DAAP was quite an experience, I had no idea what I was getting into when I applied, but there is no doubt that it taught me more in five years than I ever expected it could.

I think the most difficult thing to learn was the difference between an en dash and an em dash. And honestly, I am surprised that didn’t take the entire five years, but I managed to squeeze a few more things in there too. Here they are:

10. Often, leaving the studio is the best way to get work done.

By the middle of year 3 I hated our studio. It was dark, and grey, and full of misery. I had classmates that loved working there, but I couldn’t do it. Usually, by the end of a quarter, I was on a first name basis with the barista at Starbucks and the cashier at Panera. With a laptop and free wi-fi, the world is your studio.

9. Professors aren’t all knowing.

Professors don’t want you to know this. Especially when you’re just starting off, But the more time I spent with the same professors quarter after quarter, I learned, while they have a wealth of knowledge you can lean on, it comes down to your skills and your gut. No professor is going to fix your design, if they do, you’re not going to feel good about it, and you won’t have learned anything from them.

8. Leaving your comfort zone sucks, but is completely necessary.

The first time I moved across the country I was scared to death. I feel like I’ve had a lot of scared to death moments over the past few years. But so far I’m still here, so I guess they weren’t that bad. Not all of the experiences I have had have been great, but I learned something from every single one of them. I wouldn’t be the person I am without the challenges I’ve overcome.

7. Working for clients is a whole lot different than working for yourself.

The client isn’t always right. But they usually have insight that designers would never have come to on their own. I chose UC because of the CO-OP program. Working for someone else taught me so much about myself as a designer. I got called out on mistakes and learned how to fix them. I discovered holes in my design that I never would have patched if the project was personal. I wouldn’t trade that experience for any classroom.

6. School will teach you what you need to know, but only working will really teach you how to do it.

There were internships where I was something of a production monkey, but they taught me how to do design. DAAP had an unpublished mantra, “We don’t teach software.” No design school wants to be the one with the kids who are awesome at photoshop, they want to produce thinkers and problem solvers. But there is a lot of value in knowing photoshop backwards and forwards. So, all you 19 year olds going to your first CO-OP: yes, you are going to have to cut up photoshop documents, and write HTML that no one is going to read, but use that time to learn from the people around you, and practice all the skills they don’t really teach you in school.

5. You do a lot of figuring out what you don’t want to do before figuring out what you do want to do.

Having graduated 6 whole months ago, I can’t begin to say I really know what I want to do with my life. However, I know I would be in a much worse position without having interned throughout DAAP. I got to try development, motion design, production, graphic design, all of which I know now aren’t really what I want to do. I didn’t really know that Interaction design was what I wanted until my final co-op senior year. So try on different hats, you never know which one will fit best until you take them all for a spin.

4. Being able to talk about your work is just as important as the work itself.

It took me a while to figure this one out. Senior year I got an internship based on a project I did pre-junior year (senior = year 5, pre-junior = year 3). I got the job because I could talk about why the project was important to me, and what I learned from it. Looking back, the interface and graphic design wasn’t anything special, I would never show someone just the final interface screenshots. The real value comes in the ability to articulate what a project means and why you made the choices you did.

3. Multi-disciplinary teams are the best kind.

Multi-Disciplinary studios are not part of the Digital Design Curriculum. I had to seek them out, and take them on top of my other quarterly studios. But they were the best classes I took at UC. I worked with industrial and fashion designers, architects and business students. It amazed me how, when faced with the same problem, we all solved it differently. I learned so much from these studios, the professors, and my classmates.

2. Be passionate about something outside of design.

There were many times at school I was completely worn out. I would sit in front of my computer for hours and accomplish nothing. Times like these were when I closed my laptop, jumped in my car, and drove out to the barn. Nothing clears my mind like an afternoon with a horse and a good friend. Throughout school I volunteered with a Therapeutic Riding program, the kids and other volunteers at Milestones got me through DAAP, no question.

1. Do work you love.

There is nothing like a project you care about. A project that you can work on for weeks and love every minute of it, from research to production. I didn’t love all the work I did at DAAP. I really loved maybe 3 projects. But those projects made all those late nights and frustrating critiques worth it.

I love cars. I am in awe of great typography. Put these two together, and you will often find me straining my head as an old car drives by, trying to catch a glimpse of the name plate.

Today’s cars have lost some of the character that they embodied in the 50s, 60s, and 70s—in more ways than one. But I’m a fan of the details, and today, that’s my focus. The type treatments that were crafted in past decades felt so much more individual, more thought out and expressive. Every BMW that drives by today is badged with the same typeface, same type style. That is not bad, it is a strong typeface, it is recognizable and plays to the solid, agelessness of the brand. You couldn’t mistake that “M” for anything but a high performance BMW, but they do not have the individuality they had 40 years ago.

