“The thought of a student, during his or her formative years, simply looking at a blank Google document with a blinking cursor is not a way to develop and nurture voice.” Marcinek (2015)
I always take notes and annotate when I read; it’s one of the skills that I emphasize for my students when deciphering language or content, and it’s one of those skills that I employ constantly for my personal comprehension of text. As I was reading through the beginning chapters in Troy Hicks’s (2013) Crafting Digital Writing, I pulled out the same term repeatedly: intention. Hicks states early on in the introductory chapter that he will “explain how intentional thinking about an author’s craft in these digital texts makes them engaging and effective” (p. 5), emphasizing the importance of planning at all levels in relation to the desired outcome of the activity.
I have often observed the opposite approach in many of my own students when given an assignment using technology. The thought seems to be: why waste time planning when I could just start typing? Composition and content are thrown over for the ease of the stream-of-consciousness style writing that a keyboard facilitates. Our challenge as educators is to instill a level of dedication to a task, enough to encourage deliberation about the outcome.
Although taking this approach is in opposition to the habit of instantaneous publication that my adolescent students have developed with exhaustive use of social media, it is of utmost importance in the academic and personal development of students. Hicks posits that writing in an intentional manner is “perhaps the best way to help them realize their potential in academic, social, political, and community contexts” (p. 19). I would argue that this is the objective of the classroom, to develop purposeful members of society in all contexts.
The consequences of being unintentional in digital writing could be permanent and negative; a fact that should be reiterated to our students. The simplicity and immediacy of transmitting thought onto a digital and global stage is something that many of the teenagers I work with do not often consider, as displayed in Figure 1.
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| Gammon, J. (2015, July 22). Social media blunders cause more damage to important relationships today than two years ago. Retrieved June 12, 2017, from https://today.yougov.com/news/2015/07/22/social-media-blunders-cause-more-damage-important-/ |
As educators, we need to ensure that our students are deliberate in their composition and aware of its possible effects. To develop individuals who are purposeful in the words that represent them is a goal that would directly benefit our global community.
This overarching idea of intention is essential not just at all levels of planning and implementing digital curriculum, but more importantly to be a conscientious member of our ever-changing society. The skills used to purposefully plan out digital writing in the classroom are skills that will Kivunga (2015) purports as necessary elements to be taught in today’s classrooms. His claim is that students prepared with the skills needed to participate in contemporary methods of communication will offer “a greater contribution to commerce and to civil life in the Digital Economy of the 21st century” (p. 9). The multitude of benefits offered students by practicing intention should compel all educators to create opportunities to develop the skill of deliberation in their classrooms.
Gammon, J. (2015, July 22). Social media blunders cause more damage to important relationships today
than two years ago. Retrieved June 12, 2017, from https://today.yougov.com/news/2015/07/22/social-media-blunders-cause-more-damage-important-/
and genres. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Marcinek, A. (2015, March 12). Amplifying student voice through digital literacy [Blog post]. Retrieved from
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/amplifying-student-voice-digital-literacy-andrew-marcinek
Kivunga, C. (2015). Teaching students to learn and to work well with 21st century skills: unpacking the
career and life skills domain of the new learning paradigm. International Journal of Higher
Education, 4(1), 1-11.
I love that when you stated, "The consequences of being unintentional in digital writing could be permanent and negative; a fact that should be reiterated to our students." This is such a powerful statement that, sadly, adolescents, teenagers, and even young adults do not understand. Students are not developmentally able to understand and realize the future consequences that could occur due to their un-thoughtful posts and responses they place on social media. I am very thankful that the social media children are exposed to these days were not around when I was an adolescent and teenager. When Hicks (2016) wrote about the importance of studying craft with lenses, he stated, "Often students do recognize some of these craft elements, they often require skillful, intentional nudges of a teacher to turn these ideas from something a reader has read into something a writer can write." (p.12). While Hicks is referring teachers modeling and "nudging" students to read like a writer, this can also fit into what you are discussing in helping students become intentional writers. As teachers, we must nudge students into becoming intentional writers, in both the educational and social media setting. We must model what it looks like to become intentional and the importance.
ReplyDeleteChristi King- ED 629
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DeleteHicks, T. (2013). Crafting digital writing: Composing texts across media
Deleteand genres. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
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DeleteFirst off, I love the graphics that you included in your blog. It made me smile before even getting into the actual text of the post. I agree with a lot of what you said in your post, I believe you and I paralleled a lot in our blogs about deliberation and intention. I feel that it is important not only to introduce new types of technology tools to students but to be deliberate in what it is we are introducing and how we expect it to be used and what our intentions are on what we expect to be produced. Hicks (2013) states “being intentional about [student] work by helping students understand the creative process of digital composition thus becomes our biggest challenge and most pertinent task as teachers of writing" (p. 4). I think this goes along with what you are saying about nurturing students thoughts and ideas and abilities to create something meaningful and lasting and not just an assignment on a screen to be checked off the list.
ReplyDeleteHicks, T. (2013). Crafting digital writing: Composing texts across media
and genres. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.