Entry 4

Each of the readings this week discussed familiar topics in the literacy program at Nazareth.  The glaring issue the authors seemed to be touching on was the issue of approach to reading and writing instruction.  Is it better to teach bottom-up (skill approach) or top-down (strategy approach)?  While skills are necessary to promote overall growth in student reading and writing, a strategy approach or top-down model of instruction would best benefit students.  Furthermore, if a strategy approach is more beneficial, should we teach strategies implicitly or explicitly?

As an adolescent teacher I most certainly favor the top-down strategy approach to reading and writing instruction.  First and foremost, students need to understand the larger idea behind the tasks we ask them to complete.  Once students grasp the purpose of a task, then they will be better equipped to have success.  As I read the Kucer and Rhodes article (1986), I started to disagree with the importance of teaching only “discrete language elements” (p. 186).  By focusing only on skills before moving to strategies, students are left with disconnected processes in regard to literacy practices.  How then, can we expect students to magically intuit the connection between those discretely taught skills and strategies?  It may sound as though I do not support teaching skills, I do; however, emphasis on skills should be minimal and clearly secondary to strategies.

I think strategies are vital for students.  Collins (1998) described writing strategies as “deliberate thinking procedures writers use to solve problems that they encounter while writing” (Tompkins, 2009, p. 57).  Throughout my coursework in the literacy program, I have been exposed to many definitions of strategies.  I agree strongly with this quote because a strategy is the metacognitive awareness of how to solve a problem  in a given situation.  So much of what literacy specialists and teachers are trying to accomplish is to teach students how to problem solve.  Especially, in the twenty-first century age of diectic technology (Leu, 2000), the need to adapt to change and problem solve is more pertinent.  People in the twenty-first century are required to solve problems daily, including problems never encountered before.  I was very excited to watch a WXXI program on Digital Media because James Gee spoke on learning and where education is headed.  One particular concept he mentioned was that teachers could easily use game production (i.e. students creating games related to content) as a way to teach problem solving skills.  In tern, state-wide testing could be eliminated because students would have strong evidence of learning by their developed games.  For example, one class was creating a game based on Aesop’s Fables.  Students had to create a plot line and maintain character integrity throughout their game, but they also had to explore and discover different plot elements that may not have been found in the actual story in order to create their game.  I just thought the game concept is a new and refreshing way to use digital tools at the heart of standards-based instruction.

Furr’s (2003) conversation of “Engfish” is unfortunately a truth in our schools.  In the English subject area, I think it’s common practice to find teachers using formulaic essays and essay formats.  Then, students get to higher level education and struggle because they never had enough time to experiment with language play.  In the WXXI program about Digital Media the importance of play was stressed.  Play is essential to discovery in learning.  I completely agree with a constructivist approach to learning.  Furr’s examples of student learning are somewhat in line with a constructivist approach.  Students are immersed in content, then asked to write at their own pace about the subject.  

Thinking about a constructivist approach to learning starts to make me think about implicit or explicit teaching.  Initially, one would think that a complete constructivist approach would only have implicit instruction and learning; however, I believe a balanced approach would best suit the needs of our learners.  Although I am clearly in the constructivist camp, I do believe there is a time and place to explicitly teach students skills.  Deciding what time is appropriate falls on the teacher and how well she/he knows  his/her students abilities.

Entry 3

          As choice is part of an effective writing workshop, the addition of an RSS and/or social bookmarking tool further promotes choice as a “foundation of writing workshop” (Hicks, 2009, p. 15).  From my limited experience with an RSS in class and otherwise, I still find it valuable for students.  The myriad of information available on the internet can be overwhelming, so having a filter of related information is a fantastic way to focus thinking about a topic.  Hick’s essential questions when using an RSS with students are great because they go beyond a singular lesson about source reliability.  The questions have students begin to narrow their topic and consider how the digital tools will aid them in gathering the information.  

I particularly liked the student response about blogging.  The student hits the nail on the head.  She articulates “[blogging] is about creating a space...to safely extend and explore...online voices” (Hicks, 2009, p.22).  I got really excited when I saw this quote in the chapter because it described exactly what blogging should be.  The purpose of each blog can range but the main point for a blog is to create another written voice.  Students can gain so much from their posts.  First, they immediately have a built-in audience.  Secondly, their work is codified like a book, but more malleable because they can comment.  As instructors, we want our students to develop a strong sense of voice and authorship.  By the immediacy of publishing on a blog, students can start to realize the power that writing can provide for them. 

Personally, the concept of social bookmarking is completely new and different to me.  Experimenting with it in class has made me realize how helpful it is in sorting and storing information.  The biggest benefit is that you basically have a personalized database of articles and websites tailored to your topic of interest.

