Enhancing writing and creativity through ICT

1. Enhancing writing and creativity through ICT Karen Yager Knox Grammar School and University of NSW yagerk@knox.nsw.edu.au

2. Objectives • Ways to use ICT to enrich and improve writing skills • Access to a range of effective Web20 tools and sites • Planning of assessment for learning writing task/s

3. Syllabus Requirements • “Learning to write and represent for a variety of creative, personal, academic and functional purposes will help pupils to express themselves, facilitate learning in school and communicate effectively with others.” • “extensive opportunities for pupils to engage in sustained, authentic and creative writing and/ or representation of texts” • “opportunities for pupils to be exposed to and engage in producing a variety of multimodal texts to represent ideas effectively and with impact”

4. Confident Writers • Language acquisition takes place when the learners realise how meaning is expressed accurately. • Listening precedes speaking and reading precedes writing. Each one builds on and supports the other. • Students become confident and articulate communicators of English by utilising their receptive and productive skills.

5. Outcomes • LO3: Generate and select ideas for writing and representing for a variety of purposes, audiences, contexts and cultures • LO4: Develop, organise and express ideas coherently and cohesively in writing and representing for a variety of purposes, audiences, contexts and cultures

6. Outcomes • LO5: Review, revise, proofread and edit to improve writing and representing • LO6: Produce a variety of texts for creative, personal, academic and functional purposes, using an appropriate register and tone

7. Planning A4L As we work through the ideas and sites begin to plan an assessment task for learning or a series of small tasks that you could use in your classroom.

8. ICT & Learning “Teach both Legacy and Future. If we’re smart, we’ll give our kids their heads to use all their technology and passion to learn, as we steer them in positive directions and truly enjoy the ride” Marc Prensky, 2008.

9. Why ICT & Writing? • Connections: Learning to ‘story’ • Craft: Focus on the writing process and representation • Confidence: spelling and grammar • Vocabulary: synonyms, definitions • Refinement: Editing, spell check, peer marking, publishing • Creativity: Images, sound, video clips, Web 20 tools…

10. The Research • “Technology can become an obstacle to learning, especially when a student is first exposed to a new and/or novel technology. The student may become too focused on the technology and neglect the need for developing creative ideas” (Mohler). • “Technology is best seen as another tool in the repertoire available to learners and teachers for expression and communication” (Andrews et al., 2006) • http://cunningham.acer.edu.au/dbtw-wpd/textbase/NSWIT/NSW_Digest_1_09.html#Availability

11. The Research • Lankshear and Knobel (2003) assert that children are becoming so adept at ICT use outside of school and finding computer-mediated communications so satisfying that visions of school-based literacy, as well as teachers’ pedagogical approaches, will need to adapt to become more rooted in the multi-modal literacies encompassed by ICT.

13. Learning first; technology as a tool! • What do the students need to learn? • Why does it matter? • What do they already know? • What do I want the students to do or produce to demonstrate their learning and understanding? • How will they get there? • How can technology be a powerful tool? • How well do I expect them to do it?

14. Improving Writing To improve the quality of student writing: • Explicitly and systematically teach the structure and language demands of the writing task • Focus on audience and purpose • Explicitly teach the thinking processes involved in writing • Immerse students in examples of the required style of writing • Model and jointly construct texts • Use guided and independent practice • Employ peer and self reflection

15. The Craft of Writing • Begin with observations, chunks of writing, little moments... • Jottings: Journal, notepad, iPhone or wiki/blog • Write from experience and passion • Focus on the sound , look and feel of the words • Sentence of the day!

16. The Craft of Composing a Narrative Explicit & Systematic Teaching Features of a Narrative Audience Genre Structure Ideas Character Setting Vocabulary Syntax Cohesion • Explicitly teach all aspects of a narrative • Zoom into the word and sentence level • Using short, timed activities • Listening to the sound of the writing • Peer and self marking • Quality feedback

17. Activities • Using writers to model effective writing: Extracts from novels: http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/vintage/offthepage/extracts.htm • Flash fiction with a motif and extended metaphor. • Focus on the idea first through images or quotes and then planning the narrative using a mind map. • Starting in the middle of the action focusing on the verbs. • Peer and self editing through a wiki or blog or insert comment in Word.

18. Structure • Organisation of a narrative: orientation, complication, resolution, coda • Sophisticated: flashback, different perspectives, circular, parallel, stream of consciousness, moral, reflection

19. Activities • Mind maps to plan for a narrative: Inspiration or Kidspiration (http://www.inspiration.com/); Webspiration: http://www.mywebspiration.com/ ; Freemind: http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Download • Co-authoring using One Note

20. Activities • Composing the same narrative using a range of structures such as circular or two different perspectives. • 12-word novels and six word stories. • Twitter texts • Novels in 3 Lines: http://twitter.com/novelsin3lines: Invented by Fénéon, these miniaturized, epigrammatic texts are highly compressed, self-contained stories.

21. Blank, befuddled, thoughtless, bemused, he sits in front of screen as boredom ensues. He accelerates. The thrill explodes! He clips the kerb, breathes his last.

