Children, Writing and Engagement

As part of my integrating ICT into literacy programmes throughout our school, I have been surveying kids beforehand to gauge who they feel that they write for (their audience).  The intention then is to get the classes motivated and engaged with an audience through a means such as blogging. 

Yesterday I received the most insightful answer as to why a 7 year old child doesn’t like writing.  Here is the answer “because it’s a waist[sic] of time if you do it at school because know one [sic] will read it.  I only like writing at home because I show people”.

If a 7 year old can verbalise this and feels this way about writing, what are we doing as teachers to recitfy the situation so that kids know that they aren’t writing just for the teacher.  I am hoping that there are kids out there that write because they are passionate, write because of a desire, write because they want to know not just because Mrs So and So said I had to write.

When I think back to when I was in the classroom, I have to admit that a lot of the writing I got my kids to do was because I said so.  There was very little “authentic” writing, and as a teacher I felt I had to teach towards portfolios and assessments.  I want to change this about my practise. 

Earlier this year, as part of a class’ Inquiry Based Learning, the kids needed to write to the council, write newsletters, write a script in order to convey a message or ask for assistance.  The quality of the writing that was produced was very high.  The class teacher was even “blown away” by the level of writing that the kids were producing.  When I asked the kids if and why they were enjoying the writing, the majority said it was because it was a real problem they were trying to solve so it was a real letter (etc) that was going to be read by someone.  

As teachers we need to provide a context that is authentic and has an audience in order for our kids to engage and attain in writing.  What do you think???

Tags: engagement, writing

How cool is this??

As a ICT specialist I don’t have my own class, instead I see the entire school over the course of the week for between 45 mins and 90 mins. Doesn’t leave me a lot of time to really get my teeth into something with 30 odd kids in each of the blocks. Today, however, I set out to start blogging with some kids.
I borrowed 8 kids from a couple of year 2 classes and the fun began. We talked about diaries and learning about people - kinda approriate because they are looking at the Netherlands and one of the most famous diaries of all time came from there. I showed them a blog written by a girl their own age. I showed them how to read the comments and how to move between posts and pages easily. Then I let them read. Just like I wouldn’t ask them to write an acrostic poem without first reading a few and getting the idea, I don’t want to get them writing blogs without at least reading a selection.
Five minutes in and one of the girls says. “Miss Wills, this girl walked across the River Gorge Bridge and that was in the book we read last week!” Completely unscripted and completely surprised me. Here in a totally different literacy environment the kids were able to write a comment on the girl’s blog explaining the cool coincidence. The girls were eager to continue, even asking if they could come back at lunchtime to read more. So now I am in the process of setting up a blogmeister blog for the class so that they can share their experiences with the world.
This was truly an empowering experience and really showed me how small the world can be thanks to this great technology.
I’m sure many people out there have had really cool “light bulb” moments…care to share!!!

New Goal: Find more blogs that the kids will be interested in reading and get them commenting on them - on the things they find interesting!!

I’ve Been Critical Thinking…

Oh dear, has it really happened? Can it be that learning about this whole Web 2.0 and in particular blogging that I have to start thinking critically about people are saying on this topic. I was reading a response in David Warlick’s blog where David replies to a comment from David Thornburg. David T had added a comment to one of David W’s blogs. It was interesting reading the reply. The thing that hit me in the face is that these two pretty insightful men had extremely differing views on WEB 2.0 (and even if there is a thing called Web 2.0!). If these academics can’t even agree - where does that leave me??
The more I read the more confused and confuddled I get. It’s not just about the technology but more importantly it is about how we, as educators, use the technology. Even as I write that it feels wrong. WEb 2.0 isn’t about us as educators using technology and then teaching it. It is an organic process that is happening to our students, to us, to our parents. It is happening all around us, all of the time. We have to break through the (dare I mention it) “sage on the stage” mentality and into the flat world. This seems fine in theory but with colleagues that aren’t comfortable with “playing” with software to learn how to use it and use it efficiently in their own classroom. Surprisingly it’s not always the older colleagues either. I guess I don’t help the situation by providing “how to” guides and talking about all the great stuff that can be achieved with Web 2.0 but I find that they switch off to the great stuff because they “don’t know how to do it” with the technology.
Anyway way off track with the real reason for this post. The more I read the more I realize that blogging isn’t just about writing but it’s also about reading. Now I know that this may seem obvious to those who have been doing this for awhile, but I truly did think it was all about the writing. I mean this makes sense right. I write, I type, I post it online. But then I realized I had been doing more reading than writing. To be able to have an opinion, I need to have read what is going on in the fields I want to write on. How can I bring this realization into a classroom???
Here is a goal for me: Find a selection of children’s blogs that my kids will find interesting and motivating. Get the children to read them and have conversations about what they have read. Really try and get them excited about reading other people’s ideas and promote the idea that they too can publish their own ideas.
Wish me luck….

Sunday Morning Reading…

Ok. So a rainy Sunday was spend reading about blogging and education to begin to get a sense of why. Below are some of the things that I have found to be stand out points. Not necessarily unknown, but what I find to be important.

