When thinking back to the writing activities and exercises I did with my fifth grade students, there are many core principles of writing that I value and believe are important for children as they write. First I feel that students should not be left to feel their way through a writing activity. I feel that directions such as format, audience, etc should be clear from the teacher. Examples of the writing task, both strong and weaker examples are helpful to students to understand what their end goal is, and what expectations are set for them. Although rubrics are used, and should be presented to the students, opinions on good writing may still vary between students and teacher.
In an online class discussion, my classmates and I talked about freedom children should have in their writing. This freedom is also a huge belief of mine. Although the children should be guided, as I stated previously, I feel that students discover how they learn and about themselves when they are allowed freedom in their learning. Freedoms such as topic, genre, and format can all be left to the student in many writing pieces. This may take creativity and more planning on the teachers' part, but it is something that can be done.
Another principle I feel strongly about is brainstorming as a class. This is a great way to get ideas flowing. I believe planning as a class builds students' confidence in their writing. Students are able to talk with one another to build thoughts and learn from each other. Teacher guidance can push students' ideas further to lead to greater writing pieces.
In order for the students to feel confident, I believe students must also have adequate time to complete their written pieces. This can be time in class as well as adequate time to complete the assignment out of school. Teachers should be in tune with their students writing as far as pacing and quality. Steps should be in place to guide students, but as we talked about in class, the writing process does not have a linear set of steps. Students need to be encouraged to spend quality time with their writing piece. I feel if this is encouraged, they will in turn become more proud of their completed work.
Conferencing is a core principle that I value strongly. I feel that students should get adequate encouragement from their teacher on their written work. This is a time for teachers to encourage individual students and push them to their personal best. One on one time is extremely valuable to students, especially when it comes to their own writing. Their personal work is talked about and improved in just a short amount of time. When students' walk away from a teacher conference they should be enthused about their work and making it stronger.
In all, I feel students should have freedom in their writing, whole class brainstorming, guidance and examples from teachers, as well as one on one conferences with the students to make improve their writing skills as a whole.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Entry #2
Thinking back to Hicks (2009) and the three elements of framework for a digital writing workshop, I notice that a digital writing workshop could easily be implemented in the classroom I student taught in. All the necessary components were there, they were just not being used for a digital writing workshop. As Hicks says "Just because we have access to the tools does not mean that students are engaged in digital writing" (p. 127).
The school I was in was a rural district with about eighty students per grade level. Many of the students had not been outside of their local area before, therefore they had minimal exposure to other ways of living. Technology was present in almost every room, as there were at least 4 laptops per room and a couple classroom sets of ipods for teachers to share. Many, if not all of the rooms also had Smartboards that the students were familiar with. Although the technology was present in the classrooms, the students did not have much time to interact with the technology. In my experience the students had "computer time" for a half hour twice a week. This was not time to write or create using the technology, it was simply a time for the students to practice their typing skills. To me, this seemed almost pointless, because they were only retyping the sentences that appeared on the screen to complete the next level of the game. There was never a time that the students were able to type what they wanted, or something that pertained to them. This "computer time" was generally a negative in many students eyes. The "game" meant nothing to them, and was only a time waster as many of the students expressed to me. They wanted to be able to put the skills they had learned to use and type something with meaning to them. In my experience, the students were never given a time to be digital authors, which is disappointing that the computer time was not a productive time. From my readings over the years, I have learned that students learn best through realistic exposure and don't need explicit teaching for everything. I believe that students should be taught the basics of typing and technology explicitly and explore the rest through general use in context.
As far as writing topics for a digital writing workshop, as mentioned above, this was not present in my student teaching placement. This is something that should be implemented. Students should be exposed to various types of digital writing, such as Microsoft word, wikis, blogs and possibly even social media. Students should be taught the differences between each of the types of digital writing. One does not write a Word document the same as on a social media site, or even a blog. Students should also become readers of digital texts says Hicks (2009). When teaching students to read and write using digital technology they also need to be aware of copyright. This is a topic that should be explicitly taught and periodically reviewed. In my opinion it is much easier for students to "copy and paste" when using digital writing. Students should be informed of the reasons behind copyright (the author wants to claim what they have written as their own ideas) and the consequences for not respecting the copyright.
