As new students arrive in my classroom every semester, our use of technology changes as well. The work of my students take a new shape as they develop their own connections to books, find writing topics that inspire multimedia responses, and explore links with other teachers and different classrooms. Technology and the promise it holds to motivate and empower my students remains a constant part of my classroom.
Inside the Digital Classroom
By: David Boardman
Summary
In this chapter from Teaching the Neglected R, Dave Boardman, a teacher-consultant with the Maine Writing Project, describes the use of digital technology in his classroom, including cross-country communication with other students, blogs, digital stories, and an online newspaper.
Excerpt
“Students wrote with the understanding that I was no longer their audience—I was just one small part of a readership that might pass their entry by altogether or linger over every word. That idea made our constant conversations on writing more meaningful to some of my students. Turning it in wasn’t good enough anymore. Their work was going out with their name, and that matters for most teenagers.”
Copyright © 2007 by Heinemann.
Posted with permission.
Boardman, Dave. 2007. “Inside the Digital Classroom.”
Chap. 14 in Teaching the Neglected R.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
About the Author
Dave Boardman teaches English at Messalonskee High School in Oakland, Maine, and works with the Maine Writing Project on literacy initiatives. He is the founder of LiteracySparks, a nonprofit that works on technology and literary issues for rural adolescents.