Friday, November 10, 2017

Writing

We use technology to do so many things... we email, we order pizza, we order groceries, we can even turn on our thermostat from work. Why can't technology help us write, and teach writing?


  • Whereas handwritten pieces are generally done independently, pieces of writing done electronically can be collaborative.  
  • Digital writing is more accessible by peers, parents, and the world wide web.
  • Digital writing allows the use of graphics, art, images, and other items to accentuate the writer's message.
  • Blogging- Kids can also blog as a way to communicate opinions on books and book studies, or just collaborate with eachother, by (you guessed it) writing! This starts with reading blogs regularly.
  • This video:


As seen in this infographic, writing digitally allows us to promote collaboration in such a way that students are able to interact differently. Here's what I mean: remember peer editing, when you wrote a piece and then traded it with a friend, who used a red or purple pen to "edit" and fix your mistakes? In teaching our kiddos to write electronically, we're encouraging them to collaborate electronically too, commenting and giving feedback. If a student forgets to tell a friend something about his/her writing, it's never too late to go back and add feedback, or link to another source!


Why Technology?

Though it seems that most have caught up with the new "trend" that is the 21st century, some people may wonder "why do we need to use technology in education?" What was wrong with the old paper, pencil, red pen, chalk, chalkboard style of teaching and learning? Did you know that every 24 hours, the term "tomorrow" becomes "today" every 24 hours? (2013, Theoretical Minds and Processes of Reading).