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Even back in the "old" days of cooperative learning, the teacher assumed the role of encourager.  Kagan says about cooperative learning that it is a "student-centered classroom where the teacher is more of a facilitator than the main attraction" (Retrieved from http://help4teachers.com/MarthasResearch.htm).   This holds true in today's digital teaching.  While we still need to assess our students' learning, it should be more with an eye toward future instruction.

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Formative - I will assess the written part of each student’s digital poster for possible grouping of students for mini-lessons.  At the beginning of fourth grade, I am looking for correct Spanish usage of regular present tense verbs, subject/verb agreement, other verb tense attempts, correct placement of adjectives after the noun, article/noun/adjective agreement, sentence variety and length, paragraph structure, and conventions.

With Spanish-language students, I will especially be looking at the usage of more than the present tense and use of more descriptive Spanish language

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During the writing and work periods, I will take anecdotal notes (HO-2) on students’ abilities using the digital tools and general computer work.

Summative - None, because this is a baseline of their Spanish, writing skills and digital abilities.

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Hicks includes an extensive chart of traits of effective and ineffective digital writing. Here is a portion of that chart. As a teacher, I find this very useful in using when assessing student work.

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There are many ways to assess learning.  As Gaby Ruiz Meza wrote in our week 4 blog, "There are many factors to consider as we assess our students, as the readings suggested, there are rubrics, portfolios, summative and formative assessments. But, as Hicks asks "What are we assessing exactly?" (Hicks p 104), As teachers we need to look at their "diligence and for the quality of writing that they produced" (Hicks p105). We need to see the whole child, what are they capable of doing..."  I really like her comment of needing to see the whole child.  I think formative assessment is more valuable because you can see more of the "whole child" and the writing process.  Hicks says, "...digital writing tools allow teachers and students unprecedented access into the writing process.  From blog posts that accumulate into a collection of work, to draft upon draft of revisions that are automatically stored in a wiki's history or in an online word processor, students are increasingly able to easily archive and return to their work over time.  Thus, the process of formative assessment has become more transparent"  (2009, p. 110).

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One area that didn't seem to be addressed was Internet safety.  I feel that children think they know how to be safe, but don't realize all the points that are involved with cyber-safety. If we are having kids connect with the wide world out there, we need to add in the safety to our teaching.

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Safe Web Surfing: Top Tips for Kids and Teens Online

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My digital lesson doesn't involve remixing existing content. It does include mixing a variety of media, but not creatively remaking anything. The writing project to introduce themselves just doesn't lend itself to remixing. I hope to include remixing in some future projects.
The idea of remixing is interesting. Many of the "older" generation would see remixing as copyright infringement, but kids do it anyway. I think we need to rethink what we view as copyright and fair use. I also think teachers need to instill ethical use of content in our students. Jenkins states, "Sampling intelligently from the existing cultural reservoir requires a close analysis of the existing structures and uses of this material; remixing requires an appreciation of emerging structures and latent potential meanings. Often, remixing involves the creative juxtaposition of materials that otherwise occupy very different cultural niches. For beginning creators, appropriation provides a scaffolding, allowing them to focus on some dimensions of cultural production and rely on the existing materials to sustain others" (2009, p. 33).

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In fourth grade, we begin to write very basic bibliographies when we do our "big" research topic.  I think I could add citing an online source to this project.  Students could easily add the "retrieved from" citation for any YouTube or Vimeo videos they add.  In thinking of my exemplar, I will need to add that to the violin piece that I used.  Then I can show students how this is the proper way to cite the source of a video.  In our week 3 blog posts, Krista Vanderzee writes, "The Sharma and Deschaine (2016) article also mentioned the importance of citing sources when sharing and making intentional decisions about how work is shared (6), so both of those lessons should be passed on to students as well when creating opportunities for participation online."

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Garcia writes, "Despite this understanding of student interests, however, many educators continue to see them as diversions to help engage students in more "serious" content rather than crucial subjects of study in their own right" (2014, p. 11). There are many teachers at my school who are very opposed to digital learning. They see it as a "diversion" to "real learning," by which they mean good old paper and pencil work. What I would tell these teachers is that the kids of today are digital natives. That is their world. We, as teachers, need to embrace that and help our students find their voice through online spaces and multimodal projects.

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Soep states, "Literacies are best conceived as practices honed through participation and situated within social contexts rather than as discrete, transferable skill sets" (2014, p. 52).  I feel that because of high-stakes testing, education has moved away from "literacies as social contexts" toward those "discrete skill sets."  We teach to the test because so much is riding on the results.  However, we are doing the kids a disservice.  Just concentrating on isolated skills takes away the engagement and excitement in learning.   Vygotsky writes, "The true direction of the development of thinking is not from the individual to the social, but from the social to the individual" (1962, p. 19).  It is possible to teach skills while keeping the social context!
This digital writing project does connect the students to each other, thus creating a classroom community, and the students to their families. Future projects using this digital tool and others will continue to provide "literacies with participation and social context."

