Getting to the heart
of the matter
As
a writing teacher working in a technology-obsessed district, I wanted to
know how the technology that surrounds me could also help me. Beach Middle
School has two computer labs, plus computers in each classroom. The administration
is talking about wireless laptops and video streaming software. They are
beginning to equip sixth graders with laptops as part of an Anytime, Anywhere
Learning initiative. I look around at these projects and think, how can
I use these tools to help my students learn? Students enter 7th grade with
very basic skills and many varied writing deficiencies. The crucial question
is, can technology assist students while they write, and ultimately improve
their writing?
Integrating technology
into writing instruction is a very large subject. I looked to my students’
writing to guide me. As I began to research, I was quickly overwhelmed by
the amount of information I found. I had to severely narrow my focus to
prevent myself from drowning in articles. I decided to focus on students
whose principal language is English and students without special needs.
Those two decisions cut the amount of information I had found in half.
A lot of today’s
students' writing seemed to lack much thought. I started to watch them closely
as they wrote, and I found that they did not revise. They would edit in
the most basic sense. Students would type up their first drafts, take a
quick scan at the screen for glaring errors, hit the Spell check button,
and follow that by directly hitting the print button. Revision was reduced
to a quick glance and a semi-effective spell check. Too often, revision
means correction. I believe that revision should be the most cognitive of
all steps in the writing process. Where students were spending the least
amount of time, I feel that they should be spending the most thought. This
was the problem that I wanted to solve. Of all the steps in the writing
process, revision became my focus.
I was still confronted
with an excessive amount of research. I made one last, crucial decision
that was to help me shape my final focus. I would focus only on word processing
software. By selecting only word processing software, I eliminated other
programs that were designed for presentations, such as Microsoft Power Point,
and chat software, whether synchronous or asynchronous. Word processing
software, such as Microsoft Word or Corel Word Perfect, is the software that
my students and I use the most, and therefore we are all more comfortable
with standard word processing software. I feel that most districts can provide
basic word processing, so any conclusions or suggestions that I offer will
be applicable to any writing teacher. Implementing any strategies that I
have found during my research would not require any additional cost to my
district.
Finally, I had narrowed
my focus. I will take this opportunity to contend that the use of word processing
software can promote students to explore and fully realize the potential
of the revision process. I will navigate through this area by answering
several questions. Why is revision important? How do word processors help
revision? How is technology changing the writing process? I will also offer
strategies and tips to best utilize word processing software.