Sofi Teston
N. Votteler
SHSU Writing Project
7 June 2011
The Question:
Philosophy & Profile:
This matters to me because I believe that an integral part of my students’ successes in writing stems from using collaboration throughout all phases of the writing process. By allowing them to bounce ideas off each other before they write, encouraging them to seek clarity for structure as they draft, encouraging them to experiment with peer suggestions during revision, insisting that they have others double-check their editing, and then allowing them time to share with one another once they are ready to publish, my students have repeatedly grown as writers, become more confident in their writing tasks, and yes, even excelled on the state-mandated TAKS tests. More importantly, they have learned that I am not the only source of writing knowledge- the value each other and themselves as writers and critics. I believe that my low socio-economic and ESL students have especially benefited from the opportunity to share with others. However, I want more for my students than I am currently providing. I want to move them beyond the comfort of their classroom peers and introduce them to another level of collaboration. I can’t help but wonder how they would be affected by the introduction of collaborative technology. If they are already successful within the small confines of my classroom walls, how might they excel given the limitless boundaries of the Internet? If their forty-three minutes of class time were expanded to after-school hours and weekends and the summer- any time that they could log on- how might my students grow even more as writers and critics? How might this encourage my non-college bound students to reconsider their career path and my college-bound students to prepare for the academic collaboration they will face when they graduate?
N. Votteler
SHSU Writing Project
7 June 2011
The Teacher Exploration Workshop (The Question and Profile & Philosophy):
The Effect of Collaborative Technology on Writing
The Question:
How would the use of collaborative technology affect my students’ writing?
Philosophy & Profile:
This matters to me because I believe that an integral part of my students’ successes in writing stems from using collaboration throughout all phases of the writing process. By allowing them to bounce ideas off each other before they write, encouraging them to seek clarity for structure as they draft, encouraging them to experiment with peer suggestions during revision, insisting that they have others double-check their editing, and then allowing them time to share with one another once they are ready to publish, my students have repeatedly grown as writers, become more confident in their writing tasks, and yes, even excelled on the state-mandated TAKS tests. More importantly, they have learned that I am not the only source of writing knowledge- the value each other and themselves as writers and critics. I believe that my low socio-economic and ESL students have especially benefited from the opportunity to share with others. However, I want more for my students than I am currently providing. I want to move them beyond the comfort of their classroom peers and introduce them to another level of collaboration. I can’t help but wonder how they would be affected by the introduction of collaborative technology. If they are already successful within the small confines of my classroom walls, how might they excel given the limitless boundaries of the Internet? If their forty-three minutes of class time were expanded to after-school hours and weekends and the summer- any time that they could log on- how might my students grow even more as writers and critics? How might this encourage my non-college bound students to reconsider their career path and my college-bound students to prepare for the academic collaboration they will face when they graduate?
The implementation of collaborative technology in my 2A Title I rural school would present multiple challenges. First, not all of my students have equitable or even adequate access to technology. On the high end of the technology scale, I have a handful of students who own the latest Mac, Kindle, iPad or 4G iPhone. At the low end, are those without a computer and without a cell phone. Sadly, these latter students are often the ones who already struggle the most. As one of my students succinctly put it, “It’s just not fair. The kids with the toys (technology) just keep getting smarter and I keep getting dumber. I can’t afford to keep up with them.” In between I have a mixture of technology owners. In addition, our district's technology is limited to one computer lab that is shared between the sixth through twelfth grade classes; my classroom houses one laptop... mine. Given our latest cuts in educational finance, the outlook for additional technology is limited. Because our community is so small (our town sports a convenience store, two restaurants, two mechanic shops, and a drive-through dry cleaners, and a courthouse. No library. No WiFi hotspots. Not even a McDonald’s where students can log in), students can’t even use outside resources to access technology. Pack these limitations together with parents’ fears about the Internet, my administrations’ concerns about which sites to block and which to allow student access to, and the task seems almost impossible. Almost... If I’ve learned nothing else from my students over the past fifteen years of my teaching, nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it. I hope my research will serve as the impetus to begin.
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