Digital Writing

This is my second blog. When I traveled to Ecuador, I used a blog to relate stories to my friends and family scattered throughout the world. I found that it was a great way to communicate with a large number of people at once, and I avoided the impersonality of a mass email. I like blogging because I like writing, and I think that blogging is a practical way to have a written conversation.

I've just started teaching at South St. Paul Secondary School (7th grade), and I am looking forward to using blogging in my next unit. I plan to have the students do a blog role play for various novels that we will be reading. I tried to do this during my student teaching, but I met resistance. I found that students did not have the necessary technology skills to complete a blog project and that the school did not have the resources. I would have had to monopolize one of the school's two computer labs for 4 periods per day for about 2-3 weeks. Anyone who knows the reality of some schools' technology resources knows what I am talking about.

I was, however, able to complete a creative writing podcast with one of my classes. I found this to be very rewarding, motivating, and helpful. Though I haven't heard much student feedback after the project, I can report that the students were very engaged and focused when creating the podcast itself. I also used this medium during my practicum last year at Crosswinds, and I found the same results: kids get very excited by the thought of recording their own voice reading their own work. Unfortunately, I have typically used Mac computers to complete this project and I have handled most of the technical side of things (I use my computer and my podcast microphone). If I continue to teach here at SSPPS, I would like to apply for a grant to purchase these things for my classroom.

I think that digital writing can enhance communication, but I am skeptical of the notion that digital always improves communication. I think that sometimes speaking and old-fashioned pen-and-paper writing is sometimes useful in that it's familiar, and also necessary for "the real world". I am a little taken aback by how infrequently issues of access are mentioned amidst the zeal in English Education for all things digital. There are students who don't know how to use a computer, who don't have a computer at home. Also, digital writing is still a bit controversial in actual school settings because it challenges knowledge that older teachers might not have. I am interested and willing to try a variety of digitally-based projects, but I am careful to consider the caveats along the way.

In all, I look forward to this class and what it will teach me so that I can pass that knowledge on to my students and perhaps even my colleagues.