Chapter 1: Imagining a Digital Writing Workshop

Chapter Summary:

     A digital workshop still relies on the same set of principles that we use today, “teach the writer, not the writing” (p. 1).  The core principles are: student choice of the topic, active revision (between teacher and student), using lessons to craft the writer, publication beyond the classroom walls and a broad vision of the end product including process and product (p. 1-2).  The goal of the digital workshop is to incorporate the core principles of a writing workshop with technology.  One argument with digital workshops is there needs to be a national technology and writing policy that includes software and professional development for teachers.  We as teachers need to teach writing with what is consistent with the current model of writing that also integrates newer literacy’s and technologies.

Making Connections

     I think it is very important to use a digital workshop in the classroom.  It helps students learn the subject matter they are studying in a way they are able to relate with.  In order to do this we need to use new and initiative technologies.  Using google docs to share documents between students is a great and easy way to integrate a technology.  I have seen students working on a power point assignment in google docs, making it easy to complete a power point.  One student can be working on one slide while another student is working on another part of the presentation.

Classroom Implications

     We could use the digital workshop in many different ways.  Having students use Wikipedia as a source, or even writing in Wikipedia, posting assignments and students work on a closed course website, using a blog for student and parents to see are some of the ways that you could use a digital workshop in your classroom.  We could also integrate blogs, wikis, social networks, podcasts or digital stories into the classroom.

Chapter 2: Fostering Choice and Inquiry through RSS, Social Bookmarking, and Blogging

Chapter Summary:

     This chapter continues with the focus on offering students choice when it comes to writing in the form of topics, genres and styles, and most importantly the publication (p. 15). The authors then offer examples of how students can share their writing online, which gives them a broader audience and hopefully more accountability. The authors then discuss how research and writing have evolved, offer examples of how students can collaborate on pieces of writing, and then discuss specific options for online writing and sharing. The authors offer 3 ways to spur student inquiry, collaboration, and writing: RSS feeds, Social bookmarking, and Blogging.

Making Connections

     One way to spur writing is to help students access reading material that relates to their interests. By setting up an RSS feed, students have the ability to access news stories in a real time setting without searching all over the web. Another tool for online collaboration is social bookmarking sites such as delicious.com. These allow multiple users to share a workspace that saves useful websites and resources. This is essential in a digital writing workshop because students often move from workstation to work station. Finally, using blogs as the tool for a Digital Writer’s Notebook is becoming an easy way for students to share with the teacher and the world their progress as a writer. Sites like blogger.com, wordpress.com, and edublog.com allow for students to share their work on a daily basis and receive feedback in real time in the form of comments.

Classroom Implications

                
     I have used all three of the topics discussed in this chapter. For example, I have had students set up RSS Readers using the now-defunct Google Reader to follow websites and other students blogs. I had them check their RSS feed on a daily basis and reflect on an article or story on a weekly basis. One good way to use social bookmarking sites like delicious.com is to have group members create a site they call can access and then save all links and resources to that page so they can be accessed at any time. With the growth of Google Apps, and the advent of Google docs, websites like delicious.com are becoming less necessary. With Google Apps, students are also able to save links, and collaborate in real time. Finally, every student in my class is required to have a blog and to follow other students on their blogs. This extends the audience of a student’s work and allows other students to review what their peers have done, hopefully spurring new ideas. I use blogger.com for this, but there are many options that are just as good.

Chapter 3: Conferring through Blogs, Wikis, and Collaborative Word Processors

Chapter Summary:

     Conferring with students is an important part of the writing process.  Writers grow when there is response to their work, and they respond to others (p. 36).  The time it takes to physically have a one on one conference is limited, but having a source to write as needed and have peer responses that could go beyond the typical “that’s good” response would be greatly helpful.  That is where the blogs, wikis and collaborative word processors come into play.  Digital conferencing can help teachers by allowing them time to pause and reflect on each students’ needs, it can allow students to save their documents automatically and finally the learning doesn’t have to stop at the end of the class period.  There are three technical tools that can be used; wikis, blogs and collaborative word processors.  Wikis are easy to create one’s own page, the pages history is archived automatically and multimedia can be embedded.  Blogs are singly authored, easily tagged and categorized by topic, archived automatically and multimedia can be embedded.  Collaborative word processors can create files in the online word processor or up loaded from a hard drive and it has word processor functions but can be worked on with others at the same time.

