Entry 12

After reviewing the course objectives, I realized just how much keeping a learning log has helped me to meet these objectives. While it has been easy for me to look at each learning log as a means of responding to my own thoughts each week, as well as responding to the issues raised by the prompts, I have come to realize the more profound impact of writing each entry. Rather than merely being a piece I produce each week that deals with a specific topic or issue addressed in class that particular week, each entry allows me to further examine and build upon the knowledge that I have gained from our course readings and discussions. By completing a learning log entry either before or after class each week, I am able to reflect upon my current knowledge and address any issues I would like to explore further. Through these entries, I can work to clarify anything I found confusing or difficult to understand about course content.

By completing learning logs each week, I was better able to meet each course objective listed in the syllabus. The learning log helped me to further my understanding of the “genres that readers and writers use to communicate” (Course Objective 1). Additionally, by keeping a learning log for this course, with an awareness of my professor and fellow classmates as my audience, I am better able to understand the role audience plays in reading and writing (Course Objective 2). Over the course of this semester, the content discussed in my learning log has contributed to my understanding of the relationship between reading and writing as parallel processes (Course Objective 4). Also, by composing a learning log, I am engaging in metacognition (Course Objective 5). In order to write my learning log entries, I must think about my understanding of the course content and consider what aspects I have mastered as well as those that I am still unsure about. In utilizing metacognition myself, I am better able to comprehend its role in writing proficiency and reading comprehension (Course Objective 5).

As for the other course objectives that I have not mentioned above, I feel that my learning log may have slightly aided in my understanding of these goals. However, I also believe that other components of this course contributed more to my competency in these objectives. For example, while I did not address writing assessment very much in my learning log, the course readings on this topic greatly contributed to my ability to meet this course objective.

After reading Hicks (2009) and Tompkins (2008), I was able to better understand how reading and writing are connected. By learning how to teach students the components of a particular genre and how to compose a piece in each type of genre, as well as finding examples of these genres for my students to read, allowed me to become aware that similar processes are necessary in order to read and write in a given genre. Also, I now have an awareness of the ways to write in the style of a particular genre so that readers can identify that the writing is a part of that genre.

By participating in a Writing Workshop and creating works for a Genre Pieces Project, I am understanding the role audience plays when both creating and reading a piece of writing. As I compose each of my genre pieces, I remain continuously aware of my intended audience in a way that I never have quite mastered prior to this course. Previously, I would write essays and research papers for courses with the idea that the teacher or professor was my only audience. For my Genre Pieces Project, not only was I aware that Dr. Jones would inevitably read each piece, but also that Melissa G. and Liz would read my pieces and provide feedback throughout the writing process. In addition, some of my pieces have a more specific, albeit theoretical, audience. For example, one of my pieces is a letter to a Chilean dignitary, presenting the case for increased protection of the native chinchilla population. Another piece, which will hopefully take the form of an iMovie, is intended for those who are considering purchasing a chinchilla as a pet. This movie will explain how to properly care for a chinchilla. While completing these pieces, I was forced to continuously keep my intended audience in mind throughout the writing process. Through this project, I was better able to understand the connection between reading and writing, as well as the pivotal role the reader (audience) plays in both processes.

Hicks, T. (2009). The digital writing workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann

Entry 11

Upon reflecting on all of the genres we have discussed this semester, I have learned that each genre has its own set of subsets and specific features. For example, the narrative genre can include mysteries and science fiction texts, poetry can come in various forms such as haiku and diamante, and biographies can be autobiographies, biographies, and personal narratives. In addition, there are specific features that are unique to each genre. The narrative genre must have a plot, characters, and a conflict. In spite of this, genres may sometimes contain similar features. For example, a poem and a biography may both contain characters and a conflict, which are two features of the narrative genre. Also, a descriptive piece may contain elements of persuasion. Even a narrative piece may attempt to persuade the reader. In this way, all of the genres overlap and connect with each other.

At the start of this course, I thought I had a good understanding of the narrative, journal, biographical, and descriptive genres. Through completing my Genre Expert Presentation, I realized that I only had a surface-level understanding of the components of the narrative genre. The narrative genre as a whole is much more complex and has a much wider scope than I had previously realized. Prior to Dr. Jones’ presentation on journal writing, I had thought I knew a great deal about this genre. However, I had not learned all of the various types of journal writing and how to effectively utilize these types in my future classroom. Similarly, I thought I had an in-depth understanding of biographical writing prior to Liz’s presentation, as I have read many biographies and autobiographies in the past. However, once I read Tompkins’ (2008) chapter 7, I realized that the concept of personal narratives was relatively new to me.

