Through my Sixth Grade Writing Wiki, Google Docs, and my class blog on Teacher Web I hope to utilize these digital spaces “to extend their voices with their peers” in a (Herrington, Anne.Teaching the New Writing, p. 91) collaborative environment, replace the traditional writer’s pen and pencil workshop with a new digital one that is relevant to them in the 21st century, and “allowing students a purposeful opportunity to share their voices with the world” (Hicks, Troy. The Digital Writing Workshop. p 80).
A collaborative learning environment, in which writer’s respond to and interact with their peer’s writing,creates a social and critical thinking environment. Liz Stephens and Kerry Ballast state in their book, Using Technology to Improve Adolescent Writing (page 55) that the “educator, John Dewey would likely applaud this form of having students collaborate to do the work of the real world because he believed that education is a social process.” Studies have shown that when students work in groups and share their knowledge to help solve a problem, it motivates them to learn (Stephens 55). By implementing a blog and Google Docs into my classroom as part of their writing experience, I am creating a social environment. Blogging is a digital conversation that allows for a nonthreatening open forum. Many students text, IM, and Facebook as a means of communication with their peers. I hope that they see blogging as an social educational tool to help them grow as writers and collaborators.Through blogging the students will reflect upon a variety of published writing pieces throughout the year.
Diana Laufenberg is a high school teacher at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. On YouTube:TED How to Learn From Mistakes, she states that today’s teachers are “infatuated with one right answers” and that “Always asking kids to have the right answer doesn’t allow them to learn.” As teachers we need to allow them to learn through inquiry, exploration, and failure. If we allow them to take risks in learning then they feel empowered and they take ownership of their learning. Through blogging and Google Docs the students use their own voice through inquiry and exploration to find the answers to what makes them better writers. It is a process.
They will read a variety of genres as well as their own, respond in their blog, and share their ideas. I will guide them in each blog entry with a specific purpose. We will be looking at the author’s craft using Swenson and Michell’s (MAPS: mode, audience, purpose, situation. As stated by Troy Hicks (The Digital Writing Workshop, p. 55) we will also consider the media when looking at an author’s craft. By engaging in conversation through a digital environment I hope they will become more comfortable collaborating with each other.
Google Docs is a digital tool that benefits writers in several ways. It provides a history of their development and growth as a writer. Many times students complete a writing piece and it is put somewhere never to be seen again. The revisions and drafts are disguarded in the trash without a second thought. I believe that it is through examination and reflection of the revisions and drafts that students learn to become better writers. As a teacher I believe that writing is a process and a journey of self awareness. If they have a permanent record of the evolution of their writing pieces they can see how they have grown, thus making them see that their writing has improved and that writing is not about the product, but about the process. Through Google Docs, writers are collaborating. When we are peer editing and revising the students insert their comments onto the writer’s piece. Once again the student is extending their voice in a meaningful and social way to benefit the writer and editor. The students have ownership to their writing process in a social environment and the teacher is the overseer. According to Anne Dyson (Herrington, Anne. Teaching the New Writing. p.27.), who has observed children participate in the writing workshop, “they write with a social purpose and with their audience in mind.” She explains that teachers often don’t view children’s writing this way and that teachers need to “replace the notion of socializing the egocentric with one of making children’s written tasks relevant to the sociocentric.” Through Google Docs and blogging my goal is to meet the needs of children as sociocentric writers who want their voices to be heard.
The 21st century writing workshop is different from the traditional one. Students are now able to collaborate online in real time using Google Docs and blogging. By creating a 21st century writing workshop teachers are meeting the needs of young writers as seeing themselves as sociecentric.Troy Hicks suggests,“it complements their innate need to find purposes and audiences for their work” (Hicks, Troy. The Digital Writing Workshop, page 8.). Katie Wood Ray and Lester Laminack are quoted in Troy Hick’s book, The Digital Writing Workshop on page 6-7. the writing process as, “This down-the-line kind of emphasis can be contrasted to a writing workshop where the focus is very much on writers rather than on the process...”. Using Google Docs, blogs, and publishing works on wikis ensures that students are exploring themselves as writers. They will have the opportunity to interact with other students. They will be able to validate, question, and challenge other students writing and their own through online editing and comments. Blogging will provide them with opportunities to share their thoughts about their writing and others. The peer revisions on Google Docs will help them raise the bar and challenge themselves as writers. Blogging will help them to reflect upon their work and evaluate it. Today’s children are immersed in technology everyday (the Wii, Facebook, text messaging, etc.) Digital tools in the writing workshop will help them to see the benefits of technology in an educational way.
In Anne Herrington’s book, Teaching the New Writing, Anne Dyson concluded that “the children she observed wrote with a social purpose in mind” (page 27). Through my wiki I hope to fulfill that innate need all children have. The wiki and Google Docs will provide the class with a permanent protfolio of their works for all to read and enjoy. As Troy Hicks states in The Digital Writing Workshop, “With digital writing, the audience is extended, and students become much more aware, as readers and as writers, of how they both share their work and respond to the work of others (page 81). When students complete their final draft they will be asked to post it on their wiki. This will allow parents, siblings, teachers, and peers to enjoy the work they have produced. I believe that children want to be recognized for their accomplishments and that all writers want to write for a purpose and an audience!
