Keep in Mind

Students who use digital tools in the writing workshop are writers first.  In CRAFTING DIGITAL WRITING, Troy Hicks reminds us that when students craft presentations or share online, the writing matters most.  We look to see the elements of story, information, and argument, just as we do in a piece of writing on notebook paper.  Digital writing may look cool and snazzy, but if there's no substance, it's no good.

Hicks advises that we sketch out writing pieces before going digital, imagining and planning how a site, a presentation, a book, will look.  For this site, I jotted - with a black marker on plain paper - out a list of possible tabs as I tried to organize my own thinking.  

In thinking about a project or assignment, a writer considers the following, referred to as MAPS by Hicks:

• Mode
• Media
• Audience
• Purpose
• Situation

Read more by Troy Hicks and listen to his sixth grade daughter as she talks through making MAPS decisions here at Middle Web.

Because our students spend considerable time online at home, I believe it is ever-more important to give them beautiful experiences in nature, making messy art with their hands, and sharing books in cozy corners.  Students need to build and to make.

This digital world is one more place to be a maker, and as a teacher and writer, I hope to help the young people I know begin to understand how in this space, our words and pictures live on.  We are making footprints every day...and not in sand.  It is important for us to help children understand some of today's tools, how to use them, and how to think deeply and express carefully their stories, what they know and are learning, what they believe.

Let's learn together...I'm glad you're here!

Warmly,
Amy

If you have more thoughts about using digital tools in the writing workshop,

 please comment below.