Making Connections:   

     I think conferring with students is the best way for them to learn to be better writers, although the lack of time available during the day makes it hard for teachers to have a one on one conference with each and every student they have in the classroom.  I believe this is why using a blog, wiki or collaborative word processor to work on projects and papers would be helpful in the teaching process.  Each of the choices would be helpful in different ways in the classroom, but the most effective way is having the time to connect with each student about their project or paper.  Using one of these would give me the opportunity to respond to students when I had extra time at home and not just during the school day.  I would be able to give each of my student the help they needed.

Classroom Implications:               

     I think having each student use a blog for the writing process would be a great idea.  A student could start their writing process on their blog they could get feedback from the teacher after each draft.  The student’s peers could also respond to their peers writings and give them feedback.  This also gives students the ability to save their work as they are making corrections to their paper. Another great tool for collaboration is Google Drive. Students can share their work with whoever they need to, comment on each other’s work and work simultaneously on a document. Using Google Drive is also helpful for teachers because it tracks the changes made to the document so teachers can evaluate people’s work and hold collaborators accountable.

Chapter 4: Examining Author's Craft through Multimedia Composition

Chapter Summary:

     Chapter 4 focuses mainly on transferring the writing experience to digital works like PSAs, Digital Stories, and The “This I Believe” project. The author discusses the idea that Digital writing takes on so much more than simple written composition. When producing a multimedia project, the student must take into consideration various questions regarding photo choice and use, word choice, transitions, and even tone of voice. The authors stress however that the craft of writing does not necessarily change. Writers in a digital world still must consider “leads, conclusions, adding details, and inserting dialogue” (p.53). The author tries to blend the craft of writing with the addition of digital tools, and provides heuristics for assessing the craft of the writer both traditionally and with digital implications.

Making Connections:

     Digital writing can take many forms, and can actually take place in any classroom. Currently at my school, our Spanish teacher is having students write a weather report, using a green screen and an iPad, and creating weather reports in Spanish. Having access to a quality assessment tool, like is provided in this chapter would definitely help her better assess the writing and production. This chapter also looks a lot like my classroom. We have written personal narratives and turned them into movies, made Super Bowl Commercials, and my seniors are required to complete a “This I Believe Photo Essay” for their final project. By illustrating different forms of writing, as well as the modes in which these writings can be digitized, the author provides a great overview of what can be done in the classroom.

Classroom Implications:

     This chapter provides possibly the best set of resources to help a teacher set up and assess digital writing. It provides standards for digital writing (although Common Core is not listed, it also has many standards for creation and collaboration), which become helpful to teachers trying to justify why their students are having fun. The author also provides a very detailed unit plan for the “This I Believe” Project, which was inspired by NPR’s series with the same name. It provided the links I have been looking for with examples of other students’ work. The most helpful piece of this chapter is the MAPs Heuristic that provides teachers a way of assessing their students’ use of craft both in writing and digital production. This heuristic aids the teacher in knowing what things to look for in a completed piece, and more importantly what to directly teach to their students before writing and production begins.

Chapter 5: Designing and Publishing Digital Writing

Chapter Summary:

     Digital writing presents many opportunities and challenges for students and teachers.  Students feel more engaged in the writing process because they are posting, writing and commenting on the writing of others.  By sharing and reading others writings they gather ideas to craft their writing better.  When commenting on others writing students will learn what works and doesn’t work for others and for themselves.  When writing peer responses students may have a hard time in fully engaging in their response because they are distracted by publishing their own work.  E-Anthology has developed a simple kind of peer response, readers are asked to “bless”, “address” or “press” their work (p. 83).  You can ask your peers to bless your work, if you feel that your piece is very personal or you do not want to be critiqued heavily you can ask your readers to simply offer praise.  If you ask your readers to address your work, you want the reader to respond to character development or the flow then you ask your reader to address the work.  If you ask your readers to press your work then you want your reader to critique your work to help you move forward as a writer. You can have your students create a digital portfolio you can have your students use their blog, wikis or an audio anthology.

