need we’re surrounded by every day. I just don’t think that one more toy in the classroom is the magic bullet for teaching kids how to communicate with the world and find their place in it.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the assigned portion of the study report, I came away thinking, “Well, yeah.” We all know that writing is essential for kids to be successful in school and careers. I guess it was validating to hear that research supports what I do in class every day. The trick, of course, is when we move from theory to reality in the classroom. With my juniors, motivation to produce work is a big problem for a handful of them. I have found success tapping into their favorite subjects: themselves. We just finishing reading “Our Town” and I had the class write about good and bad aspects of their town of Nikiski. The class had a lively discussion while two kids collected their responses on the SmartBoard. Then each kid wrote a short essay of his own. Motivation was high for this project, because the subject was one the kids know intimately: their community. Writing to learn about, say, poetic techniques is more of a challenge for my younger kids. I did agree with the report that I tend to rely too much on the 5-paragraph essay form. I know this is not a form that is called for much in the real world. I think we tend to hammer it because it narrows the focus for kids who struggle with organization. Giving them a formula seems to help make the task less daunting. I will, however, work to teach a more varied selection of forms, especially as my writers get better.
ReplyDeleteB.C., it's too bad your school district doesn't do Analytic Writing Assessment anymore. I agree with you that it is much more authentic than the SBA's, and it ties right into what the research says we should be doing: grading on a rubric, etc. Thankfully we've been able to hang onto it here on the Kenai and I think it's the best assessment of writing skills we do all year.
ReplyDeleteI remember my first few years in Anchorage when we DID do the AWA, and I would always help score them. I agree it was valuable information, and if used wisely, the results could be meaningful to the students' learning. It was also good for me, as a teacher, to score thousands of those things, to be able to recognize common writing problems of different grade and ability levels, as well as the common ELL writing issues.
ReplyDeleteOne thing from the reading that struck me was the fact that kids need to see US using technology to find collaboration around things that we are interested in, and that, "Middle school students should be engaged in the process of cooperating and collaborating with others outside the classroom around their shared passions, just as they have seen their teachers do. And older students should be engaging in the hard work of what Shirky (2008) calls "collective action," sharing responsibility and outcomes in doing real work for real purposes for real audiences online."
It inspires me to continue with my "blog" plans, with which I began the year, but in which I found myself bogged ("blogged?") down and stressed out with how to get it up and running perfectly in under 30 minutes. Who knew it would be an on-going process, and that I'd need help? I thought I was GOOD at this techno-stuff. Not so. I have lots to learn.
I hope that being involved in this community of learners will continue to inspire (and, dare I say, ease the transition) as I push myself to learn even more about the ins and outs of 21st century writing skills.
"Writing Next" was an interesting report to read. It was helpful to see what is most important to teach students when it comes to writing in such a simple, list form. I agree with the report when it stated that some of the elements can not be taught separate from each other.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that has always interested me in teaching writing is how to incorporate grammar and writing. This is something I have struggled with, especially as I have switched schools. I believe that grammar should be taught in conjunction with writing, even though this isn't always the easiest way. It is much easier to just do grammar worksheets and then do the writing completely separate. However, those blank looks I get when I ask my students to edit their writing shows me that isn't the best way to go. Let me give an example. I have my students correct a DOL paragraph every day, finding grammar mistakes and using editing marks. They are awesome at it! They all can gladly find almost every mistake on their own every day. However, when I ask them to edit their own writing, it is always 'perfect', because they find no mistakes. Something I have done to help this is actually take paragraphs written by the students, type them up, take off the name, and use those paragraphs for daily DOL. I do tell the students that it is a paragraph written by one of them, but I never tell who's it is.