Upon reading the chapters in Tompkins (2008), I recognized that, while I had been exposed to large amounts of poetry throughout my education, there were a few types that I was relatively unfamiliar with. Also, in spite of my past experience with poetry, I still began this course feeling as though I did not have a deep understanding of this genre. Through Melissa G.’s presentation, I learned a great deal more about poetry, as well as how to overcome the unease that I may feel about teaching this genre.

At the beginning of this course, I knew that I was not very familiar with persuasive writing. While I have read many persuasive pieces and have created persuasive commercials when I was in elementary and middle school, I have not had much experience actually writing a persuasive paper, such as a speech. While Dr. Jones’ presentation and Tompkins’ (2008) chapter 12 have provided me with a better understanding of this genre, I still feel rather intimidated at the concept of teaching it. This is especially worrisome to me, as my unit for my LTED 625 SCATP project has to do with persuasive writing. I feel as though, if I had more personal experience writing in this genre, as well as a bit more exposure to written persuasive pieces, I would gain the added confidence needed to feel comfortable teaching this genre to my future students.

Entry 10

Liz’s discussion of Hicks’ (2009) chapter 5 really changed the way I think about digital portfolios, class anthologies, and audio anthologies. Prior to reading this chapter and answering Liz’s discussion questions, I had only really thought about digital portfolios as a possible way to organize and compile student work. In addition, I had not considered the logistics of utilizing this technology. For example, I had not considered which website to use to create these digital portfolios. It is helpful that Hicks (2009) includes suggestions of potential websites within the chapter, so that readers can explore these sites on their own in order to determine which is best to use with their students.

Our discussion of Hicks’ (2009) chapter 5 also made me more familiar with the types of technology that can be used to create class anthologies and audio anthologies. I think that too often, secondary educators disregard these types of projects, as they are used more often in elementary classrooms. However, I think that class anthologies can be very motivating and empowering tools to use with our older students. For example, in my high school Spanish class, during senior year, our teacher had the class create a yearbook. We each worked on our own personal page, and then each of us contributed an extra portion, such as a superlatives page, a poetry page, a music page, and other pieces. The whole class collaborated to create a design for the front cover. After all of these parts were completed, we had books made for the whole class (it was not a large class; only about 12-15 students total). This experience was so unique and caused all of us to get to know each other better. I still have the yearbook (somewhere) at home. Through this class anthology, we all were able to grow in our knowledge of Spanish, as well as in our understanding and respect for each other as classmates. I believe that creating a similar compilation online through a class wiki would also allow for these same benefits in a secondary classroom.

I was really happy that Liz chose to have us make our own webpages for a class anthology or digital portfolio. Typically, I am very hesitant about using new technology, so it was good for me to step out of my comfort zone and attempt to create my own webpage. While I still have much to learn, this experience provided me with a good basis in how to go about creating webpages using Google Sites. In addition, creating a potential place to upload my Genre Pieces Project allowed me to have a better perspective on the feasibility of using Google Sites for this purpose. I am the type of person that actually needs to see and use technology in order to more fully understand its features and usage. It would greatly benefit me to try using some of the other websites and programs mentioned in this chapter for use in creating class anthologies and audio anthologies. In this way, I will better comprehend how to use this technology with my students for these purposes.

In addition, although we didn’t have much time to thoroughly discuss copyright issues, I did appreciate that Liz mentioned this in her presentation. Copyright and plagiarism issues are strictly enforced in most schools, and I think that teachers are highly aware of these issues when reading students’ writing. However, when working with digital media, I believe that these concerns are not always at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Since digital media is so new, and since some of this media is often considered to be separate from classroom life, it can be challenging for teachers to remain vigilant about copyright issues and to determine when potential copyright infringements may occur. For example, my LTED 625 vocabulary blog requires me to include images relating to the particular vocabulary word, when possible. Prior to our conversation last class, I had added images to my blog from Google Images, with no citation and without considering the source. Until we discussed copyright issues in class, I had not given much thought to the fact that using these images in this way may be a copyright infringement or may constitute plagiarism. This was very shocking to me, as I always attempt to properly cite others’ ideas in my written papers, so why wouldn’t I do the same with images? It seemed so obvious to me after we discussed it, but I truly did not consider online images when I considered copyright and plagiarism. I suppose this is due to the fact that plagiarism of images was not touched upon when we discussed this topic in my high school English courses. My teachers were always most concerned with the writing aspect, such as including quotation marks around each direct quote and citing at the end of each sentence in which another person’s idea has been used. I think it would be extremely beneficial for all educators to further explore these issues so that we are prepared to identify and address plagiarism and copyright issues when our students utilize digital media in our classes.

