DIGITALLY ENGAGED
ENGAGING STUDENT VOICES WITH TECHNOLOGY
James Forman
Presented at CAIS (California Assoc. of Independent Schools) Campbell Hall March 2014
(A version of this talk was delivered at NCTE 2013 in Boston.)
• How can we use technology to boost student engagement?
• What
new tech tools engage students AND make students better readers and writers?
• Do
iPads, apps, podcasts, student blogging, and digital literacy engage students
AND support reading, writing, and thinking?
Why are students engaged?
Engaged because of:
• technology
• a
wider audience than just the teacher
• a
kind of social media
• pride
in one’s blog
• And
eventually…
• the
habit of exploring ideas
What is VOICE?
• In
formal written essays what voice do students try to adopt?
– Adopting
professorial vocabulary and stilted, over-formal diction
– What
is genuine individual writing voice?
– Can
I use “I”?
– How
formal or informal do we want students to be?
• Can
we teach our students writing voice?
• Can
we assess voice?
• In
online discussion or blogging
– The
quiet students blossom online
– The
“ALL CAPS” voice online
– The
engaged voice of students interacting
• Does
writing online or blogging help students develop their voices?
• Can
technology help students find their less formal writing voices?
• Can
blogging develop students’ individual voice?
• How
about online chats or discussion boards?
• Bloggers
write more informally
• Most
write in their speaking voice
• “OMG!
Hamlet murdered Polonius! The way he talks to Ophelia!”
• Don’t
just do the minimum
• Pursue
their writing with passion
• Don’t
overuse a thesaurus
• Write
how they speak
• Write
lots of words each week
• Don’t
use a stilted style to ‘sound smart’
• Write
to communicate ideas
• Think
while they write and have something to say
• Dig
into texts
THEN, yes, blogging can help with voice.
What is ‘Writing to Learn’?
• Usually
students write:
– to
demonstrate proficiency
– for
a grade
• Whereas
writing to learn is exploratory
– Freewriting,
Journal Writing, Blogging
• Ungraded
thinking aloud
By writing their thoughts down, students learn what they
think
• Teaching
Channel video on WTL
Blogging as discovery
• Daily
in- and out-of-class informal blogging
• Low
stakes writing
• Not
writing to demonstrate learning
• Not
writing for a grade
• Blogging
to discover, to think aloud, to get thoughts down
• Blogging
to reflect on one’s thoughts
How to use Blogging
– Daily
blogging
• Assessment
on the fly
– Immediate
and rich feedback on what students are learning
• Scaffold
larger assignments
– Step
by step building blocks
Nut & Bolts of Student Blogs
- Does blogging engage students?
- Blogging Voice (vs. voice in essays)
- Writing to discover (vs. to demonstrate learning)
- Blog =
– Blended learning
– Producing Content: Web 2.0
– Design literacy
– Blogger vs. Weebly
In September, every student creates his or her own blogspot (Google-based blogger)
o
(vs. blogspot, Edmodo, kidblog, Weebly)
–
Add instructor as co-author
–
Student chooses design (visual literacy)
–
All writing on blogs (except college essays)
Blog Cycle
• Class
discussion àContinue
the discussion at home on the blog àOpen
blogs in class the next day àContinue
the discussion from the day before
– Blended
learning environment
– Sustained
focus
– Development
of ideas
Daily blogging results in more writing practice
• “We
must assign more writing than we can grade or even read.” ~Carol Jago
• Students
write less than 1 ½ pages a week
• Applebee
& Langer in California English
Assessment of Blogs
• Easy
to give credit in grade book,
– daily
or weekly
• Date
and time stamp on every post
– If
it’s posted during class, it shows
• Glaring
errors are seen by class: “Jane Austin”
• Grading
blogs: daily or weekly?
• How
to assess blogposts
– Letter
Grade
– Check
or check plus
– Just
record that they did it
• Write
every day
– Then
select one to be assessed
• Accountability
for blogging:
• start
class with all blogs on the screen and read some
• explore
a text
• compare
two texts
• respond
to an in-class discussion
» or
an online discussion
• write
a poem
• write
a dream sequence of a character
• start
a college essay
• write
an alternate ending to a story
When writing essays students worry about
• Vocabulary
• Thesaurus
(with one click)
• What
does the teacher want?
• How
many paragraphs do you want? Five?
• How
many quotes per paragraph?
• What’s
another word for ____ to avoid repeating that word?
WHAT IF?
• What
if 6th through 12th graders blogged?
– A
portfolio of their writing
• Would
the novelty wear off?
• Would
they increase their skill?
• What
if other disciplines required blogs?
– What
about interdisciplinary blogs?
– Blogging
Across the Curriculum
Metacognition
• Stop
& blog to reflect:
– End
of every quarter
– One
of the best prompts
– Students
explore their blogging journey
Compare designs
Individual with Blogger
• Every
student has own blog
• Class
website links to all blogs
• Autonomy
• Individualized
Design
• Writing
portfolio
Group with Weebly
• One
stop shopping
• Resources,
blogs, discussions in one place
• Less
autonomy
• Teacher-designed
• Teacher
has full control
– Built
with Weebly.com
– One-stop
shopping
– Organizes
assignments, blogs, and discussions
– Gathering
Place:
• A,
B, C, D, and G periods view one another’s blogs
– Not
just consuming information but producing it: Web 2.0
Blogspot Blogs in Blogger
• I
make a different class blog for every class
– Sports
Lit blog
– Sci
Fi blog
– Creative
Writing Class blog
– Chemistry
blog
• Links
to individual student blogs
• Every
student has their own blog
– Paperless
(mostly) classroom
– All
homework on blogs
– Add
photos
– Pick
individual designs
• Blogger
is a stable platform
TEACHER BLOG vs. STUDENT BLOG
