When reading about the three
elements of the framework Hicks (2009) describes in Chapter 7, I reflected upon
a lot of things I would like to change about my current classroom and school.
The students I am currently working with are Kindergartners, ranging from 4 to
5 years old. I am working in a private daycare setting, teaching Kindergarten
to students in the morning, and in the afternoon, based on their school
district schedule. I would view my students as capable of digital writing in
some aspects, but not yet having the chance to pursue the task digitally. In
some aspects of the digital world, I find they are more advanced then me! Many
of my students have iPods, iPads, tablets, cell phones, etc at home that they
are able to manipulate effortlessly and do so on a daily basis.
Since my students are so young,
they are not yet involved with social media websites, blogs, or wikis, but they
are familiar with writing digitally, and games or applications played
digitally. Because of this, they are very capable of collaborating, drafting,
and publishing digital writing pieces with teacher scaffolding. There are many
things limiting my students from being able to experiment with these writing
tasks, which consists of the space I am given both in my classroom and in the
school building itself.
The building I work in is a day
care center, with 15+ classrooms starting at the infant age group going up to
my Kindergarten classroom. We also provide care for school age students in the
morning and afternoon, however, this is not in a classroom setting but rather a
day care or camp environment. My classroom has one ‘teacher’ computer with
limited resources, and no computers set up for children. Furthermore, there is
no setting for student sized desks and computers to allow my students to
manipulate digital spaces freely. I have used my computer before in conjunction
with specific topics or subjects to aid in student understanding in the room,
but it is not easily manipulated by students because of the size and position
of the desk and computer itself. Ideally, without budget, resources, and
building space in mind, I would incorporate a ‘classroom’ of computers for
students of all ages. The desks would be lower to the ground, with 4-6 year old
sized chairs, for students to sit comfortably and use for longer periods of
time. I would incorporate collaborative desks on the side of the classroom for
students to reflect and discuss what they are working on, as well as for
teacher communication and small group work. When rereading this paragraph, I am thinking
how silly it seems for my request for a computer lab for 5 year olds, but I
have experienced their capability for learning electronically and when lessons
are tailored of scaffolded for them, they would benefit tremendously from these
changes. So no, I am not saying my classroom of 5 year olds is going to hop on
a computer and type me an essay, but yes they can draft rhyming words or blends
containing –op on a word processor or use programs such as a-z learning to read
leveled text books.
“As noted throughout this book
and simply summarized here, digital writing changes the contexts and purposes
for writing” in the classroom (Hicks, 2009, p. 130). Reflecting on Chapter 7, specifically
the ‘subject’ section of the chapter, I was able to construct many elaborate
(maybe not realistic) ways in which my students can engage in digital writing
in the classroom. Realistically, I would
love for videos, audio, and images to reinforce topics or subjects we are
discussing in class. For example, last week I introduced rhyming words to my
students. We used that as a jump off point to discuss word families and blends.
While trying to solidify the concept of rhyming, my students and I brainstormed
as large list of words on chart paper that rhymed with the given word I
drafted. Wanting to push this concept to a new level, I set up rhyming stations
throughout the classroom for students to experience rhyming in different
contexts. I printed off rhyming texts from a-z learning, I created rhyming
puzzles, and I used Reggie the Rhyming Rhino from the scholastic learning
website. This rhino changed my classroom as a whole. A week later I still have
students wanting him back J As a summary of the website, students are
able to choose what environment they want to rhyme in (at home, at the grocery
store, at the zoo, etc) and when they are given a word within that context,
they must look at the 3 options given (in picture and word form) to produce a
rhyme to the word given. This element of student choice was a huge motivator!
So although my students were not opening Google Docs to draft a research paper
with colleagues, they truly were collaborating with the program to read and
write rhyming words digitally. Although this was only one subject and only a
small part of my curriculum, I hope to find new digital programs that allow my
students to collaborate, draft, and create digital work throughout the school
day.
Because my students are so young,
and still learning how to print letters, and letter sound correspondence, I
think a digital writing workshop in my classroom will reflect the scenario I
used above. I need to create and develop other means of digital writing in a
more comfortable, collaborative setting. My students need a place of their own
to draft and work, and more diverse programs to work with. My goal for this
school year is to incorporate one digital aspect a week in my lesson plans.
Throwing that number out seems like an easy goal, but a lot of planning and
preparation needs to go into it since my room and environment is not set up for
enabling this type of learning. Next week, I am introducing 2 more blends during
reading, as well as introducing a plant study in science. My goal is to find or
create a program that allows my students to work digitally in one of those units,
and enable all students to use it!
Just incase any blog readers want to Visit Reggie!
