Memo #6 - Drawing Conclusions

Where am I?

My room, writing this blog. Oh wait, Where am I in terms of the I-Search? Well, let me begin by saying that I am in a good place.  I feel very confident with the data I have collected, and I admit that I have learned a lot about my topic.  I started this project wanting to observe how technology benefits the production of academic writing, more specifically, social media. However, I am surprised to see my I-Search organically mutate into something else. I was too obsessed with social media to notice the negative impacts it has on writing.  I'm not trying to say that social is bad because, at the end of the day, I still love it, but, as far as, promoting academic worthy writing it falls short.  Getting back to my point, I am happy with the direction my research has lead me.

What do I know?

I know a lot more than what I thought I did. I have sifted through a plethora of articles, and I eventually found ones that really resonated with my topic. Although, I must say, I learned a lot more by conducting my teacher interviews.  Don't get me wrong, the secondary sources are valuable to my research, but you learn a lot more than what you bargain for with the interviews.  I have learned that if you allow a teacher to talk about there job, they will be talking for hours.  This is good because they present you with so many golden nuggets, and as aspiring teachers, if you make the most out of that, then that is unfortunate.  My teacher interview with my high school public speaking teacher, who also teaches English, reshaped where I was going with my paper.  It was after this interview that really made me see technology and writing in a different way.  My former teacher expressed his dislike with social media in the classroom stating, "writing such as Twitter, Facebook, and simple texting do not encourage adherence to sound writing skills such as M.U.G.S. or mechanics, usage, grammar, and spelling or even analytical thought beyond the superficial dialogue that often accompanies technology writing, specifically blogging." 

What Surprises me?/ What frustrates me?
The thing that surprises me the most is the lack of opportunities the students have with using technology, in the classroom. When I asked my former teacher whether he sees the implementation of hands on technology in other classes, he says he rarely sees it.  This is disappointing considering that technology is such a crucial part of society, and we cannot escape. I know that it may not enhance academic writing, but teachers can show students how to utilize digital writing effectively.  We need to move past the typical presentation power point, and use other interesting and engaging technological techniques. This is what also frustrates me because it is possible to publish a good piece of writing online, we just need to push the students out of this quick to post mentality that social media sites have instilled in them. However, this frustration solidified for me that technology has a more useful purpose in the classroom. It wasn't until my last interview that made that clear. I had interviewed an ESL teacher, who has been teaching for 20+ years.  She started her career before the tablets and computer software, and now finds herself immersed in a digital teaching environment.  It was interesting to interview someone who has been on both sides of the spectrum, and notices that.  This teacher also teaches in a very different school department than that of my former teacher.  Unlike my high school, this school is issuing tablets and have more readily computers. This also frustrates me because all kids should have the same opportunity.  More importantly, this teacher stressed how technology helps ESL kids learn better.  Computers encourage them and it physically makes teaching ESL/ELL students easier. I never thought of technology in that way before.  So, these students learn how to write easier with technology. 

Lingering Questions:

Right now, I have a few lingering questions that I am searching answers for through secondary
sources.  However, these questions do not detract from my progress. I have questions including: What happens when ESL/ELL students go to college and they are expected to use technology programs to construct their writing? Do they have enough knowledge from high school to get them through this?  Does technology really improve writing, or is more of distraction?  Is social media writing actually writing, or a form of conversation?  How will I connect what I have so far into one cohesive paper?

Conclusions:
I can conclude that there is a place for technology in the field of composition.  From the articles, I have read it can be used to motivate students, and even help ESL/ELL students.  Technological writing also allows for creative opportunities for students. For example, in one article it suggests creating a visual story is predicating on the actual writing of the story. So, teachers can have students write stories, then create a movie out of them.  The movie/visual story only works if they have a adequate narrative. They must develop and hone the skills of the narrative before even attempting to construct the visual aspect. The visuals just simply bring the narratives to life.  With the PARCC test looming in the distance, students are going to have to get comfortable using a computer to write, seeing as it will be a done completely digitally. It is different writing something on paper than it is on the computer.  If they are not immersed in computer skills they can waste a lot of time that can be used to write.  Also, Common Core plays a huge part in writing.  These standards even allow for technology to be used in terms of writing.  The Common Core Standards are predicated on veering a student towards college and career readiness, and technology is an essential task to master.