So far, I have only plunged into the “Writing Next” article. I can’t believe how excited I am to read the latest research in teaching writing. I’m hungry for help in writing instruction! I read the 11 strategies with a critical eye, comparing them to what I’m doing in the classroom. I teach multi-ages and am frustrated by the lack of progress with my low-achieving writers. This week, I decided to make writing groups with an accomplished writer who would mentor one or two struggling writers. I gleaned info from the collaborative writing approach that I will implement in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteThe schools I have taught in all implemented a scripted reading program, either Linda-Moode Bell or Success for All. I have often wondered why there is not a similar intervention for writing instruction. Perhaps there is, but I haven’t seen one used in a school. I have used Andrew Pudewa’s Teaching Writing with Structure and Style with success, especially with students who don’t enjoy writing.
Personally, I learned to write proficiently as an older adult when I attended college. I usually write for function and am happy that I know how. I still don’t enjoy writing. By that I mean when I have free time, I choose to read a book, not write.
My first post focuses on the Richardson article. On the same day I read “Footprints in the Digital Age” for the first time, I also came across an article on The Huffington Post called, “Technology and Schools: Should We Add More or Pull the Plug?” by Laurie David and Susan Stiffelman.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading both of these, I just had to shake my head because they so perfectly illustrate the debate about technology in schools. One the one hand, “Footprints in the Digital Age” says that without access to massive amounts of technology our children will be forever damaged because they will not be able to effectively compete and communicate with their more googlerific peers.
On the other hand, the “Technology and Schools” article argues the exact opposite. It posits that technology is damaging to our kids in myriad ways and continuing to pander to their technological whims will further erode their ability to effectively communicate and compete. Here’s a quote from that article:
“Increasing the use of technology in the classroom is like feeding our kids pop tarts and soda; it tastes good and they like it, but it doesn't offer the nourishment they need. If schools go hi-tech across the board, they'll be feeding an addiction that, as most parents can tell you, is already out of control.” (Read the whole thing at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laurie-david/technology-and-schools-sh_b_819687.html?ir=Technology ).
I found myself agreeing with parts of each of these articles. Richardson is spot on when he talks about the importance of teaching kids to be web savvy and to know how to use the technology available to them not just to look at videos of kittens and post inappropriate pictures of themselves on myspace, but as a networking tool that will benefit them as they move on to adult lives. David and Stiffelman also make sense when they discuss the importance of making actual human connections with each other, and the pitfalls of multi-tasking and 24 hour-a-day connectivity.
I guess our job as teachers is to figure out how to balance these two differing viewpoints. Technology is vital, but it is also only a tool to be used thoughtfully and in moderation. How, though, do we achieve this balance?
I appreciate your discussions on technology, Stacey and others. I also like the "Technology and Schools" post. As I said in my original post, I am trying to find that balance between technology for technology sake and making sure our use of technology is thoughtful. I see teachers who ignore technology and others who use it constantly. I personally cannot imagine teaching without the tech tools I use, but I also am frustrated at all the time they take to master and how they fail me at critical times. I am still trying to balance. Using new technology is not an easy sell at the college level for older, returning students. I see an enormous gap between their skills in technology and those of students just out of high school. The interesting correlation is that the high school students generally have the tech skills mastered while the returning students generally have much better writing skills. I wonder why this correlates.
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying the Writing Next article! I find myself reading it aloud to my slightly-irritated husband as he tries to grade papers.
ReplyDeleteI especially am processing the idea of Collaborative Writing. We have a project-based model in our House at Dzantik'i Heeni, and it does not typically involve structured writing as a group or pair, but reading the article me convinced I should implement it in my next project.
Additionally, I like the YouTube video a lot! I have to admit that I did not realize it was a spoof for the first bit and I was thinking, "What!?@"
I just read "Footprints in the Digital Age." Since I am in a new community and one of only two secondary teachers, my students have a curiosity about me. I don't hesitate to answer their questions about my age, family, etc... but apparently that isn't enough. They informed me that they googled me! "We saw a picture of you on top of Pike's Peak," they announced proudly. When I inquired, they showed me. I was intrigued, because I have no idea how that picture got out of my "secure" facebook album. It was an innocuous picture, but still slightly unnerving. They have consistently asked to be my "friend" on facebook, but I've let them know that I don't friend my students. I tease them by telling them I'll friend them for a graduation present!
