writing – EDUC 342: Child Development & New Technologies

Week 6 Discussion

lgoochee — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 00:30:05 +0000

I want to comment on the Curwood, Magnifico, Lammers piece, “Writing in the Wild: Writers’ motivation in fan-based affinity spaces.” Overall, I greatly enjoyed this piece, especially in relation to my user interviewing and testing. My child gave me the feedback that she wanted the writing kit to shift in perspective. Instead of being her journal, she wanted it to be the journal of her favorite doll, Frankie Stein ( Monster High). In essence, she was requesting a fan-fiction writing toolkit to write about Frankie’s Monster High adventures. The week six writings couldn’t have been more timely for the development of my product. I ended up redesigning my Beyond Bits and Atoms course “dream toy” prototype around her feedback. The journal became a secret closet for her doll, with a hidden door beneath for the doll’s journal, and a series of other features that could help her through the inspiration and writing process.

I also want to respond to this particular quote in the final paragraph:

Our field needs to move beyond focusing on young adults’ new literacy practices in the wild, or in informal out-of-school spaces, to articulate how teachers can design for new literacies in school-based settings. All too often, technology creates a digital divide across students, teachers, and schools. If young people have self-directed, multimodal, and authentic writing opportunities in out-of-school settings, this divide will only widen.

It seems to me that the educational researchers in this piece are posing uncompelling solutions to the divide between in-school and out-of-school learning. They want students to engage in this kind of self-directed and multimodal writing within the school context, but at the same time, are posing that teachers can achieve this through simply designing surveys, incorporating a closed and safe online writing portal, engage in collaboration, and offer opportunities for students to share work in class. I would argue that most teachers already do all of these things, and yet it’s not anywhere as engaging or invigorating as a free fan-fiction community where relationships to characters and texts are central to the endeavor, as demonstrated in the article’s examples.

On the flip-side, they say that educators shouldn’t try to become pop-culture contemporaries, but what else can they do to meet the child on their level of passion and enthusiasm, and coach them through their writing?

The limitations of a linear curriculum timeline will always inhibit classrooms from feeling authentic in the post-digital-revolution world.

If students had an opportunity to share how they were “writing in the wild” with the rest of the classroom, this seems to be the best way to incorporate how these online communities are impacting them for the better (or not, and teachers intervene). If students were allowed to make teams around works of fiction that they enjoy the most, and choose the skills they want to work on individually in each piece of authentic writing, this seems like another way to create that relationships with characters building element, which seems to be the most central and binding element of fan-fiction.

Also, it’s important to remember that this is only for fiction writing. Students have to learn personal narrative and expository writing too. So, how these principles can be made powerful across other writing modes and contexts is also worthy of thought.

Week 6 Discussion

heylisa — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 16:44:36 +0000

The authors of Writing in the Wild posit that writing in online affinity spaces “motivate young people to write through self-directed and interest-based opportunities to share their work with an authentic audience” (p. 678). While I agree that there are many opportunities for informal learning in these affinity spaces, I worry that we are not seeing the darker side of young adults online. I’m not very familiar with affinity spaces, which may be a ‘safe place’ online for an engaged audience, helpful critique and community, but I have seen the backlash of online journaling where feedback is not very constructive, but rather hurtful. And instead of authentic audiences, commenters were anonymous. By no means do I disagree with the authors point of promoting young people to have ‘self-directed, multimodal and authentic writing opportunities in out-of-school settings’, but rather I would like to have seen them shed light on challenges and how to mitigate them.

Week 6

sandhini — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 08:55:21 +0000

The reading on fan-based spaces struck a particular cord with me because not only was I regular visitor on neopets in my middle school days but an active contributor to the Harry Potter fanfiction websites in my high school days. It was interesting to view something that I just did for fun analyzed in an academic way.

I could personally relate with so much that they mentioned in the piece. I admit that one big motivation for my continued presence on the fanfiction website were the reviews and the followers that my story got. I found the following quote extremely insightful – “teens are motivated to write by … their words’ potential to make an impact on their communities” . This is because the idea that something I created doesn’t just sit in a forgotten folder on my computer but is actually appreciated and enjoyed by other people greatly motivated me to continue writing on fanfiction.

