Increasing
Student Engagement and Voice with Digital Writing
Increasing Student Engagement and Voice with Digital Writing
A panel of four teachers share their successes and the benefits of
using Youth Voices in their classrooms.
The panel share examples of student engagement and teacher collaboration
through the blog. The website offers an
open arena for student-centered, inquiry-based writing and discussions. There are opportunities for students’ voices
to be heard, as well as get feedback, tips, and resources from other students. The panel shares that their students have
told them they feel more like themselves on Youth Voices compared to other
social media outlets. Overall, it
appears as if Youth Voices offers students unique and collaborative writing and
discussion opportunities.
I found the presentation interesting (though I could not understand one of the presenters very well due to audio quality), and I was looking forward to finding ways to use the ideas the panel was sharing in my classroom. After viewing the talk, I soon realized that this website seems more in tune with older students. While I thought about getting my higher level students involved with this site, it would make me nervous to let students on unsupervised. Though the site is moderated, I wonder if some of the topics broached by older students might be too sophisticated or inappropriate for my fourth graders. However, I thought the point the panel made about teaching students how to create a strong digital presence and give relevant feedback was important to consider even in the elementary grades.
I found the presentation interesting (though I could not understand one of the presenters very well due to audio quality), and I was looking forward to finding ways to use the ideas the panel was sharing in my classroom. After viewing the talk, I soon realized that this website seems more in tune with older students. While I thought about getting my higher level students involved with this site, it would make me nervous to let students on unsupervised. Though the site is moderated, I wonder if some of the topics broached by older students might be too sophisticated or inappropriate for my fourth graders. However, I thought the point the panel made about teaching students how to create a strong digital presence and give relevant feedback was important to consider even in the elementary grades.
One of the speakers mentioned
how many students will respond to others using perfunctory comments such as “I
like that” or “yes”, and they need to be taught how to give meaningful
feedback. I have noticed it can be difficult
for my students to appropriately and effectively communicate digitally. We have a class Twitter account in which a
different student Tweets each day. It is
apparent that some students are much more inclined to understand the nuances of
digital communication than others. This
should be a modeled writing process, just as traditional writing is, so that
students can learn how to be effective digital communicators. I am interested in learning more about how to
implement these ideas in a relevant and engaging manner for my younger students.
Julia, I am interested to hear more about how you use Twitter in your classroom. I'll be honest—Twitter is one of those technology pieces that scares me! One of my teacher battles is always giving up control! I love the idea of having a different student tweet each day, making every student feel involved in your classroom. I agree with the emphasis you place on modeling as well. Students need to see many writing models in order to begin incorporating solid writing skills within their own writing, whether it's a paragraph or a tweet.
ReplyDeleteWe love reading your tweets, Miss Kling! With our weekly class "tweeters" I have also found that some students get the hang of tweeting quite quickly, while others have a difficult time summarizing the day in 140 characters or less. It definitely is a new mode of writing that needs to be taught. A lesson in word choice for sure!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your blog post, I took a look at the Youth Voices discussion blog. I absolutely agree with you that it is geared toward older students. The first two discussion forums that I saw were dealing with vaccinations and abortions, neither topic we discuss in fourth grade!
I have thought about blogging/online discussions with my students, but want to try a blog that is set up privately. I'm not sure if Blogger would be the way to go, but perhaps through Schoology or Google Classroom I would be able to post discussion questions, and then have my students, and only my students, reply to the posts, and spark discussions with one another. That way I would have a much easier time monitoring the discussions.
I know that it is my responsible to equip my students with 21st century skills, and online discussion forums are the direction we are headed. But nine/ten year olds still need a lot of practice interacting with one another and having actual face to face discussions. Learning to listen, thinking about the other person's point of view, and speaking their points clearly and effectively are important fourth grade speaking and listening skills. I do not think these are skills that can be taught by blogging or responding in online discussion groups.
I also have a student "Tweeter" as a classroom job. Again, some students can summarize what they want to say within the 140 characters quite easily, and others need help boiling down what they want to say. I have also tried using Twitter to summarize a short piece of writing. Students were assigned a section to summarize, and when we put all the Tweets together the whole story was retold - minus unimportant details. The students really enjoyed this activity, but did struggle getting their thoughts into 140 characters. I plan to try this again.
ReplyDelete-Hi Julia Reading your post, I felt a real hesitancy on your part to use this idea with students. Is Youth Voices a public type site where students can use it at any time and anywhere? I would be worried as well. I am interested in learning more about this, but hesitate about its appropriateness with my age level students. Also, I wonder if there would be issues with regards to use with the district. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteVera
I'm thinking blogging would be a beneficial way to help fourth graders learn to listen, think about another's point of view, and communicate their points effectively. Since they aren't known for their great listening skills, blogging allows them to reread if they don't understand. The piggyback lesson would be ask questions to help you understand what someone is saying or to help understand their point of view. As for students learning to
ReplyDeletemake their point effectively, blogging gives students the freedom to reread or reword before publishing. The piggyback lesson would be to actively think about what you want to say before you say it.