Teaching+the+New+Writing

**Technology, Change, and Assessment in the 21st - Century Classroom**
Anne Herrington, Kevin Hodgson, and Charles Moran, Editors This was the text that sparked the beginning of the idea for my research project. As part of the required reading for the CRWP’s Summer Institute, one of the chapters in particular made an impression on me. I kept thinking about the students in Kevin Hodgson’s class who made PowerPoint books, and how excited they were to create them, to learn and use technology, and ultimately to show off their masterpieces to younger students. I thought we could make that happen in my remedial ELA classroom, and that the motivation of technology and being able to teach others would convince my students to work.

Although I have only focused on the first section of the book covering elementary through middle school, I have been thoroughly impressed with the projects presented so far. I expect to continue through the rest of the chapters during summer break in hopes that I may use partial activities or modified versions in my middle school classroom. The activity that really sparked my interest was the third activity presented, in Chapter 4. In it, sixth-grade students created elaborate PowerPoint presentations and presented them to younger students. I not only loved the technology involved, but I also loved that the students used content in other subject areas and had authentic audiences for their pieces. Many of my future remedial students would likely need a little boost in other content areas, so I thought this was a great way to help them out in multiple areas of their education. After all, we learn best when we teach someone else.

Hodgson’s students were excited to share their stories with a younger audience, and I was confident that I could motivate my own reluctant writers with a real opportunity to not only share, but show off as well. Being digital natives, middle-school students are generally excited about using technology and showing off what they can do while experimenting and collaborating to find out more. They would be willing to share ideas and techniques, comment and critique each other’s works without my prompting, and have fun with literacy. Also, I thought we could sweeten the pot a little by having some support from our social studies and science teachers. We could create presentations they might want to keep and use in their future classrooms.

My biggest struggle with this project was that I didn’t know enough about PowerPoint to make it happen. I have created plenty of presentations but nothing very fancy, and I didn’t know where to even begin to get help. On top of that, my team teachers for science and social studies had different prep times than I did, so they would have been largely unavailable for referral on the projects. I still like this idea, though, and am constantly on the lookout for an opportunity or some other software that might let us accomplish a similar task. With our school’s penchant for technology and my creation of a class wiki page, I could see these projects being the highlight of some of my students’ 7th grade experiences.

Another project I am interested in is the collaborative digital writing from Chapter 3 by Glen Bledsoe. Looking back at last semester I wish I had used this project with my remedial students, but for now I am considering trying it out with my regular education students during our upcoming drama unit. I love the way that there are plenty of jobs for students even after the class-wide collaboration process is finished, so that every student can decide to work on a portion of the project that they are most interested in, and everyone can have a shot at using technology without becoming overwhelmed. Our class is already well-equipped with plenty of technology to accomplish this project. Our classroom communities have been established, and I know the students all well enough to make sure that everyone participates to the best of his/her abilities.

I am a little concerned about how to make sure everyone is involved in the writing process, but I hope to use some of the techniques outlined in the book. I have one class in particular that I am nervous about because of their consistent lack of restraint and manners in the classroom. This will be a group that is overall eager to share ideas, yet reluctant to give up a spotlight, so we may have to use a modified version of the collaboration activity. I am eager to model many pieces of the writing and revision process, and help my students understand how important and easy revision can be. Assessment is another concern I have, but again, the author of the chapter outlines her method with its pros and cons, and I expect to follow her lead.

My students will love the chance to shine during this collaboration process, whether it is in saying, “I wrote that line! That’s mine!” in recording their own voices for characters, being a photographer, or putting the pieces together like an editor. When we are finished we can display our pieces on our class wiki and our school website to show off what we’ve done together, and students can show off their knowledge to anyone with Internet or DVD access.

I have thoroughly enjoyed “Teaching the New Writing” and hope to find time to read the rest of the book this summer. I am recommending that our school add it to the faculty library in each building, as it has something to offer to everyone. Starting this fall, every student from grade 6 through 12 will be assigned a laptop to carry around, even take home, and teachers will be scrambling for innovative and creative ways to use them for educational purposes. With projects like those outlined in this text, teachers will be pleased with the educational objectives and students will be interested because they will be having fun as well. Everybody wins!