Welcome to #TeachWriting, our bi-weekly chat about writing instruction! Tonight we will have a SHORT 30 MINUTE conversation about technology and writing instruction! It's going to go fast, so heads up! Only four questions!
Please introduce yourself - what do you teach? Where? To whom? And what are some ways you like to use technology to help with writing instruction in your classroom? #TeachWriting
We will be following the traditional Q1/A1 format - questions will start with Q1, Q2, etc. - please begin your answer with A1, A2, etc. . . #TeachWriting
Ben from the Chicago area, currently teach 6th grade science/social studies in a chromebook school (1-1 chromebooks). Tech has become a daily part of "the way we do business" in our district. #TeachWriting
Generally, we're all about Google stuff - G-Suite, as they call it now - docs, sheets, etc. I like that it seems to work across multiple tools - you can insert Docs into Sites, and copy info to Keep, and so on. Nice assortment of related tools. #TeachWriting
A1 - It makes me faster. I type faster than I write by hand. It makes it easier to share and publish. I have a much bigger audience than I did when I put everything I wrote into an old green suitcase. #TeachWriting
A1. Technology has made writing down my ideas easier. The talk-to-text feature on my phone was a HUGE help in getting the #dissertation written. I use it for most first drafts of my writing. #TeachWriting
A1 - Not having pages is a different thing, though. I mean, sure, you have virtual pages on Docs and stuff, but that's sort of fake. It's not the same as paper. I was writing in a notebook today, and it's a completely different physical experience. #TeachWriting
I also remember in the days of early writing tech (MS Word) having multiple versions of a doc. E-mailing attachments, and getting edited and old versions of docs mixed up. #TeachWriting
. . . But tech has been a huge thing for me. I would argue that I wouldn't have really developed into a serious writing guy (or not really written that much) if we didn't have a computer in the 80's. It made it a lot less work. #TeachWriting
A2 - It's not a silver bullet. It makes management of the paper/text much easier - I don't have to carry around 100 notebooks anymore - but it doesn't automatically make kids write or write more. There are still challenges. #TeachWriting
A2. Recently, I've explored sharing student work in process via over head projector for group discussion. Great to watch a student make revisions in real time. #TeachWriting
A2 - Sometimes I really like tech, especially when kids are "playing" with text, images, and otherwise "making" things they wouldn't otherwise be able to make without it. But plagiarism is a real issue these days, and grammar/editing continues to be a struggle. #TeachWriting
A2 - Kids engage with tech in a different way than paper, and sometimes I wish that kids didn't dismiss paper so readily sometimes. I think some of my students would benefit from more paper-based writing, but are less motivated and engaged with it. #TeachWriting
A3 - Big things are pictures and video. And I've been talking a lot lately about how kids think about writing in space differently. Less linear, more spatially. Thinking in terms of web pages and design in 2 or 3-D space. Less skill or tendency to read linearly. #TeachWriting
A3 - I think kids bring more and different kinds of literacies to the table, and they are having more and more trouble separating academic literacies from other (often social media) literacies. Not necessarily always bad, just need to recognize and be deliberate. #TeachWriting
A3. Not sure about my answer to this beyond the speed with which the writing can be done. Interesting to see partnerships continue writing even when one is at home sick for the day. Or the group that has a rewrite idea and makes it immediately in rehearsal. #teachwriting
Agree - taking pictures of content is much more passive, doesn't engage the way writing does. Kids are treating it as a memory game when they do that, not a complex series of concepts to be understood. #TeachWriting
A4 - I think a lot depends on the kid and what they want to do. My go-to is Google Docs, since it fits so many needs. But I think a blog works better for publishing and inviting comment, which I've seen work very well for some kids. #TeachWriting
A4. Tech tools that make the writing active in some way. We recently used the @GooseChaseEDU scavenger hunt app in a plot building lesson, which helped students create richer writing. #teachwriting
A4 - We've been playing a lot with SeeSaw lately, and it's produced some good results. It's a little early for me to say that it's a great tool all around, but I see a lot of potential there for us. #TeachWriting
A4 - For now, we can make a lot with Google and G-Suite (still feels like an awkward name to me) - easy to turn it into a PDF, share and collaborate, publish on Sites, and so on. #TeachWriting
