Chapter 7
Writing with Technologies
There is always more to read and write about...
Luckily, the technology provides a place for all of these ideas! Blogs, presentations, ebooks, communication tools, word processors, mind mapping sites, vocabulary enhancers: These are only a tiny fraction of the writing tools available in technology!
Using Visuals in Writing
Mind Maps
Concept Maps can be a great way to organize your thoughts! They're especially good for visual learners. Pick the mapping tool you like best and create a map about your life:
Wordle
Another fun visual tool for writing is Wordle. It's tool that creates randomly generated collages of words taken from a block of text or a list of words. If a picture speaks a thousand words, these pictures are worth a thousand words and then some!
Wordles can be used to bring out general concepts and ideas in a large body of text as well as to compliment and reinforce ideas already gathered.
Blogging!
Web logs, or "blogs" as they have been named, have taken the internet by storm. Anyone with internet access can make their thoughts known to the world with no sacrifice to them but their time. In the classroom, blogs have many purposes:
- To link the classroom with the outside world
- To help different students with different learning styles
- To inform students and enhance their expertise in multiple areas
- To provide feedback and encouragement that can help to motivate students to keep writing
This website provides the tools needed to create a blog and to follow other blogs.
Anyone can type meaningless words; make sure students are guided in their blogging so to produce meaningful ideas.
There are many options out there. Blogger is just one of countless options if one wants to start a blog.
Create blogs for your students using sites like Blogspot or EduBlogs.
Poetry and Other Forms of Specific Writing
There are many different tools for many different styles of writing. For short stories or poetry, one might explore the Scholastic or Poetry Forge websites.
Collaborative Writing
Document Sharing and Peer Feedback
As is the case with many of these web tools, there are a variety of sites and programs dedicated to document collaboration. Below is a video tutorial on one of the most popular of such programs, Google Docs.
Google Docs How To Tutorial 2012
Also popular in the file sharing world is Dropbox, a cloud-based document storage and transfer tool. When files are too large to send through email, Dropbox has the capacity to share large files.
Writing in today's technology based culture is just as important as it has been in in the past, if not more important. The tools provided by the internet and technology has opened the floodgates for information. As educators, we would be wise to take advantage of this, especially where writing is concerned.
The possibilities are endless!
Bibliography
Howland, Jane L., Jonassen, David H, and Marra, Rose M.Meaningful Learning with Technology. Boston, MA: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall, 2012. Print.
Media Used:
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- http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/images/uploads/wordle_logo.jpg
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