Hicks, T. (2009). The digital writing workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann

Entry 9

I am so glad that Liz discussed the differences between personal narratives and other forms of the biography genre.  While reading Tompkins (2008), I thought I understood the differences between these forms and what makes personal narratives so unique.  However, once Liz began discussing the characteristics of the various forms of the biography genre, I realized that I was not as familiar with personal narratives as I thought.  It was a relief when Melissa G. asked for further clarification, as I needed more information about the distinctive features of personal narratives as well.

Based on our class discussion and the biography chapter in Tompkins (2008), personal narratives seem to be about only one experience, have a beginning, middle, and end (similar to a narrative story) and (sometimes) answer the "why" or explain what the person learned.  In spite of having more clarification about what constitutes a personal narrative, I am not sure if I could determine that a particular published piece is considered to be part of this subset of biographical writing.  However, I do understand what a personal narrative would look like if written by my students.  I think, after more exposure to this genre and more practice with identifying examples of each type of biography, I will be better able to distinguish between personal narratives and autobiographies.

While all of the activities Tompkins (2008) advocates having students complete after reading a biography (such as Bio Boxes and Biography posters) seemed interesting when I initially read the chapter, actually having the opportunity to create one of these products myself was helpful.  By making my own Bio Cube during Liz's presentation, I was able to understand the logistics of assigning this type of project to my students.  While I created my Bio Cube, I discovered that coming up with a memorable quote from the person, as well as the obstacles the person has faced, may be difficult for my students, depending upon the person whose biography they are reading.  Knowing the potential issues with this activity can help me to determine what modifications I would make if I were to use the Bio Cube activity with my future students.

While we did not discuss this activity in class, the Bio Box that Tompkins (2008) mentions also seems to be a great activity for students to complete after reading a biography.  Students' creativity is fostered by the task of identifying what types of items represent the person and then deciding which of these items to include in the box (Tompkins, 2008).  In addition, students must explain the significance of each item that they chose to include in the box.  This activity encourages students to reflect on the individual and to make connections between the aspects of the person's life that they read about and the types of items that they can use to represent these aspects.  I would even consider using this activity with older students, as it could be a much more interactive and in-depth activity than a written response to the biography.

Being an English major, I find that biographies can be an extremely interesting genre.  I particularly enjoy autobiographies, as it is fascinating to me to read about a person's life in his or her own words.  However, I do not feel that this genre gets enough attention in schools.  The only biographies I distinctly remember reading in high school were part of my research for a paper I was writing.  Very rarely did we read a biography in my high school English classes.  If at all possible, I would love to teach more biographies when I have my own classroom, as I think it allows students to connect more deeply to a particular person (and potentially a particular time period as well).  Instead of reading a fictional story, a biography or autobiography allows students to think about a real individual's life and experiences.  I think that students can connect to the subject of the biography in way s they may not be able to do through reading about that particular person in a history textbook or a narrative story.  The fact that the events detailed in a biography actually happened to a person could allow for a richer classroom discussion of the book's contents.  Overall, Liz's presentation and Tompkins' (2008) chapter have sparked my interest in teaching this genre to my future students.

Entry 8

While reading Tompkins' (2008) chapter on poetry, I was surprised to find that there are so many forms of poetry.  There were even a few forms that I was not familiar with, such as clerihews (Tompkins, 2008).  I think that having a chapter on poetry is helpful for educators, and I wish that all teachers who are planning to teach poetry would read this chapter in Tompkins (2008), as it greatly improved my perception of this genre.  I recall when we first discussed poetry in class, we mentioned that it is a genre that many educators do not enjoy teaching.  Whether they are intimidated by poetry or simply unfamiliar with it, the consensus seems to be that many teachers lack confidence when teaching poetry and, possibly as a result of this, many students do not enjoy this unit either.

I was one of those students who did not enjoy the poetry unit.  I rarely ever read poetry, and I was not a huge fan of it, generally speaking.  Whenever my class would study poetry in high school, we would work to interpret poems.  This was often challenging for me, especially with poems written by "classic" poets.  I seemed to never interpret these poems the "correct" way.  This frustrated me, and so I never engaged very much with the poems that we studied.  Also, our poetry units in school were very short and seemed to only serve to expose us briefly to poetry, so that we would be familiar with this genre when we encountered it on the NYS Regents Exam.

