Sometimes we see technology being used as a digital version of skill- and-drill worksheets-something we definitely try to avoid. We also want to be sure that when we add technology to our instruction, it doesn’t foster what Donalyn Miller once called a “language arts and crafts” curriculum (https://bookwhisperer.com/2014/09/07/), such as requiring students to create the digital equivalent of a diorama after completing a book. Instead, we should use technology to transform writing in genuine ways, such as asking students to create digital book trailers for rising peers. We have seen the advantages of adding digital clubs to units of study increased engagement, authentic collaboration, and a new level of interest in the work due to a wider audience. So, as we consider adding digital clubs to a unit of study, we keep in mind what not to do, which helps us consider what to do.
For example, when teaching students about poetry, we teach them about the power of imagery and how poets paint pictures with their words. Students can easily take this idea of imagery into a digital poem and use real images to enhance their words.
Another way digital clubs differ from other clubs is in the timing. In most complement clubs, we examine the current writing unit, determine when students might need the most support, and launch the clubs during this time. Though digital clubs build on the writing students are currently doing in a unit, they do require kids to create something new. Therefore, we implement them when we think adding in this new writing will make the most sense-generally about midway through the unit. For example, when adding digital poetry clubs to a poetry unit of study, we generally launch and teach students lessons about writing poetry for a couple of weeks, then we pause for about one week to focus on digital work. This pause in the unit is important. We use this week to introduce students to the genre of digital poetry, the platform they will be using, form clubs, and allow students to create a few digital poems. After this weeklong pause, we weave digital clubs into our instruction a couple days a week, like we do with other complement clubs. The unit then continues in this way-students write poems traditionally a few days a week, then meet with their clubs to plan and compose digital poems on the other days.
Therefore, we begin by immersing students in the digital format they will be creating for a day or so. Once students have a vision for their upcoming work, we introduce the platform and let them play with it. We recommend building in at least one day of free exploration. This play-before-you-work concept is similar to allowing students to explore math manipulatives before working with them. It helps kids get acquainted with the platform and allows them to discover how it works. After they’ve been immersed in the project and the platform, we ask them to assess how they feel about both. We have found rating scales to be effective for this self-assessment.
Because digital clubs are designed to build on students’ writing work within a unit, we find it helpful to link these lessons whenever possible. Let’s consider some of the key lessons we might teach our fourth graders in our poetry study. One of the big ideas we teach students in this unit is that poems are built on three pillars: emotion, imagery, and music (Portalupi and Fletcher 2004). We design many lessons around these three pillars. We teach students various craft moves to add imagery to poems, such as using similes and metaphors, personification, and onomatopoeia.
We know that once students begin using a platform, the platform will sometimes impact what they create. For example, in our poetry unit, we suggest students begin by taking a poem they’ve written and digitizing it; however, we know once students log in to a platform and see some of the images available, they may instead choose an image and write a new poem based on that. As always, we keep in mind that writing is a process of creation and discovery, so this shift is expected, encouraged, and shared.
Figure 5.6 Sample Poetry Unit with Digital Complement Clubs
Blackout poemsって、これでした。なんとなくわかった。
Days25
Sharing and celebrating poetry with parents in our annual poetry café
これもめっちゃいいですね。様子が見てみたい。
We enjoy helping them find ways to share their work with a broader audience through the class’s blog or the school’s social media accounts. Receiving likes or comments from people outside the school walls is highly motivating for all students.
Celebrating these often overlooked genres is akin to what Linda Gambrell (1996) calls “blessing the book” in reading. Teachers bless a book by reading it aloud or doing a book talk about it, which makes the text more appealing to students. Gambrell suggests teachers work to bless lots of different genres, so every student can find books they love. Just as we work to bless all kinds of genres so every student falls in love with reading, we need to work to bless all kinds of genres, so every child becomes enamored with writing, too.
For example, in a comic book club, students will be drawing comics. Therefore, they would need paper with boxes for the comics and colored pencils or markers for drawing. Students often create paper templates, and we make copies for them.
Remember: you will not do all of the research and gathering for this study. Just like in other clubs, students can and should be invited to help gather texts and materials for their chosen genre.
Another consideration is the audience. In many classrooms, a discussion of audience seems to be left until students are at the end of the writing process. As writers, however, we realize the importance of knowing your audience from the beginning-it gives purpose to our writing and influences every decision we make from idea generation, to drafting, to editing. For these reasons, we suggest discussing audience options for genre clubs early on.
The students and the teacher create a list of beloved genres and work to gather samples of each. As students are collecting texts, we remind them that each tub needs quite a few books for it to become a viable option. Students in one classroom scoured the teacher’s library and visited the school library. They went to other classrooms in their hallway, asking those teachers to lend them books. They searched their homes to see what they could gather. We recommend about eight to ten mentor texts per tub because this allows every student to have two or three texts to study and share.
And then Naomi, always the pragmatist, asked, “What will the minilesson be if we all are writing different texts?”
Patty chuckled at both their curiosity and their ability to get to the heart of the matter.
子どもがそういうところまで気にするところがおもしろい
P109
What was interesting about the list is that some of the genres are ones that students study over and over in their elementary school career, and others they have never studied or written. That said, this list is one that is manageable and, more important, inclusive of what writers wanted to study in clubs in the next few weeks.
We believe reading and writing are two halves of the same whole; therefore, we ask students to do the work of real writers and immerse themselves in the genre by studying their club’s mentor texts before putting pen to paper. This close reading and studying helps them become familiar with the overall structure and unique features of that type of writing.
Writers don’t randomly do things as they write; instead, everything is done with purpose. Most often the purpose is because it will help the reader in some way. Considering what’s best for the reader is an important part of being a writer.
This means that in their writer’s notebooks, students will create snippets of writing in their chosen genre. These snippets are not necessarily full pieces or entries but playful and experimental examples of writing-we call these try-its. Try-its are just as the name implies-an opportunity to try out the genre and/or idea before committing to writing a complete piece. In fact, writers learn most from this kind of low-stakes writing, because it is an opportunity to experiment with the structure, form, and voice of writing before committing to an idea.
Another thing we love about genre clubs is how students become more in tune with their own unique writing processes. We encourage students to cycle through the process of composing at their own pace and in their own way, so they can discover what works for them.
We have far too few celebrations in our classrooms, and celebration is key to moving struggling learners. Celebrate milestones, celebrate successes, and definitely celebrate hard work. I am not talking about “carrot and sticks” or any type of external reward, but a celebration of their work. Hard work is just that—hard to accomplish, but it will lead to success.
Each group is given a small area to create their “party zone.” Students get into creating decorations (the genres create a natural theme for each group’s area) and bringing in food (students amaze us with all the food they will bring in for a celebration— we’ve never seen so many kinds of chips!). Many teachers enlist parent’s help with classroom celebrations. Parents love creating genre-based food and decorations. We’ve had a Captain Underpants cake (Tra-La-Laaa), mystery cupcakes (magnifying glasses), and riddle cupcakes (question marks). We’ve also had parents donate balloons, posters, and confetti to help decorate each party zone. This is an exciting time, and parents are happy to help.
映画のエンディングみたいだなあ。最高の終わり方。実はこれが最もパワーを持っているのでは？
Now is the perfect opportunity to teach kids about keeping a side project (Cruz 2004)A side project is a piece of writing you work on when things aren’t going well with your main writing or when you need a little break from your primary writing. As writers, we always have a few pieces going and move between them as we work. Keeping a side project is tremendously helpful when we get writer’s block or become frustrated with one pieceWe simply move to another and keep working.
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