First, I will start by stating that a couple of weeks ago I recorded a video introducing myself to a group of fellow teachers with whom I am taking a graduate school class. However, I decided to record it again from scratch after learning more about using visual tools to revise our video. Something that made a big difference is that my audience for this new introduction video will primarily be the school faculty at my next school when the right time comes for that change to take place (there is no set date yet). To be specific, I would be the school’s new English language learner (ELL) teacher when I return to work after this time of being a full-time parent. This video will be for my new coworkers who are interested in getting to know me!
Honestly, for the first version that I recorded of this video a couple of weeks ago, I was thinking more about introducing myself to my university professor, whom I had not taken any classes with before. Nevertheless, I realized that something I read recently, and which was referring to younger students, applies to me as well. Specifically, according to Strassman and O’Connell (2007), “we know that students revise more and spend more time on task when they are engaged in a project that has an audience beyond their teacher” (Motivate Students section, para. 1). In my case, once I knew my audience would be my future new school faculty, I became motivated to make my video more of a reflection of me as a teacher. This time, I even included in my video some information to give the school faculty ideas about what my ELL classroom is like.
When I reflect more on how my new video differs from my old one, this time I was motivated to add visual animations and sounds to specific parts of it to engage the viewers. Truth be told, that is not something I took into consideration with my first introduction video. The reason being is that when I return to work as an ELL teacher, where we focus heavily on developing our ELL’s four language domains (reading, writing, listening and speaking), I plan on implementing in my own classroom what I have recently learned about visual tools and digital writing. Therefore, I wanted to first practice what I intend to preach, by coming out of my comfort zone to revise my introduction video and have a real experience to share with my future students.
In relation to coming out of our comfort zone as teachers, it is no secret that “the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted education in ways that will likely change teaching forever” (DeCamillis, 2023, p. 1). One of the biggest changes that came here to stay is a result of all the online teaching we had to do when we had to teach remotely, which is, the use of more digital tools in the classroom. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, I have seen that many classrooms have shifted to more digital writing and less paper and pencil writing. This has broadened my perspective as a teacher in many ways. For example, some of the changes I have seen include that my students become more engaged with their writing when they can use visual tools to communicate their ideas and when they can choose their audience. This is similar to what happened to me when I was revising and recording again my introduction video. Needless to say that I think it is an advantage to be able to empathize with my students as I learn how to improve my own digital writing. Indeed, Strassman and O’Connell (2007) affirmed that “students’ motivation to fully engage in writing and revising text is sparked by their desire to communicate with the reader and by their individual pride of authorship” (Motivate Students section, para. 1).
Very importantly, as I have done more research to encourage my students to become more engaged with their digital writing, I found an amazing resource where students can create short books by choosing what their cover and titles look like, as well as by adding visuals and texts to each of the pages. Within the context of what I created this time (a video), Strassman and O’Connell (2007) explained that this “process makes explicit the role of good writing and revision in weaving multiple visual images into an interesting presentation or persuasive point of view” (Building On The Writers' Workshop Approach section, para. 4). Again, as I connect with my students’ experience as a learner myself, I believe this also applies when they use other types of visual tools in digital writing. For instance, one of the most exciting parts about the resource I found that I previously mentioned will be seeing my students looking forward to printing and displaying their books for anyone to see. Below is the link to the resource!
WriteReader: Learning by Creating and Sharing Books!
To conclude, I personally would always rather have a teacher who has experience with the digital writing tools that they would like (or require) me to use over a teacher who has not. For this reason, it was enjoyable to go back and be critical of my first introduction video in order to make a better version of it using what I have learned about digital writing. This is something I will draw on in order to support my students in improving their digital writing skills. Certainly, this reminds me of all the times that the shift to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic made me change my mindset as a teacher. That is, although we have been back to teaching in person, the old ways are long gone. As DeCamillis (2023) emphasized, the pandemic revealed opportunities in the midst of all the challenges, with educators all over the world finding and adapting their instruction to new ways to teach.
References
DeCamillis, K. (2023). HyperDocs, GIFs, and collaboration boards: Online writing instruction supports for English learners. CATESOL Journal, 34(1). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1417119.pdf
Strassman, B. K., & O’Connell, T. (2007). Teaching tips: Authoring with video. The Reading Teacher. https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/curriculum-and-instruction/articles/teaching-tips-authoring-video
Gia,
ReplyDeleteI share the same ideas when it comes to improving my teaching. It is always easier to learn from someone who has put in the time to explore the tools, especially online tools, that they would like us to use. I, myself, am not good with new technology tools and it takes me quite a few times to "play around" with something for me to be able to help someone else. Throughout reading your blog and taking this course, I have been able to learn about different technology tools that I could use to communicate with parents and tools that I can use to stay organized and share with my students. With the continuing rise in digital writing skills, I want to be prepared to help my students succeed in all ways possible. I share the same thoughts about how COVID-19 changed the way that we teach forever. However, I do think that it also created so many issues that even now, four years later, we as teachers are trying to help our students through. I think that along with the effects of COVID-19 and the growing world of technology and digital communication, there is also a weakening of our students social/emotional skills . Have you seen any information on this in your research?
Gia,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about how COVID-19 has impacted student learning, the use of technology, and even social-emotional skills. One way these deficits manifest themselves is in student confidence (of lack thereof) in sharing ideas or voicing opinions. I read about using videos without sound as a way to encourage student writing and I’m very excited to try that out in my classroom. In using video to create narratives or explanations, I should see that “finding their voices as writers is less of a challenge for students because they are comfortable with messages and visual images working together to communicate meaning” (Strassman & O-Connell, 2007). To incorporate more digital writing skills, I could have the students take those narrated videos and turn them into a blog or website, where they could then take on the role of content writer (see Lawrence, 2022, section 3.12 for more information). Do you think these activities would be approachable for ELL students, as well?
References
Lawrence, D. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web. Broadview Press.
Strassman, B. K., & O’Connell, T. (2007). Authoring with video. The Reading Teacher, 61(4), p. 330-333