I wish that, as a student, I had more exposure to poetry and had the freedom and the opportunity to create my own poems.  Being able to create poems using all of the forms mentioned in Tompkins (2008) would have allowed me to have the freedom to be creative.  This ability would also have given me added confidence in my ability to write poetry.  As a result, this added confidence would have likely transferred to my understanding of poetry, and I might have had more interest in this genre.

Now that I am older, I do write my own personal poetry.  However, I have never really associated these writings with the poetry that I studied in school.  Also, I am more receptive to reading poetry on my own at this point in my life.  While I still don't read poetry very often, my attitude toward this genre has improved.  Although my attitude about poetry has evolved, prior to reading Tompkins' (2008) chapter 11, I still had doubts about how to effectively teach poetry to my future students, as it is not my most favorite genre.  After reading this chapter, I found myself more excited about all of the ideas and possibilities when teaching poetry to students, as well as all of the types of poetry I could teach.  Tompkins (2008) has definitely caused me to start thinking differently about teaching poetry, and I hope that she has positively influenced others who may not have had the most positive view of this genre as well.

Also, Melissa G.’s presentation helped me to further develop my understanding of this genre.  Actually writing the types of poetry that I may ask my students to create in the future allowed me to better understand the aspects of poetry writing that could be challenging to them.  While my confidence in my own ability to write (and share) poetry did not increase substantially, I do feel more comfortable writing in this genre than I did prior to the presentation.  In addition, I had not realized how many great resources and examples of exemplary poetry are available to share with our students.  Melissa’s presentation made me feel more prepared and more excited about potentially teaching poetry in the future. 

Entry 7

So far, I am really loving our Writing Workshop time in class.  Not only do I find myself getting a lot of writing done, but I also feel that I have a better understanding of what a Writing Workshop would look like in my future classroom.  Generally, I am the type of person who can read an article that contains an idea to implement in the classroom, can love the idea and want to use it in my own classroom, but I need to have it demonstrated in some way in order for me to have a complete understanding of the concept.  For example, when reading Tompkins' (2008) explanation of Writing Workshop, as well as Hicks' (2009) explanation of the Digital Writing Workshop, I had a general idea of how a Writing Workshop would look and of what it would entail.  However, having experience actually implementing a workshop, or seeing one being implemented by another teacher, gives me a better understanding and helps me to have added confidence in employing the workshop myself.  Also, I am better able to appreciate the benefits of implementing the workshop when I see an example.

Having time actually designated to write greatly helps me, because I find that I generally do not set aside much specific time to write when I'm at home.  Being in the computer lab also helps me, as it forces me to focus on the task at hand.  When I'm at home, I find myself easily distracted from writing.  For example, I will take what I like to refer to as "Facebook breaks" while doing homework.  I may write a few paragraphs for a paper or another assignment, and then "reward" myself by logging onto Facebook.  Not only is this a huge time-waster, but it interrupts the flow of ideas, and I end up feeling like my writing is choppy or fragmented.  I am sure many students do not set aside specific time for writing at home either, so having a Writing Workshop with specific time for writing would greatly benefit them.

Having to state what I'm going to be working on prior to the start of the Writing Workshop aids me in remaining focused on my writing as well.  I am able to figure out ahead of time where I am in the writing process and what I still need to work on with a given piece of writing.  It also is very interesting to think that students have time to write individually and complete assignments at their own pace when working in Writing Workshop.  From what little I can remember about my own education, I do not think we had a time like this to write in class.  I can remember having class time during which to write a piece, and then additional class time to revise and edit the piece after the teacher reviewed our drafts.  Although we worked independently, this class time seemed incredibly structured.  We were all expected to finish our writing by a certain time, and we were all working on the same type of piece at one time.

Also, I do not remember conferencing much with my peers.  In fact, I distinctly remember asking a friend to help me with a grammar issue that my teacher had circled on my draft as being incorrect.  Rather than helping me, my classmate told me to "look it up," since she was too busy revising and editing her own draft.  At the time, I recall feeling incredibly frustrated, since the teacher was busy conferencing with another student, and I simply wanted help with this one error so that I could move on to write my final copy.  What I particularly love about our LTED 618 Writing Workshop is that I feel supported by my classmates and know that they will give me honest feedback and helpful writing advice.  I do not feel as though I am working through the writing process alone, even though I complete the actual writing pieces independently.  It is this type of writing environment that I wish to promote in my own classroom and Writing Workshop. 

