Producing, Collaborating, and Distributing Writing

Writing Standards: Production and Distribution of Writing    

In the CCSS (p. 18), your 3^rd graders are expected to use technology for:

• Producing and publishing writing, and
• Interacting and collaborating with others

In 4^th grade, they should be able to do all of that using the Internet, and they should be able to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting. 

Make that a minimum of two pages in 5^th grade.

The typing part is easy. It’s the interaction and collaboration related to writing that is the challenge. It’s not that they can’t do it. We simply don’t let them.

The number of tools that provide students with the ability to brainstorm in a collaborative online workspace, write, read each other’s writing, respond to it, and edit it – are staggering. Are your students using these tools to write? Is their writing published to an authentic audience? Here’s a challenge. Survey your students – at least from your middle and high schools. Ask them the following questions:

Have you ever:

•  Answered a question on a website?
• Added or revised a post on Wikipedia?
• Posted something to YouTube?
• Shared your pictures with friends or family on a picture-sharing site?
• Written an online review of a movie or restaurant?
• Posted a story or poem you’ve written?
• Commented on something someone has written online (besides on Facebook)?

If you take the challenge, please share the results in the Comment section of this blog post.