Because Digital Writing Matter 
by Danielle Nicole DeVoss, Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, & Troy Hicks

Back Cover Blurb:
     "The connectivity of the internet and the latest digital technologies have opened vast new opportunities, format, and audiences for writing.  Digital writing involves more than just word processing an essay or punching out an e-mail message; students can blog, text message, chat online, or create narratives for multi-media productions.
     Based on case studies, interviews with educational professionals, and a decade's worth of research, BDWM offers proven strategies to equip students with the communications skills that will enable them to thrive in our information-rich, high-speed, high-tech culture."

I just received my copy of Because Digital Writing Matters today in the mail.  As both a technology enthusiast and a member of the PBWP, I felt a need to read this book released by the NWP.  I'm only about 30 pages into the book, but I;m already finding a lot of good points that the book raises.

• Although students compose a lot of digital writing (via e-mail, text messages, Facebook updated, etc., they do not actually view this as writing.  For students, there is a disconnect between the writing that they engage in every day and the writing that they do in the classroom (p. 19-20).
• "Computers provide a more complex space for writing, offering writers a whole new set of options to consider.  Computer composition allows for multimedia components such as voice recording, audio, image, video, and more.  Along with these media components, writers have access to array of tools and spaces in which texts can be composed and shared...So for anyone who imagined that computers would make writing easier, the irony is that by making a host of indivual tasks easier, computers have dramatically expanded options for writers and have probably made writing, and learning to write, more complex" (p. 21).
• "Today's students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach" (p. 26).
  

I was initially introduced to the concept of Design Thinking last summer at the PBWP ISI, and then revisited the ideas with a deeper sense of understanding when I attended a workshop of Design Thinking.  Lately, however, I've been attending workshops and I keep finding myself connecting the concepts that I'm hearing iterated time after time back to the ideas that I encountered in design thinking.  The idea of teaching students to be "creative problem-solvers" seems to stand out above the bunch.  

As the upcoming school year draws closer and closer, and my determination to incorporate design thinking into my curriculum becomes more resolute, the question that I find myself posing is: How will I implement this?  How will I transition from admiring the theory behind it, into actually putting it into practice?  My answer, simply put, is to start small.  I plan on introducing my freshmen honors students (because I have only one hour of honors, not because I don't think other ability levels would understand design thinking) to the process of design thinking, and to have them construct their own novel projects.  Hopefully, if things go well, I will be incorporating more design thinking in that class as the year goes on, and also introducing it to other classes.  I'm excited to see what my students will come up with when given the opportunity to stretch their creativity muscles.  On the other hand, if my first attempt at design thinking does not go perfectly, I plan on embracing my failure and re-approaching my lesson.  In short, I'll apply some of the concepts of design thinking to my own lesson-planning in order to make my practices stronger and more effective. 

The Responsive Design model used by The Collaboratory is similar to the Design Thinking model.  This is the model that I will be using with my students during the 2011-2012 school year.  I plan to first introduce the concept of "Responsive Design" with an activity that asks my students to create a prototype of a pencil holder.  Then, I will have students reflect on the process/model in writing.  Eventually, my goal is to have students design their own novel projects.

DAY 3: June 3, 2011
Quick-Write: What about this experience are you going to take away with you?  In what ways will you continue self-discovery in yourself as a writer?
    I would have to say that this writing retreat was most valuable because it rekindled my awareness of myself as a writer.  Sometimes I make too many excuses for not writing; being “too busy” is my go-to alibi.  But here, among fellow writers, in a safe and welcoming atmosphere, I am supported and encouraged to write.  Since attending the ISI, I have been more diligent about writing.  I keep a folder on my computer of poems that I have written, and I have started more poems within the last year than I have had the courage to write in all my years leading up to the ISI.  I have begun submitting some for publication, and I don’t always get accepted, but that’s okay.  The point is that I’m writing and I’m sharing and I’m more actively participating in the writing community.  I’m also blogging about my experiences with technology in the classroom.  It started as an easy way to keep track of all the cool stuff that I’ve encountered through workshops and Google searches, but now it turns out that I’m actually helping other people by sharing my own experiences.  What a wonderful gift to be able to reach out to others who I have never even met!  I’m trying to make myself a more well-rounded writer.  I hope to come back to this retreat next year—hint hint—and do some professional writing about lessons that I have “tried on” this year, with the intent of submitting something to a professional journal.  I just keep pausing to remind myself not to forget these past few days when I go back to my classroom in far too few weeks to think about.  I can’t be blind to the connection between myself as a writer and my students as writers.  The new crop of kids that will be showing up in my classroom on August 12th will have some struggling writers, so I must not forget what it’s like to struggle.  That group will also have some kids who, like me as a youngster, enjoy writing.  I must do everything in my power not to extinguish that passion for writing, but to also challenge them to grow their writing roots in new ways, trying new genres or strengthening their skills in familiar ones.  The best way for me to teach writing is to be a writer. 

Note: You can read more about the summer writing retreat, including posts by other retreat participants, on the PBWP Ning HERE.