Hicks, T. (2009). The digital writing workshop. Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann. 

Entry 6

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Nancy Sommers’ (1982) article, as it addresses a concern that I’ve had ever since my student-teaching experience two years ago.  Once I was handed a stack of student essays to grade, I realized that I had no idea how to grade essays.  No one had taught me what comments to make and how much I should respond in the margins.  Do I only respond to an interesting idea or when a student makes a sizeable error?  I wanted to refrain from marking up every other sentence of an essay with red pen, since I know from experience that this can be extremely off-putting to students; generally the more red marks they see, the worse they believe their essays are.  What can we do for students who need much assistance with revising and editing their work?  Do we only comment on more serious errors without mentioning the inconsequential ones? 

When I was in high school, I distinctly remember being the type of student who responded only to what the teacher wrote on my paper.  If we had the opportunity to revise a piece, I would go through the paper and find all of the comments that the teacher made.  The only changes I made to my papers were those that the teacher recommended.  I remember always making the “cosmetic” changes first, such as spelling and grammatical errors.  I usually saved any more complex revisions, including any paragraphs that needed more supporting details, until the end.  When I did make changes that involved adding sentences and expanding on ideas, these changes were usually the “bare minimum” and very superficial.  I would not typically look back at my essay as a whole piece and make additional changes that were not suggested by the teacher.  As Sommers (1982) suggests, I was guilty of concentrating more on what my teacher “commanded [me] to do than on what [I was] trying to say” (p. 151). 

While this may be an unfair judgment, I attribute much of my writing abilities (both good and bad) to my experiences in middle and high school.  As Sommers (1982) suggests, I feel that my teachers did not explicitly teach writing strategies very often.  However, my teachers’ comments did serve to imply that “writing is just a matter of following the rules” in some cases (Sommers, 1982, p. 153).  While this is not the most positive example of teaching writing, those comments did help me greatly in determining the proper way to cite information and how to correctly spell certain words.  Through these types of comments on my papers, I better understood how to write research papers.  Unfortunately, the content of my writing and my own personal voice and writing style did not flourish through these responses.  This is an issue that can be corrected through writing workshops, especially through the use of peer conferencing.  In my experience, I have found that peers are more likely to respond to the content of another student’s paper, rather than individual grammatical or citation errors. 

Sommers’ (1982) discussion of the lack of teacher training in responding to students’ writing stood out to me as especially meaningful.  Teachers reported that “responding to student writing was rarely stressed in their teacher-training or in writing workshops” (Sommers, 1982, p. 154).  When I read that sentence, I was prompted to think of my own undergraduate education courses, and I realized that there is only one instance in which I can distinctly remember assessing students’ essays based on a 6+1 Traits rubric.  In terms of how to specifically respond to students’ essays, I had not received any instruction in this prior to student-teaching.  Grading papers remains one of the most daunting tasks in my mind when I think about having my own classroom.  I agree with Sommers (1982) when she asserts that, “instead of reading and responding to the meaning of a text, we correct our students’ writing” (p. 154).  I believe that not only is it easier for many teachers to focus on spelling and grammar errors, but that we feel more comfortable pointing out these types of errors than making comments about students’ specific ideas and arguments.  The more practice that we, as teachers, have with commenting on the ideas and meanings found in students’ writing, the more confident we will feel addressing these aspects of writing.

Sommers, N. (1982). Responding to student writing. College Composition and Communication, 33(2), 148-156. 

Entry 5

Dear Dr. Jones,

Overall, the class is going well.  I already find myself thinking differently about writing.  Through our writing workshop sessions, I am becoming more comfortable with writing assignments.  Previously, whenever I began to think about an assigned writing piece, I would not be very motivated and would consider the whole writing process to be a daunting task.  Typically, I would come up with an idea, create a brief outline, write a draft, and then edit the draft once for grammatical errors.  Once my work has been written, I have always had a hard time wanting to go back and read through what I have written, as I am extremely critical of my own writing.  Our writing workshops have helped me to take the necessary time to plan, pre-write, and draft my work.  As a result, I now feel more confident when I sit down to write.  I also enjoy our class discussions; even though there are only three of us, I think we are able to have richer, more authentic conversations than some groups that are twice as large.  This course has also broadened my knowledge of technology and how to utilize this technology in classroom learning.  Prior to this class, I was vaguely familiar with blogs and wikis, but I had never actually created and used one of my own.  After reading Hicks (2009), I have been introduced to numerous websites and other technological resources to use with my future students.  Our class blogs and wiki have aided me in better understanding how these two technological resources work and how I could utilize them in my future classroom.

