Beginning to write with word processing: Integrating Writing processes and technology in a primary classroom.

Van Leeuwen, C.A. & Gabriel, M.A. (2007) Beginning to write with word processing: Integrating writing process and technology in a primary classroom. Reading Teacher, 63, 284-295


I found this article to be very informative but gave me cause for concern over the quality of instruction our students will be receiving is the practice written about in this article were to be generalized across all domains.  As it stands right now, we have kids graduation without knowing how to write a check or tally a receipt to calculate a tip.  We also have students graduating from the school system with out knowing how to write a 3,4,5,or 6 digit in long hand.  (Ex.  $1123.53= one thousand, one hundred, twenty three dollars and fifty three cents.)

When we as a district offer an accommodation for a student to use a key boarding device in order to take the F-CAT or ACT, we know how to deactivate the spell and grammar check.  What happens when the student learns to activate it in turn.  Another issue that I have is that students and apparently teachers are forgetting that penmanship is but a superficial shell around the act of writing.  The mechanics of writing (including Penmanship) is a far cry from the art of writing and where language is used, manipulated and transformed into a work of literature that in some instances survive the passage of time.

While I agree that collaboration can be greatly improved upon when students are made to work together at a single unit I fear that the conditioning of these young minds to develop, organize, and outline elements of a story with a computer will somehow stunt the creative process.  The actual act of writing (like reading) is a very personal act.  You open you heart and delve into your thoughts in order to cultivate an idea that you want to get across to another human being.  The act of sharing your writings (hand) is like giving a person an insight into you soul. 

Your script, penmanship,cursive is as identifiable a trait as is your fingerprint.  A person who writes by hand exposes himself and thus acts on conviction one committed to paper.  All these "elements" are changed, distorted and reconstituted by external influence without the benefit of your own judgement when you type up a story.  This form of writing (when conducted as a primary exercise in elementary)  is 2 dimensional at best. When a student commits him/herself to paper by typing characters this act will experience a certain disconnect until said time the writer has to defend his product.  It is only then that the writer returns to his core and explain and express the love and dedication they have put into such a writing and quickly becomes fleeting to boot.

The students using ICT and other programs cannot justify their writings until they have it in their hands.  Many students with disabilities may be dependant on assistive technologies to provide supports in the classroom and not develop their academic skills to a level of proficiency that can set them on par with others.  Technology should be used as a supplement to instruction as opposed to being an integral part of a student's performance.

Emerging Technologies in Adult Literacy and Language Education

HTTP://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/technology_paper_2010.pdf

“Never before in history has innovation offered promise of so much to so many in so short a time.”

Bill Gates  The advent of today's technology will define who we are tomorrow.  No one (save Isaac Asimov, Aurthur C. Clark, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Mary Shelly plus a few others) could have imagine the technology that has become part of the "fabric of our lives." (G.E.?)  In the sixties when I watched Star Trek I was amazed at the use of communicators and universal translators.  It spurred my imagination.  Then, when I was attending Community College, I was informed that I had to take a foreign language course to graduate.  I decided to take a condensed French course which gave me French 1 and French 2 in the course of 12 months.  The only way I was able to pass that course was the access to the computer lab after hours, the availability of instructional video, and the Chat Room on Yahoo.fr. Yes,that is correct I was able to learn how to read, write and speak French by visiting the Chat Room on Yahoo.  In the beginning I was able to observe the language in action.  Voice Chat was available at the time and I was able to hear what people were saying and tried to match with what was on the screen in the Chat Room.  When I felt comfortable enough I progressed to typing short bursts in French and was knocked on my proverbial ":colon:" when someone responded to one of my blurbs.  That spurred me on.  Shortly there after I was caring on written correspondence with others.  When it came time to try speaking without a prepared speech I decided to "meet" someone online and met a French Canadian who was very instrumental in teaching me her native tongue.  Of course as with everything else, if you don't use it you lose it. But, I am happy to report that I passed my French course and also passed English 2 by answering a challenge by my professor who said that Iambic Pentameters only can be written in English. (He was an Anglophile) Of course that was enough to work a deal where I was able to pass the course if I could manage to write an Iambic Pentameter in French.  Can you guess who I wrote the poem about?  He took the poem to my French professor (another French Canadian) who said that the syntax was crude but conformed to the tenets of the French Language. (Lucky it was a poem and not an Essay). Anyway, I wrote this little tale to exemplify how the use of contemporary technology can help facilitate learning in ways that were not their original intent.  The article on Emerging Technologies In Adult Literacy and Language Education is dead on when it talks about the impact of technology on the English Language Learner (ELL).  But, in reality it goes well beyond the mere act of instruction.  Technology in its various forms have a habit of threading its way into your life and quickly become a valuable commodity that you can't do without.  Thirty years ago, do you remember ever being without a cellphone?  Can you see yourself leaving the home without one?  Today's "Smart phones" have become a source for social, financial, and interpersonal transactions.  We meet, plan, pay for, and "search" for most things on our phones.  It reminds me of the joke by George Carlin "STUFF."  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac    My phone has become a place for my "stuff".  ELL's can , with the use of contemporary technologies, navigate unfamiliar places, ask for assistance, and conduct financial transaction at a level of proficiency that is on par with natural English speakers.  By the same token, we  "English Speakers" can go abroad and benefit from the same amenities technology has offered them.  Now the question I have is in regards to the popularity of texting. (not to mention sexting) Along with this technological marvel, we are finding "text speak" making it's way into our reference materials such as encyclopedias and dictionaries. This is happening at a fast clip.  Even Webster can define the WWW.  How long before our daily language changes to a point where we start using this new form of shorthand as common everyday usage?  We all can relate when we see in errant print phrases like LMAO, TTYL8R, LOL, BFFs, etc.  or better yet the use of emoticons to say 1000 words with a picture. Will current languages go the way of Latin, Assyrian, Sumerian and a host of dead languages? Who knows?  C U L8R. P.S.whatwouldeecummingshavethoughtoftechnologyhaditbeenavailablewhenhewrotehismusings?Icanonlyimagine :)-

