DWP 2006-07 Electronic Writing Marathon underway
by Greg Dyer (University of Sioux Falls), Anne Moege (Mitchell Middle School), and Michelle Rogge Gannon (University of South Dakota)
We’ve started the second year of our DWP Electronic Writing Marathon, in which DWP teachers can explore and write in a variety of online technology environments. Michelle Rogge Gannon (University of South Dakota) and Greg Dyer (University of Sioux Falls) are co-facilitating the marathon again, with this year’s participants including Annie Christain (University of South Dakota), Dawn Lewis (Burke School District), Anne Moege (Mitchell Middle School), Deb Harrison (Wall School District), Reva Potter (Belle Fourche Middle School), and Karen Rahn (Rutland School District).
The 2nd-year focus is writing across the curriculum, an idea suggested by a marathon participant from last year, Lindsay Sorben (formerly Bennett County Public School). For three weeks in July, the marathoners explored and wrote in Tapped In , Nicenet , ChainReading , and LiveJournal (weblogging), with weekly meetings in Tapped In to discuss these experiences and think about how these tech environments might be useful for writing across the curriculum. Some specific activities for the first leg of the marathon included posting responses and replying to others’ discussion posts in Tapped In and Nicenet; finding and posting links related to technology and writing in Nicenet; sharing titles of books we’ve read, want to read, and recommend reading in ChainReading; and creating our own blogs using LiveJournal. The next leg of the marathon will be in January, with wiki’s, podcasting, and digital storytelling looming on the horizon.
During the school year, the marathoners will also have the option of engaging in an inquiry project at their schools, using one of these technology environments with a writing-across-the-curriculum emphasis. Two of last year’s marathon participants, Lindsay Sorben and Anne Moege, conducted inquiry projects in their classrooms, applying one of the forms of technology that we explored, Nicenet.
From Anne Moege: “My students mainly used Nicenet’s conferencing feature to write reader’s responses to their literature circle books. We also tried to hold online literature circle meetings. Overall, my students really enjoyed the experience, especially reading and responding to what others had written.”
Both Lindsay and Anne attended the National Writing Project Writing-and-Technology Writing Retreat at Lied Lodge in Nebraska July 26-30, 2006, to develop professional articles about their use of technology in support of writing instruction.