Prior to this course, I had learned about Kucer’s (2009) ideas regarding the connections between reading and writing and how the two are similar processes.  While this was very enlightening to me, the implications of this way of thinking about reading and writing did not resonate with me.  Now that I am actually utilizing the writing process in our class and keeping this connection in mind, this relationship is clearer to me.  Lately, I have been engaging in a fully transactional writing process at least twice a week.  I think deeply when I write m blog entries for this course and when I write during writing workshop.  As a result, I find myself transferring this state-of-mind to other writing situations, either for other courses or for my own personal writing.  I chose to engage in this kind of thinking because I find that I am better able to understand and retain the information that I am writing about.  Also, thinking deeply about what I am writing allows me to examine the issue in-depth and form multiple perspectives.  I feel better able to discuss a topic after writing about it thoroughly.  For example, as a result of the work I have done thus far for my genre pieces project, I feel as though I am gaining a better understanding of chinchillas and am moving from being a “competent” learner to a “proficient” learner of this subject-matter (Alexander & Jetton, 2000, p. 300).  One of the habits I may have to change in order to fully engage while writing is to stop feeling so self-conscious about my writing and about the fact that others will read it. 

The main instructional strategy that will benefit me as a teacher of literacy is the writing workshop.  While I had read about this strategy in articles, I had not utilized it in a classroom setting.  After having experience with the writing workshop format in our class, I feel more comfortable with the strategy and see the benefits of using it in my future classroom.  The biggest concern that I have at this point is my “Teaching the Genre” expert presentation.  I always have anxiety before a presentation; I feel as though I’ll forget something or freeze up in front of everyone.  I will just need to think positively, make sure I’m well prepared, and remember that there are only three people in this class, so I shouldn’t feel too nervous.  Aside from this concern, I do not have many other concerns.  So far, I understand the content of this course and am enjoying our class.

Sincerely,

Melissa N.

Alexander, P. A. & Jetton, T. L. (2000). Learning from text: A multidimensional perspective. In

M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading

research: Volume III (pp. 285-310). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Hicks, T. (2009). The digital writing workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Kucer, S. B. (2009). Dimensions of literacy: A conceptual base for teaching reading and writing

in school settings. New York, NY: Routledge.

Entry 4

As I was reading, chapters 2 and 3 in Hicks (2009) stood out to me for a few reasons.  First, the Google Docs feature intrigued me.  The first time I read through chapter 3, I breezed by the screenshots of this program (Figures 3.3 and 3.4).  When I went back to reexamine the chapter’s contents in order to organize my thoughts for this blog entry, I noticed these figures and the way that a student’s revision history can be displayed using this program (Hicks, 2009).  Prior to reading this chapter, I had no idea what Google Docs was or what it could be used for.  I now believe that this could be an extremely beneficial program to use with students, as long as students have access to this technology and have parental permission to use the program.  The best feature of Google Docs, in my opinion, is its ability to show a complete revision history for a student’s piece of writing.  In this way, both the student and teacher can have a comprehensive and detailed account of every revision that the student has made to his or her writing.  In addition, the teacher’s comments that “helped guide revision” are also visible (Hicks, 2009, p. 48).  Rather than attempting to ensure that each student keeps and documents every rough draft and every revision made to a writing piece, teachers can utilize the Google Docs website in order to view all changes that a student has made to his or her document in one convenient place.  As Hicks (2009) implies, now the only issue will be students forgetting their passwords, both literally and figuratively.

Another portion of the reading that stood out to me, this time in chapter 2 of Hicks (2009), was the discussion of RSS readers.  While I have never created one of my own, the concept is extremely appealing.  Utilizing an RSS reader to have one central location for all of the blogs you post to or follow, as well as any other websites that interest you, seems like a fantastic idea.  However, I would want to make sure that I am extremely familiar with RSS readers, including how to use them and what all of their features are, before I introduce this website to my class.  I want to be sure that my students would use RSS readers appropriately and effectively.  I do appreciate Hicks’ (2009) suggestions for using RSS in our instruction of writing.  I especially like the essential questions that Hicks (2009) provides to guide students in their use and exploration of this technology.  RSS could be a huge motivator for students, as information is sent to them through their RSS feed, rather than them searching for it (Hicks, 2009).  Not only would this feature benefit students who lack motivation, but also students who experience difficulties with searching for ideas or starting a writing piece.  Since the websites are being sent to the students’ RSS feeds, all students would have to do is read through the content that was sent to them in order to gain ideas for topics to write about. 