Complexities:
There is not one complexity that is specific. I am just anxious to start writing this thing!

NEXT STOP - GOLDEN NUGGET PRESENTATIONS

Memo #5 - Reaching The Finish

Time is just flying by, and here I am nearing the end of my I-Search journey.  I started my research wanting the answer to a simple question- How has technology impacted the way this generation learns to write? By examining secondary sources and interviewing teachers in the field, I realize that there is so many different topics that spawn off that "simple" question.

At first I was interested in the social media aspect of technological writing.  However, while researching, I found other areas that piqued my interest.  It wasn't until my first teacher interview that I found some sort of direction.  Many of the articles I found, stressed the Common Core Standards, and how these standards allow for the implementation of technology in the writing. Okay, there is only about a couple of these standards that specifically dictate technology in writing, but I feel like you can take any standard and manipulate it to include some sort of technology.  The Common Core is a big thing in the present state of education, so it makes absolute sense to emphasize and do a little more research on it.

My first interview, I conducted, was with an ESL teacher who focuses on ELA, and I was pleasantly
surprised with what I got out of it.  This teacher, who I will call Mrs. M, has been teaching ESL for almost 30 years, and for me this was great because she started in a time where technology is not what it is today, there were different methods of teaching.  When asked, "Has technology made it easier or hindered the learning of writing for ESL students?" Mrs. M responded by saying,"technology has absolutely made it easier for ESL students to learn the fundamentals of writing, and it has also made teaching it a lot easier too.  ESL students are more motivated when they have the opportunity to work with a computer.  We do this writing activity, on an IPad, where the students drag and drop and create sentences." I found myself really intrigued by this, so I'm definitely interested in taken this a little further.  Also, Mrs. M, stated that when she first started teaching, instruction was chalkboard based (I know, seems prehistoric to me), and now she is able to teach with smart boards and I-Pads, and her school is also diligent about taking students to the computer lab.

My Game Plan:

I am very confident with my secondary sources, as I feel like I have some solid pieces that contribute something beneficial to my I-Search Paper. Also, I completed my third teacher interview this past Friday, which I think this may be the last because the teachers are so different, and they provided me with an array of responses, each one differing.  With that said, I am in the process of connecting the information I found in my secondary sources to what I discovered in the interviews.  Since, these teachers enlightened me with some new ideas and concepts, I am currently going back and finding other scholarly articles that can corroborate these new insights.  With everything I have, thus far, I believe the revised questions I want to frame my paper is, What are the impacts of technology in the field of composition? Do ESL/ELL learn to write better with technology? How are the Common Core State Standards guiding this type of learning?

Memo #4 - Interviewing, Like Oprah!

   

     So, like my title suggests, I've arrived at the interviewing stage of I-Search journey.  Also, like my title suggests, I'll be interviewing high school educators and students like a pro, but I will not be giving away free cars, sorry.

     For me, this is the hardest part of the entire I-Search journey because my options, for possible interviewees are limited.  Last week, I sent out emails, arranging for possible meeting times, and I was lucky enough to hear back from some teachers. With that said, my first interview is actually scheduled for tomorrow, and I will be busy throughout the rest of the week with appointments with teachers. I was also lucky enough to find teachers that were willing to let me come and interview their students.  As I have already mentioned, I sent out the emails early last week, and it took forever for these teachers to respond back to me. However, I am grateful to the ones that have responded back to me. I do not have that much to post on here but I will be doing a follow up post tomorrow, after my first interview. This past weekend I was extremely nervous because I thought I wouldn't be able to find teachers, but I'm a persistent one, so I went digging every possible place I could think of. Therefore, I am even more confident that I will produce something great. The thing I'm interested in the most, is to see if these interviews, and the responses I receive, will lead me in a new direction of my I-Search. I was also able to get teachers and students from different school districts for my interviews, so I'm hoping it will produce an array of different insights.

I have a very busy week ahead of me, with these interviews, but I am excited! Can't wait to put these teachers/students in the hot seat.

Here are my revised list of questions....Also, I was thinking that adding some questions to tailor the interviews, will be helpful. So, the following questions are subject to change; I'm not limiting myself to just these questions.

Revised Questions for Teacher:

1. Do students learn better when they have the opportunity to use modern day technology? If so, how do you implement technology in your lesson plans?