I don’t know if the individuality of vintage designs could be sustained today; with higher volumes and shorter model cycles details get lost. But I will always appreciate the beauty of this hidden art.

Nectarine Group had a “Remember Steve Day.” We all wore black turtlenecks and sneakers.

Steve Jobs passed away this week. It’s strange how events like this bring people together. His passing hit this country like an earthquake. There wasn’t any physical devastation, and I think we will make it through without FEMA’s intervention, but people came together in much the same way.

There are piles of flowers and notes outside Apple stores across the county. And all over the internet major websites have transformed home pages to digital shrines to one of this country’s great innovators. Companies who compete with Apple every day, who have lawsuits sitting on lawyers’ desks right now, have taken time out to write articles about how this man defined the course of history.

I may bitch about Apple: this computer’s too expensive, this OS is too closed down; but he built this city. His ideas and drive and commitment made the PC what it is today–not a computer at all. Without the work that Steve did I wouldn’t have a desk to sit at everyday, or a computer to work on. I would be sitting with a less than beautiful machine looking back at me, probably building flash websites, and checking my blackberry.

So, thank you Steve, without your dedication to innovation, and your unwillingness to take no for an answer, this world would not be what it is today. We have lost a great man.

DAAPworks is hosted every year by the graduating senior class of designers at UC. Each major is responsible for their respective section of the building and the messy classrooms are transformed into slightly less messy galleries.

My part in all of this, other than moving 20 tables and at least a hundred desk chairs, was to organize the way finding signage around the building and campus to point people to the digital design classrooms. Hanging signage within the building wasn’t particularly allowed, so we aimed to keep everything really low key, the entire system was driven by QR codes and a dynamic website, ucdd11.com/m that would lead visitors through the building.

I have a tendency to make things way more difficult than they need to be… All for the sake of making something awesome, so I built a little mobile site based on our theme “More than Pixels”. We wanted the site to be super simple but fun, so I took our basic information and built a website that would react to the accelerometer in a phone and animate pixels falling around the screen based on the phone’s orientation. Despite the simplicity of the interaction, we all found ourselves sitting in front of our phones twisting them and tilting them for half a class period. Not reading any of the information presented on the site.

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The animation was pieced together from this javascript collision detection engine, and a mixture of ActionScript and hardware accelerometer data collection.

The most challenging part was to get it working simultaneously in the iOS and Android browsers. Mobile Safari allows you to read accelerometer data with javascript, really nifty, but pretty slow. Android doesn’t have this in browser as of this writing, so I loaded in a light weight swf that could read the data in ActionScript and then send it back out to the JavaScript particle engine.

It is still a little buggy, and I couldn’t even start to test it across Android phones, but it was a really fun challenge. There is nothing like a week and a 12 pack of Pepsi, surrounded by all kinds of mobile devices and lots and lots of code.

Check out the site on your phone, I hope it works.

Visiting Julie Johnson’s third grade classroom for the first time lead to a serious reevaluation of my project direction. I asked questions about how they collaborate in groups and gave an overview of my project and asked their opinion, many did not understand the function or how it would fit into their current classroom organization. I also questioned the most difficult part of writing for the students; many agreed that initial idea generation and then translation of that idea into a cohesive piece of writing is the most difficult.

Major take aways:

• students have trouble coming up with ideas
• translating an idea into words is difficult
• they enjoy building multi-media projects on the computer
• they like being able to express themselves and their ideas
• they love interacting with each other in person and digitally
• the whole class refers to each other as friends, not classmates or other students
• they like using the computer to create rather than organize or manage

It may prove challenging for some teachers to integrate technology into their classrooms; however, the results are well worth the energy.

In “Fresh Perspectives on New Literacy and Technology Integration” Linda D. Labbo writes, “Effective integration of technology is achieved when students are able to select technology tools to help them obtain information in a timely manner, analyse and synthesize the information, and present it professionally,” (Labbo). Technology opens up many doors for students throughout the execution of a project. Research can be broadened, the stress of composition can be relieved by word processing programs and publishing can be made more effective by being able to reach a limitless audience.

Publishing has changed immensely because of the integration of technology into classrooms. Rather than hang copies of writing on a classroom wall, students are now able to create video and audio mash ups of them reading their writing, slide shows of their illustrations, or blogs for the world to read.Kathy Ehle explains her students’ affinity to blog publishing, “I think its more 21st century. They’re used to facebook and using technology as a way to communicate. Now, everybody in the class can read [their blogs]. Everybody’s parents can read it. Everybody in the class, their parents and I can comment on it. It’s that conversation, like facebook, that makes it motivating,” (“Teacher Focus Group”).

“They’re used to facebook and using technology as a way to communicate. Now, everybody in the class can read [their blogs], everybody’s parents can read it. Everybody in the class, their parents, and I can comment on it. It’s that conversation that makes it motivating.”