While I was also not familiar with social bookmarking prior to reading chapter 2, I am not particularly enthusiastic about using this with my students.  I guess I am just having trouble grasping how it would be useful to use in my classroom.  Perhaps if I were more familiar with this digital tool, I would have a more positive attitude toward it.  I just feel that there are other websites and programs through which I could send pertinent links to my students, and that sharing all of one’s bookmarks publicly could be either extremely useful or extremely pointless and a waste of time.  I suppose it would depend on the websites’ relevance to class content, but I personally do not feel that this is the most effective method to use with students.  I much prefer blogs, wikis, and RSS readers to social bookmarking tools.

Overall, chapters 2 and 3 in Hicks (2009) provided me with a wealth of information that I had previously been unfamiliar with.  After reading these chapters, I now have numerous ideas and options for beginning a digital writing workshop with my future students.

Entry 3

Tompkins’ (2008) chapter about journal writing really intrigued me.  Journal writing is one of my favorite types of writing, so reading about various types of journal writing and how to implement these in the classroom was enjoyable for me.  I was especially interested in Tompkins’ (2008) description of dialogue journaling, as it is an activity I utilized in my tutoring sessions last semester for LTED 626.  My tutoring student was a reluctant writer; at first, he would only respond to my prompts with one or two sentences.  I decided to try using a dialogue journal and to format the journal in such a way as to make the journal like “a conversation written down” between my student and myself.  Using this method greatly aided my student in becoming more comfortable with writing.  My goal was not to improve his spelling and grammar so much as to help him become more willing to write by providing positive experiences with writing.  By the end of our tutoring sessions, my student would write at least a paragraph response in his dialogue journal and began to elaborate more in his responses.

One of the most daunting aspects when I consider using dialogue journals in a larger classroom setting is finding the time to read and respond to each student’s journal entries.  Tompkins (2008) has some good suggestions for dealing with time constraints, such as responding on a rotating basis or having classmates journal between one another, rather than between the student and teacher.  I would utilize either of these suggestions if I were to implement this in a larger classroom.  Hopefully students’ journals would be as rich and as successful when used in a larger classroom.  The experience I had using a dialogue journal with my tutoring student has made me a firm believer in the potential benefits of journal writing.  Not only can it help to provide students with a more positive attitude toward writing, but it can also allow students to view writing as a more personal, meaningful activity when they have the ability to decide the topics, content, and style of their entries. 

Another type of journaling that I look forward to using with my future students is double-entry journals.  I like that students can use these journals to record interesting facts or ideas from the text that they are reading and then respond to these ideas in the following column.  Double-entry journals seem to be a good way for students to make connections between the text and their lives.  These connections would help to make the text more meaningful to students.  In addition, students may also make connections between the text and the world at large.  Whether these connections involve social issues, political issues, or other global topics, students’ connections could spark meaningful classroom discussion.  If I were hired to be an English teacher, this form of journaling would be useful for my students to use while reading a text for our class. 

If I have access to computers and the Internet in my future classroom, I would consider having my students create a type of online journal or blog, much like we have for LTED 618.  In this way, students could write and respond to each other’s entries while also utilizing modern technology.  The use of computers may also help to entice students who are reluctant writers, as they could have the option of incorporating images and other features into their online journals.  Overall, I believe that using online journaling would greatly benefit my future students, as long as it is employed appropriately and as long as students are respectful of one another’s thoughts and ideas when responding to journal posts.  In order to ensure this respectful behavior, I would be sure to create a poster that I could hang in my classroom detailing appropriate communication.  In addition, I would monitor students’ comments to make certain that students are responding properly.

Entry 2

At my last teaching assignment, my students were middle-schoolers who were generally very eager to learn.  While not all of them were great writers, the majority of my students gave their best attempt whenever they worked on a writing assignment.  As far as Hicks’ (2009) references to technology are concerned, my students usually were more familiar with new technologies than I was.  I distinctly remember an instance when I wanted to create a worksheet in a T-chart format with a line down the middle of the page and two equal sides.  I was having trouble making a straight line down the page of the Word document; the line would always end up a bit off to one side.  One of my students was able to figure out how to create this chart correctly on the computer.  At this point, I realized that my students probably knew more about current technology than I did. 