The following thoughts are from reading David Huffaker’s paper entitled “Spinning Yarns around the digital fire: Storytelling and Dialogue among youth on the internet” David Huffaker Article

Blogging is similar to story telling. We are able to share experiences in an entertaining and engaging way. (Think telling gets about stranger danger - read Little Red Riding Hood). It brings people together in a common perspective - you don’t have to agree with what’s being said but it can help you make a more balanced argument/decision. It can stretch peoples capacity to empathize with others and share experiences - on a personal blog I can follow a friend’s European adventure in “real” time rather than having to wait until he gets home to listen to his whole story of his adventure (which I’ll do anyway!!!)

Children by using the collaborative technology can gain a sense of ownership. No longer is it solely the teacher who tells the child what needs to be fixed or amended, but peers and outside commentators who can offer suggestions and it can be the child’s choice to fix, amend or refine. This leads to a natural maturing of the verbal literacy. Questions asked, problems solved and refinements made in a collaborative environment - the flat classroom so to speak.

In primary schools we focus a lot on verbal (reading and writing) literacy and visual (symbols and images) literacy. We need to move more towards using digital literacy to deepen both verbal and visual literacy. Digital literacy is like learning a language. The more fluent, the more likely to change the approach to teaching and using it. For example, moving away from “how to” sheets (which in all honesty I do use - but more to help teachers not so confident in ICT skills and the organic process of learning to do something on the computer) to collaborative online projects or assignments. This use of digital literacy and the need to be digitally fluent is becoming increasingly the one part of the unknown future that is most certain.

We were all told at teachers training that engagement of children was the key to their success or conversely failure at school. The technology we can be using (blogging and online communities) can give children a sense of accomplishment and empowerment. They can begin to feel more in control and their learning which may have a direct impact on engagement and motivation. Speaking as someone who sees 19 different classes a week, it is satisfying (not sure if that is the right word there) to have kids come in and be eager to learn and are engaged throughout the lesson - even when we are working on long projects. If we can harness some of that energy in the classroom, the outcomes can be very positive for our children.

Reading Huffaker’s paper, he speaks of three types of dialogue that youth engage in - message boards, instant messaging (IM) and blogs. Ideally I would like to see blogs being used in the classrooms at our school. But message boards and IM could have a place.
Why am I so interested in blogging. I see it as a great tool to keep parents, students and teachers involved in the learning process. Last year, whilst I was still teaching in a regular class, I trialled Friday folders - a folder where children were able to put work they were proud of, into a folder to take home on Friday to share with their parents. The parents would then write a comment that was shared with the class the following Monday. The kids really glowed when they heard what their parents had written about their work. This concept meant that for those parents (especially dad’s) who couldn’t get into school on a regular basis to keep up to date with their kids progress, the kids produced a highly quality of work because they knew that someone, other than myself, would be reading and commenting on their work and for myself it was a great way for me to see how the kids were progressing. One way of using a blog in the classroom could be a weekly reflection for the class (perhaps done as a class in the junior years) with some “special” work showcased each week. Moving up the school, the kids could have individual blogs where the assignment may be to have one weekly reflection alongside with a couple of pieces of work uploaded. We could then invite parents and the school community to read and comment on the work. It leads to more that just a writing task. Children can read each others blogs and comment on them - whether it be just a positive comment, answering a question or providing a suggestion for refinement.

Here’s hoping…..Wish me luck…..

How I got here…

Ok, so as an ICT specialist I feel that I should have been here a long time ago. As a person at the early end of digital nativeness (born in ‘79…close enough…) I should have been doing this a really long time ago. But I hadn’t but I am now. I tried to figure out why I hadn’t been here and I guess it’s just that I didn’t know where to go or what to do or if I really had anything important to say. That all came to a head at 5am yesterday.
Earlier this year I went to the Learning@School conference held in Rotorua each year. One of the keynote speakers was David Warlick from the USA. Never has it all made sense. Integrating and using technology in classrooms is easy, but to hear someone I had (in all honesty) never heard of, make it sound easier was profound. It made me think about where the kids I’m teaching are going to be technology wise in 5, 10 and 20 years time (hence the name Unknown Future).
So I subscribed to David’s blog (2centsworth) and read it when I get the time. I also subscribed to his podcast (Connected Learning). I also won a new ipod 2nd gen nano. So I put his podcasts on to it. This brings me to 5am yesterday.
Lying awake I decided to listen to David. He was podcasting from a conference in Connecticut. It was about blogging and it made sense. It’s seems like such a great tool to engage kids in literacy. The immediacy, the real audience, the communication and most importantly the naturalness of it all. Kids communicate these days in text speak, instant messaging and in this whole new language that to some of my collegues is still as foriegn as some Outer Mongolian lost language.

So….I’m here. I’m going to be reading blogs, about blogs, writing blogs, adding comments. I’m going to be writing things I learn, linking things that I think are important. This is going to be my journey into Web 2.0.

First Goal: We have a coaching system of PD at our school. We meet with a buddy to talk about achieving a professional goal. My goal is to get my coaching session to be blog-to-blog as opposed to face-to-face and see how it goes. We meet in quality learning circles each week (a group of 8 other teachers) and I would like to invite them to comment and add to our blog.
Purpose: To show my collegues that blogs are a tool for professional communication and easy to use.

Wish Me Luck…