How refreshing. A presentation about blogging that isn’t about blogs. It’s about writing. Quote:
“Learning to read and write is not learning how texts stick together, but how people stick together…” (Brandt 1990)
The presenter is Sara Kajder and she’s talking about telling a story. She’s talking about the difference between having students start with images and then write, and starting with the writing and then adding the images. Very interesting, especially the conversations that happened in the classroom about the differences.
Interestingly, her students use Skype, not just to collaborate, but to do research. I know that’s not unusual, except that the way she approaches it, teleconferencing is a research tool. They kids work to find sources. They’re using a map of the world rather than searching an index or reference work.
Here class is actually having a lot of success in connecting with authors for conversations about writing. One thing that’s important here, is that her students discuss whether their stories will convey themselves better as a blog article, podcast, or digital story.
Now, she’s going to the wiki, and she says that she’s finding wikis to be an incredibly compelling writing tool. She said that she’d always had students save their work from word processor, she always had them “save as..” This way they could go back and examine the evolution of their writing. Wikis do this for you. She doesn’t really use it for the sake of collaboration as much as for thought tracking.
Trying to find a ustream link to this blog session. Can’t find it. Was this even an Educon Presentation?
>>having students start with images and then write, and starting with the writing and then adding the images.
What a neat way to put it. I’m sure this approach makes writing much more accessible to some kids–I know the former is a lot closer to the way I write than the latter.
Everything I’m seeing on the reports from this conference sound like it’s throwing out some pretty powerful and innovative stuff.
So which one of my obviously brillant relatives made this quote? I know it wasn’t me! 😉
I like the idea about using the wiki as a writing tool. I’m willing to try to save their work by saving it with “save as.” As a first grade teacher I might need to make some adjustments, but I’m willing to give it a try.
I am not sure this is a true educational publication. However, every student is different and I feel it is real important for the student to chose the best way. Some like to draw first, some like to write first. As far as the technology part. I think anytime we as teacher can incorportate technology it is a plus.
It is somewhat difficult to follow an article that has words misused in it. Spellcheck is a good tool, but not if the words are not appropriate. For example: “They kids work to find sources.” or “Here class is actually having a lot of success in connecting with authors for conversations about writing.” It makes you lose focus.
However, I find that both ways are exceptional ways to prompt writing. Seeing a visual first gives the student an image to work with. Writing first gives the student the chance to create their own image.