Making Connections:    

     I really liked the information on the E-Anthology.  I find it very helpful to have different ways to ask peers to edit a student’s work.  I think that is something that could be translated into the classroom even with traditional writing workshops.  I also liked that the directions that were included in the text on how to create portfolios in each of the mediums.  Sometimes it is nice to have someone walk you through how to make something happen instead of just talking at you about it. This also can help teachers with explicit instruction when it comes time to publish and share student work.

Classroom Implications:

     Schools could incorporate a digital writing portfolio into their curriculum as a high school portfolio where students create a four year portfolio of their works.  Each student could be given their own blog or wiki space with privacy settings set so they were not made public but could be shared.  This way they would have a place to put all their work they would want in their senior portfolio.  This portfolio could be a graded assignment in their senior year.

Chapter 6: Enabling Assessment over Time with Digital Writing Tools

Chapter Summary:

     This chapter begins with a discussion about how to assess digital writing. The author provides the story of the computer teacher grading the skills addressed by the program as opposed to the quality of the work. This story makes a great point because it is so true. Too many times, grading is focused on the tool used for creation as opposed to the content and quality of the work. The author stresses the need to grade the process of digital writing with both formative and summative assessments. Formative assessments include commenting, peer responses, and writing conferences while summative assessments are the final letter grade given (p. 105-106). The author then gives solid examples of formative and summative assessments that can be used with Digital Writing.

Making Connections:

     

     Classroom teachers should be able to use much of the advice in this chapter. The author outlines ways students can be assessed, something that I know I often have difficulty with when it comes to justifying some of my digital writing assignments.  Teachers should post and share the traits of effective and ineffective digital writers some place in their classroom, because this information is essential in creating a solid portfolio and web presence. The rubrics given in this chapter can be used in any subject area and are essentially completed, so the only planning involved would be creating an effective writing assignment.

Classroom Implication:

     With the various rubrics and assessment tools given, this chapter can be put into use in any classroom immediately. The resources given should help teachers when assessing digital writing, help students know what to focus on, and allow for more focused formative and summative assessments. Remembering that content is always the key element of the grade, the students ability to use a certain software or program should not be the main grading point. I always explain to my students not to be afraid of a new tool. If they concentrate on their information, purpose, and audience, the project will turn out well in the end.

Chapter 7: Creating Your Digital Workshop

Chapter Summary:

     Teaching writing in the digital age is a new challenge for most teachers.  Technology and writing should be intertwined in the classroom.  When setting up your digital workspace think of how your space will be used and how you will have your students working together.  The students you teach need to be considered, do they have internet access at home, can they get help from a trusted adult?  Can your students work collaboratively together?  All these are important questions to think of while planning to use a digital writing workshop.  While some of the ideas talked about in the book may be overwhelming or a bit scary because it is an unknown, it should be looked at as something to explore that you will continue learning with each day.

Making Connections:

     

     I really liked all the questions that the author posed to think of while setting up a digital workshop in the classroom.  Although I have seen students work together on a project I have never witnessed students working on a wiki space or a blog.  I find each of these ideas interesting and such a good way to teach students in a forum that they know about.  I think teaching using one of the methods described in this book would be a new and fresh way for students to learn any subject while incorporating technology they could use in the world outside of the school doors.

Classroom Implications:

     One of the most powerful uses of digital writing is the collaborative word processor. With the growth of Google Drive and its ease of use, students can collaborate in a whole new way. I really think that the use of blogs or wiki spaces would make for a fun and new way for students to learn to write.  One drawback to using these digital writing tools is the time it takes to plan for and start the project, but I think the end would be worth it.  Not only would the students learn something new and share their work with a broader audience, the teacher would get a new way for papers or work to be written and turned in.