I remember how the fan community shaped my own creative works. I would often find myself evaluating how popular stories on particular characters were before writing them, see what genres were popular etc. Also, I was more likely to continue and finish stories that got more follows and reviews.

Something the article didn’t mention was how these websites channel the anonymity the internet offers in a positive way. Many people, especially developing children, would probably not be comfortable offering up their work for open critique and viewing to millions of people. However, under a pseudonym, people are able to express themselves in spite of limited confidence or esteem. This in turn helps build confidence.

While I think this is a great tool to be leveraged, I can image me not being as excited about fansites if I encountered it in an educational setting. Also, the very nature of these sites are such that they don’t appeal to everyone. They already appeal to a set of people more into reading and writing/art/creating some other kind of media. (E.g. A lot of the people on these forums are trying to be professional writers.) So even if we do incorporate in an educational setting it may not have the desired effect of getting students involved in creating content informally. The ones who do want to will probably find these opportunities on their own and the ones who don’t want to might just treat it as another assignment.

Week 6 Discussion

mfaulk — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 08:19:39 +0000

“Writing in the Wild” came to powerful conclusions yet caused me to question the application in practice. Currwood et al. argue that contemporary affinity spaces include a passionate, public audience for content. However, this caused me to question the negative and perhaps unwarranted criticism that could arise from this passionate public audience. Sheena mentions that she is motivated by “more detailed critiques…not just praise” (682). Yet, I can imagine youth who would not react in a similar way. In the classroom, student writing is generally only disclosed to the teacher, who is trained to deliver constructive feedback. If we begin to utilize this public audience as a pedagogical tool for improved writing in the classroom, how can we avoid the potential negative harm that this can cause to students and their malleable intellectual confidence?

Week 6: Writing is fundamental

ccolgan — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 08:03:46 +0000

This week’s reading focused on the role that storytelling and writing can have on a child. It’s so important to consider how and why someone wants to tell a story–sometimes it’s just a matter of giving a person the right tools in order to create a master storyteller.

That might be a robot toy like Sam for early literacy learners or it could be an open forum for recreating a favorite world. Fan Fiction is often dismissed as silly (see Twilight) but it’s also serious business (unfortunately, see Twilight.) Sharing interpretive work, whether it is about The Hunger Games or The Sims, is an important life skill. Teachers can help students grow research and editing abilities through content that is interesting to the individual student. Incorporating these online worlds could help students build and understand audience–a vital part of effective writing.

Jessie, Shelley and I are thinking about ways we can frame writing prompts for teenage girls into our final project for this class. These readings helped me contextualize the importance of free and creative storytelling for children of all ages.

Week 6 Discussion – Juan G

juang7 — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 05:34:38 +0000

It is clear that peer interactions enhance children and adolescents creative writing abilities. Children and adolescents tend to build on each other’s ideas and get motivated by having an audience. However, I am thinking about the role of parents in this area; I wonder that if instead of enhancing creative writing, parents might limit it because they may have the impulse of pushing children and adolescents to stay closer to reality instead of letting them create very fictitious stories.

Also, I am wondering how we can equip and motivate parents with very limited education to get involved in creating and writing with their children. These parents may have a low self confidence because of their limited skills.

Week 6 – Writing Socially

nhardson — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 04:33:51 +0000

I found the Curwood-Magnifico-Lammer’s article to be incredibly interesting. Particularly because my middle school years were full of online writing. I utilized a cite called “Worthy of Publishing” that provided a platform for aspiring writers to post their chapters and have others comment on them. It truly demonstrated to me the power of having an audience. I wrote because people wanted to know about my story. I got feedback and was able to read imperfect writing in order to understand what good writing looks like. It was an incredibly formative time for me as a writer.

Additionally, I found it interesting the idea of implementing this type of format in a classroom. When I was in middle school two other girls and me were all working on our own “novels.” We formed a mini community by emailing each other our work and giving feedback. We motivated each other and created our own small social network to motivate our writing. I can’t help but think utilizing peers in motivating young writers is critical and I honestly believe using a social network in order to do that is brilliant. I think that affinity groups form that type of platform naturally but I wonder if there is a way to create a platform, like “Worthy of Publishing,” targeted at youth, where completely original work could be created.

