TEACHING WRITING WITH TECHNOLOGY

Cinthya Cantón Mencos5076-14-8860Técnicas IV

INTRODUCTION

 There are a variety of tech tools and methods out there for teaching writing that can make the process easier and more fun for both teachers and students. While not every high-tech way of teaching writing will work for every class or every student, there’s enough variety that there’s bound to be something for everyone. 

“TECHNOLOGY ALONE CAN'T FIX AMERICA'S SCHOOLS. BUT IT CAN HELP TEACHERS MAKE BETTER USE OF THEIR TIME.”

Technology can provide feedback to students: There are some high-tech solutions that can ensure

that students get the help they need and that teachers aren’t overburdened with grading. Increasingly complex and comprehensive programs are available to help students fix errors in their writing, and can offer feedback during the writing process, when it matters most. Students can use the feedback to make changes before handing in a paper and can get it in more manageable chunks so that it won’t feel overwhelming. 

REPORT STUDENTS PROGRESS

Teachers keep an eye on student progress as they produce a paper or complete an assignment. One such product is called Essay Punch.

It helps students through the process of writing an essay step-by-step, from pre-writing to publishing, even offering contextual help and feedback throughout.

It also allows teachers to monitor the progress

GRAMMAR TUTORIALS CAN FILL THE GAP

There are hundreds of sites that provide grammar tutorials, some that even come complete with exercises and activities to engage students and help fill gaps in their knowledge. New software is also being released that can help students as they write, addressing grammar issues as they happen. With this kind of support and guidance, students can learn to become better writers both from teachers and from technology.

TECH. TO COLLABORATE IN WRITING PROJECTS

New technology makes it easier than ever for students to collaborate on just about anything, including writing projects. Even free products like Google Drive allow students to work together on a project or to give each other feedback that can be useful in the writing process. Teachers can also chime in so long as documents are shared. While there are numerous platforms that allow for collaboration, Google has actually created a tutorial and some useful materials in partnership with Writing for Teens for teachers and students to use that can make collaborative writing with the web-based service easy and productive.

BLOGS

Blogs force students to create writing that is geared toward a wider audience, which can give quite different results than asking students to craft an essay or a journal that will be read by the teacher alone. There are a number of education-centered blogging sites that can help to address any security and safety issues parents might have and still allow students to craft web-ready writing. 

FIND REAL WORLD APPLICATION

 Experts suggest that teachers can facilitate greater student engagement through emphasizing the real-world purpose of student writing. The Web can be a valuable tool for doing that, as much of the communication students do these days is via online forum. Students can compare and contrast products, write short essays detailing their position on a particular issue, or even build research-based websites that can inform and educate readers.

PUBLISH STUDENT WORK

When students are proud of the work they’ve done, they love seeing it in published. Additionally, knowing something will be published for others to see can motivate students to produce better work from the get-go. There are a wide range of publication options online that teachers can use to promote student work. Students can be featured on a school website or blog, but other sites offer different options. Google Drive and Zoho Writer make it possible to turn a writing assignment into a webpage and Yudu and Issuu help make them into a newsletter or e-book. 

Here are some tips for using technology to teach Writing in an efficient way.

Don’t

• Rely on isolated grammar exercises Even for ones that are delivered through interactive programs online, learning grammar devoid of context is of questionable value (e.g., filling in a cloze exercise doesn’t necessarily make one's writing more accurate) (G. Tweedie, personal communication, October 3, 2014).

Don’t• Rely on spelling and grammar if they

cannot tell students why something is incorrect or why/how to correct it. Checkers are most useful when users understand the logic behind the error .

• Teachers can use errors (rather than eliminate them with a click of the mouse) to inform their instruction and to identify the most critical things on which to focus student attention.

DO• Use word

processors to write They make the revision and editing process much less daunting and tedious, and most word processors come with built-in spelling, grammar, and style checkers to assist students.

DO• Design collaborative

writing assignments Design collaborative writing assignments, such as collective writing of stories or plays. Students tend to write more and better if they are able to talk through their ideas with peers, and seek and obtain peer feedback (Law & Eckes, 2010, p. 170).

DO• Provide lots of

personalized feedback The best option is providing one-on-one attention, going through writing in discussion with students Discuss with students any confusing parts of their writing, as they will be able to tell you what they meant Video-conferencing and online chat can be used to assist with this.

About Technology –Supported Writing

Technological support can advance all phases of writing-planning, transcribing, and revising. For learners who struggle with any or all of these aspects, technology can enable and liberate thoughts from mechanics and free up the expression of ideas. In fact, research shows that technology-supported writing not only enables skills but also teaches them at the same time, so that users grow their understanding of mechanics, spelling, organizing, and so on when they write with technology tools.

Technology also creates new forms of writing.

Technology provides new sources for and means of obtaining information (e.g., the Internet, search engines, blogs, and texting) and enables sharing, editing, and collaboration among writers, teachers, and peers. New electronic genres and multimedia forms involve a combination of media, including print, hyperlinks, still images, video, and sound.

Remember, technology is not a substitute for a

comprehensive writing curriculum; learners

need direct instruction and guided practice in the use of the tools so that they facilitate productivity

rather than cause frustration.

Prompt learners to consider

appropriate vocabulary

related ideas and topics

genre-specific text structures

possible outlines, and arguments.

Strategies for Technology Use

Provide opportunities to practice reflecting on and organizing these thoughts in advance of starting the assignment.

Electronic mapping, outlining, and draft

templates

Help structure a prewriting brainstorm, and

capture thoughts for later reflection.

After students are familiar with the strategy, the tools themselves are easy for even computer novices to

manipulate.

To support planning, try the following:Portable and

Internet-based

reference tools, such

as :Electronic dictionaries, spell checkers, reading pens, and translators

can help students find, learn, and use the

appropriate content vocabulary in their

writing. Use online, free reference tools in

the program, and encourage

students to purchase these

inexpensive study tools.

The final major phase of the writing process involves several more skills.

Editing and Revising

Two types of technologies address the challenges presented by the editing and revising process:

Spell checker use should be taught strategically so that users understand the reasons for possible errors and learn strategies to choose a correct word out of the provided list; use those programs with text-to-speech output and phonemic prediction to improve word list offerings.

Text-to-speech enables learners to have their compositions read back to them. As in the language experience approach, they can then pay attention to the sound of the language to catch wording, phrasing, punctuation, and grammatical errors.

Sentence Writing Text Book – a draft manuscript for a sentence writing book. You can use this with your students too! Downloads as a PDF file. 1.8MB.In addition to the Sentence Writing book above, scan of proofreading symbols for pages 10 and 11. Downloads as a PDF File with 3.2MBYou can also download an “Intermediate” writing Textbook written for university students. The book prepares students for better paragraphs and eventual essay writing.

Intermediate Writing Textbook – draft manuscript that downloads as a PDF file 2.4MB.Specifically look over the contents of each section and the order of the contents of each book to get a good idea of what needs to come first.

 

Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools. Available at http://www.all4ed.org/ publications/WritingNext/index.html

Supporting struggling writers using technology: Evidence-based instruction and decision-making. Available at http://www.techmatrix.org/resources/tech_support_writing.pdf

Thank you!