-Kathy Ehle, fourth grade teacher

It is not only publication that makes use of technology in classrooms but production tasks as well. Scott Scheuerell, a high school social studies teacher, wrote about his experience helping his students create web pages to publish the research they did on local history. His students used cameras to capture photographs of their historical sites and scanners to scan headlines from newspapers and documents from the history museum. Students then took this information and formatted it into websites to be published publicly online. “During the process of producing a Web page, the students had to think deeply about what they had learned and communicated their historical findings using the Web page as their medium. Using this approach, students ‘become creators of information and ideas, not simply users of technology’,” (Scheuerell 194-197). When integrated appropriately, technology is a way to facilitate learning, not have students passively scan through web- pages to gather research.

When asked how technology positively affects her classroom, Julie Johnson explained, “First, and foremost, is how engaged my students are when technology is involved… It’s a shame that we take all of that away from them when they walk through the classroom door. I want to find ways for my students to be connected in authentic ways that will help them thrive in the 21st century workplace.” (Johnson). Clearly, students are more engaged when given the opportunity to use technology on projects. When working on multimedia projects students are able to learn new skills and try techniques they have not been able to use previously. Not only do they get to experiment with production methods but publishing online allows them to share their work with a wider audience, be it their parents and peers, or the entire world. This gives their work extra meaning, their teacher is no longer the sole audience for their work, because of this students take more pride in presenting their projects.

While there are countless positive outcomes when using technology in the classroom teachers also face numerous challenges. The biggest barrier for teachers when planning a lesson that integrates technology is time. Kathy Parker-Jones, a technology specialist in Hilliard, Ohio works with students across three elementary schools in the district, “One thing that I see over and over, which speaks to the time issues in schools, is that, typically, the classroom teacher decides what technology they are going to use, or what program or what the end product is. The projects I’ve seen kids be most engaged in are the ones where they get the most choice,” (“Teacher Focus Group”).

Sometimes using technology limits the choice that children have. Because of the time that it takes to teach students a new program they are usually limited to using a single program on each project. As students get older and build more technical skills this becomes less of an issue, but with my audience, learning new software is a time consuming exercise that may cut into time usually spent on other subjects.

Another issue I noticed while observing Julie Johnson’s third grade class was the extra work that was expected from the teacher when technology was being used. When I visited the classroom, a laptop cart was brought in and every student had access to their own computer. The students were excited to work on their different online projects; however, Julie Johnson became not only the teacher helping students to compose their writing and organize their thoughts, but also the ‘IT guy’, having to help students log on, trouble shoot frozen computers, and answering questions about how to perform different tasks within multiple programs.

Writer’s notebooks are a place for students and adults alike to store their in-progress writing, ideas and experiments. They are often used in conjunction with writing workshops at all grade levels and ages.

In elementary school, especially with boys, it is important that teachers do not refer to the notebook as a journal or diary, and that boys do not see it as such. Often, as soon as boys hear it described in this way they shut out the concept, fearing it is expected to be an emotional account of their day to day lives. Ralph Fletcher suggests describing it as a place to collect things, ideas, quotes, weird facts, and cartoons, among other things (Boy Writers 161).

Another teacher, Bruce Morgan, refers to them as Living Books. In his classroom it does serve a journal-like purpose, “Living Books store our observations of and responses to life.” He and his students use their Living Books as inspiration for the writing pieces they work on during their writing workshop (Morgan 48).

Some teachers are using blogs in addition to a writers notebook. Kathy Ehle explains that, “the technology part of [blogs] is a huge motivator.” Another teacher using blogs, Kelly Gorby, usually has students trade notebooks to read and reply to their peer’s work. She finds this technique limiting because they can only trade physical noteboks with one ofther student at a time and do not write in eachother’s notebooks. She likes that blogs allow them to comment without disturbing their classmate’s writing and read more than one student’s work at a time (“Teacher Focus Group”).

Writing notebooks are multi-faceted. They are both social and personal, just as writing is. Students in some classrooms are encouraged to write personal accounts in their journal and can fold over the page to indicate that they would prefer the teacher not read it. Students are also often encouraged to share writings from their notebooks with peers in their class as well as parents and teachers; at the end of a writing workshop session a few students are usually asked to read the pieces that they are working on.

Sources:

Bible, Kay, Kathy Parker-Jones, Kathy Ehle, Kelly Gorby, Julie Johnson, and Meghan Richter. “Teacher Focus Group.” Personal interview. 22 Nov. 2010.

Fletcher, Ralph J. Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse, 2006. Print.

Morgan, Bruce, and Deb Odom. Writing through the Tween Years: Supporting Writers, Grades 3-6. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse, 2005. Print.

A Writing workshop is a teaching strategy that many English teachers are integrating into their classrooms. “Writing workshop creates an environment where students can acquire [skills in spelling, rereading, and using supporting examples], along with fluency, confidence, and desire to see themselves as writers,” (Writing Workshop 1).

