“it is possible for educators to remix instruction in ways that use technology to bridge achievement gaps and to develop a sense of social responsibility in students while empowering them.”
Beginning to use media and technology in the classroom isn't just a school skill-- it's a life skill. Using tech in the classroom allows students to begin to hone skills that will help them in their actual lives and become fluent in this kind of etiquette in a low-stakes environment.
The role of the English language arts teacher has always been and will continue to be—in addition to simply teaching the “skills” of reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and visually representing—someone who introduces students to critical literacy practices.
Teachers of any subject are meant to be more than instructors of a certain discipline, but additionally people who teach life lessons. In a low stakes environment, students can feel welcomed and allowed to make mistakes in a place where the consequences are relatively minimal.
Digital writing has come a long way in the past decade, but let’s be sure to integrate it into our classrooms and our students’ writing lives even more strategically and creatively in the years ahead. If there were ever a time to get all of our colleagues, and I mean all of our Digital writing requires us to rethink interdisciplinarity and the ways that students can integrate numerous tools in their effort to create dynamic, multimedia texts.e9-14-May18-VM.indd 135/7/18 10:13 AM
I think this point is critical in the classroom because students will use this kind of writing beyond school, in any career they pursue. Teaching them these valuable skills in a non-stressful and low-stakes environment allows students to make mistakes without worrying about real-life consequences.