While we only had three computers in my classroom, most of my students had computers at home and had access to computers at the library and other venues.  Additionally, many of my students had cell phones and were familiar with texting.  I would often hear discussions about Facebook and other social networking sites while students were gathered in the hallways between classes.  My students did not seem as familiar with using blogs and wikis, as the main new technology for the school at the time was the SmartBoard.  The school only had one or two SmartBoards for the faculty to share, and I did not have the opportunity to utilize this technology during my placement at this school. 

The school was a very traditional private school, and generally only essays and other standard forms of writing counted as writing.  My class did not create any digital texts, such as web pages, videos, or audio.  However, for their final projects for a unit on King Arthur, students were able to design a knight’s shield with symbols that represent their own lives and families.  It would have been interesting if I had been able to make this assignment a digital assignment in which students could design their shields online.  Then, students could potentially share their shields with one another and comment on them. 

Looking back, there are so many ideas that I would have loved to incorporate into a digital writing workshop for my class.  However, I did not have enough computers for the class, and I am unsure if the school had a computer lab other than the room in which they had their technology class.  In addition, I would have had to spend more time focusing on writing and teaching students how to utilize the technology used for our digital writing workshop.  Typically, I spent relatively little time teaching writing mini-lessons.  If I were to have implemented Hicks’ (2009) digital writing workshop, I would have had to spend more class time on writing than I had previously.  My main concern is that there never seemed to be enough class time when I taught this class, so taking away more time to devote to writing is a daunting idea.  Once I started to implement the digital writing workshop, I would likely feel more confident about time management and my ability to add workshop time to my class schedule. 

The students’ desks in my class were already arranged in groups of twos and threes, which would help to facilitate sharing and partner activities incorporated into our digital writing workshop.  To make the workshop successful, I would need to have a schedule in place and decide how much time to devote to writing, as well as how often students would be participating in the digital writing workshop.  In addition, I would need to determine how assess students based on the type of digital media they are producing.  In spite of these shortcomings, I feel that, had I known enough about digital writing workshops at the time, it would have been an interesting and successful experience for my classroom.  I definitely plan on implementing a digital writing workshop in my future classroom.

References

Hicks, T. (2009). The digital writing workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Johnston, J. (1980). King Arthur: His knights and their ladies. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Entry 1

As far as teaching writing is concerned, I have had very little experience actually teaching it.  During student-teaching, I would assign essays to students to be completed for homework.  In my future classroom, I would make time for writing in class, especially freewrites and journal entries, as I feel that these are very helpful for developing writing skills.  Also, I would utilize quickwrites so that students can briefly respond to a passage or idea related to the text that we are reading in class.  I would love to have time to conference with each student, but in a class of 25-30 students, I wonder how this is really possible.  I feel that I would not be able to provide the appropriate amount of time and focus to each student while also trying to manage the rest of the class.  Once I do have my own classroom, I'm sure I will find a way to accomplish this, as it is so crucial for students to have the ability to examine their own writing and discuss it.  Peer conferencing might be another way for students to critique both their own writing, as well as others'.  I'm sure there are other methods I want to incorporate in my classroom, but I can't think of any more at the moment. 

My experience with technology is not as vast as I would like.  I know how to use word processors fairly well, and I'm gaining more experience with blogs as well.  As far as most other technology is concerned, I think my students know more about how to use these technological devices than I do.  That will probably be my biggest challenge when implementing these types of technology in my classroom.  Also, trying to ensure that students are able to have the freedom to creatively produce written blogs or other assignments, while also incorporating course material may be challenging.  I'm currently stuck.  I can't think of what else to write.  There are so many things to consider when thinking about incorporating technology into writing assignments, and there is so much that I need to learn about technology (and probably writing too) that it feels a little overwhelming to address this question.  Once I learn something new, though, I'm usually good at remembering how to do it, so as long as I keep up with the new technology and take the time to learn from others who know this technology better than I do, I think I'll be able to effectively incorporate it into my classroom instruction.  I hope to have my students post on a blog or create digital media in a way that would give them a more positive experience with writing. 

In regards to this assignment, my main concern is that I will not effectively elaborate on my ideas or that I will be too concerned that other people will be reading my writing that it will affect what I post on this blog.  Again, I am stuck.  I can't think of anything else to write.  I am not sure if there is anything that I have not discussed here...I am comfortable with the rubric for this assignment and do not have any concerns about the way this assignment is evaluated.  I think it would be so much easier to write more about this topic if I had my own classroom right now or if I had more recent teaching experience than my student-teaching experience (two years ago).