The reason I chose to use the Internet in my classroom is that it solves so
many problems, bridges so many gulfs, inspires so many fertile minds, provides
so much information, introduces such a large audience. The Internet is the
ultimate presentation format for our students because each student becomes a
publisher. The Internet provides the teacher of writing with access to the
students' work right from the start and throughout the writing process. I or
anyone else can access the student's work through the web page from anywhere at
anytime. Since I have more access to my young student-writers, I can be more
effective as a writing teacher.
A word of caution to teachers wishing to attempt this. I have worked hard
to connect the classroom and its 34 computers to the Internet. I needed
lots of help from technicians who created a LINUX/UNIX server for me. It
took me an entire summer to set all of this up with the IP address for the
school, setting up the computers, and preparing the class. In addition,
I
spend a lot of time maintaining the Internet connection, preparing
classes, and grading papers. I would say I spend twice as much time at my
craft now than I did before I had all of this power. So please be
warned.
2. The Web
Process
The students create their web page which is a Table of Contents for their
projects. The homepage is such a powerful motivator. The students take great
pride in their homepages and in their written work. The homepage demands
constant care just like a garden. By the end of the year, each student has an
outstanding webfolio which reflects his/her work for the year. Webfolios take
the writing process to another level: publishing. The publishing process
incorporates the writing process and considers the elements of layout:
graphics, designs, color, font, presentation, hypertext. Publishing is the
ultimate goal for any writer.
3. The Syllaweb and the Webfolio
The students follow a syllaweb,
(http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/log.html) an online syllabus accessed through an
Internet browser, which explains and serves projects. The webfolio is the
final web created by each student that introduces the year's work to the
reading public.
The students start with three projects that help identify the writer. The
three projects are a short autobiography, a poem about the Internet, and a book
report about their favorite book. Much of the student's personality pours out
in a short time in this new media. After they become comfortable with web
writing, I request that they do 3 or 4 of the projects at the same time while
maintaining their homepage. These projects include their own poetry, short
story, and hypertext essays. The syllaweb reflects the wide range of choices
from the classical literature found in most anthologies, classical literature
not found in anthologies, and literature not yet canonized. Using relevant
material makes for more receptive students. I am concerned more with creating
students who learn how to learn, learn to enjoy reading and writing. To this
end my students perform admirably on state standardized tests. I find it
contradictory to rely on the 19th Century when we are moving into the 21st
Century.
4. Specific Web Projects
Hypertext essays make every assignment a research paper. The value of
using the Internet to publish student work is that the research done to create
the essay was done on the Internet, hence hypertext links to the research
source can more readily be made by the reader. Each web project entails
Internet research, Internet hypertext links to sources, and publishing.
One such assignment used an editorial (http://www.trincoll.edu/tj/tj9.25.95/articles/violence.html)
written in an online college student magazine which addressed violence in
America. After the students read the editorial, they immediately went on a
hunt for more information on violence. They used the popular web search engines
(http://www.tnellen.com/find.html) like Yahoo, WebCrawler, Lycos, Excite, and
others to find articles on violence. The students used the editorial as the
base for their own essay and then used the Internet resources to augment the
editorial. In their research they took it beyond the American borders as they
sought information on African female genitalia mutilation, Bosnia, China, South
America and other areas of violence around the world. Their essays
(http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us/ce-violence.html) were well done because of their
ability to follow relevant links. The essay they each eventually wrote had
hypertext links back to the articles they had read which had given them the
ideas they used in their papers. Hypertext adds so much to writing because the
reader can immediately access the resource the writer used to verify or to
learn more about the topic. It is far superior to the tradtional research
paper which merely refers to an article I would then have to seek out in a
library. It is not a click away. The publishing of the essays brought in a
great deal of mail of praise and support. These kudos served as fuel for my
students to go on and to continue.
Another successful assignment dealt with the December Holidays
(http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/09.html). The students research Christmas,
Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. Again the students sought out the information on the
Internet. This multicultural essay could never have been done successfully in
a traditional classroom. Hypertext essays give the reader access to the
writer's sources, which makes for more authentic writing and reading. These
essays became part of the database for other students trying to find out
information on the three holidays. It came quite as a shock when my students
received letters from other students who asked them about the holidays. My
students has suddenly become experts and were being asked questions as they had
asked others. Their work had become part of the database which gave it
authenticity.
Perhaps one of the most exciting projects for the students was the Cyber Biographies
(http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/05.html). This project had them research the
people responsible for our cyber community. Since most of these people are
both alive and Internet active, the students were able to visit these folk's
home pages. Some bold students even wrote email to some of these cyber
pioneers. When mail came back the students were ecstatic. Publishing on the
web made this interaction possible. Our students were able to access home
pages of their subjects and the subjects were in turn able to view the
student's web pages. In addition, these cyber biographies become resource
material for future student researchers.
The project which draws the most moans and complaints is the short story project
(http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/13.html). They have to read a classic short
story, online, and then write an essay. They then have to compare and
contrast a classic short story with a contemporary short story. Finally they
have to write their own short story. When I introduce them to this project, I
am met with a great deal of resistance. However, when they start their own
short story and I have let them know that it is their short story and they may
write any short story they wish short of obscene. Since these students live in
New York City, their short stories are fantastic and great reads. It has
become their favorite project of the year. The response to their creations
draws the greatest amount of mail to the writers. Publishing on the web gives
the students access to a great deal of information and it provides the world
access to the students' work. This two-way information flow is a powerful
motivator.
