The Digital English Classroom

Will Richardson published an interesting post about texting on Weblogg-ed entitled Connective Writing:  Engaging Writing in the Classroom He commented on the Christian Science Monitor article about texting among teenagers.   The article cites,

“Researchers found that informal writing is an integral part of youth culture: 85 percent of teens communicate through digital writing. Teenagers also overwhelmingly understand the importance of good writing: 86 percent of teens consider formal writing skills essential to future success.” 

Richardson agrees that this is a very positive step to motivating students to improve all types of writing. 

Another interesting point the article makes is

“Our student bloggers and digital writers of all backgrounds are part of a journaling culture which America has not seen since the great age of diarists during the Transcendental movement, when Thoreau and Emerson recorded their daily lives for eventual public consumption. ” 

Although we must continue to teach the classics, we should avoid resorting to mere classical methods of teaching (e.g. read the text and answer the questions at the end).  We want our students to be interactive, reflective learners, but we are constantly resorting to flat teaching methods.  I’m not advocating that students turn in their text messages for a grade, but the basics for good reflective learning experiences may stem from some these texts.

Quizlet allows students to input data (vocabulary lists, state capitals, science terms, etc.) and the site creates and saves quizzes involving students’ material. This could be very useful with my SAT vocabulary unit.  Quite impressively, a 15-year-old high school student created this site in 2005 when trying to memorize some French vocabulary.  He wanted students to have a more effective way to learn the vocabulary.  I became addicted to the state capitals’ quiz on the site and found it very easy to use.

Mixbook seems like it would be great for class or individual projects, although I’m not sure if we can make our students pay for something like this (although I don’t think you are required to have them printed).  It appears that you can view them on-line which would be wonderful!  You and/or a group of people create a book with pictures you upload, and there are many interesting extra features/designs to add as well.  Books start out at $12.99 for 20 pages.  This seems like a great way to capture an educational trip.  For example, maybe I want to go on a literary tour of England.  I could upload my photos and create this Mixbook of my trip and share it with my students.  Also, students could create books with certain themes:  Shakespeare, Romanticism, poetry, etc., and have others view them on the site.