In 1989, I was asked to come out of “retirement” and return to teaching. One of my “duties” was to monitor the “writing lab,” a room fitted out with 30 Apple IIGS’s–the latest technology from Apple. I didn’t know where the on/off switch was…and Appleworks was a foreign language with no roots in Latin. This was a day that changed my life; I experienced a paradigm shift in my view of computer technology and my role as teacher. I saw students writing to learn . . . and I became a co-learner as they taught me!
The focus in English follows 4 strands: reading, writing, speaking and listening. It has been accepted pedagogy for 100 years to have students read prescribed literature, write and talk about that literature, and listen to the teacher talk about that literature. There were some ways of knowing what kids were thinking, but for the most part 80% of the students could get out of the room by the end of the class without having to reveal what they were thinking. The standard of success for a lesson was straight rows, quiet rooms, students facing the teacher who stood at the front room. The multimedia consisted of viewing the movie at the end of the reading of the novel while the teacher graded the essay tests.
Over the past 19 years, there have been many changes in technology, but the biggest change has been in me and my teaching with the technology.
In 2002, I began teaching a course called Writing Skills, a remedial writing course for high school students. The curriculum called for students to begin with paragraphs and work up to the essay. In the semester course, students completed 12 paragraphs and 1 essay. It was difficult to read and give significant and timely feedback on even one paragraph with a one-day turn around. Using word processing technology helped –a little; at least students were a little more willing to do revisions and I could then decipher what they had written , but the downtime between writings and amount of time spent writing feedback did not improve the time factor; by the time the students got their papers back, their attitude was “been there, done that.” The habit of writing, turning in, getting a grade, throwing away was difficult to break. They didn’t see the writing process as anything more than running grammar and spell check and they just picked any old suggested correction, with no understanding of what they were doing. At the end of the semester, I could not see any measureable improvement in their writing or in their engagement in the writing process. I felt that I had done most of the work and the students had just put in time; and writing scores were not improving.
Then I discovered the Palm Pilot with a mini-word processor and the ability to connect the students to each other and to me at the click of a button. Students engaged with the technology, even with the problems related to memory size and slow connections. They wrote more and peer edited with more success than when using paper and pencil. I could “collect “ their work and give feedback somewhat faster than with paper and pencil and students eagerly awaited being “beamed.” The students’ effort exerted increased. The product was somewhat better, but we were still just working at the paragraph level. Students were doing more writing, but there was still no significant improvement in writing scores for the students taking the course.
In 2003, while searching for tools to assist in the improvement of student reading and writing scores, we found two online writing programs. I selected one that I felt would be the best for my course and agreed to pilot the technology. The program supports the writing process and aligns with standards set by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) as well as state and national standards. This online program engages the students with its multimedia “flash” technology and provides immediate feedback and scoring. I am able to work with individuals or small groups and there is now little down-time for scoring. I shifted the focus from the paragraph to the essay and students write in three modes rather than one, writing to prompts similar to those on the standardized tests they take, 4Sight and PSSA. Students’ work is scored and feedback given by a form of arificial intelligence called Intellimetric. I am able to teach more and score less. At the end of the first trial period, juniors who had previously scored at basic or below basic were all in the proficient to advanced range on the PSSA, with the exception of two English Language Learners who had moved from below basic to basic. But even more important to me is the engagement level of the students that the technology fosters. They get excited about their writing and celebrate their classmates successes as well as their own. Students reflect on their writing and revise with a plan. They track their progress, as can I. I make instruction decisions based on daily reports that tell me where students need additional instruction. The students also report that their writing for other courses improves. Over the past 5 years, the PSSA scores of the students who have taken the course, either in the semester or year prior to the test, have consistently improved to at least the proficient level while in most, reading levels have also improved — more evidence to support the reading-writing-thinking connection.
Where do we go next…every classroom will be fitted with all the new technologies that promote interactivity between students and the content, between students and teacher, between student and student, and between student and the world. And we will use the cell phones that we now acknowledge that they have. The BlueRay/High Def battle has been won by the Internet so all my multimedia will be available through iTunes. My students will access the text and complete assessments and submit digital projects online.
Why would I leave now?
