A Six Word Memoir: Sharing Our Stories, Passions To Words
Sharing Our Stories…
Tonight I was invited to share our story on NWP radio. I have never been part of an on-line radio show before. It is like a conference call with friends. I learned so much from everyone who participated. I have been a fellow of NWP for some time now, and this is the first I have heard of the radio program. It is definitely something I will spend more time on in the coming months. Check it out, it will give you quite an insight into the Digital Learning Day event.
Listen to internet radio with NWP radio on Blog Talk Radio
Passions to Words…
My students are working hard to create their blogs. There is this sense of urgency, and importance as the deadline looms. When I first posted the countdown on this blog, it was more just as a reminder for me. It has turned into a motivation for our young bloggers. Students are slated to choose their best blog post to share next week. We are all over the map in regards to being ready to share. Some students are perfecting one piece, others are drafting several posts, trying to find the best. It makes for great discussion as we write. Multiple topics, teaching common revision strategies. It will be that revision process you will be able to be a part of February 6th. We will be opening an Edmodo page that will be filled with student blog posts. Students and Digital Learning Day participants will use that tool as a discussion board, offering comments to the writing.
One important part of my teacher research is figuring out what will motivate these somewhat reluctant writers. Although we have just begun our blogs, I know that having an audience bigger than their teacher influences the quality of their writing. I am definitely putting on the pressure to produce, yet they do. Not everyone is enthralled, but there is no denying that when given the opportunity, more students are writing, and more importantly, revising with a purpose. For example, 10 or so students come in at lunch to work on their blog today, and after school you will find a handful of students in front of a laptop in the corners of my room. It is a slow but worthwhile process.
My Writing for Change Club students are also preparing their work. We are no stranger to collaboration, just this morning one of my Writing for Change Club students posted this on the group wall to share.
A poem that I posted:
I feel sad, I want to cry
It raining in my heart, I feel mad
I think i´m going to explode
I think i´m going to scream as hard as I can,
but it is still raining outside.
Ailin Grade 8
That poem show how I was feeling that day!!!!!!!
What is exciting about sharing our work so publicly, is that it is forcing me to analyze and focus on the process. Once February 7th rolls around, we aren’t going to stop writing, or producing, or sharing. It is my hope that this summer, these blogs continue without me, that conversations among writers occur not just because I facilitate and moderate, but they happen because young writers seek advice and input. We shall see.
In the end, it really isn’t about Digital Learning Day, it is about the digital learning.
www.writinginmyhand.org