2. How do the common core standards allow for the inclusion of technology, in regards to writing?

3. How can writing digitally be more effective than pen and paper writing?

4. How is writing implemented in your classroom? Have you noticed technology in other classrooms, besides your own?

5. How do you think the digital age has changed the way students learn to write? Is it effective?

6. Has technology made it easier or more difficult for ESL/ELL in the learning of composition?

7. Has technology made it easier or more difficult to teach ESL/ELL the composition of writing?

8. Does technology hinder or enhance research based writing projects?

Memo #3 Continuing Research and the Interview Plan

     Before I begin writing about my interview plans, I would like to take the time to discuss my new research findings. At first, I was having trouble locating sources about the teaching of writing and digital technologies. After doing some serious digging, I was able to find some really great pieces that really intrigued me.

     The first article I found was entitled New Literacies and the Common Core, written by William Kist. Kist is an educator,outside of the United States, who takes interest in studying the teaching methods of American educators. He primarily focuses on how U.S. Teachers teach new literacies, such as reading and writing, in the age of the Common Core Standards.  Kist believes that college and career readiness falls under the "common core umbrella" (38). So he ponders this question...

"How can we hope to prepare our young people to thrive in today's society- in which people are connected 24 hours a day by media, and coworkers may well live in different countries- without giving them some practice with new media at school?" (38-39)

For me, Kist makes a very valuable point here. The only way to enhance a student's digital literacy is to give them practice using it. This article focused on reading, writing, and visual literacies.  For the the purpose of this project, I have focused on the section that was entitled "Give Students Practice in Digital Writing." In this section, Kist focuses on relevant Common Core Standards in terms of teaching new forums of teaching writing. He uses the following common core standard to elucidate his point, "Compare and Contrast the structure of two or more texts and analyze how the differing structure of each text contributes to its meaning and style" (39).  Kist says that students should experiment with various forms of digital writing to meet this standard. Powerpoints, Prezi, imovie, and blogs all offer great opportunities for students to meet the aforementioned standard.  By doing writing in these forums, offer unique ways to render a piece of writing.  Students must follow the same writing process, as they would for pen and paper writing, for each of these digital writing modes. I am finding that many of the readings on Digital Media and Writing in the Classroom are positive because it strengths the writing process.

My favorite article that I found was entitled A New Approach Toward Digital Storytelling: An Activity Focused on Writing Self-Efficacy in a Virtual Learning Environment (What an outrageously long title), written by Yan Xu.  I loved this article because it was actually an experiment conducted by the author, who studied the effectiveness of writing digitally. Also, this article shows how storytelling is also important because it encourages students to write and be active in the writing. Yu mirrors Kist's argument for teaching the writing process through various digital forms. That is what is most interesting to me-teaching and absorbing the writing process through digital media forums like creating blogs, movies, song, video game.  Yu writes that...

"Students must master a wide variety of skills in order to accomplish the creation of digital story, including narrative styling, written composition, visual literacy,and media literacy."

There are multiple processes that are involved with digital media writing.  Yu states that before a student engages in the digital aspect of writing, he/she has to write the story first. Digital media aspects such as images and videos allow them to enhance their written story.  Yu's point is that, the writing process precedes everything else. This has me questioning whether teachers are teaching the writing process through digital media? In what ways are they doing so? Can teaching the writing process by storytelling through various media outlets, help sophisticate other forms of academic writing?

There is one book that I have come across but could not able to get because RIC does not have (no surprise there). The book is entitled Because Digital Writing Matters: Improving Writing in Online and MultiMedia Environments by Daniell Devoss. It deals with applying writing in the classroom and is predicated on the following, "shows how to integrate new techonologies into the classroom lessons, addresses the proliferation of writing in the digital age, and offers a guide for improving students' online writing skills." Sounds like a beneficial source of information for my reserach paper.  Luckily for me, URI does have it, so it looks like I will be taking a mini road trip to get it.  There was another article that seemed to be relevant to my research, but I could not find it anywhere. It was called, "W8...B4IM, how did u rite??!: Digital Writing in the Composition Classroom" written by Bryan Partridge; I'm going to try my hardest to get it

Finally, I took some time to peruse Troy Hick's Twitter account and stumbled upon a few nuggets of a 140 characters or less. I found the following tweet/ picture to be beneficial in the social media aspect of my research.