Writing workshops are often broken down into minilessons, where a teacher models or explains a new technique or mentor text for students, followed by 35-45 minutes of writing time where students can work individually or in groups. Students finish the session by sharing their writing with their peers. Share time gives students a chance to give and receive feedback on their and other’s writing. It is also an opportunity for teachers to choose specific student work to model positive use of skills (Writing Workshop 10-13).

Choice is an important part of writing workshop. “If Students are given the choice in what they write about, they will be more engaged, more productive, and more vested in the end product,” (Morgan 34). Writing workshops are structured to teach students individual skills while still giving them choice in the content of their pieces.

“If Students are given the choice in what they write about, they will be more engaged, more productive, and more vested in the end product.”

-Bruce Morgan, Writing through the Tween Years

Assessment in writing workshops is generally portfolio and conference based. Teachers have conferences with individual students to speak about their writing and help them to complete individual pieces. Teachers need to be subtle and understanding with boys during conferences, “They feel judged for what they choose to write about (topic), how they write about it (with wild action, slang, zany humor), and how the writing looks on the page (penmanship),” (Boy Writers 91).

Writing workshops differ from more traditional classrooms because of their focus on individual writing interests and a socially driven model. Traditional writing classes are often prompt driven, and writing is read and graded solely by teachers.

Sources:

Fletcher, Ralph J. Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse, 2006. Print.

Fletcher, Ralph J., and JoAnn Portalupi. Writing Workshop: the Essential Guide. Ports- mouth, NH: Heinemann, 2001. Print.

Morgan, Bruce, and Deb Odom. Writing through the Tween Years: Supporting Writers, Grades 3-6. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse, 2005. Print.

Students have many different ways of constructing their writing. A Classroom Teacher’s Guide to Teaching Struggling Writers clarifies, “Certainly, writers plan, write, edit, revise, and so on, but not in any fixed order; nor does every piece of writing require planning, editing or revision…Therefore, teachers of writing ought to focus their students’ attention on processes used by effective writers, but not on a prescribed process.” (Dudly-Marling 5). This is an appropriate distinction to make. While students need to be aware of all of the parts of the writing process, and taught how to effectively perform all of them, they need to have the choice to take their writing through any or all of them.

The following parts of the writing process are traditionally taught in classrooms, but, as Dudly-Marling explains, it is not necessary for every student to go through every step with every piece of writing.

Brainstorming/Pre-writing

A main driver of my new direction was a conversation I had with members of Julie Johnson’s third grade class. I visited the classroom and asked about different technologies they used. Many agreed that they enjoyed blogging, but when asked what the most challenging part of blogging was they, nearly unanimously, agreed that deciding what to write was the most difficult. I had asked the question expecting to get information about the interface, hoping to learn that they did not like reading all the text, or there were too many buttons. The fact that they answered the question completely differently than I expected struck me as very interesting.

Pre-Writing Techniques Story Mapping:

A student organizes their characters, setting and conflict in a mind map.

Story Boards:

A student draws out key frames of their story.

Research:

Necessary with most non-fiction writing, this can be done online or with books in the classroom.

Oral Storytelling:

A student tells their story out loud to a classmate or teacher.There are many pre-writing techniques that different teachers employ. In Kathy Ehle’s class the students have used their blogs to brainstorm collaboratively. “I had one little girl want to write a book about lame jokes. So she asked kids to send in their lame jokes, now I am getting to read all these jokes. I mean, they can get ideas, brainstorm, and pick each other’s brains, and it’s so instant, so much faster,” (“Teacher Focus Group”). Other examples of pre-writing include story mapping, where a student organizes thoughts on characters, setting and conflict in a mind map, linking different nodes with lines; storyboarding, where students draw out key frames of their story, and use that to organize their plot and characters before they begin writing; research, many nonfictional pieces of writing require online or published research on a topic; and oral storytelling, telling their story out loud to a classmate or teacher. There are, of course, other pre- writing techniques, and students employ many of these to organize their thoughts before beginning to write.

Pre-writing is an important part of the writing process, especially for boys. Carrie Pomeroy, a fifth grade teacher quoted in Boy Writers said, “Girls tend to ‘attack’ a writing assignment and get it done quickly. Boys, on the other hand, tend to ponder and fester about what they are going to write,” (Boy Writers 13). When visiting Julie Johnson’s class I watched one boy sit down with his laptop, and start a new blog entry. He wrote one sentence and proceeded to sit and stare aimlessly at his screen for nearly 20 minutes before asking the teacher for help. When the teacher came over, she asked leading questions to help encourage him to continue writing and spark ideas. Often boys get stuck when they are faced with an empty page, better pre-writing techniques can help them organize their thoughts and expedite the drafting process.

