Digital Literacy Environments

As a beginning teacher, I often think about all that I'm going to be up against in the realm of the classroom. Since taking this course, I've been thinking more and more about how I'm actually going to teach writing. Sometimes, it seems like a daunting task. I'm no Regie Routman. She's been doing this for many years, is experienced, and has lots of little tricks in her writing bag. I wonder, does it ever happen that after a teacher has applied the optimal learning model, provided a print-rich environment, and given lots of opportunities for writing that a student still might not be enthused about the idea of writing? If that did happen, what would you do?
A few weeks ago, in another class, I was introduced to a nifty little program called "Comic Book Creator." You probably all know about this program and what it does. But, up to this point in time, I had never heard of this useful little tool. As I worked with this program, which is fun and really easy to use, I thought about how a program such as this could be used as a good supplemental tool for students who really don't care much about reading or writing. As an extra little perk, this program would also be a great benefit for students who are visual learners.
More and more, I'm warming up to the idea of digital learning environments. Since technology is here to stay, I'd say that that's a good thing. Using this blog format and working on fanfiction is an interesting way for a person like me, who is not as digitally savvy as many of my peers, to enter the world of digital literacy. I'm really looking forward to a class field trip next month where I'll be using the "Comic Book Creator" program in writing activities with grade one students. This should prove to be a valuable learning experience toward any future digital literacy projects I might consider implementing in my own classroom.

Time is ...

Time is...
Too slow for those who wait,
Too swift for those who fear,
Too long for those who grieve,
Too short for those who rejoice,
But for those who love...
Time is eternity.

I have no idea who "penned" this little quote. It was one of my mother's favourites and she used to add, " Time flys; it waits for no-one." After reading Katia's latest blog this morning, which is a timely piece on the constraints of time in our lives, I immediately remembered this quote and decided to share it with all of you. Good-luck to everyone who is immersed in studying for next week's mid-terms; and, remember to "make" a little time just for you!!

Peer Writing Conferences

Peer writing conferences can be a positive, valuable, confidence-building experience for students. When I attended Grant Mac, I participated in several such writing conferences under the watchful eye of Dr. Farvolden. At first, I didn't like the idea of peer conferencing. This was a brand new concept for me. I felt anxious about the process. I wasn't comfortable letting strangers see inside my head. I was even less enthusiastic about opening myself up to potential praise and constructive criticism of my work. Part of my concern stemmed from the fact that I didn't know or trust the other two people in my assigned group.
Though we had been warned not to write about anything we weren't totally comfortable sharing, it turned out that, in my group, all three of us had a tendency to write from our hearts, so to speak. In a way, I guess that was a good thing because we each had some of the same anxieties about sharing our writing. We discussed our feelings from the get-go and decided collectively that if we wanted to experience good sharing and honest responding we would have to build a climate of safety and trust. And, that's just what we did.
"Try to figure out what the writer is trying to convey before you respond with suggestions" (p. 224). After reading this quote in Routman's text, a point I remembered and thought was interesting was that during our writing conferences we were always encouraged by our prof to read our piece of writing two times. On the first read-through, peers were only to listen and not give any response. The logic here is that since peers don't have a paper copy of your writing in front of them it's hard for them to give helpful feedback with only one reading to go by. During and after the second read-through, peers were expected to be constructing responses. The big focus of these conferences was to enable each writer to walk away having gained some concrete feedback from peers to help the writer make the writing better.
I loved those conferences! They were so beneficial to bettering my writing. I always walked away feeling like I had given and had gained. I believe that all of our experiences - from feeling vulnerable to feeling empowered and confident - will help us to better understand and be able to relate to our future students and their feelings. I hope this will be encouraging to anyone who might be feeling a little anxious or uncomfortable about participating in peer writing conferences.