Combining Traditional And New Literacies In A 21st‐Century Writing Workshop

Abstract

AbstractThis article describes how third graders combine traditional literacy practices, including writer's notebooks and graphic organizers, with new literacies, such as video editing software, to create digital personal narratives. The authors emphasize the role of planning in the recursive writing process and describe how technology‐based audio recordings, using iPods and LiveScribe pens, allow students to narrate, critically evaluate, and revise their stories before writing first drafts. The authors discuss the benefits of integrating recorded oral rehearsals into the writing process and explain how, with peer conferencing and teacher support, the audio drafts evolve into multiple written drafts, storyboards, and iMovies. Creating digital stories that are shared with proximate audiences (e.g, classmates and families) and distant, sometimes unknown audiences through a class blog, provide students with meaningful, engaging, 21st‐century opportunities to communicate ideas through the use of multimodal resources.