First Draft

Drafting is one of the most difficult parts of the writing process, students get frustrated trying to write perfectly composed prose on their first try. Students also often skip pre- writing and attempt to write their story without knowing what details or information they want to include. Arthur Voight, a literacy consultant writes, “Most kids, especially boys, have to write a lot of crap in order to produce something worthwhile. Many teachers want and expect a well crafted three- or five-paragraph first draft. This is not going to happen with boys,” (Boy Writers 151). This is often discouraging to students who expect to write a story quickly and be finished with it.

Revising

Many students finish their first draft and have a bad attitude towards revision; they assume that because they have written the story they are done. There are multiple reasons for this. Fletcher explains that “[students] often think of revision as a way to fix a bad piece of writing, when in fact, revision can be a way to enhance a good one,” (Writing Workshop 65).

Revising can encompass many different techniques, the Ohio Proficiency test asks students to assess whether or not they addressed the prompt, add details, confirm that they have a setting, characters, and plot, and re-read their story. Ralph Fletcher expands this list by suggesting changing the beginning and ending, add sections, delete sections, changing the order, changing the genre, changing the point of view, changing the tone, changing the tense, slowing down the “hot spot”, and focusing on one aspect (66).

Obviously a student is not going to change all of these aspects of one of their stories, but encouraging students to re-read and experiment with a few of these changes can help them improve their writing.

Editing

Editing and proofreading seem simple enough, but can be very challenging for children with limited fluency and technical skills. The Ohio Proficiency test expects students to check spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and use complete sentences.

In some traditional classrooms the majority of the editing responsibilities fall to the teacher; however, introducing students to the editing process and encouraging them to edit there own writing will both prepare them for testing and improve their writing skills (92).

Publishing

Publishing is an important aspect of the writing process, it signifies the completion of a piece of writing and can build confidence in writers as they share and earn positive feedback from peers and mentors on their writing. Having strong male role models to be an audience for young writers can reinforce writing as a positive activity. One teacher tells students to “Think about an older guy who you respect, write this for him to read,” (Gurian 60). Teachers use different methods to celebrate student writing. Julie Johnson has writing celebrations in which she invites children’s families and each student shares their writing with the group. Kathy Ehle explained that students love how publishing on a blog allows them to share their work with their peers as well as parents and teachers. They love to give and receive comments.

Sources:

Dudly-Marling, Curt, and Patricia Paugh. A Classroom Teacher’s Gude to Struggling Writers: How to Provide Differentiated Support and Ongoing Assessment. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2009. Print.

Bible, Kay, Kathy Parker-Jones, Kathy Ehle, Kelly Gorby, Julie Johnson, and Meghan Richter. “Teacher Focus Group.” Personal interview. 22 Nov. 2010.

Fletcher, Ralph J. Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse, 2006. Print.

Fletcher, Ralph J., and JoAnn Portalupi. Craft Lessons: Teaching Writing K-8. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse, 2007. Print.

Fletcher, Ralph J., and JoAnn Portalupi. Writing Workshop: the Essential Guide. Ports- mouth, NH: Heinemann, 2001. Print.

2009 fourth grade Ohio Achievement Tests show 9% more females preforming at or above proficiency level in writing than males. This compares to a 3% gap in Reading and a 1% gap in Mathematics. In seventh grade the gender gap in writing grows to 13% (“Ohio Achievement”). Clearly, a discrepancy exists between males and females in the writing classroom. This gap presents itself early and grows as students age.

Many issues surround boys and their attitudes towards writing, Julie Johnson, a third grade teacher in Hilliard Ohio, has taught many students with negative associations with writing, “A lot of kids that have bad attitudes have had teachers who focus [too narrowly]. They can’t capitalize, they cant put periods at the end of sentences, they are focusing on the mechanics and not looking at how they can put thoughts together,” (“Teacher Focus Group”). She goes on to explain that choice in subject matter is a huge motivator for students who have been soured to writing.

In addition to a focus on mechanics, the physical aspect of writing is challenging for boys, and thus gains a negative stigma. Ralph Fletcher, a leading writing teacher and researcher, asked boys “To complete this sentence: ‘For me, the hardest part of writing is…’…The first boy reported: ‘For Me, the hardest part of writing is that my hand hurts.’” Others responded, “My hand get’s sore,” “My Finger’s burn,” “Handaches,” (Boy Writers 73). Leonard Sax writes, in Why Gender Matters, “Virginia Tech researchers found

that boys are Years behind girls in development of the area of the brain responsible for fine motor skills,” (Sax 95). Not only is hand writing limiting boys’ enjoyment of writing, but poses challenges for teachers as well. Kathy Ehle explained that using a blogging platform for her Writing Workshop has relieved a lot of her stress. “Its a huge barrier for me to read their hand writing. Having their writing in a typed form allows me to spend more time commenting and responding,” (“Teacher Focus Group”).

