21st Century Skills

Authentic Writing Experiences in a 21st Century Classroom

 "Can we provide our students with educational experiences that are truly worthy of their attention?" (Gura, 2014,  p. 1)

"Can we redefine and reestablish school-based learning so that it's engaging, enlightening, and inspiring?" (Gura, 2014, p. 5)

 I find these two quotes to be very inspirational, and they are motivating me to reevaluate some of the things that I do in the classroom.

When I first started teaching, I was a little bit hesitant to try new things that were not a part of the "established" curriculum.  Even though I knew that part of the reason I was hired was the fact that I was young and willing to be innovative, I was reluctant to be too daring.  I had this sense that my department head and the administrators at the school would be happier if I didn't stray too far from the status quo.  I now realize that when I was planning for that first year, I had the wrong set of people in mind.  I was planning my curriculum based on the demands of my bosses.  It's now obvious to me that I should have been more concerned about the demands of my students.  Fortunately my approach started to change the very first day that I walked into the classroom, and I have tried to adjust to the needs of my students over the past four years.  This week's readings reminded me that I can still do a lot more.

The Five Paragraph Theme and Other Monsters

 










I have tried with all of my might to combat my students' desires to write 5-paragraph essays for every assignment.  However, when advising a student on a paper, I sometimes lead them down that path, and they don't realize why it's okay in some cases.  I try to tell them that form should not determine content, rather content should determine form.  Occasionally, content warrants a 5-paragraph essay, but that should not be the default form for every paper.

However, I feel like my aversion to pigeon-holing students into a certain type of essay could be expanded to an aversion to forcing them to do a certain type of assignment.  At least twice a year, I require my students to write a traditional argumentative essay or paper.  I feel pressure from administrators and parents to make sure that students know how to handle this traditional assignment, and I drag them kicking and screaming through the process.  Hicks (2012) perfectly describes the educational landscape that I am experiencing, "we now find ourselves with core standards that value argumentative writing over informational writing and informational writing over narrative," (p. 156).  It seems that we as educators value things that our students do not.  Why don't they value these same skills?  Because THEIR EXPERIENCES in life do not warrant acquisition of these skills.  Until teachers find a way to correlate lessons to life, students will struggle to find value in what is going on in the classroom.

I really like how Hicks advocates for this correlation between life and lesson planning.  Digital tools provide an amazing resource that can connect education to a student's experience of life.  If this connection is strong, student interest will be higher, and the final product will be much more impressive.  Why am I still so afraid to stray from the standard assignments?

When It Works
I wanted to share one success story that I have had in experimentation in my first few years of teaching.  I teach The Catcher in the Rye to my sophomore class.

Rather than having my students write a paper upon completion of the novel, I have them create a soundtrack for the book.  They need to pick songs that connect to specific moments in the book, and they need to explain these connections clearly.  Every year, almost every single student puts forth an incredible effort on this assignment.  I have used it for three years, and I have never been disappointed by the class effort on this project.  They really engage in the process and spend hours trying to find songs that connect in a profound way.  They usually create an actual album with cover art, and they have to be able to incorporate different forms of media.  No other English teacher at my school has done an assignment like this, but I am so glad that I was willing to take a chance.  Grading these projects is one of my favorite things that I get to do each year.  I need to create more assignments like it!


 

To Tweet or Not To Tweet

A Great Tool Must Be Used Responsibly

 "While I believe our culture focuses too much on the negative aspects of social media, often while ignoring the positives, there are risks that keep educators from using social media as tools for teaching digital writing.  As a result, we as teachers don't know how to use social media in fluid ways, and students are not thinking about the consequences of their digital footprint." (Hicks, 2013, p. 139-140)





I will never forget my first faculty meeting at my school.  It was the end of the summer in 2010, and I was excited to start a new job at a school that I loved.  I had been hired to teach English, and despite my nerves, I felt that I could greatly contribute to the life of the school.  At that time, the average age of the faculty was probably 50, and I had the feeling that I was hired in order to bring in some youth and offer a fresh perspective on things that hadn't changed at the school in thirty years.  My proficiency with technology probably also contributed to my selection for the job.

The first agenda item at the first meeting was the school's new social media policy.  The topic of social media was something that had been on my mind since I applied for the job.  I was a freshman in college when Facebook was founded, and so my online profile had documented four years of undergraduate fun and games.  Facebook was something new and innovative, and so during my undergraduate years I didn't really think about privacy or protecting my online persona.  There was nothing too risque on my Facebook, but there were some things that a potential employer didn't need to see.  There were certainly things that a potential STUDENT didn't need to see.  Before I started applying for jobs, I scrubbed my online profile clean--pictures of me holding red solo cups were removed-- and ratcheted up the privacy settings.

As I sat in that first meeting, I was feeling pretty confident about my "digital footprint." 

The Director of Technology at my school spent about 10 minutes explaining the New Technology Policy.  The whole thing felt a bit clumsy to me.  The policy was clearly adopted as a response to recent issues that schools in the public sector were having.  The state of Missouri had recently adopted a similar policy for its schools and our school seemed to be modeling its policy after the state's.  However, this new policy was merely reactionary.  It viewed social media as a threat and discouraged teachers from using it in the classroom.  Actually, it not only discouraged, it seemed to forbid use of social media in or out of the classroom.

My school's policy seemed to do exactly what Hicks mentioned in Chapter 7.  It focused on the negative aspects of social media and ignored the positives.  On that first day, I felt as if I was immediately put on a leash in my classroom.  My school was not thinking about student experience.  My school was only thinking about liability.  Rather than rethinking our system in order to adapt to a changing digital environment, we seemed to be telling our students and teachers that the digital environment did not exist inside the walls of the school.

Fortunately, my school's administration has relented in many ways over the past 5 years.  Innovative teachers are finding ways to connect with students in the digital world, and these sorts of connections are fruitful ones.  This past year my school actually set aside a whole professional development day in order to equip teachers with digital tools and skills that could help them in the classroom. 

Unfortunately, I am still about weary of social media in the classroom.  I have trouble not viewing it as a threat.  Yes, it can enhance my students' experience, but are the risks worth it?  Just last year, a teacher was fired from my school for comments made on a personal twitter account.  When things like that happen, it makes me think about retreating from the online world even though I know that is not what is best for my students.

When I read Chapter 7 of  Hobbs (2011) I realized that students need guidance with digital writing.  Hobbs' examples of student abuse online made me think about my responsibilities as a teacher.  It is my job to teach them to read and write so that they are prepared to enter the world as adults.  What good is it to teach them how to read and write in a medium that is no longer relevant.  Even though students may be willing to write on Facebook or Twitter, that does not mean that they know HOW to write appropriately.  They need guidance.  They need role models.  They need teachers.  I can't shy away from modeling digital writing, because that style of writing is what my students need to see.  Otherwise, they may choose the wrong types of role models:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfhS7meOZJw