Reflection-Teaching in a Digital Age

Final Reflection: Teaching in a Digital Age

“As an English Major, I write a lot”. More than once have I said this while finding information for my I-Search. My research provided me with this revelation— a revelation that showed me to see that I was initially only writing for a grade. During the beginning phase of my I-Search, I was only focused on what would sound good. Be it a lack of time or effort, it was not the behavior I wanted to teach students. As a teacher, is it my job to teach students to write for a grade? The answer is no, I want them to be able to write effectively, diligently, and creatively in and outside of the classroom. I like to believe I am a better writer than I was in September and I like to believe I know the ins and outs of composing writing. However, the past few months have just opened a door. 

It is true, English majors read and write often. As we expand our writing abilities, we are also asked to expand how we write. For me, as much as I am “plugged in” and attached to my laptop, digitally composing was newer to me than I expected. Most of my writing used to happen on paper, where my ideas would unfold and I could be as messy as possible. It did not occur to me that I was not writing as much as I believed I was. My blog, “Writings on the [blog] wall” helped my digital writing abilities. So far, I have learned to enjoy composing straight to my computer, not needing to feel confined to the pen and paper first. Although it still takes some getting used to, I believe that this course helped me achieve better writing abilities and more confidence in my abilities to digitally compose.

Back in September, I wrote, “It is not often that I actually think about writing, I just do it”, which sounds unbelievable, writing is generated through thought. I discussed how much I loved to read and it seemed that I did not feel the same about writing. Writing was a chore; I was sucked into writing merely for a grade.  Writing became an exhausting habit, something I would only do when I had to. In fact, I was not writing as much as I thought I was; the problem was I was not expanding my writing. Reading had so many outlets in my life: school, home, pleasure or information, the internet, even my videogames. I was always reading, but I was not always writing.

SED 445 helped my realized that there are so many creative and new ways of writing that, previously, had not seemed possible or probable. One of my favorite ideas about writing, discussed by Fletcher, was the writing space as a place where you feel most comfortable. Originally, I had the idea that the ideal writing place was just my paper, pen, and me. Fletcher had the better idea: a writing place should be where ideas spark, carrying a notebook that he felt comfortable writing in. My classmates and I tried to have some sort of conformity with our writer’s notebooks. Some of us, however, took some creative liberties. I personally liked the polished look of a double cover, something I could easily spot in my endless pile of notebooks and still “portable”.

For the longest time, I was under the impression that all school work involving digital writing as an essay as typing looks cleaner, neater, and polished. According to Troy Hicks, a PowerPoint, slide show, or a movie could be considered digital composition. This was a process newer to me than I believed. Luckily, I did know of various ways to teach and introduce students to new material using a variety of media. Personally, I find YouTube to be the best outlet for finding material about a topic, and that is why I relied on it so heavily during my I-Search. Still, reading about digital composition is drastically different than digitally composing.

Throughout the semester, our class has diligently posted on one or two, maybe more, blogs. A blog, to me, was a place of informal writing. Blogs were certainly not a place to post my findings for a project; those are to be transferred into essay format and handed into the teacher; however, as I got used to blogger, I let myself compose my findings—they could be informal, formal, essay, or a stream of thought. The key that I discovered was the idea of writing often and the process to get your final product. In all honesty, I wrote more on that blog than I ever initially intended.

Back in September, I wrote, “I still prefer to do 80% of my brainstorming on paper. There is something about writing your thoughts out that make brainstorming easier”. Since I have written so much, I found that I actually write more, and more efficiently, on the computer, even within the first draft. Proofreading drafts still requires me to print out and correct. Still, this is a huge step in my journey to become a better writer, a better digital writer, and a better teacher of writing. Despite my efforts, it is possible that my students would be more comfortable digitally writing than I am. My biggest struggle is going to be working with English Language Learners. Currently, I am facing a similar challenge many ESL students would face as I try to learn Spanish again.

In the text by Douglas Fisher, he discusses various learning curves that ESL students face and some ways to help them in the classroom. English Language Learners face challenges when learning English through conversation: Oral learners, who rely on context through body language, facial expressions, and “acquirers” who face difficulties in understanding all the rules of grammar or sentence structure. As I read the text, I developed some ideas of my own to help some of these students a bit. One, I could read text aloud, use body language, tone, and expressions, to convey meaning. High school students still enjoy being read to, so long as you make clear meanings of the text and you break off a bit by explaining what has just happened in the text or else they may doze off. In the same text, I found an example of how to effectively read aloud to students.

1. Select books that are appropriate to students’ interests and match their developmental, emotional, and social levels.

2. Preview and practice the selection.

3. Establish a clear purpose for the read aloud.

4. Model fluent oral reading while reading the text.

5. Be animated and use expression.

6. Stop periodically and thoughtfully question the students to focus them on specific parts of the text.

7. Make connections to independent reading and writing.

This gave me the idea to use poetry as read alouds in my future classroom. They are usually short, have descriptive language, and can be read out loud within a few minutes. This allows students to read a text more than once and dive deeper to search for meaning or theme; this is also a more manageable process than having students read a book twice and try to dig into the text that way.

When I made the decision to become a teacher, my goal was to make learning English a painless process with a few essays, read-alouds, poetry, etc. However, over the course of my own learning, and through this class, I have found so many tools and ideas that can utilize. Now, more than ever, I found that I want my students to reflect upon their writing abilities to see where they are. From there, I can introduce them to tools like Animoto or Prezi where they can expand on their writing and composing abilities. I have also learned that I will be teaching a very different generation than my own. These students will be more advanced with technology. I even recognize that I was late in the game with digitally composing compared to my peers, hence why I relied heavily on pen and paper and saw the computer as a tool for turning my essays into a clean and neat artifact.

Anything outside of Microsoft word was not “composing” in my eyes, it was entertainment. Now, I see it as both. What makes my Tumblr page less educational than my Blogger? They are both on the internet, and they are both blogs. The immediate difference is what I do with both. Tumblr is my source of entertainment—since I am not compiling data for a school assignment. That does not make it any less informative, I probably could write an essay about what I have found on Tumblr, complete with sources. What I have discovered, through Blogger, is that a blog can be used as a tool for composing writing. If anything, my blog helped me more than any other approach I have used when to compile a research paper. All my data was in one spot with feedback!

Poetry has also changed my perspectives on writing a bit. Before, poems were fun and easy. Through endless research and searching, I discovered that it can be so much more. Initially, I just wanted to use poems in my class because I enjoy reading them, and thought that relating poems to course texts was the most effective way to use poems in a classroom. For the most part, that was not entirely far from the truth; George Whitehead agreed with me and said that connecting poems to other texts was an effective way to use poems in a classroom. However, over time I found many other ways to incorporate poetry in the classroom.  Students can explore themes or research word meanings to interpret the writer’s thoughts.

As I continue to explore the realm of writing, and, specifically, digitally writing, I do wonder what else I will discover. In less than four months, I saw a blog turn into a source of entertainment into a valuable learning tool. I also learned that I value YouTube as more than a music source. Through each of my education classes, I have this toolbox ready to use at my disposal. It makes me wonder what else I may discover; perhaps there are some digital tools I have yet to try.

As a teacher, I need to be able to find more tools on my own, and I think that this I-Search really helped push me this far.  YouTube, for example, is an old source but I allowed myself to use it in a different manner than I was accustomed to. It is within my best interest to find more digital tools and become familiar with them. In an age where technology is growing, it is important for me to keep up. As I said in September, “My life goal is to help young minds find the joys of reading and writing and how it does not have to be a chore”. What better way to help them realize this than by finding ways that connect and work for them?