Teaching Writing Using Blogs, Wikis, and Other Digital Tools


Book Description

See how to use various digital tools including blogs, wikis, digital mapping, online chat, digital storytelling, podcasts, e-portfolios, and others to teach writing in the classroom. Packed with examples of teaching activities and student writing, this one-of-its-kind book demonstrates how to use search engines and digital mapping to develop information, online discussion tools and blogs to formulate ideas, Wikis to write collaboratively, digital storytelling and poetry to create multimodal texts, podcasts and vlogs to create audio and video texts, online commenting tools to provide peer feedback, and much more. Included are links to new tools and activities on the authors constantly updated Web site, http: //digitalwriting.pbwiki.com."







Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms


Book Description

Intended for educators of various levels and disciplines who want to understand the Internet tools and learn how to use them effectively in the classroom, this work offers advice on how teachers and students can use the Web to learn more, create more, and communicate better.




Best Practices in Writing Instruction


Book Description

Highly practical and accessible, this indispensable book provides clear-cut strategies for improving K-12 writing instruction. The contributors are leading authorities who demonstrate proven ways to teach different aspects of writing, with chapters on planning, revision, sentence construction, handwriting, spelling, and motivation. The use of the Internet in instruction is addressed, and exemplary approaches to teaching English-language learners and students with special needs are discussed. The book also offers best-practice guidelines for designing an effective writing program. Focusing on everyday applications of current scientific research, the book features many illustrative case examples and vignettes.




Because Digital Writing Matters


Book Description

How to apply digital writing skills effectively in the classroom, from the prestigious National Writing Project As many teachers know, students may be adept at text messaging and communicating online but do not know how to craft a basic essay. In the classroom, students are increasingly required to create web-based or multi-media productions that also include writing. Since writing in and for the online realm often defies standard writing conventions, this book defines digital writing and examines how best to integrate new technologies into writing instruction. Shows how to integrate new technologies into classroom lessons Addresses the proliferation of writing in the digital age Offers a guide for improving students' online writing skills The book is an important manual for understanding this new frontier of writing for teachers, school leaders, university faculty, and teacher educators.




Reinventing Writing


Book Description

In this much-anticipated book from acclaimed blogger Vicki Davis (Cool Cat Teacher), you’ll learn the key shifts in writing instruction necessary to move students forward in today’s world. Vicki describes how the elements of traditional writing are being reinvented with cloud-based tools. Instead of paper, note taking, filing cabinets, word processors, and group reports, we now have tools like ePaper, eBooks, social bookmarking, cloud syncing, infographics, and more. Vicki shows you how to select the right tool, set it up quickly, and prevent common mistakes. She also helps you teach digital citizenship and offers exciting ways to build writing communities where students love to learn. Special Features: • Essential questions at the start of each chapter to get you thinking about the big ideas • A chapter on each of the nine essential cloud-based tools--ePaper and eBooks; digital notebooks; social bookmarking; cloud syncing; cloud writing apps; blogging and microblogging; wikis and website builders; online graphic organizers and mind maps; and cartoons and infographics • A wide variety of practical ways to use each tool in the classroom • Alignments to the Common Core State Standards in writing • Level Up Learning--a special section at the end of each chapter to help you review, reflect on, and apply what you’ve learned • Writing tips to help you make the best use of the tools and avoid common pitfalls • A glossary of key terms discussed in the book • Useful appendices, including reproducible material for your classroom No matter what grade level you teach or how much tech experience you have, you will benefit from Vicki’s compelling and practical ideas. As she emphasizes throughout this essential book, teaching with cloud-based tools has never been easier, more convenient, or more important than right now.




Mentor Texts


Book Description

In their first edition of Mentor Texts, authors Lynne Dorfman and Rose Cappelli helped teachers across the country make the most of high-quality children's literature in their writing instruction. Mentor Texts: Teaching Writing Through Children's Literature, K-6, 2nd Edition the authors continue to show teachers how to help students become confident, accomplished writers by using literature as their foundation. The second edition includes brand-new Your Turn Lessons, built around the gradual release of responsibility model, offering suggestions for demonstrations and shared or guided writing. Reflection is emphasized as a necessary component to understanding why mentor authors chose certain strategies, literary devices, sentence structures, and words. Dorfman and Cappelli offer new children's book titles in each chapter and in a carefully curated and annotated Treasure Chest. At the end of each chapter a Think About It'sTalk About It'sWrite About It section invites reflection and conversation with colleagues.The book is organized around the characteristics of good writing'sfocus, content, organization, style, and conventions. The authors write in a friendly and conversational style, employing numerous anecdotes to help teachers visualize the process, and offer strategies that can be immediately implemented in the classroom. This practical resource demonstrates the power of learning to read like writers.




Understanding and Creating Digital Texts


Book Description

Given the increased use of digital reading and writing tools in the classroom, this book provides secondary and college English language arts teachers with activities and classroom examples for using a range of different digital tools—blogs, wikis, websites, annotations, Twitter, mapping, forum discussions, etc.—to engage students in understanding and creating digital texts. It therefore integrates reading and writing instruction through goal-driven activities supported by uses and affordances of digital tools. This book also provides a framework for designing these activities that encourage students to define purpose and audience, make connections between digital texts and people, collaborate with others, employ alternative modes of communication and gain new perspectives, and constructing identities; practices that are linked to addressing the high school English Language Arts Common Core State Standards. The book also describes ways to use digital tools to support these practices—for example, using digital tools to foster students’ collaborative reading and writing. The book also describes use of digital feedback and e-portfolio tools to foster students’ reflection on their uses of these practices.




Preparing Teachers to Teach Writing Using Technology


Book Description

Technology is changing not only how people write, but also how they learn to write. These profound changes require teachers to reconsider their pedagogical practices in the teaching of writing. This books shares instructional approaches from experienced teacher educators in the areas of writing, teacher education, and technology. Chapters explore teachers personal experiences with writing and writing instruction, effective pedagogical practices in methods writing courses, and professional development opportunities that effectively integrate technology into the writing classroom and contribute to students' growth as writers and users of technology. This collected volume provides as up-to-date understanding of how teachers are prepared to teach writing using technology.




Concepts in Composition


Book Description

Concepts in Composition: Theory and Practice in the Teaching of Writing is designed to foster reflection on how theory impacts practice, enabling prospective teachers to develop their own comprehensive and coherent conception of what writing is or should be and to consider how people learn to write. This approach allows readers to assume the dual role of both teacher and student as they enter the conversation of the discipline and become familiar with some of the critical issues. New to this second edition are: up-to-date primary source readings; a focus on collaborative writing practices and collaborative learning; additional assignments and classroom activities an emphasis on new media and information literacy and their impact on the teaching of writing These new directions will inform the content of this revision, reflecting significant advancements in the field. Each chapter addresses a particular theoretical concept relevant to classroom teaching and includes activities to help readers establish the connection between theoretical concepts and classroom lessons. Online resources include overviews, classroom handouts, exercises, a sample syllabus, and PowerPoint presentations. Bringing together scholars with expertise in particular areas of composition, this text will serve as an effective primer for students and eductors in the field of composition theory.