Digital Lieracy and the Law:Remixing Elements, Lanksheare & Knobel-Digital Literacies: Concepts, Policies, and Practices (2008)

It seems to me that as we progress on to a digital world we encroach upon the creative frontiers that are open to us so long as no one else can surmise the earning potential of that vast space and tries to mitigate any further advancements.  We are being pigeon holed into well defined conceptualization of what the world should appeal to the senses.  The article itself exemplifies the great capacity the digital era has in store if people are given an opportunity to expand beyond the capitalized potential of this form of self-expression.  Technology today has expanded to almost every corner of the world.  There will soon be nowhere that all digital media won't be accessible.  Look at the Scam artist in Nigeria or the design cloning industry in China, if we move into the digital age with abandonment, will we soon find speed bumps and other obstruction to the access and manipulation of information in any form, both legal and illegal?  If, as is often the case, we become complacent in monitoring the impact of legislation (now and in the future) on creative licensing and the use of commercial materials as fodder for online social engagement, we will find ourselves to be like a puppet on a string.  We will have created the perfect medium for "Big Brother" to dictate how we live our lives.  What would be the impact if the Federal Government were to copyright all the materials it has published.  How would that improve or hinder freedom of speech?  We might be heading there as we digitally speak?  The Patriot Act has already led to the violation of free speech and to the privacy of ordinary American citizens.  There was a time when you can joke with someone about "he said she said issues" now the readers in specific areas of the country are relegated into free speech zones.  How long will it be before our access to the Internet becomes regulated.  They are already talking about taxing online sales regardless of where the brick and mortar facility is located.  The synthesis of teaching materials  to produce a desired affect may be hindered and at the same time manipulated should  the Internet be regulated and privatized.

A Fair(y) Use Tale http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjn_jC4FNDo

Wicked!!!!
Disney (c) must be reeling from this fall out of cinematic montage. 
I can't tell you how much of a rellief it was to watch  this video.  Everytime I want to develop a presentation or work up a lesson I worry about the use of copyrighted materials.  Especially the consumable kind.  Those consumable materials are not only copyrighted, the very nature of their purpose guarantees that you have an expiration period before you have to go out and pay again for the same material.  How unfair is that?  You pay high dollar for a half-way decent graphic organizer and as soon as you use it (as designed), you loose it.  Of course there might be gray areas of use that may be open to interpretation.  If I were to laminate a consumable worksheet and allow students to write with an eraseable marker then "Have I violated copyright law?"  Then on the otherside of that coin, if I were to photocopy the same form 500 times do you think that I have violated Copyright laws?  Another thing is, if you were to take that same laminated worksheet and leave it somewhere that kids can access and under their own volition make copies of it...Have I violated copyright laws?  Vague and gray, just how I like it.
I am sure that if I was on the other side of that law, I would not be too fond of such creativity.  As teachers I believe we should be afforded the use of materials if it is for use in the educational environment.

Retort-and apology

To those whoo are still reading I would like to take a moment to apologize if any of you found my Blog offensive in any way.  My intent was to establish a hook and set a tone in order to get your attention. It is my understanding that this is not the way I came across and for that I apologize.  The work of Tamin, R., Bernard, R., Borokhovski, E., Abrami, P., & Schmid, R. is an indepth and very thought provoking look into the quantitative measures that give validity to any study and a solid foundation for future research that a reader/researcher might find helpful in the development of his/her own studies. I have nothing if not respect for the authors and am very thankful that they have produced such an indepth analysis.