A financial by-product of their web presence are job offers. Publishing web
pages introduces them to potential employees. This necessitated creating an
online resumé
(http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/17.html). Since this wasn't a traditional
resumé, but instead a web resumé, many considerations had to be made.
This project was real problem solving type of situation because it involves
more advanced HTML writing, like tables, and it requires their transferring
their previous knowledge of paper format to web format. This is their first
step in converting from traditional format to web format on such a serious and
important level. Their acceptance is easier than it is for their adult
counterparts. Publishing their resumes has brought job interviews and jobs.
The students were hooked after the first day when we started their home
page. They became addicts when they started receiving mail about their home
pages. Introducing the students to the web was never difficult and getting
them to do the work is no challenge. The biggest problem is getting them to
leave when the bell rings so the next class can begin work. Attendance is
always close to 100% and we never have an empty computer seat, because students
without a class come to work. When school starts the next year, one of the
students' first stop is to logon, check mail, and to fix some of their work on
their web page. Many former students spend a great deal of time rewriting
essays, adjusting their resumé, adding new papers to their web page. This
is done knowing the new work will not affect a grade, they do it because they
recognize the power of a published web page. Some may call it pride.
5. Publishing Produces Better Writers
The Internet enhances the writing process because the Internet provides
the writer for the first time in the history of education, the power to publish
his/her work. Publishing is the power, history tells us this. As the teacher,
I can access their work in progress from any computer connected to the
Internet. The teacher is not alone as the student's gain a wider audience. My
constructivistic pedagogy is satisfied on the Internet.
One of the purposes of writing is to verify what the writer knows. When we
write something down we are sorting out our knowledge and then we present it.
Writing is thinking before speaking and ultimately publishing. An example of
this epiphany for the young writer is when s/he sits with a writing teacher and
tries to explain what was meant in a recent essay. At some point the teacher
asks, "What exactly are you trying to say here?" The student immediately
breaks into a long discourse on what was meant by that vague sentence. When
the teacher can get a word in, the advice is to put this rambling on paper.
The Writing Process is that activity which reveals to the writer his/her
knowledge on a topic culminating in publishing.
Student publishing is successful because the teacher, peers, and mentors
can monitor the young writer's progress at any point. This constant access
allows the teacher to intervene earlier and more often in the writing process.
Mistakes aren't repeated incessantly because they are caught early. Good
habits are infused early in the writing process eliminating the "red ink" shock
syndrome. Instead of returning a paper after the student has invested a lot of
time with a low grade and disappointment, I begin looking at their work in
progress from the time it comes into being. I follow its growth from beginning
to publication and beyond. Students have become very good editors of their own
work because they accept peer review willingly, and spend much time reviewing
their work and others. Oftentimes I see students revise work months after
publication.
The Internet provides audience for my students: peers and mentors. Our
students are communicating with peers in Sweden, Japan, China, and Spain,
(http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us/ip.html) as well as with students around the United
States. Our mentoring
program, which can be found at URL:
(http://www.tnellen.com/mentor/), includes an Internet community which
chooses to assist me in my classroom. We have had people from the business
world, retirees, college students, and peers view our students' work and then
comment on it. Essentially, people who choose to be mentors do it because they
have decided to interact with students. Internet mentors do not come into the
classroom, but instead visit vitually. They use email to communicate and
provide guidance, writing help, and audience for my young writers. Perhaps one
of the greatest effects of the Internet is its access to a larger audience for
young writers.
from sage to guide
I have always been a person who learned things by doing. I was told by
sages that homework was practice, and everyone practiced. If I practiced
throwing a ball, riding a bike, or playing the piano; then I should do my
homework, they told me. When I became a guide, I dispensed the same axioms I
had heard. My students practiced writing by writing. Now my students create,
design, and publish their work on the Internet. They are learning about writing
by writing and publishing. Publishing one's writing after all is one of the
goals of writing. Publishing is an oftentime forgotten part of the writing
process. The World-Wide Web changes all of that as young writers learn how to
write by including publishing. Today learning by doing is called
constructivism.
Looking for a better way to teach writing has been a professional goal of
mine since before I became a teacher. It has taken me twenty plus years to
realize the better way on the Internet. Some things I have come to realize is
that each student should sit a his/her own computer. Each student should have
a home page which provides immediate involvement and a sense of belonging.
Provide multiple projects so the student can move from one project to another
at will. Don't worry about providing all resources, leave discovery for the
student. Work with the student, discover along side, show how to follow
hunches, clues to discovery. Keep it simple. I would avoid glitzy, gourmet
type software. Use real time applications as opposed to hypothetical
situations. Look at what other teachers have done by examining their syllabi
(http://www.tnellen.com/resource.html#syl) and borrow ideas. Be willing to
share ideas with others. Do not go it alone.
Using computers in my writing classroom began in 1983. Now with the
Internet, I believe I have come to as perfect an environment for the
student-writer as possible. It has eliminated many of the negative aspects of
writing while providing many positive aspects.
Write on!!
comments