Teaching the New Writing: Technology, Change, and Assessment in the 21st Century Classroom

Language and Literacy

by Anne Herrington (Editor), Celia Genishi (Series Editor), Donna E. Alvermann (Series Editor)

How has the teaching of writing changed in the 21st century? In this innovative guide, real teachers share their stories, successful practices, and vivid examples of their students’ creative and expository writing from online and multimedia projects, such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, electronic poetry, and more. The book also addresses How can teachers navigate the reductive definitions of writing in current national and statewide testing? What are teachers’ goals for their students’ learning—and how have they changed in the past 20 years? What is “the new writing”? How do digital writers revise and publish? What are the implications for the future of writing instruction? The contributing authors are teachers from public, independent, rural, urban, and suburban schools. Whether writing instructors embrace digital literacy now or see the inevitable future ahead, this groundbreaking book (appropriate for the elementary through college level) will both instruct and inspire.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Teaching, Education

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2009

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

The "old ways" of teaching writing have little to do with writing that is developing in "the real world." As emerging technologies increasingly impact the way we write and even what makes writing, we need to study, experiment, and research this behavior we have taken so for granted.

This book includes several studies and teaching practices that challenge writing instructors across disciplines and ages.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't read every page of every chapter of this book, but gobbled some up and just tasted others. Still, I think it's one of the most well informed books out (that I know of) on the subject of using technology in classrooms. It doesn't just jump on technology because it's fun but deals with issues of access and relationship to learning as well as assessment.

[Antje · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those looking for ideas, go no further. This book is nicely written, not too overwhelming and the ideas are definitely doable. I particularly like the chapter on "media literacy" - we need that now more than we need computer literacy. The kids got that down. Our school will make some technological strides over the summer and this book helped get on track. Love the blogger idea.

[Rachel Price Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it in preparation for a conference on writing. Only a few chapters related to my area specifically, but it’s always good to talk pedagogy.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspired by the changes to writing habits that seem to pervade all environments but the classroom, this book looked at a number of teachers who are attempting to incorporate multi-modal writing into their curricula, to varying degrees of success. Unsurprisingly, the assignments teachers designed seemed to recapitulate or (at best) extend previous skills more so than revolutionize writing itself. However, what did change (in most cases) was students' willingnesses and desires to share their writing with each other and those outside the classroom. Moreover, students seemed more willing to embrace the iterative nature of the writing process--drafting, revising, and redrafting as they attempted to reformat and infuse their writing with other media. Finally, as one of the chapters noted, the idea of writing itself faded in favor of embracing the idea of composing -- with words, pictures, sound, etc. Despite these similarities across (most) cases illuminated in the book, the book's weaknesses lay in its attempt to cover too much ground. Looking at cases from elementary through post-secondary school prevented the book from ever really illuminating how the goals underlying writing during different phases of schooling differ, and the ways that multimodal writing might be used most effectively should probably differ in accordance.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title drew me to this book, then I almost did not finish it as over 2/3 of the book addresses high school and college level writing. Not wanting to have to start another, I decided I would look for the commonalities within and across the levels. I was not disappointed! I discovered that most teachers at all levels are sticking their toes into the water to try integrating technology, student input into assessments is important, connecting the project to the appropriate assessment is tricky, and I am not the only one who comes up with an idea for a project first THEN finds the standards to support it! There are many other take-aways from this book, just take it one chapter at a time. The editors' summary at the end of the book is very detailed and points out some important ideas I missed.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was just talking to a student today who told me he wasn't doing much reading, but he's involved with media...he said, "But that's reading, isn't it?" The exact purpose of this book. Literacy must be expanded to include reading and writing in different media.

I was inspired by the teachers' stories about their classrooms and their students. I was excited by their honesty about not feeling confident about their own knowledge of technology. I've been challenged while reading, to include more technology in my own classroom...IF we can ever get time in the computer lab!

[Kevin Hodgson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well
I am an editor and writer here, so I will hold off on any reviews (ha).
But I will point out that we did a series of podcasts on Teachers Teaching Teachers that might be of interest.
More info at my blog: http://dogtrax.edublogs.org/2009/07/1...
Kevin

[CR Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Failing to suggest ways to get a district's IT department on-board, this series of articles presents some fanastic ideas: some I would love to incorporate in my classroom.

Yet...

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had some great lessons to try with students, and it raised good questions about the value of state writing assessments.

[Shannon]

Great ideas for the digital writing the classroom. In each chapter, the teacher/author addresses curriculum standards, the writing process, and issues with assessment.

[Jianna Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers various ways to help teachers teach students to compose using technology, with real classroom examples from elementary school through college.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of great examples and thoughtful reflections.

[Tina M · Rating 3 out of 5]

a practical guide for using technology in the classroom with writing.