Weekly Reading #2 ~ Digital Media and today's students' ability to read and write

 Finding My Voice

As I find myself reading more and more articles regarding digital media versus our youths' ability to read and write successfully, I began reflecting on my own reading and writing.  How much did I write in school when I was my own children's age?  I recall winning awards for my fictious tales but that doesn't necessarily mean that the grammar was correct.  Essential I had an imagination that rivaled my classmates.  I guess digging out those old essays would be the true test as to whether my grammar structuring actually aided me in my writing and awards.  

My next thought as I read Writing, Technology, and Teens became - what was the purpose of my writing in the 1980s as opposed to the writing in the current decade?  Everything I wrote stayed very local.  My diary and my pen sat next to my bed and communication with my friends occurred either on the playground or over a landline.  Today's teenagers have so much more at their disposal.  Their words can be heard and felt over millions of miles through blogging and social media.  And through these millions of miles, the world just became smaller within a short period of time.  Communication has changed drastically over the last 3 decades.  While I had a small audience to entertain, today's teen has the world listening to their voices.  The Internet has proof of this.  It is not hard to find blogs and various writings, quotes, and poems written by teenagers.  In fact, I've found inspirational quotes by teenagers that I absolutely love and have repeated.  My own niece is proof of a teenager who has written her own lyrics and music and later went on to published her music all before the age of 17.  I've included one Cassidy's songs in the YouTube video below.   

What I have always found interesting about Cassidy's style is that she learned to play guitar via YouTube videos.  Her audience for the longest time was her friends on FB who would leave comments on how well her music was evolving (sample of "Avett Brothers Cover").  Eventually, she went on to more formal lessons of singing and writing as she became a professional but her roots will always be connected to the Internet through learning and sharing.  Much like the article Writing Outside of School states, Cassidy's writing skills became stronger as she went from rewriting past and current artists' songs to reflect her style to writing her own lyrics and music.  Feedback from the Internet made her more confident in her skills as a writer, hence creating a writer worthy of obtaining a music label by the age of 17.  

Pictographs in Preston Co, WV

Cassidy's music has always been based on her life experiences from losing a dad in a fatal car accident (Best Part of Me), to falling in love (Skin and Bones), and losing love (Loneliness is Stronger).   As I read through the articles, it wasn't hard to connect with the fact  that teachers are missing the point of writing.  We write when we are inspired.  We write about our lives, our thoughts, our journeys, our "funds of knowledge".  It obvious by cave dwelling art or pictographs that story telling is in our genetic makeup.  It is who we are.  But to tell a good story we need inspiration.  It is hard to write about concepts we are not familiar with.  The storyteller in the pictograph above obviously wanted to relay information about animals such as elk when they once roamed through West Virginia.  

The articles in the assignment only affirmed how I feel about communication in the digital age and how it affects our youth.  I don't believe it is texting that is failing our students, I believe it is our approach to teaching reading and writing.  Education needs to focus on today's technology and how it can help foster reading and writing skills.  I really liked the activities linked in Can Texting Help with Spelling.   If educators feel that texting is hindering our students' writing skills have them write the message 3 different ways:  as a text, as a message to their parents, and finally as an essay for the classroom.  We can teach students when to use texting language and when not if we feel it is impairing their abilities as a writer instead of being negative about the technology that already exists.  It isn't going anywhere.  Texting isn't a fad.  Resistance is not going to help our students, it is only going to hold them back in an evolving world of technology.  

As I think back on what I read and what I've written so far, I think about how tough I was on Cassidy during her early years.  I thought Cassidy's grammar on FB was atrocious and that her extra e's on the ends of words such as "smilee" was a way to hide an inability to spell and a connection to the phonics I did not grow up learning.  I remember teasing her.  I did not realize at the time that being creative with language may one day produce a strong reader/writer, as it obviously did (Scholastic, 2014).  Maybe as educators we need to abandon old dogmas of what correct writing is and embrace the message being created by the student while gently mentoring strong writing skills in various areas of core content.  This generation has a lot to offer when it comes to imagination and innovation.  We just have to listen.

Social Media Makes for Better Student Writing, Not Worse, Teachers Say

While perusing the Internet for an article, blog, or video to back my ideas of digital media and our youths' writing and reading skills, I came across an article by Joanna Stern who interviewed several educators on the affects of digital media on reading and writing.  Jennifer Woollven, an English teacher discovered that when students know their writings will be broadcasted across social media, they take more ownership over their writing. In this same article Joel Malley, another English teacher, stated that creativity is being born from such digital technology such as story-telling projects and blog postings.  He also noted that his students were taking greater pride in their writings because they knew it wasn't going to be hiding in the closet but be displayed for the world to see.  Another fact I found interesting in the article was based on how many teachers are viewing social media as a pre-writing or a foundation for writing, "…students start to express their thoughts and that means students are writing more and they see that as a plus" (Stern, 2013).   

The article also noted that while students do make mistakes and use texting shorthand while writing, it should not be considered a huge mistake. Woollven wants to remind educators that this generation has grown up with instant messaging and texting. It is part of their culture. The teachers in the article do admit that longer texts allow for more mistakes because kids are used to short messages on social media with little to no revisions. However, I want to point out a quote that I could not agree more on stated by Joel Malley:

"Teachers have been complaining about the declining standards of writing for what seems like 150 years," Malley said. "I disagree with that. They [students] write differently for me than they do on their Twitter accounts, and if they don't, it's my job to let them know what the difference should be" (Stern, 2013).

We are educators, instead of complaining about student's writing in combination with digital media, let's be flexible enough to utilize the tools students are using and make them more powerful.  

Our Digital Natives

Citation
Lenhart, A., Arafeh, S., Smith, A., & MacGill, A. (2008, April 24). Writing, technology, and  
       teens. Retrieved on June 1, 2014 from http://www.pewinternet.org/2008/04/24/writing-
       technology-and-teens/

NCTE. (2009). Writing outside of school. Retrieved on June 1, 2014  from 
       http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/CC/0191-
       sep09/Chron0191BriefWriting.pdf

Scholastic. (2014). Can texting help with spelling?. Retrieved on June 1, 2014 from
        http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/can-texting-help-spelling

Stern, J. (2013, July 16). Social media makes for better student writing, not worse, teachers 
        say. Retrieved on June 1, 2014 from http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/social-media-
        makes-student-writing-worse-teachers/story?id=19677570