Lesson 2.2: How can digital writing support standards for collaboration, presentation, research, and media?

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Objective

• To recognize how digital writing craft aligns with CCLS standards for multimedia, research, presentation, and speaking skills.

Activate Prior Knowledge

How are you meeting standards for collaboration, presentation, research, and media in your current writing projects? How do you think digital writing could enhance your students' learning in these areas?

Explore

Take a moment to review the Common Core Standards for Speaking and Listening.

Take a look at this video on how to create a digital story:

Questions for Reflection:

• How could a project like this meet standards for speaking, presentation, research, media, and/or collaboration?
• What other skills would students have the opportunity to practice with a project like this that are beneficial but not necessarily practiced with traditional forms of writing?

Mini-Lecture

As teachers, we constantly struggle with the challenge of "fitting it all in." Sometimes this means spending less time on things like speaking and listening, working collaboratively, conducting effective research, crafting meaningful presentations, and making deliberate choices about how and where to use multimedia. Digital writing projects allow opportunities to address these standards along with the main areas of information, argument, and narrative text production.

The ELA Standards for College and Career Readiness (CCR) describe students who meet standards for media and technology:

"Students employ technology thoughtfully to enhance their reading, writing, speaking, learning, and language use... Research and media skills and understandings are embedded throughout the Standards rather than treated in a separate section."

We are helping to set our students up for future success when we honor time spent on new media literacies and digital creation. When we teach them how to use media thoughtfully, we are adding new layers of craft and critical thinking to their work. And when we teach them how to build knowledge together and work as a team using digital platforms, we are fostering the metacognition, empathy, cooperation, and knowledge building skills that will benefit them as citizens of a 21st century interconnected world.

Deepen Your Understanding

Now that you have completed lesson 2, revisit your understanding of the learning target. Consider what new understandings you now have, and develop your initial understandings based on the lesson materials.

How do you think digital writing could help your students meet standards for collaboration, presentation, research, and media?

References and Resources

Johnson, D. (2014). Reading, writing, and literacy 2.0. Teachers College Press.

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