Hicks is an avid Twitter user and he incorporates that in his classroom to connect and engage students in debate and discussions. The major finds come from exploring the retweets and hashtags used because it brings you to discussion had by educators and teachers of writing. One article that I found and enjoyed was, "Why Teachers Are Flocking to Twitter" because it offers a positive take on social media and implementing in the classroom.

The Next Step: 

For my primary sources, I will interview English teachers that I had in high school. Luckily for me, I was able to maintain a relationship with one of my English teachers that I also had for public speaking at Tolman High School. I will use what I have found thus far in my research to guide me during the interview process. However, I also wanted to ask the students a few questions but I don't think that will happen, seeing that this high school has strict visitation rules that prevents people from entering the school during class hours. Meeting with the teacher won't be a problem because I can do that after school hours, as he is very accommodating. I will just ask him to ask the students questions for me and have him email those questions.

Questions for the Teacher..

1. How do you incorporate technology in your classroom, specifically with writing?
2. Do the common core standards dictate which media forums you can use?
3. Do you think writing digitally is more effective than pen and paper?
4. What is the most important aspect of writing? Can this same aspect be achieved by digital forms, such as a blog, or social media microblogging?
5. What ways do you implement writing in your classroom? Do you use any modes of technology in during this instruction?
6. In what ways do the Common Core Standards allow you to implement various digital literacies in the instruction of composition?
7. How do you think writing has changed for the student in the digital age?
8. With all these new ways to conduct research in the digital age, do you think it enhances the students' ability to write or hinders it?

Questions for the Students...

1. When do you write? and what do you like about writing?
2. Do you consider tweeting, facebook posting, and blogging, different ways to write? Why or why not?
3. Can you tell a story through digital media, such as, movies, songs, and web pages?
4. What form of writing to do you like better, storytelling or essay? Why?
5. What is your biggest concern with the way your teachers have taught you how to write? Do you think they implement appropriate technology?
6. Do you think your teachers know enough about current technology to teach you about it in terms of the composition of writing?
7. How do you think writing will impact you in the future?
8. In today's society, do you think it's more important to be literate in writing or literate in technology?

I really want these questions to be answered both by the teacher and the students. Obviously, I would rather ask the students the questions my self. If it doesn't work out at Tolman High School then I can try at Central Falls High School; I did part of my SED 406 work in that school. Either way, I am excited that this project is seeming like it's shaping up to be something.

Memo #2 - A Researcher's Beginning

After agonizing about whether or not I should change my topic for this I-Search proposal, I decided to stick with “writing and technology.”  While doing my initial research, I found articles that made me think of my topic through a different lens. To begin, my primary resource engines were Education Full Text, ERIC, JStor, and I was able to find an engrossing eBook that concentrated on various facets of Digital Writing.

            A Better Pencil: Readers, and the Digital Revolution is an eBook written by Dennis Barron that details digital writing and its impact it has on society.  Most of my attention was spent on the chapter entitled “Writing on Screen” because it offered information that best suits the writing and technology topic. One discussion Barron initiates in this chapter, is whether or not, forms of digital writing (text, email, and instant messaging) is diminishing the English Language (135). Barron states, “digital communication seems to be enhancing human interaction, not detracting from it” (135). This was very interesting to me because Barron’s book focuses on how writing is a means to communicate. He then focuses on the digital aspect of writing and claims that it benefits communication processes more than traditional writing.  If digital writing makes for better communicators, wouldn’t implementing it in schools make for better student communicators? I like how Barron frames digital writing in a larger context but I need more essays/sources that focus on this topic within the classroom.

            One big piece of the academic writing puzzle is following the common core guidelines.  When choosing my topic, I had forgotten or rather neglected to include the Common Core Standards. At first, I was interested in how social media can be implemented to encourage students to write more but I think since I am an avid social media user, I had somewhat of a bias opinion on it.  Yes, I do think that social media can be used as a writing assignment but it needs to be done the correct way, following standard guidelines.  The article, The Digital Media Writing Project: Connecting to Common Core written by Anne Butler, Lisa Monda-Amaya, and Haeny Yoon, really illuminated this issue for me.  One crucial element that this articled highlighted was that, “digital writing instruction should include reading, writing, listening, and collaborating” (Butler 7). Therefore digital media assignments shouldn’t be created to just have the child produce a piece of writing using technology.  In this article, it mentions that many of the common core standards allow for using technology and digital writing to build on literacy skills “while incorporating key aspects of universal design for learning” (Butler 7).

