Hick's+Chapt+6+Presentation+Carrie+and+Heather

Hi Everyone!

After reading Chapter 6 please review the links, respond to the questions below and to the two discussion threads by __Tuesday, April 19th at midnight__. This will help us to prepare for a thoughtful discussion on Thursday. Thank you!!

-Heather & Carrie

__**During Reading:**__

**View Link from Chapter 6:** **DigiTales**

__**After Reading:**__

**Please Review These Digital Tools from Past Chapters:** **Blogger** **[|FanFiction]** **Flickr**

__** In Class **__ We will be using these links in class tonight: Student website examples: [|Da Vinci YouTube Video] [|Class Website Project] [|Digital biography on a student's father] [|5th graders famous person biographies]

__**Question #3: **__
 * //Look back at the digital writing tools that were previously discussed in Chapters 4 & 5. For example, social bookmarking, blogs, wikis, photo essays, podcasts etc. How would you assess a written product that is published using these digital tools? Would you assess each of the digital tools in the same way or not? How would your assessment compare to assessing a written product that was developed in a traditional writing workshop? Please respond below! :) //**

__**Responses:**__

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">__**Meghan's Response:**__ =<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">﻿<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">I absolutely love podcasts! The process of putting together an audio recording is extremely valuable and is certainly an experience, which you would not gain from a typical written assignment. At the beginning of the semester, I remember writing in blog about how so much planning must be done before students even think of stepping up to the microphone. Students must keep in mind their audience... just as would if they were writing a paper. After recording, just as in written work... you must edit your files. Then sound and music can be added to the production. Thus, I think it's imperative to assess, ideally, on both process and product. There is so much work that goes into a podcast.. so I believe that students should be assessed for their diligence and for the quality of the audio file they produce. = =<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">I would never weigh a podcast or blog the same...but, I may assess them in a similar manner. Ideas, organization, voice, word choice and presentation are critical to any writing piece. So, why not.. assess them in similar ways. = =<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Typically, in a traditional writing assignment... As I stated in the previous discussion thread, I would value main ideas, organization and voice in terms of student writing. I think these traits are the foundation and help writers frame their writing projects. The other traits.. I typically would see as being part of the editing process. However, with the advent of digital writing tools... I have come to see that design and presentation is critical. We have to be careful in our decisions about which tools we choose and how they will help or hinder conveying our message. =

//<span style="color: #8b19c8; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 17px;">Meghan, I absolutely agree that digital tools can add another element to the writing process because of the planning that is required. When assessing using a rubric, what sort of details should we add to the description of each of the traits if we are assessing a blog, podcast, wiki, etc? How would you address the various elements of design that go into creating a piece in digital form? ~Heather //

<span style="color: #2c74af; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 120%; line-height: 17px; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Jenna's Response: <span style="color: #2c74af; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 120%; line-height: 17px; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Meghan’s comment on here made me laugh because for one of my genre pieces I attempted to do a podcast sort of thing with my poem. Before doing it, I hadn’t realized how much went it to it. Yea, I had thought there would be some work involved, but a writing piece really comes alive when putting a “voice” to it. I did it over and over again until I was finally “ok” with the one I ended up with. This experience really opened my eyes to the many digital writing opportunities. I realized that as teachers, we need to recognize the tasks we give our students by completing them on our own as well. Not only to see if it works, but also to see what we will value when it comes to assessing them. <span style="color: #2c74af; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 120%; line-height: 17px; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">I have become a strong believer on both formative and summative assessment. Keeping track of each phase or writing, as well as my writing development on my blog, has made me realize how much work really goes into a writing piece. I have found myself tracking the changes I make in my literature review just so I can look back and see the progress I have made. Like Hicks (2005) stated, assessing writing should not be done in abundance, doing so takes the joy out of doing and teaching it. I don’t know if I can say right now how exactly I would assess each type of digital writing because I have not yet been faced with the need to create a writing project for students. Once I do so though, and after doing the assignment myself, I believe I will be able to create an effective assessment, especially by returning to Hicks (2005) and his many resources. I do believe writing in the traditional writing workshop and digital writing should be assessed in some similar ways. Student s should recognize a consistency in what is expected from their writing, but writing in a digital workshop needs to have other forms of assessment as well because of the extent the publishing aspect. See you all on Thursday!:]

//<span style="color: #8b19c8; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 17px; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Jenna, what a great example! I appreciate your honesty about learning your personal writing process and not defining how to assess these digital tools until you have tried them yourself. I think that is a wonderful standard to have and your students will respect you for your efforts! I agree that students should see the similarities between traditional and digital writing when being assessed. Yet, the publishing aspect can add a whole new element to assessment that we have to be sure we account for in our assessments. How would you choose to do summative assessment? Would you use a rubric? ~Heather //

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Dr Jones' Response: My apologies Carrie and Heather to be late to this conversation, although I think you know how I would respond to these questions. I think the best advice to teachers is to begin with the universal traits of a text -- which we commonly refer to as the 6+1 traits. Then, based on the particular "form and function" of this text, the teacher (and hopefully when possible too the students as well ) can design an assessment tool designed to highly the unique ways the author of the text/composition utilizes the traits in order to construct the message.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">In reference to Jenna's point about how much time it took her to "get it right," I think it is worthwhile to note that historically many teachers have included an assessment of the PROCESS as well as the PRODUCT. Especially when the writer/composer is still developing the literacy knowledge and skills needed to compose a digital text (such as a podcast or a digital narrative), it seems to make perfect sense to "account" for the process (were all stages of the process fully utilized).

//<span style="color: #8b19c8; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Dr. Jones, starting with the 6+1 traits and then adding onto them depending on form and function is an excellent way to describe how we should frame our assessment. I like how you added that students should be involved in assessment too. Sometimes we forget this, but it is so important to include students so they can become more megacognitive in their own writing process. We want them to own their writing, not the writing to own them...if you know what I mean! ;) Plus, we must always take into account how familiar our students are with the form that they are using and our assessments should reflect their growth in writing as well as technical growth through trial and error. ~Heather //

<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Emily's Response:
<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Sorry, this is so close to your presentation. <span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;"> I think these tools need to be assessed on their own scale. Since each of these tools offers a perspective over time, I think we should treat them as if they were a portfolio of sorts. I think it would be important to assess a written piece using these tools in at least two ways: the process over time and the actual product itself, like Hicks and Dr. Jones stated. Each type of writing piece has specific qualities that should be taken into account while assessing.

<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In comparison to a traditional writing piece, I think a blog or wiki would offer a better trail of revisions than a traditional written paper. The wiki would also offer more collaboration than simply a peer or teacher conference. I think there is a great gain that these digital spaces offer students and teachers because they link more people and ideas faster.