While writing is physically difficult, boys are also put off by the concept of personal or emotional writing, which is often a focus in intermediate grades. Many teachers and researchers realize this and are restructuring their classrooms using choice as a way to motivate students. Julie Johnson explained that, “a lot of it has to do with giving kids choice about what they write about. And helping kids realize what they can do right… That’s a huge part of it, finding what they are good at, letting kids know what they are good at, and building on their strengths,” (“Teacher Focus Group”).

“A lot of it has to do with giving kids choice about what they write about, letting kids know what they are good at, and building on their strengths.”

-Julie Johnson, third grade teacher

When giving boys choice about what they write, teachers often find themselves with stories about violence, video games, and bodily functions. Many teachers find these topics off putting or inappropriate for school, especially those centered around violence; however, Newkirk warns against limiting boys’ choice, “It is a mistake I feel, to automatically equate boys’ use of violence in writing with any desire to be vicious or sadistic,” (Nerkirk 296). Despite what might seem like gratuitous violence to a teacher, the stories are often very social. They help to raise one boy in the eyes of others in the class. This is not to say that boys should be encouraged to write violent stories, Fletcher appropriately writes, “there’s a built in culture and gender clash between the student’s world and the world of the teacher. There must be common sense limitations on how much violence we permit in student writing,” (Boy Writers 54). Choice is a huge motivator to all students; however, often the choices that young boys make are contrary to what a teacher may prefer. It is important to remember that a balance must be found between what becomes unnecessary violence and topics that interest and encourage young boys to write.

Regardless of topic, boys are often discovered drawing comics, illustrations and maps alongside their writings. One teacher, introduced by Kelley King and Michael Durian in “Teaching to the Minds of Boys”, has embraced this, “Realizing the need for nonverbal planning tools, especially in males, to help bridge the gap between what students are thinking and what they’re able to put down on paper, Mrs. Johnston now asks [students] to create storyboards, a series of pictures with or without words that graphically depict

a story line,” (Durian 57). Drawing and illustrating is a huge part of the storytelling process for boys. They often find it easier to express their ideas in pictures rather than words because of their limited verbal fluency, especially in younger grades when their vocabulary is still growing. Despite this, drawing is often viewed as something students “sneak” into their writing, an activity that is not encouraged or seen for what it actually is: full of information, important details, characterization, plot, and setting (“Boy Writers” 120-121). Research backs up anecdotal evidence, “girl’s brains are wired for language: words. This contrasts with boys’ brains where more cortical areas are devoted to spatial- mechanical functioning,” (125). Girls enjoy drawing as well, but in contrast to boys often draw nouns, the people in their story, their setting, while boys draw verbs, action, conflict (Sax 23).

In a perfect world it would be fascinating to focus on how visual elements, illustrations and maps, could expand storytelling; however, students are still held to high standards on proficiency tests, which focus solely on the written word. Therefore, it is necessary to realize that drawing is an important part of a boy’s process, but there must also be a focus on how to translate those drawings into well rounded written stories.

As boy’s move past the pre-writing and initial drafting process, they often have difficulty revising and continuing to reread and rewrite their work. Boys often want immediate feedback, and hope the reader likes their writing just the way it is. They feel like they have fulfilled the assignment and can move on (Boy Writers 13). This can be counteracted by taking steps to make writing assignments more purposeful. This can be accomplished in many ways. Creating a social environment throughout the writing process allows students to share their ideas and finished work. Kathy Ehle, Julie Johnson, and Kelly Gorby, all using blogs in their classrooms, have noticed that students love commenting on each other’s work. Kelly Gorby explains that “[blog comments] provide a connection where their Writer’s Notebooks can’t. We can trade our notebooks around, but it wouldn’t be the same. They wouldn’t be writing in each others’ notebooks” (“Teacher Focus Group”).

Learning to give and receive appropriate feedback is an important skill for students to learn at this age. “Learners must receive feedback from other more knowledgeable sources that don’t threaten the learner and allows them to refine their thinking,” (Morgan 35). Students can learn a lot from one another and this exchange of knowledge is both helpful academically and strengthens friendships.

Throughout the writing process boys face unique challenges based on their social and physiological development. In traditional classrooms these challenges are often overlooked and girls thrive much more readily. While I have no intention of excluding female students from my final solution, keeping in mind the challenges boys face will help to provide a well rounded solution.

sources:

Bible, Kay, Kathy Parker-Jones, Kathy Ehle, Kelly Gorby, Julie Johnson, and Meghan Richter. “Teacher Focus Group.” Personal interview. 22 Nov. 2010.

Fletcher, Ralph J. Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse, 2006. Print.

Morgan, Bruce, and Deb Odom. Writing through the Tween Years: Supporting Writers, Grades 3-6. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse, 2005. Print.