            I believe I have found articles that will aid me in my I-Search Paper.  Although, I went into detail about only two of the articles, there are plenty more that I found useful. However, I am at the point where my topic is beginning to come into focus more.  There are a number of sources about digital media and ways to incorporate that in the classroom. However, the biggest find was the one on the common core and designing “digital lesson plans” around that.  The Common Core Standards are supposed to provide students with college/work readiness skills. Therefore, this article aids me my discussion about being literate in digital writing benefits your position in the workplace. These common store standards that includes technology is probably the best place to explore. 

Memo #1 - Writing Via Technology

     Writing has evolved from pencil on paper to fingers on a keyboard; we live in a digital age, at least that’s what people are saying. The majority of writing by an individual will be produced digitally, specifically in the workplace. Not only is the demand for technological competency increasing, so is the demand for sophisticated writers. However, that is not to take away from the presence of the traditional form of writing. I am interested in studying how technology can be used in the English classroom to teach writing and whether or not it’s more effective than pen and paper writing. In what ways is technology incorporated into the classroom and to what effect? What are the student’s opinions about digital writing? What works best, traditional writing or digital writing? As an aspiring teacher, I often ponder ways of how I can incorporate technology in my teaching of writing. There are some schools that are taking initiatives to implement more technology within the classroom. However, there are still some schools that are hesitant and still stick with the pen and paper method. Are there certain teachers who prefer traditional ways? If so, is there a specific reason? Or, is the implementation of technology too expensive for certain school districts? What about teaching social media? Social media is something that most students may be acquainted with. Perhaps, this effort will motivate students to want to learn to write. However, I have yet to see an English class using social media. If I were to discover in research that nobody is using social media, I would ask the teachers about or I would just focus on a different form of digital writing altogether. The goal is to see if teachers are using technology with writing, social media is just one of many.
      From my experience, I have enjoyed writing more, through digital media. After taking my FNED 346 course and having to complete all my writing assignments via a blog, I fell in love with the concept. Not only was I responsible for producing a good piece of writing, I was also responsible for the presentation and the interactive aspects of my blog? Even though, I enjoyed blogging, not everyone did. There are still those that do prefer pen and paper. Is there a reason for this? Besides blogging, could we use social media to teach writing? Social media websites, like Twitter, would be a really fun way to teach creative/narrative writing. It could also be a fun way to teach students how to write smaller (in terms of narrowing paper topics) and more concise(writing in images). However, will this social media approach be effective? It sounds like an interesting assignment but will it be beneficial to the students?
      Writing via technology matters because it’s heavily invading the work place. Whether students leave high school and attend college or attain a full-time job, they will need to learn how to write well and be literate in current technology. What specifically do students need to learn in the field of composition to be better employees? It is important for students to be digitally literate but what matters more in the work place, being able to write well or operate a computer efficiently? Is it more important for teachers to teach proper writing skills than it is to teach technological ones? Social Media is also important because if used effectively, it can connect an individual with the entire world (everyone with a social media account). Maybe there are ways that teachers can introduce social media that would make for a more sophisticated user.
      Research should be moderately challenging. Primary sources should be the easiest to obtain, such as interviews. I look forward to returning to my old high school, where hopefully, I will be able to interview English teachers that I have had. If all works out well, I will be able to start my interviewing process (which will be recoded through voice memos on my phone). I would also like to visit a high school from a different district, to get an array of opinions. To present an array of opinions, I would also like to interview some of my professors at RIC on this topic. Most importantly, I want to include the voices of real high school students, which may be a problem seeing as my old high school will not let you in during school hours. As far as secondary sources, I will use Troy Hicks’s Crafting Digital Writing to find references. Engines like MLA Bibliography and JStor will be utilized as well.
      Upon looking for answers, I will have to consider the possibility that there may not be a lot of studies done that focus on social media in the field of composition. There shouldn’t be any issues with obtaining a teacher interview but collecting the viewpoints of the students may be more difficult. Most schools won’t provide you with the opportunity to have a conversation with the students. However, I will check to see if I have any high school relatives and interview them. I do look forward to the different avenues in which my research could possibly take me. My main concern is finding new techniques to teach writing that includes technology and digital/social media. Nonetheless, I am excited to begin this project.

How Are Teachers Using Technology to Teach Wrtiting?