Digging Into Digital Storytelling
I found myself thinking about my classroom experiences, wondering how I might be able to help teachers get started and just as I started feeling overwhelmed… I heard these words…
Category Archive: digital writing
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Yes &… with Digital Tools We Can
As we set off to create writers who write in tandem with the printed world and the digital world there are a few we need to consider.
Quick Tip: Twitter Digital Notebook
Do you wish you can save all the bits of inspiration and ideas you read on Twitter? Now you can! Read on for an easy way to never lose those tweets again.
Make Writing Better. Start With The Writer.
Think about the writer and making the writer better. What are the needs of a writer? What opportunities does technology offer to make the writer better?
Write at the Start: No More Morning Worksheets
How can we let writing be part of a “soft start” for students instead of making them complete joyless worksheets? How do your students start the day or class period? Please join the conversation!
Branding Student Blogs
As an instructional technology coach, I have the privilege of working alongside teachers as they bring their students into the world of blogging. Many of the teachers I work with are new to blogging. They rely on me to steer them into an experience that will engage the student, lift student writing, and fit within the already packed school day. I guide these teachers to create branded blogs.
Using Digital Tools to Meet the Needs of Developing Writers
When writing with digital tools, students have the opportunity to design and share writing in a variety of ways that not only add a new aesthetic to writing but more importantly they offer teachers the ability to skillfully and intentionally scaffold writing development.
Teaching Digital Tools in Writing Workshop: Plan, Purpose, EXPLORE
Digital tools add opportunities to our writing, opportunities that can motivate and inspire writers. The reach of digital tools allows writers to receive and give feedback, share beyond their classroom, publish to an authentic audience, and build a writing community. So how do we make sure our writers are ready?
Past the Flash of Technology
Technology gives us all choices and decisions to make. Big decisions. How can we welcome technology in our classrooms? Technology can be a new way of doing the same thing. Will we seek apps that allow our students to make choices in creating and sharing with others, or will we seek apps that do the same old thing in a different way?
A Class Hub To The Rescue!
A class hub can make all the difference for digital writing and learning!
Snapshots From the NYSEC Conference
My time at the New York State English Council (NYSEC) Conference through snapshots!
Thinking About My Writer’s Notebook in a Digital Age
Without a notebook, my great ideas are going unrecorded and, ultimately, forgotten.
Go-To Digital Tools for Writing Workshop
Digital tools can transform your teaching by allowing students to have a writing community beyond the classroom walls, be innovative, make meaningful connections to other writers and students, have more resources readily available, and have true, authentic reasons for writing.
How to Assess Students’ Digital Writing – Ideas from Troy Hicks’ New Book
In Assessing Students’ Digital Writing:Protocols For Looking Closely, Troy Hicks and a team of forward looking educators have given us lenses through which to appreciate and evaluate the type of digital creativity that students seem adept at…
Give Heart Maps a Rest! Try Writing Territory Maps
The heart map is a great tool for helping students find personally meaningful topics, but used year after year, it might feel a little stale. Writing territory maps is another option!
Curating Mentor Text Collections
Get started organizing your mentor texts with four digital tools.
Summer Writing for You, the Teacher
You’ve got to practice writing to teach writing!
In my writing workshop: it’s finally time for photographs and digital stories.
At last August’s Summer Institute, Cornelius Minor, teacher extraordinaire and staff developer at TC’s Writing and Reading Project, gave an unforgettable presentation on technology in the classroom which I wrote about on my… Continue reading
Keeping a writing blog: taking our writing workshop online
With the Classroom Slice of Life Story Challenge just around the corner, perhaps some of you are thinking more than ever about starting a class blog just for writing. Over the past few… Continue reading
Digital Tools Invite Writers to Compose – #NCTE13
Two of the sessions I attended at NCTE in Boston helped me think about ways two digital tools could be meaningfully integrated into early childhood and elementary school classrooms to engage young writers. The “Exploring Collaboration of Multimodal Literacies in Early Childhood: Digital Filmmaking, Designing, and Co-Authoring” panel discussed the way digital video cameras could enhance learning, while two of the presenters in “Writing Workshop Is for All Students: Using Visuals, Oral Language, and Digital Tools to Maximize Success and Independence for English Language Learners” suggested the incorporation of digital cameras.