“Ohio Achievement Assessment Results.” Ohio Department of Education: Testing. Ohio Department of Education, 3 Dec. 2010. Web. 22 Apr. 2011.

Sax, Leonard. Why Gender Matters: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know about the Emerging Science of Sex Differences. New York: Doubleday, 2005. Print.

Participants:

Kay Bible

Technology specialist with three elementary schools; 33 years experience

Kathy Ehle

Fourth grade teacher at Alton Darby Elementary; 20 years experience

Kelly Gorby

Fifth grade teacher at Alton Darby Elementary; 15 years experience

Julie Johnson

Third grade teacher at Avery Elementary; 20 years experience

Kathy Parker-Jones

Technology specialist with three elementary schools; 18 years experience

Meghan Richter

Sixth grade language arts teacher at Hilliard Station; 10 years experience

Structure:

We started the focus group by asking a series of questions about how students collaborate, and how they, as teachers, foster a collaborative environment in their classrooms. I was also interested in storytelling and how that fits into students’ lives and the classroom. We asked about individual relationships they form with students and how they work to build those relationships in such large classrooms, as well as how and when they use technology in the classroom and the outcomes of that technology use.

Outcome:

With the current economic struggles it is infeasible for students to have access to technology on a daily basis. Most classrooms have 4 or 5 computers set up that students can use, but teachers have to reserve laptops if they want every student to have individual access, or other devices if they want something specialized, like cameras or iPods.

Teachers are also unwilling to spend the time to teach new technology, be it hardware or software, if it will not save them time in the long run or have a measurable impact on student work. It is not only the students who have to invest time to learn; teachers have to take the time outside of class to prepare themselves to understand the program well enough to be able to address the students’ questions.

Despite the challenges of utilizing technology in their classrooms, the teachers reported that students are instantly more engaged when they get to use technology in the classroom. Multiple teachers reported that using blogs in their writer’s workshop period has increased the amount of writing students do inside and outside the classroom. They like that they can publish their work for students, parents and teachers to see. Students also love leaving and receiving comments on their posts. One teacher reported that she liked having the ability to post a comment on a student’s writing that all of his or her classmates can see. She uses this to point out positive aspects of student’s writing to encourage the class to emulate that specific trait.

When asked about storytelling and their writing instruction, the teachers had some enlightening insight. They explained that students have a lot of trouble in 3rd and 4th grade generating ideas for narratives. Because of this, teachers focus more on nonfiction or personal narratives in their classrooms. Currently students are taught to use techniques such as building story webs or storyboards to help organize their thoughts before writing. They also explained the importance of a social connection in their writing classrooms. Students loved using blogs because they are able to give and receive comments from their teachers and peers. They also use the blog platform to corroboratively brainstorm; ask questions of their peers and get answers in the comments. Students also were engaged by the digital medium of blogs, students who found hand writing difficult were able to type responses, easing both the barrier to the student and the teacher who often struggled to read said responses.

We spoke briefly about how the internet has countless resources to help generate ideas or research topics. One teacher explained that it is very difficult to let students use the internet for this sort of research; not only because it needs to be censored for content, but because it is often above students’ reading level, and they quickly get frustrated when they can not find the information they need.

Overall, this was a hugely helpful exercise that help me gain invaluable insight into how teachers run their classrooms and how writing and storytelling are currently taught.

4th graders are coming into their own as thinkers and individuals. Ann Hulbert, author of “Raising America” describes the intermediate age group, between the ages of 8 and 12, as “when children are either launched—educationally, socially, and emotionally—or get lost, and are left behind,” (Morgan 12). Because writing is an inherently social and therapeutic act, the opportunity to encourage children to write at this age was clear. However, with this opportunity comes many challenges. One student explains that, “It’s hard being this age because everyone starts to get very judgemental and they let the impressions stick forever,” (Morgan 14). Students at this age can be harsh; they are quick to judge but still have a childish warmth within them.

Students have trouble opening up at this age. They are experiencing an inner struggle as they enter their teen years, and are sometimes unwilling to share these feelings with their classmates or teachers. Kathy Ehle, a fourth grade teacher, said, “Some kids just don’t want to open up. They close up and don’t want to share. They haven’t felt satisfaction from sharing something about themselves,” (“Teacher Focus Group”). While, socially, we may know that sharing is a healthy exercise, it is clear that some students do not feel comfortable expressing themselves so openly. Writing can give them the opportunity to let these feelings out in a safe environment, where they can choose to share, or keep it to themselves. Kelly Gorby, a fifth grade teacher, explained her writing workshop: “A lot of kids write about their own experiences; I think it can be therapeutic,” (“Teacher Focus Group”). Many of these student’s choose not to share their writing; however, when one does it can be a huge step for them.