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is important to teach students how to properly operate in the online world. I am aware of an unfortunate incident where students' chats were used as evidence in a court case. "Did you know THEY can read all your chats, even the deleted ones?" I knew that, but apparently it was news to them.
This fall I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend the annual CTL Conference (Center for Teaching and Learning, U of O) in Portland and attended two days of sessions led by prominent researchers/practitioners in the teaching of writing. Dr. Steve Graham was a main presenter and also a leading author of "Writing Next". Key points in his sessions were that 1. research strongly supports the notion that "writing about text improves comprehension, 2. writing instruction enhances word reading, reading fluency, and comprehension, 3. increasing how much students write improves their comprehension of text, 4. writing can enhance content learning. He went on to point out that even though research strongly supports the importance of combining reading and writing instruction, writing takes the back seat and is often overlooked.
ReplyDeleteAs Joyce mentions above, our schools are full of reading programs, but very little training or resources are available for teaching writing and often reading programs do not adequately focus on the teaching of specific skills when writing activities are included. This needs to change. I believe rather than focus on writing programs, teachers need to be trained, especially in the eleven strategies outlined in "Writing Next".
Several of you have commented on grammar and how it is best taught in the writing classroom. Jeff Anderson (http://www.writeguy.net/) has done some great work in grammar instruction - his method involves basically looking at nicely crafted sentences and going through steps to get students to understand the construction of these sentences and then emulate them. Sentence combining (Dr. Bruce Saddler, www.interdys.org/ewebeditpro5/upload/Sentence_Combining_Saddler.pdf) is also a great way to get students to understand grammar and produce more complex and sophisticated sentences.
The video added a humorous touch to the dreadful reality in some classrooms. Unfortunately, teaching with technology is still preserved by some teachers as “fancy” or “student entertaining” techniques. However, the high demands of the 21st century education require teachers to be competent in all three domains of their profession: Content, Pedagogy, and Technology.
ReplyDeleteIntegration of modern technology into instruction should not be a choice of “geeky techies”, but a necessary tool of effective instruction in digital age. If we leave students to the discretion of individual teachers whether or not to get on board with technology, we will deprive them from equal opportunities for quality education and readiness for the challenges of real world outside school.
Guided by resent research, we should reframe our own teaching using effective instructional approaches like inquiry teaching, engaging and motivating our students through collaboration, communication, and involving their creativity.
I find the recommendations by Meta-Analysis to be very helpful for several reasons: first, the 11 Key Elements provide a framework for effective writing instruction; second, the report provides examples how the 11 Elements can be implemented in the classroom; third, the data drawn from empirical evidence are relevant, highly informative, and have practical merit. The findings about using sentence combining approach as an alternative to teaching grammar being more effective in improving students writing skills makes sense. Instead of focusing on teaching grammar rules, sentence combining appears to be an integrated approach that scaffolds and interweaves various language skills including vocabulary development, usage of grammar in context, and critical thinking.
I loved the Youtube video. I can identify with the instructor that as we get more and more technology it becomes difficult to keep up. Technology needs to be a tool for learning rather than just a show piece.
ReplyDelete"Nett-a-quit" made me think of how we don't educate students enough on how to respond using the different modes of technology. How something they have written and the way it is written will be taken by the recipient. I need to take the time to teach this to my students rather than just a cursory overview.
"Footprints in the Digital Age" amazed me with the fact that 70% of young people who are online are regularly discussing education-related topics. I made an assumption about the social networking that is available that it was just that "social". The article talked about the fact that as teachers we need to be modeling the use of technology and how to own our learning. This also leads to students understanding how to collaborate and cooperate with others outside the classroom in the global world. This article gave me a lot to think about as to how I engage students in the technological world of today. It is their world.
"Writing Next" was an enlightening read. The 11 Key Elements provide a practical framework for the teaching of writing. I like this approach which gives students a systematic approach to their writing. I am very interested in the collaborative idea. I immediately thought of two students in my room who would greatly benefit from this strategy. I am anxious to try this with my students. I found the grammar section interesting and validates the idea that teaching it in isolation does not transfer to students becoming better writers. To me the sentence combining strategy is much more effective. I use a similar idea that I found in a program called Step Up to Writing. This article was a good read with many ideas to benefit me as a teacher of writing.