In terms of conferring using these digital spaces, I am quite excited.  I think its great to be able to extend collaboration beyond the classroom walls and time constraints.  Students will hopefully take new learning in class and continue to think of related concepts.  In fact, our writing group is using the Wiki to track our meetings and status of group.  We hope to confer between class meetings about our writing as well.  I like having access to the Wiki in this way because it makes me feel more connected to my writing group.

The biggest thing I take from the reading is that these digital media spaces, blogs, RSS, and social bookmarking, are available to make stronger, wider reaching, and more focused connections between topics and individuals.  One key kernel to consider is how are we as teachers going to relay to students that the digital tools we use in class can aid them in endeavors outside of class.  Many times we speak about digital media and come up with relatively minimal uses of the tools available.  That may be the case; however, as teachers we are responsible for teaching students how to access and use these digital tools to help them understand new knowledge now and in the future.  Personally, I am really starting to grasp the importance of technology in the classroom.  I think the biggest issue for technology is access and creating habits of use.  Students are more than willing to use technology while learning because it is motivating, but what good is motivation when schools have not embraced digital tools beyond visiting the library or computer lab once during a research project?  I think we need to push our thinking even further than we have already.  What are other ways that teachers can incorporate or even use technology to drive instruction?  How can we use technology at the heart of our instruction?

Entry 2

      My last teaching experience was in an eighth grade English class in which some students were also labeled with special needs, such as LD or ADHD.  My cooperating teacher was keen that digital media and writing were becoming more linked and had created a class blog.  The blog was an option for students to respond for their independent reading tasks, so it was not mandatory.  In addition, use of the blog was not expanded to other areas of the English curriculum, likely due to limited access of computers at home.  However, in terms of digital space, my cooperating teacher laid a foundation for using technology and writing in her curriculum.
     Setting up a digital workshop would not be too difficult once students were familiar with the structure of the writing workshop (Tomkins, Ch. 2).  Incorporated within the traditional writing workshop, a teacher could easily have a mini lesson on the procedures of an online digital writing workshop. Success of a digital writing workshop relies on similar principles of a traditional writing workshop.  First and foremost, a community of writers should be stressed.  Students should understand that a blog or other media writing space is another form of published writing.  Furthermore, students should understand the importance of "blogging etiquette" (i.e.understanding a blog is a public space and that responses may not be removed once posted).  Students should be explicitly explained assignment expectations and be well-informed of the purpose of each assignment, which will help ensure an extension of the classroom, rather than simply using technology for technology's sake.  Hicks adds, "Understanding when, why, and how to use different forms of media to convey a particular message requires a working knowledge of the mode...audience [expectations]...how to effectively manipulate the media" (2009, p. 127).  The goal of a digital writing workshop is to obtain the knowledge Hicks describes here: audience and mode.  These to key elements add or detract from particular writing pieces when published in digital media places.
      Other necessities would be access to computers, hopefully on a daily or every other day basis.  Therefore students will continually work on their writing in a recursive way.  In addition, I would need to decide which digital writing spaces would best suite the needs of my learning goals and students.  For instance, most students would likely be familiar with a blog, however, perhaps not for academic purposes.  A Wiki or audio anthology may be more difficult for some students to understand how they work.  To resolve technological discrepancies, I would have students complete a survey with specific questions regarding their personal experience with the media options I was considering for class assignments.  Then, I would have a class discussion about technology preferences and set up general guidelines for digital etiquette, including student input.  Initially, I would experiment with a blog or wiki by incorporating digital responses as an option for students.  This would allow me to gage the level of comfort and professionalism my students had.  Once, it was evident students were comfortable enough with using this kind of technology for school purposes, I would enlarge the use of digital media for a literature study.
      My ultimate goal for using digital media spaces for academic purposes is to have students deeply interact with content material using the digital media in hopes that the technology would allow for a more sustained, deep pondering of the content.  I think a key point to remember about writing with technology is that the writing becomes more malleable so it can be revised easier over a period of time.  I would convey this purpose to students so that they would realize exactly why we are using this technology.  Particularly, for the literature study, I may have students write a blog through the eyes of a specific character as they read a text.  In that way, students would still write in journal form, which would be in alignment with their background knowledge of blogs.  I may add a class Wiki for specific questions at certain points in a text, which would enhance in-class discussions.  I would love to have questions to ponder before class and after class discussions on a Wiki so that students would be emersed in the content of the text while studying it.  Once I had a general practice of using digital media spaces in the ways described I would then consider using this technology to assess students knowledge at the end of a unit.  At that time, I may give options such as an audio anthology; however, the options for the assessment would be very specific and in direct correlation with the content of the unit.