A collaborative learning environment, in which writer’s respond to and interact with their peer’s writing,creates a social and critical thinking environment. Liz Stephens and Kerry Ballast state in their book, Using Technology to Improve Adolescent Writing (page 55) that the “educator, John Dewey would likely applaud this form of having students collaborate to do the work of the real world because he believed that education is a social process.” Studies have shown that when students work in groups and share their knowledge to help solve a problem, it motivates them to learn (Stephens 55). By implementing a blog and Google Docs into my classroom as part of their writing experience, I am creating a social environment. Blogging is a digital conversation that allows for a nonthreatening open forum. Many students text, IM, and Facebook as a means of communication with their peers. I hope that they see blogging as an social educational tool to help them grow as writers and collaborators.Through blogging the students will reflect upon a variety of published writing pieces throughout the year.
Diana Laufenberg is a high school teacher at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. On YouTube:TED How to Learn From Mistakes, she states that today’s teachers are “infatuated with one right answers” and that “Always asking kids to have the right answer doesn’t allow them to learn.” As teachers we need to allow them to learn through inquiry, exploration, and failure. If we allow them to take risks in learning then they feel empowered and they take ownership of their learning. Through blogging and Google Docs the students use their own voice through inquiry and exploration to find the answers to what makes them better writers. It is a process.
They will read a variety of genres as well as their own, respond in their blog, and share their ideas. I will guide them in each blog entry with a specific purpose. We will be looking at the author’s craft using Swenson and Michell’s (MAPS: mode, audience, purpose, situation. As stated by Troy Hicks (The Digital Writing Workshop, p. 55) we will also consider the media when looking at an author’s craft. By engaging in conversation through a digital environment I hope they will become more comfortable collaborating with each other.
Google Docs is a digital tool that benefits writers in several ways. It provides a history of their development and growth as a writer. Many times students complete a writing piece and it is put somewhere never to be seen again. The revisions and drafts are disguarded in the trash without a second thought. I believe that it is through examination and reflection of the revisions and drafts that students learn to become better writers. As a teacher I believe that writing is a process and a journey of self awareness. If they have a permanent record of the evolution of their writing pieces they can see how they have grown, thus making them see that their writing has improved and that writing is not about the product, but about the process. Through Google Docs, writers are collaborating. When we are peer editing and revising the students insert their comments onto the writer’s piece. Once again the student is extending their voice in a meaningful and social way to benefit the writer and editor. The students have ownership to their writing process in a social environment and the teacher is the overseer. According to Anne Dyson (Herrington, Anne. Teaching the New Writing. p.27.), who has observed children participate in the writing workshop, “they write with a social purpose and with their audience in mind.” She explains that teachers often don’t view children’s writing this way and that teachers need to “replace the notion of socializing the egocentric with one of making children’s written tasks relevant to the sociocentric.” Through Google Docs and blogging my goal is to meet the needs of children as sociocentric writers who want their voices to be heard.
The 21st century writing workshop is different from the traditional one. Students are now able to collaborate online in real time using Google Docs and blogging. By creating a 21st century writing workshop teachers are meeting the needs of young writers as seeing themselves as sociecentric.Troy Hicks suggests,“it complements their innate need to find purposes and audiences for their work” (Hicks, Troy. The Digital Writing Workshop, page 8.). Katie Wood Ray and Lester Laminack are quoted in Troy Hick’s book, The Digital Writing Workshop on page 6-7. the writing process as, “This down-the-line kind of emphasis can be contrasted to a writing workshop where the focus is very much on writers rather than on the process...”. Using Google Docs, blogs, and publishing works on wikis ensures that students are exploring themselves as writers. They will have the opportunity to interact with other students. They will be able to validate, question, and challenge other students writing and their own through online editing and comments. Blogging will provide them with opportunities to share their thoughts about their writing and others. The peer revisions on Google Docs will help them raise the bar and challenge themselves as writers. Blogging will help them to reflect upon their work and evaluate it. Today’s children are immersed in technology everyday (the Wii, Facebook, text messaging, etc.) Digital tools in the writing workshop will help them to see the benefits of technology in an educational way.
In Anne Herrington’s book, Teaching the New Writing, Anne Dyson concluded that “the children she observed wrote with a social purpose in mind” (page 27). Through my wiki I hope to fulfill that innate need all children have. The wiki and Google Docs will provide the class with a permanent protfolio of their works for all to read and enjoy. As Troy Hicks states in The Digital Writing Workshop, “With digital writing, the audience is extended, and students become much more aware, as readers and as writers, of how they both share their work and respond to the work of others (page 81). When students complete their final draft they will be asked to post it on their wiki. This will allow parents, siblings, teachers, and peers to enjoy the work they have produced. I believe that children want to be recognized for their accomplishments and that all writers want to write for a purpose and an audience!