Kristin thank you for the two sites to check out on grammar and sentence structure.
ReplyDeleteMarina I totally agree with your statement about sentence combining being an integrated approach and its benefits to students. I am not sure I conveyed this idea as succinctly as you did; thanks.
Reading through others' posts before posting mine, I've noticed quite a few people commenting on the Collaborative Writing portion of the 11 strategies discussed. I, too, thought I'd focus my response to the reading around that portion as I have found myself trying to successfully implement a collaborative writing approach amidst the craziness of my HSGQE English class. I'm frustrated because I have 3 students in that class, leaving for little chance to break into pairs and write a composition. To add to my frustration, all three of them have their own issues in regards to writing. I have one, that struggles to incorporate articles, conjunctions, and adjectives/adverbs appropriately. I have another, who writes accurately regarding punctuation and grammar, and as far as spelling, is an advocate for herself and seeks out assistance when she's unsure; however she also limits her writing, no matter what she's writing, to about 3 sentences. My final student places a comma into her writing every time she exhales. You'd think that the three of them would be able recognize errors when each of them has strengths in different areas, but what's been happening as we incorporate peer revision and prewriting activities into the writing sessions is that each girl, too timid to edit the writing of her peer, says it sounds great and they wouldn't change a thing. Furthermore, when they do suggest changes, the other student takes offense, shuts down and hands over her computer for the other student to fix the mistakes.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm wondering what some specific prewriting, writing, and revision activities are that others use to help students identify needed revisions and share CONSTRUCTIVE feedback with their peers, to help each other develop more consistent and understandable writing passages.
As for the technology piece, I thought it was funny, both the Youtube and digital adobe write-up. My mother-in-law writes emails in all caps no matter how many times we tell her how crucial it is not to discriminate against the lowercase letters on the keyboard. She doesn't understand why anyone would think she'd be mad if she's telling them about her "WEEKEND" with "FAMILY". I get a kick out of it.
With the "understanding/incorporating technology" thread of the conversation up there, I'll leave you with a cute story about my aunt. She has always signed her emails to me "LOL, Jeanie". Knowing how sweet she is, I couldn't imagine why she was signing, "LOL," when she sent us a Christmas card, and furthermore, why she'd sign, "LOL," when she emailed us after my Uncle Dennis died. I finally mustered up the guts to confront her one day, as I knew she always meant well, but I didn't find her "LOL" appropriate after my Uncle Dennis lost his battle with cancer, so I asked her, "Jeanie, I love you, but why is it you always sign your emails, 'Laugh Out Loud,' even when you're writing about something that isn't funny?" She replied, "What ever are you talking about, Brie? What's this, 'Laugh Out Loud,' you're talking about? I've never signed such a thing to any of my emails." Her southern accent was adorable, but for a moment, her confusion led me to believe someone else was using her account. I showed her what I was talking about as I pulled up a recent email she sent, as expected, signed, "LOL, Jeanie". She laughed and said, "Darlin', I always thought that LOL meant, 'Lots of Love,' so I've signed that religiously to each person I've mailed since the day I discovered acronyms on here. How embarrassing?!" We "LOL"ed a lot that afternoon, thinking through how many serious emails she probably sent, "Laughing Out Loud."
In reference to Stacey's post: I completely agree with the statement that we have to balance technology use in our classrooms. I wish I had all the time in the world to educate students over online etiquette, shorthand/acronyms (when they're appropriate and when they're not), and the dangers of putting something in writing that you don't want read at your funeral or your court hearing, for that matter. I feel that parent involvement and behavioral management at home are huge defects in a student's ability to recognize these things. Unfortunately, the parents are less tech-savvy than we are, and the expectation is that we'll be teaching the students about technology amidst the GLEs, test taking strategies, and social skills they require. How in the heck do we get it all in in the time we're allotted?
