Using Technology to Engage Students in Authentic Writing
Personal Narratives
A personal narrative is an expressive literary piece written in first person that centers on a particular event in the author’s life and may contain vivid description as well as personal commentary and observations.
1. Create an “about me” blog. Include information such as:
- Favorite music
- Favorite books
- Favorite television shows
- Favorite movies
- Favorite games
- Favorite sports
- Favorite teams
- Favorite athletes
- Favorite activities
- Interests
- College or University you plan to attend
- What do you see yourself doing in 20 years? Where would you like to work someday?
2. Write a personal narrative. Have students practice reading the narrative for fluency. Then record on a podcast and publish to the classroom website. Prompts:
- A Day in the Life of _________________
- My Most Memorable Moment
- It Happened to Me
- Special Times
- A Frightening Moment
- Special Gifts
- Adventurous Times
Expository Writing: Blogging
Students who write to explain frequently increase both content learning and literacy skills. Using a class blog, students can write at school and at home.
Here are some ideas for getting students to write expository texts on your blog.
- Homework or in class computer center time: Pose questions about the lesson of the day. Students can share the pieces that they did or did not understand. Teachers should follow up to answer questions and concerns.
- Students write to explain the process or procedures for science experiments.
- Students take pictures and post pictures and explanations of picture content.
- Have students post interview questions and elicit family members and friends to answer. Use these answers to create an article or podcast about the interview topic.
- Post a picture prompt or short reading selection as a stimulus for response. Have students view or read and then think about how the blog post relates to something they have personally experienced. Have students write to explain their response the prompt.
- Blog about News. Students can take turns writing for different departments such as World News, Local News, Science News. Entertainment, Classified Ads, Obituaries, and Sports.
- Blog about the school’s neighborhood. Who lives in the area? What activities are going on? What is the history of the community? Include photographs with captions, interviews, and personal essays about experiences in the neighborhood. Students can include favorite links to community resources.
Students are motivated by the technology and the publishing of original work. Blogging allows them to practice literacy skills in an authentic and engaging way
Responses to Reading
- Have students write questions and post on a blog or wiki.
- Post questions to the class blog and have students answer using text evidence.
- Have students label the type of questions posted by others.
- Have students brainstorm questions to be answered by reading books and www sources. Post questions on a wiki or blog and have students do web search for answers.
Graphic Organizers
Use one of the following websites to have students create a graphic organizers online.
- Webspiration —[Subscription required] http://www.mywebspiration.com/
- Diagram-ly—[free] http://www.diagram.ly/
- http://www.lucidchart.com
Save the graphic organizer as a PDF or JPEG and add to blogs or podcasts.
Cartooning
On ToonDo, your students can:
- Createanoriginaltext.
- Usecartooningtosummarizeorretellatextread.
- Createabookusingcartoonandotherimportedimages.
- Create characters.
- Doodleordraw.
Personal Communications Using ePals
Pair up your students with students in other classrooms in the same building, different buildings, different cities, or even different countries. Students pen emails or letters shared in Google Docs or Dropbox.
Writing Ideas
- Interviews
- Share your favorite books, movies, music
- Share pictures
- Write to explain a topic or procedure.
www.epals.com is company that connects students to other students. This company also provides a secure way to set your students up with emails.
Happy teaching,
Kelly Harmon