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ontario centre of excellence for child and youth mental health

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Learning organizations know that youth engagement is an evidence-informed practice that improves outcomes. Explore the possibilities!

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While my digital lesson doesn't connect to a global audience, nor does it address an issue for civic engagement, it does connect the students with each other and their parents. I think it also lays the foundation for using digital tools to connect with a wider world. In our adopted reading series there are several texts that could inspire students to promote change. One in particular that I can think of is a non-fiction text on GMO crops. Glogster or Padlet could provide an online space to discuss the issues and for students to present their support of either side of the GMO debate. Garcia writes, "Despite the wide spectrum of products students produced, it is worth noting the commonality among the classrooms: framing the production of an artifact with a clear purpose and with an authentic audience for their work beyond the classroom" (2014, p. 69).

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What is digital composition?  It is representing one's writing in a multimodal way that connects with a specific audience through online digital spaces.  But, as Hicks states in Crafting Digital Writing: Composing texts across media and genres, "Teach the writer, then the writing, then the technology" (2013, p. 25). In other words, we still need to teach the skills of writing.  My digital writing lesson, even though it is a benchmark, pre-writing sample, does allow for traditional writing skills through the use of a graphic organizer to plan the writing.  It also enters the realm of digital composition through the use of the digital tool, whereby students can add more than just text.

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Culture is represented in any form of writing, but can be enhanced through a multimodal approach.  Porter writes, "Digital Storytelling takes the ancient art of oral storytelling and engages a palette of technical tools to weave personal tales using images, graphics, music and sound mixed together with the author’s own story voice. Digital storytelling is an emerging art form of personal, heartfelt expression that enables individuals and communities to reclaim their personal cultures while exploring their artistic creativity. While the heart and power of the digital story is shaping a personal digital story about self, family, ideas, or experiences, the technology tools also invite writers and artists to think and invent new types of communication outside the realm of traditional linear narratives" (Porter, n.d., as cited in Hicks, Turner and Stratton, 2013, p. 169).

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Elyse Eidman-Aadahl on Writing in the Digital Age (Big Thinkers Series)

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Co-director of the National Writing Project Elyse Eidman-Aadahl describes how the craft of storytelling is evolving, as new digital tools and communications technologies enable connections for content creators around the globe. More resources at http://www.edutopia.org/elyse-eidman-aadahl-digital-writing-video

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Proficiency and fluency

Cross-cultural connections

Global communities

Simultaneous information

Multimedia texts

Ethical responsibilities

(NCTE, 2013)

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Screencast of my Glogster.com interactive poster.

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My experience in making the exemplar to go with this lesson reacquainted me with the positive, and negative, aspects of this digital tool. I love the graphics library and the ease of using the interface, but it can be frustrating and slow to load at times. I think I would "tweak" this for use with kids by highlighting the easier functions, such as embedding a YouTube video or adding images from the existing library. This digital tool could be used in so many content areas. I could see using it to make a poster of Idaho history symbols or the rock cycle in science. It would also be great for language arts such as a book talk or book report, or even answering comprehension questions about a story or text. I feel that the affordances far outweigh the constraints!

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While Glogster is generally easy and intuitive to use, it is more text-based and, for struggling readers or students with learning problems, this could pose a problem.  Also, sometimes files don't load properly and display in a glitchy way.

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Glogster and Padlet
“Glogster is a... platform for presentation and interactive learning. It allows users to mix all kinds of media on a virtual canvas to create multimedia posters, and access a library of engaging educational content created by students and educators worldwide. Glogster encourages interactive, collaborative education and digital literacy” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glogster, 2017).

Padlet allows a variety of response: audio, video, image, links, and attachments.

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What factors should you consider when assessing digital writing?

In what ways can teachers balance the competing roles of encourager, guide, and evaluator when assessing student writing?

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How do digital writers create new meaning via remixing previously used content?  When is this a legit practice in terms of authorship? In terms of copyright?

What does it mean to participate ethically online? In terms of privacy? In terms of copyright and fair use? As educators, how do we provide learning opportunities that promote ethical understandings?

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How does digital writing provide opportunities for civic engagement?

How do we design writing instruction that will harness and promote civic engagement for our student writers? In what ways can media users use online platforms to build knowledge around social issues and/or pivot audiences and promote change?

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What is digital composition? What are some of the “new” and “traditional” literacies, and how do they impact how we teach writing?

In what ways do student identities related to race, class, gender, and multilingualism, etc. impact writing instruction?

What does it mean to promote linguistic diversity in the classroom?

In what ways do the internet and digital media promote learning and culturally relevant pedagogy?

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Traditional literacy involves learners reading and writing in a solitary manner. They interact with a text in reading or a piece of paper for writing.  While we, as teachers, ask them to think of their audience, that audience is far from their minds as they write, in my experience in the classroom.  It's only with the final copy and presentation or display that students typically begin to think of their audience.

In the traditional lesson, the student writes or types up their personal information.  Usually, there isn't enough time for students to do a presentation (reading) of their essay.  The work is displayed in the hallway or on a bulletin board and is very static.