Learning Log Entry #3

As I read the assigned chapters in the book The Digital Writing Workshop by Hicks in preparation for this week’s class and compared it to last week’s reading in Teaching Writing by Tompkins, I am thinking of how to blend the new literacies with the old literacies. (can we call them old? How about traditional?!)

Tompkins’ book represents the forms of writing more traditionally thought of when teaching students to write. Hicks’ book represents a more forward thinking framework to teach writing.

(I wanted to write futuristic before typing forward thinking, but I stopped and thought it can’t be futuristic if the technology exists right now, today. It seems futuristic because most classrooms still look like it’s the year 1954, including mine!!). I think that our job as teachers is to somehow find a way to blend the reality in which we teach students to write with what we know is possible. 

The questions that I am pondering and asking myself are:

How do we change the current views about new literacies being a bonus and used for “extras” within the classroom and not necessities?

Do older students struggle to find topics to connect to through writing because they live their lives in a digital world and write about them using non-digital tools and resources?

Is it necessary to learn to write genres in traditional ways in order to use them in a virtual world?

Or can students learn to write genres in a virtual world without the traditional teaching?

As I think about these questions, I realize that the answers are difficult but all are important to think about more thoroughly.

As I think about changing the views of new literacies in the classroom, I worry the educational system will continue to lag behind and deprive students the opportunities to become literate in the virtual world. I am thinking about Leu’s (2000) statement “becoming literate will become a more precise term than being literate” because literacy is “deictic” (p. 761) and Hicks’ (2009) statement “our understanding of what constitutes literacy continues to change” (p.16). The emergence of new literacies highlights the changing nature of literacy over space and time and the importance of being able to apply literacy skills in “new and novel ways” (Kucer, 2005, p. 7). Unless the current views about the changing nature of literacy transform, students will lack the appropriate skills to become literate.

I am thinking through my next question and I do believe older students struggle to find topics to connect to through writing because of the non-digital tools and resources they are given to write. I think for most older students there is a disconnect between the outdated learning tools used in school and their virtual lives outside of school. According to Hicks (2009), most students would start their research projects with a Google search instead of using books from the library and taking notes on index cards. Students are using the internet and virtual spaces to conduct research, but lack the appropriate skills or direction from their teachers to conduct thorough research. When students are given the opportunity to use tools like an RSS reader or a social bookmarking site, they are able to gather and organize their research in a meaningful ways, and effectively manage sources. I would love to create a writing project that incorporates new literacies and then assess the level of student engagement.

I think that Tompkins (2008) offers answers to my next question, if learning genres in traditional ways is necessary to write them in a virtual world. In chapter five of Teaching Writing, Tompkins lists several goals and activities for journal genre instruction. According to Tompkins, during the kindergarten through second-grade level, students are using a combination of drawing pictures and writing to communicate with the teacher in their journals. At this level students are also using their journals to brainstorm ideas for writing. It would not be possible for students to communicate through pictures on the computer unless they were using clipart or some other image website. 

According to Tompkins (2008), students at the third through fifth grade level are using their journals to brainstorm, make diagrams, complete quickwrites, and create data charts. I believe that creating charts and diagrams on the computer would be difficult for some students. At this stage, I would allow the students who felt comfortable to work in the virtual space of the classroom, while other students could continue to use their journals traditionally, with pen and paper. 

During sixth through eighth grade, Tompkins (2008) suggests students use their journals for the writing process and writing from different points of view. Students are also using their journals for choosing quotes while reading and comparing characters. Students would have a difficult time taking notes on characters or choosing quotes if their journal was completely online.

I think I have found a partial answer to my questions. Initially students must learn to write in different genres in the traditional way makes the virtual use possible. In other words, learning to keep a journal first with pen, paper, pictures, diagrams, and quotes now gives the skills to create and contribute to my blog and class wiki. I believe students need the foundational, traditional skills of genre writing before moving to the virtual world.

References

Kucer, S. B. (2005). Dimensions of literacy: A conceptual base of teaching reading and writing in school setting (2^nd ed). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.  

Leu, D. J. ( 2000). Literacy and technology: Deictic consequences for literacy education in an information age. In M.L. Kamil, P.B. Mosenthal, P.D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research: Volume III (pp. 743-788). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.