ReplyDeleteI like Carla’s writing, she makes a lot of good points. Here are a few of my comments.
ReplyDeleteTechnology in class: We can’t avoid technology! It is a part of life now. Schools must use it, otherwise we would turn the young people away. Technology sometimes fails, like we had district-wide internet outage this morning, but there’s no way of stopping it. As they say now, the next revolution will be downloaded and twitted, look at the recent Cairo events…
On good teaching: Computer is not a teacher, and not a babysitter. No matter how good a program is, it requires an adult to explain everything, but gives student a sense they did it all by themselves at the end. A good technology-enriched class enriches one’s skills and deepens their knowledge, not just entertains. I see many cute things students can do now to dress-up their presentation, but errors are still errors, computer points them out, but doesn’t resolve. Computer program can’t judge whether a student addresses the topic in an essay correctly, whether they reflect or summarize. Teaching profession is not obsolete just yet!
Five-paragraph essays: We must assess what we teach. Teaching one thing and assessing in some other format is confusing. I do have a thought, though, for my succinct writers. What if there’s an Edgar Poe sitting there, or a Tolstoy, and I am asking them to stretch and shrink their thoughts? How do I do no harm with the cookie cutter format? Or are we overthinking all this, everyone should pass the essay like they pass a driving test at the DMV?
Important adults: There are many children who thrive despite of… Being that person who boosts self-esteem, cares, gives them extra attention, listens to the children, we open the door to higher learning. Many of the parents of my students do not speak English, so we have an after school program in place to help their children out.
The video was hilarious! I agree with the video's different comments. I have had several classes that were supposed to be geared toward things like technology and then they are not showing the correct uses of the topic. It was also kind of enlightening to have the students come out and say what they need from the class, or what they expect. I think a lot of times teachers forget to ask the students input. I have started to have my students make suggestions about what they want to learn and it makes them care more about the topic. Technology is important but we also need to make sure that we are using it appropriately. Like in the video there are times when it isn't being used in the most helpful way.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Stacey's and Brie's posts there are a lot of things that have changed in the past few years and texting lingo is a huge part of the kids' worlds. I am also part of that generation and seeing it used in other, past ways can be very confusing.
Digital Footprint: I found this article very interesting. I agree with many of the ideas the author presented. I wonder if students really understand that what they write or post on the internet is viewable to everyone in the world. My students are, as far as I know, pretty out of the loop with the internet networking sites. Many of them are not old enough for that yet. However, I have heard many of my students talk about their Playstation 3 or Xbox chats with other gamers. This can be an interesting conversation to get involved with half-way through that is for sure. I often wonder if their parents understand the extent they their children are communicating with others.
ReplyDeleteAs for being searched on Google by just a quick phrase being typed in, it is definitely a little disturbing, you never know who is searching you or why for that matter. Stressing this with other people is huge. I know that many of my parent's generation are not aware of this and the younger generations are probably not that aware either. Making them aware is important in my opinion without this awareness they are at risk for many different things.
The readings were thoroughly enjoyable and informative. Will Richardson's comments distilled thoughts I've had recently about how much more we communicate and write in our network centric culture. Just as there is more print material available now than there was forty years ago, there is more writing going on to generate it. I try to emphasize to my students that writing is SO much a part of life. Will Richardson showed me how much networked communication is part of the daily lives of our students.
ReplyDeleteWe educators have all had our "Michael moments" like the technologically challenged instructor in the Youtube video. However, we need to get technologically up to speed and seriously deliberate how and why we can and should implement technology in the classroom to enhance our instruction.
Network centric living requires competent, no excellent, writing. Teachers should link written communication to networked communication as a way of:
1.) making the teaching of writing relevant to the students' lives
2.) enabling students to communicate effectively, coherently, and within the accepted language conventions that good writers practice
Part of the process should be introducing formats, templates, and rules of usage. A Twentieth Century teacher taught and reinforced paper-based grammatical, usage, spelling, and punctuation rules. We now need to overlay and adapt those rules to network centric communication. Some rules have evolved with the technology. Most people are aware of flaming and spamming, terms that didn't exist twenty years ago.