Socially, students at this age are beginning to see themselves as distinct individuals. They are separating themselves from their parents, and forming friendships based on budding interests and personalities. One student writes, “When I was younger, everyone liked the same things. But now, not now, now if you don’t, you are out. I mean it. Out,” (Morgan 15). Building these friendships and gaining social standing is important to these students. Often boys will judge other boys harshly for using emotional language or writing about relationships (Boy Writers 22). This, of course, leads to boys not writing emotional accounts of their own lives; however, that does not mean it is any less social. Writing can still “define and bond friendship groups in the classroom,” (Newkirk 296).

Many students at this age see writing as an individual act. Something that “entails solitude, isolation from peers, loneliness,” (297). However, it is quite the opposite, when structured well, writing is a means to share interests with classmates, to gain social standing when the teacher calls out a positive aspect of the story, or to learn from each other during peer review.

In addition to distinct social and emotional changes that frame fourth graders as an appropriate audience, fourth grade is an important year for standardized testing in Ohio. Students are tested on their writing proficiency for the first time in fourth grade. They are then not tested again until seventh grade (“Ohio Achievement”). While this is secondary in my mind to students’ distinct social and emotional needs, it is important to understand the implications of state and national testing, and to realize the impact that it has on students and teachers on a day to day basis.

An opportunity exists to encourage writing among fourth graders because of their unique social and developmental needs. They are changing physically and emotionally; writing can provide both a therapeutic outlet for their personal experiences, and a way to build friendships by sharing interests, learning from one another, and gaining prestige in the classroom.

Sources:

Bible, Kay, Kathy Parker-Jones, Kathy Ehle, Kelly Gorby, Julie Johnson, and Meghan Richter. “Teacher Focus Group.” Personal interview. 22 Nov. 2010.

Morgan, Bruce, and Deb Odom. Writing through the Tween Years: Supporting Writers, Grades 3-6. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse, 2005. Print.

Newkirk ,Thomas. “Misreading masculinity: Speculations on the great gender gap in writ- ing. “ Language Arts 77.4 (2000): 294-300. Research Library, ProQuest. Web. 13 Mar. 2011.

“Ohio Achievement Assessment Results.” Ohio Department of Education: Testing. Ohio Department of Education, 3 Dec. 2010. Web. 22 Apr. 2011.

What follows is my published project definition for my capstone project: My Online Writer’s Notebook.

Fourth grade is a tough year for boys, academically, socially, and developmentally. Many students are coming into their own as individuals and are facing challenges in and out of the classroom. On Ohio fourth grade writing assessment tests, 20% of boys are below proficiency, while only 10% of their female classmates are at the same level. Writing has the largest gender gap of any of the tested subjects at this age, and the gap only grows as students enter middle and high school.

Writing is an important skill for any student to have. Not only is it necessary to be proficient in high school and college, but writing can be a very therapeutic exercise. It has a unique ability to be both organized and analytical while allowing a student to express both emotion and creativity. Doubtless, there are innumerable issues that are facing our education system, begging for design solutions; however, writing is an area that is often overlooked in an society focused on raising math and science test scores in global rankings. By focusing on writing we will raise more well rounded and creative individuals.

Boys face many unique challenges in the writing classroom, especially in third and fourth grade. Developmentally, their fine motor skills are behind those of their female classmates, making the physical aspect of writing laborious. They also are more likely to think in pictures than words. Boys can often be found sketching out comics or visualizations of their stories to frame it in their mind. I aim to address these traits with my project.

Technology in and of itself is a huge motivator to boys at this age, they go home and sit in front of computer or TV screens. They enjoy the communication and entertainment value that the internet brings to their day to day lives. This engagement and entertainment can be harnessed to raise a student’s interest in their writing both in and out of the classroom.

My Online Writer’s Notebook is a website focused on organizing and leading students through the narrative writing process. Many boys struggle with the open ended nature of writing and are unwilling to revise or share their writing. By bringing a more transparent structure to this process boys will be able to more knowingly work on their writing with concrete goals defined. The site will start by leading students through the pre-writing process; guiding them to create a story map and illustrations to express their ideas before drafting their story. After pre-writing, students will be able to draft, revise and edit their writing, as well as share it with peers and instructors. Bringing a social aspect to the process is very important. Writing can be used as way to build friendships and connections to teachers and classmates, and therefore motivate students to be more open with the stories they create.

Students will use this site in and outside of the classroom. While it will be built in a way that teachers will be able to easily integrate it into their writer’s workshops, students will have access from home or personal devices so as not to limit access to their own work. While few public classrooms are constantly stocked with devices for each child, many are equipped with multiple shared computers, and teachers can often check out laptops for every students for use during their writing workshop.

While there are technical limitations, namely access to individual devices, This site strives to bring structure and a more holistic view to the writing process. Students are encouraged to write in an open environment and share their work with peers and teachers. By improving composition skills such as pre-writing, revising and editing in the classroom students will be more aware of the process when they face standardized testing, and will have gained skills needed as they grow as students and individuals.