A New Journey – Writing Workshop in the Digital Age

As the fourth quarter begins, the dawn of a new era of teaching for me rapidly approaches: the Digital Writing Workshop. I’ve been wanting to do something like this for quite a while, but it has taken some time and effort to find the necessary planning time, resources and courage.

Courage?

Yes, courage.  I am a control freak and an introvert, two qualities which seem diametrically opposed to running a writing workshop.  Managing twenty-one students as they work independently on various digital creations gives me a lot of anxiety.  However, I am determined to give students the same chance to develop as writers as I give them as readers.  Just as I allow students the freedom to choose their own books to read, I will allow students to find their own topics, genres and  voices in which to write. Incorporating technology on a daily basis will enhance students’ abilities to become content creators for the 21st century.

These are the professional resources I have at my disposal for planning and implementing the digital writing workshop:

• Troy Hicks’ book The Digital Writing Workshop – I was in the middle of planning the workshop when I heard about this book, so I ordered it immediately; it should be here in a few days.
• The Digital Writing Workshop Ning Group
• My Twitter personal learning network – please feel free to join and share your experiences with me
• The educational blogs I follow via Google Reader (see the list in the right sidebar)
• And my favorite books on writing workshops in general:
  • In the Middle by Nancie Atwell
  • Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide by Ralph Fletcher and JoAnn Portalupi
  • How’s It Going by Carl Anderson
  • Assessing Writers by Carl Anderson

The students will have access to the following technology:

• Each student will be working on a 13″ Macbook with iWork and iLife.
• The class has one digital camera and one digital video camera.
• I have a Zoom H2 portable digital recorder that students can use if they need it.
• Students also have access to blogs, wikis and the school YouTube account.

Wish me luck, and please share your thoughts, advice and resources with me.