Explaining Things

"Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them."

The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I have had the awesome privilege of working with and beside teachers of writing this year. It continually amazed me at what they are willing to do for their students to bring out the writer wrapped up inside each of them. Imagine my joy at hearing my name being called out by Mrs. Bronson's second graders, papers waving in the air, anxious to share what they had done since my last visit with their poetry writing. Or the fifth grader in Mrs. Kalantzis's class who asked on the last day of school if I had received his poem and did I like it (I did and I do!). Still, while I know that this is the true test of a teacher of writing, to create a love for writing with their students, we will all - students and teachers alike - be assessed on our success as it is determined by the writing portion of the state's standardized test, the ISAT.

While I wait for the scores to arrive, I am going to remind myself that children often know more than we adults do when it comes to writing.

Jack, the Kindergarten son of a colleague of mine, said it best. He continued his love of writing into his first digital story. He recently started a new a notebook on the birds he sees in his yard initiated for him by a grown-up neighbor. Jack and his mom will also keep a digital writing notebook this summer. I would say that this writer is well on his way.

Do you think students will ever write; "In November, my favorite Kindergarten activity was ISAT Prep"? No...I didn't think so.

Badger Babies

It was a privilege of mine today to visit an elementary school who was involved in a schoolwide "Write-In." This was the final of three such events held this year. After announcements, students, teachers, and staff are asked to pick up their Writer's Notebooks, get a pencil, and find a comfy spot. I immediately made my way to the Kindergarten wing of the building, anxious to see what these baby writers were up to. I was first greeted by a red rug just outside the classroom door where three students were sitting with notebooks in laps, pencils in hand. Very quiet conversations were happening between writers as I made my way into the classroom. While there were a few "Who is that?" remarks, most completely ingnored me, intent on the opportunity to use the feathered black pen to jot down some ideas into a self-decorated notebook. As I peered over backs and shoulders, I saw lists of boys and girls in the class, a letter to Mom telling of how she is loved, and illustrations to match a writer's own version of No David! just to mention a few. Busy baby writers.

And then I realized, I am a baby writer too. I am a baby writer when it comes to the integration of technology as a tool to express my ideas, amazed at what I am able to do, to create. I am a baby writer when I prepare and present information to shape the instructional lives of teachers of writing have just stepped out of the classroom herself. When I share ideas with my family and friends out of my own writer's notebook, I am a baby writer insecure and fearful of the response I may receive.

I was encouraged by these Baby Badgers today. They reminded me that babies are writer's too!

Someone in Iraq loves me...

You are going to love this story and further understand the unexpected blessings that digital communication offers for our students and their parents.

I recently shared my new found love of blogging with our district Writing Advisory Team. Many heads were nodding around the room indicating to me that they had already discovered the powerful tool that blogging is for classrooms. Others were anxious to dabble over the summer and power up in the fall.

Mary, a second grade teacher, shared this beautiful and powerful story with me...I thought you might like it too.

This teacher told of a father, stationed in Iraq, who keeps up with his daughter and her class via the blog that Mary established to communicate the wonderful things she and her students are about during the course of the school year. One email from dad communicated his shock at seeing his daughter without her two front teeth! It had been 5 months since his last visit home. Just last week she posted her photos from a recent field trip. The cute little girl that you see here was wearing the shirt her father gave her while home for Christmas. When he visited the blog and saw her wearing it, this is what he replied to her teacher:

Thank you so much for the wonderful pictures from your class and from the field trip. I have to tell you, when I first saw the picture of my daughter in the yellow t-shirt...well, you can understand how I felt. My eyes were not dry for sometime after. It meant more to me than I can express.

Mary shares: Imagine, he is in Iraq fighting for us and thanks to the tool of the Internet and blogging, he can still feel close to his daughter.

I knew you all would love this one. And thank you, Mary, for sharing. I am sure that you have inspired many!

Lessons Learned

I received a post recently from a fifth grade student. Her big brother had been a student of mine a few years prior. I certainly missed having the opportunity to have her as well. Her teacher, a good friend of mine, had shared that this student, "Jellybean", had begun her own blog about books that she is literally consuming this year. Needless to say, I had to check it out! Prior to this, I had completed my first digital story which I posted to her blog. I added my name to her list of followers, too! I wouldn't be talking about any of this without the knowledge and skill that I gained through my participation in a class on 21st Century Learning. In just four sentences she sums up my lessons learned. Her post?

I saw this video on my blog, and I just loved it. My teacher also liked it a lot.

I think it is really cool that you can make a movie. I have no idea how to.

~April 25, 2010

• I saw this video on my blog, and I just loved it. Here is a student who taught herself to create a blog related to those things she is very much interested in. And it was done on her own time outside of the school day. Our students are doing most,if not all, of their digital communication on their own. In school, there remains a flow of information to our students but not from them. Lesson Learned: I need to be an agent of change. Teachers need to be supported in their efforts to integrate current practice/curriculum with technology so that students can contribute information rather than remain consumers.

• My teacher also liked it a lot. I learned more about myself as a writer through the digital storytelling process than I had in many of the classes that I have taken! The images, music, and narration added to the story I have been waiting to tell about the influence my grandparents had on my life. Lesson Learned: Digital storytelling can help writers to focus, narrow down their topic, revise well, edit for content, think critically, gain a better sense of audience, and learn something about themselves in the process.

• I think it is really cool that you can make a movie. Ah! This student's interest is piqued. Lesson Learned: When students, like myself, are shown the possibilities that content and technology can create they naturally want to know more, do more. I have learned that it is important to share what I have done, to continue to learn more, and to advocate for these opportunities.

• I have no idea how. We are missing an opportunity here. This student will be in middle school next year. I can only imagine what she might be able to communicate if this tool were at her disposal. Lesson Learned: 21st Century Learning is about more than technology, it is about providing students with the critical thinking skills they need in order to be successful. Technology is a powerful tool used by students to effectively communicate their thinking, learning, ideas.

There is much more for me to learn...I am still getting my thinking around Google Docs! Digital Writing Workshop is my new passion and focus for learning. Wish me luck as I take this "on the road" in the district with the teachers I am fortunate enough to work with.