DQC – Week 6

eanders7 — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 16:10:14 +0000

Writing is an incredibly difficult subject to teach. As a first grade teacher, I constantly found myself toeing the line of teaching writing conventions without crushing their interest in writing.

In Justine Cassell’s article, Towards a Model of Technology and Literacy Development, SAM really intrigued me as a “Vygotskian more capable peer, seeming to push children to act at the top of their individual ability through the nature of their social interactions.” As a teacher I always wanted to push students to try new things and expand their writing skills, but I was often afraid of crushing their spirits. I believe that a peer has more leeway than an adult when it comes to giving advice and acting as a role model. Maybe it is easier for a child to imagine doing as other children do; other children might be more relatable than an adult.

I have two questions on the subject:

In what other subjects could SAM push students to “act at the top of their individual ability”?

Instead of SAM should we be using this information as an indication that schools should organize more opportunities for students to work with more capable [human] peers?

Lisa Goochee Redesign Assignment 1: My Password Journal

lgoochee — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 05:40:51 +0000

My Password Journal Link

I chose to redesign My Password Journal by Mattel. This product offers a small note pad encased within a pink and purple plastic electronic case that locks upon closure. It’s aimed at girls ages 6-12. It can only be opened by the owner’s voice and chosen password. The journal will record the voice of anyone who tries to break in, or “intrude,” upon your journal, at which point a loud alarm sounds. There are 25 thought provoking prompts for writing that come pre-programed into the diary, such as, “write about something silly” or “write about a dream!” with an option to create up to ten more prompts of your own. The final twist is a black light and invisible ink pen to write secret notes on the journal inside, as well as a secret stash compartment behind the journal.

After reviewing the Wartella and Jennings New Media Content Criteria prompt sheet, I would say this product has low marks overall for new media. The diversity is low, as all marketing I’ve found directs this product towards girls of a particular age (6-12) and cultural group. It only exists in English, and the adult woman who speaks appears to have a slight British accent which could alienate some learners who aren’t attuned to that accent. There are no alternative language models available. The pink and purple flowered design makes it difficult for boys or children who don’t identify with stereotypical representations of femininity to adopt the toy. The one redeeming quality in regards to diversity is that it essentially advocates girls’ rights to privacy and property. There is an empowering message at play there.

In terms of accessibility, I would say this toy is also low. The hand tools, notebook, and buttons are small. The voice control asks you state your password in the same tone as when it was set, which could be hard for some kids to do. There are lots of small snags in this toy that could easily prevent a child with certain sensory, motor, or learning disabilities to engage or enjoy the toy.

The interactivity of this toy is average. From the Amazon reviews (see below), it appears that children love playing with this toy, and siblings live to torture each other with it. With a bigger notebook and some pages that were unlined, there is wide potential for far more interaction with the toy in terms of its pretend purpose of writing. While it does not engage a community of young people or give them access to information, ideas, or people, it might allow children greater access to their own thoughts and ideas. The secrecy and protection of the journal gives the children theirown opportunity to create and control something, which is great. With an increased focus on writing, I believe children could gather together and engage over writing inspired by the toy.

In terms of education, this toy again clocks in at a low rating. In the free writing and reflection sense, it enables kids to think and get some thoughts to paper. The prompts are unthoughtful and could engage kids with more meaningful content.

The value of this toy is average. It’s clearly fun, but the journal is too small. The artistry is low and the design quality is poor, however, there are design elements that support the play value (like the invisible ink and secret stash compartment). Finally, in terms of safety, there is no violent or sexual content referenced in the small bit of content in this toy.

In the Hirsh and Pasek (et al.) four pillars and app pedigree table, we can look to see if it is active, engaging, meaningful, and social. I would it accomplishes all of those pillars except social. It could equate with deeper learning if it was brought into the school environment and engaged with using learning content. Students studying a new language could use the journal to keep track of new words and phrases in a surreptitious way that protects their self-esteem while being fun. Likewise, it could just be a great way for kids to feel more safe in the school setting through offering thema space that only they have access to. If a student had a writing disability, or issue with comprehension of text, this toy could also be helpful if it offered voice recording techniques to help students generate writing ideas or collect scattered thoughts. If the journals could speak to each other, elements of interactive storytelling could come into play between peers, siblings, or parent and child that could be very rich and fun for developing writers of any age.