22. Ideas • Creation, selection and crafting • Sophisticated: world view, maturity, extended metaphor, satire, motifs

23. Activities • Stipulated in assessment task that narrative must feature one or two significant ideas and at least one metaphor, motif or simile that reflects the idea/s • Filmclips • A word cloud to brainstorm ideas using Wordle - http://www.wordle.net/

24. Setting • Development of a sense of time and place • Focus on showing not telling through imagery appealing to the senses especially sound, colour, touch and smell, strong verbs, contrast, and a variety of sentence structures. • Atmosphere • Colour • Symbolism • Genre • Authenticity • Detailed descriptions • Images and film clips

25. The Senses • Creating an uncomfortable atmosphere

26. Character • Portrayal and development of character • Idiosyncrasies • Talismans • How they move and act in the setting • Dialogue and voice • Relationships • Actions • Perspectives and values

27. Activities • Build your wild self (primary): http://www.buildyourwildself.com/ - create a half-human half animal character and download them so that they can become the main character in a narrative or blog story. • Voki:http://www.voki.com/ - create an avatar for a blog story or students can play with the crafting of a character. The students can add setting, clothing and even record their character’s voice. • Podcasts: Audacityhttp://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/17-audacity-tutorial.htm

28. Dialogue • GoAnimate: http://goanimate.com/ • http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/ • Pixton Comics: http://www.pixton.com/uk/home • http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/ • Toondoo: http://www.toondoo.com/Home.toon • http://superherosquad.marvel.com/create_your_own_comic • Animoto: http://animoto.com/

29. Vocabulary • Range & precision of language choices • Sophisticated: effective figurative and sound devices, powerful verbs, adverbs and adjectives, reflects the genre

30. Activities • Glossary: for each task or unit of work • Grammar Skills:http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/ • Grammar Monster: http://www.grammar-monster.com/index.html • Cyber Grammar: http://www.cybergrammar.co.uk/index.php • Visuword:http://www.visuwords.com/ - a beautiful online thesaurus to find more effective synonyms.

31. Paragraphing & Sentences Paragraphing: • Segmenting of narrative • Sophisticated: Deliberately drives the pace, topic sentences, varying paragraph length such as a single sentence paragraph Sentences: • Sound and meaningful • Sophisticated: lexical density and variety of beginnings and length, such as: complex, simple, compound sentences

32. Tapping into Imagery • Inanimate Alice:http://www.inanimatealice.com/ - tells the story of Alice, a young girl growing up in the first half of the 21st century in China • Dust Echoes: http://www.abc.net.au/dustechoes/dustEchoesFlash.htm - lyrical animations beautifully illustrated of Aboriginal myths. • State Library of Victoria: Mirror of the World: Books and Ideas: http://www.mirroroftheworld.com.au/- amazing images and extracts from texts to inspire writing.

33. Imagery • Focus on imagery through visual images or film clips • Video clips from Youtube or films: the trailers of films or a short clip from Australian Screen or Film Australia: can be used to stimulate writing - Australian Screen: film clips: http://aso.gov.au/titles/alpha/A/

34. ‘Stories are the lifeblood of a nation’ Garth Boomer. Digital Text • A digital timeline • Anarrative • A reflection • A life-story • Local hero • A podcast • Choose your own adventure • Alternative perspectives • A soundscape • A digital poem • A news report • A travel tale: Google Earth

35. The Steps • Students create a folder • Craft the text – word limit! • Storyboard • Find or shoot the images that enhance the text or film the text • Record reading of text on MP3 or microphone • Download any sounds or music or video clips

36. The Steps • Students use a storyboard to plan story, transitions and effects • http://celtx.com/: easy to use free software that has outstanding storyboard models and scaffolds for students

37. Digital Storytelling • Designed for a specific purpose and audience • Design process with its planning, storyboarding and selecting images and sound continually forces students to consider the quality and impact of the digital narrative • Selecting images and sound focuses students on the genre and form • Peer marking encourages a focus on audience

38. The Sites • http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/audiovideo/sites/about/pages/howto.shtml • http://www.photobus.co.uk/index.php?id=2 • http://www.changinglives.com.au/2008/04/abrar-autumn-and-i.html • http://www.dipity.com/ - Digital timeline

39. ‘To see the world in a grain of sand…’ Poetry • Distillation of language focuses pupils on the craft of writing! • Sound and rhythm of words demand attention • Nuances of meaning

40. Poetic Creativity • Found poems • Digital poems with images • Podcast poets • Haiku: http://www.haikusociety.com/learn/famoushaikus • Museum Box: http://museumbox.e2bn.org/

41. Imagery Poetry • http://www.abc.net.au/rn/poetica/features/pod/ or http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/home.do: Poets reading • Instant poetry: http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/newpoem.htm: Students can create poetry at this site. • Sonnet Central: http://www.sonnets.org/ - access to hundreds of sonnets and recordings too inspire writing. • Readings of Shakespeare’s Sonnets: http://town.hall.org/Archives/radio/IMS/HarperAudio/020994_harp_ITH.html • http://www.poetryfoundation.org/

42. Exposition • Severn Suzuki’s speech delivered at UN Earth Summit 1992 focusing on the ideas and the purpose of the speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZsDliXzyAY • The Green’s television advertisement election campaign: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gQVnIKDoOA • EDF Energy Advertisements: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx3Y5RV9YR4&feature=related ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7JMBa6h7Eo&feature=related • Martin Luther King – Extract from ‘I have a Dream’: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

43. Exposition • Students visit for Persuasion 101: http://prezi.com/62290/ • Persuasion map: http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/pdf/persuasion.pdf • Persuasion in 30 seconds • Students deliver a 30 second speech presenting their point of view on the merits of one vs. the other from the following list: • Solar power vs. electricity • Cars vs. walking • Book vs. Kindle • Plastic bags vs. green bags • Class blog created as a platform or Voicethread - http://voicethread.com/

44. Sharing • Blogs • Wikis • Voicethread • Peer assessment • Collaborative writing • Google Docs

45. Critical Reflection • Invites deeper understanding and promotes greater self-awareness of writing skills and knowledge • Digital Portfolios • Wikis and Blogs • Podcasts

46. Great Web20 Resources • Cooltoolsforschools Wiki: http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/?responseToken=08d40fc592f425e0609f7b90a024fde22 • http://www.learningplace.com.au/deliver/content.asp?pid=33292