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COMBINING TRADITIONAL AND NEW LITERACIES IN A 21ST-CENTURY WRITING WORKSHOP ARTICLE

Using technology to enhance learning in the literacy environment will benefit our students and prepare them for future careers.  I love how the students discussed in this article documented their learning instead of just writing and illustrating a story or digitally recording their stories.  The methods mentioned in this article are fantastic and a great way to blend writing workshop with technology. I love the idea of putting pictures or things from magazines in their notebooks to write about.  I have never done anything like that in their notebooks.  I found it interesting to know that planning is somewhat of a lost art in the writing process at least in the lower grades.  Perhaps it is because they still have so much imagination that creating a plan isn't as necessary as going with their ideas.  However, the story mapping as a means of planning is something I could totally incorporate into my writing.  I was blown away regarding the concept of using oral story telling to plan and work as their rough drafts to their stories.  It is impressive to think that this works better but not surprising. Kids are great story tellers and this is probably more natural than writing a story.  I know I am going to have all these "kernels" appear in my writing workshop and make some "popping" with these ideas.