The space in which the students could have written for a digital workshop was laid out nicely. The computers were in groups on round tables with about five students to a table. This would have worked very nicely, as students could collaborate with each other. There was also enough space in the room that the students could move around and actually go sit with another classmate by their computer if need be. The only thing I would have added to the classroom was a board for the teacher to show students examples, or how to navigate around a new website. I feel it is much easier to show students as you are verbally explaining directions when it comes to technology, rather than to simply explain out loud.
Overall there is a lot I would change in the classroom that I student taught in to create a digital writing workshop. I think the students would have enjoyed the time in the computer lab much more than they were. I also feel the time would have been more productive, as the students would be producing work rather than copying what showed up on the screen, a mindless task for many of the students.
The school I was in was a rural district with about eighty students per grade level. Many of the students had not been outside of their local area before, therefore they had minimal exposure to other ways of living. Technology was present in almost every room, as there were at least 4 laptops per room and a couple classroom sets of ipods for teachers to share. Many, if not all of the rooms also had Smartboards that the students were familiar with. Although the technology was present in the classrooms, the students did not have much time to interact with the technology. In my experience the students had "computer time" for a half hour twice a week. This was not time to write or create using the technology, it was simply a time for the students to practice their typing skills. To me, this seemed almost pointless, because they were only retyping the sentences that appeared on the screen to complete the next level of the game. There was never a time that the students were able to type what they wanted, or something that pertained to them. This "computer time" was generally a negative in many students eyes. The "game" meant nothing to them, and was only a time waster as many of the students expressed to me. They wanted to be able to put the skills they had learned to use and type something with meaning to them. In my experience, the students were never given a time to be digital authors, which is disappointing that the computer time was not a productive time. From my readings over the years, I have learned that students learn best through realistic exposure and don't need explicit teaching for everything. I believe that students should be taught the basics of typing and technology explicitly and explore the rest through general use in context.
As far as writing topics for a digital writing workshop, as mentioned above, this was not present in my student teaching placement. This is something that should be implemented. Students should be exposed to various types of digital writing, such as Microsoft word, wikis, blogs and possibly even social media. Students should be taught the differences between each of the types of digital writing. One does not write a Word document the same as on a social media site, or even a blog. Students should also become readers of digital texts says Hicks (2009). When teaching students to read and write using digital technology they also need to be aware of copyright. This is a topic that should be explicitly taught and periodically reviewed. In my opinion it is much easier for students to "copy and paste" when using digital writing. Students should be informed of the reasons behind copyright (the author wants to claim what they have written as their own ideas) and the consequences for not respecting the copyright.
The space in which the students could have written for a digital workshop was laid out nicely. The computers were in groups on round tables with about five students to a table. This would have worked very nicely, as students could collaborate with each other. There was also enough space in the room that the students could move around and actually go sit with another classmate by their computer if need be. The only thing I would have added to the classroom was a board for the teacher to show students examples, or how to navigate around a new website. I feel it is much easier to show students as you are verbally explaining directions when it comes to technology, rather than to simply explain out loud.
Overall there is a lot I would change in the classroom that I student taught in to create a digital writing workshop. I think the students would have enjoyed the time in the computer lab much more than they were. I also feel the time would have been more productive, as the students would be producing work rather than copying what showed up on the screen, a mindless task for many of the students.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Entry #1
When thinking back to the writing activities and exercises I did with my fifth grade students, there are many core principles of writing that I value and believe are important for children as they write. First I feel that students should not be left to feel their way through a writing activity. I feel that directions such as format, audience, etc should be clear from the teacher. I feel that brainstorming as a class is a great way to get ideas flowing. I believe planning as a class builds students' confidence in their writing. Students write very differently if they are writing for a journal entry compared towriting for the principal as I found with my fifth grade class. Although students need to be guided there must be room for them to show their own individuality. Whether it be their own opinion or the viewpoint they would like to write from. In order for the students to feel confident, I believe students must also have adequate time to complete their written pieces. This can be time in class as well as adequate time to complete the assignment out of school. Conferencing is a core principle that I value strongly. I feel that students should get adequate encouragement from their teacher on their written work.
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...... TO BE CONTINUED
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