Communication is the transmission of ideas. I tell my students that we communicate ideas orally and in writing. Writing is thinking that we can touch. Ideas are like butterflies, if not spoken or written, they fly away like butterflies. Human knowledge is contained and passed generation to generation via writing. Our writing adds to that vast pool of human knowledge. Networking and digital communication allows potentially everyone to contribute thoughts, observations, critiques, and most importantly, to build on the aggregated ideas of humans the world over.
As teachers, we need to stimulate and foster enthusiasm for writing in our digital, networked students.
The readings for the week were interesting. The Youtube video was rather interesting, and while it was a spoof it makes me wonder how many people have similar amounts of new technology available to them but have no idea how to use them? At my school we have received quite a bit of training on the new Promethean boards we have, but as a younger teacher that is more familiar with technology than many of my colleagues I still think we need a lot more training before the technology is going to be fully utilized.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of “netiquette,” I only wish more people I interact with frequently understood this basic concept! I cannot recall how many emails I get from parents who seems to be oblivious of the tone that can or is portrayed through virtual interactions vs. face to face interactions. (Perhaps I can save it this article and forward it to people who abuse virtual interactions...)
The Writing Next report is one that is familiar to me. I have seen it quite a few times in the past few years, and it contains many ideas true to my experiences. The report is also specific to Middle & High School, yet I feel that many of the issues it brings up cover a K-12 span. However I wonder if there is anything that relates more specifically to primary or intermediate writing, or if it all falls into the same category...?
This quote from the report sums up the issue of writing instruction: "...although writing and reading are both vital aspects of literacy, they each require their own dedicated instruction. What improves reading does not always improve writing. This report responds to the strong need for information about how to improve classroom writing instruction to address the serious problem of adolescent writing difficulty." I think that there is a very strong need for more information about how to improve writing instruction, and it seems as though it is not happening on a wide scale - at least not in my district. Perhaps that is why I constantly seek out classes (such as this class) so that I can at least improve my own knowledge of writing instruction, so that I can better help my students be the writers that I know they can be.
I am struck by the line in the "Nett-a-quit" piece that said, Recognize that we're "talking" with one another, not "writing to" one another.
ReplyDeleteMy students frequently seem to have gone overboard on the side of informality in their writing. Especially when I see texting language, or when their tone is so personable that it loses objectivity or the analytical edge of academic writing. I don't think the younger secondary students understand the nuances of tone and how it affects the ways people understand what they are trying to say.
The Footprints in a Digital Age piece was interesting, but I disagree with the suggestion in "Get Started" to "Start a Facebook page. Educators need to understand the potential of social networking for themselves."
ReplyDeleteI don't understand the potential of social networking for myself I guess. I have a personal facebook page, but I don't use it. I think that students actually need a place in a classroom to develop the skills to have authentic, face-to-face conversations.
I, too, thought that the Footprints in a Digital Age was very interesting. I agree with what Richardson suggests us, teachers, to "help (students) learn how to identify their passions; build connection to others who share those passions; and communicate, collaborate, and work collectively with these networks.” However, I strongly feel that students need first to experience those in non-cyber actual world, and continue to do so while they utilize the Web 2.0 world.
ReplyDeleteThe good news is I am using the 11 strategies, the bad news is not enough. I love to model writing with my classes and find that to be very powerful. As I write we also define the rubric so they are aware of the expectation.
ReplyDeleteI too miss the old days of the writing assessments where we would gather and grade hundreds of papers. The anonymous approach, and knowing they were not "your" papers was helpful in giving an honest assessment.
I was a little disturbed by the grammar portion of the article. if teaching grammar it self does not help and may even hurt, how do we address this part of writing. If others cannot understand your writing, is it valid? I liked in the introduction how the earliest art was really writing and humans have always tried to find a way to express themselves, and that is still true today. Whether via text, tweet, email, graffiti it is all about letting others know we are here.