Digital Writers Workshop

This past Spring, I was fortunate enough to attend the enlightening and amazing "Digital Media Literacy" workshop at Columbia's Teacher's College in NYC.  This workshop was transformative in the way I realize how different our brains read and write in the digital age.   My mind was literally spinning after this conference thinking of ways we could create a pedagogical shift in the way we approach literacy at our school.  I dragged our Director of Literacy and Student Support into my thinking and an idea was born...This summer we kind of geeked out together (a lot) and did a lot of reading, discussing, planning, and creating... and a vision was born... the big idea of "How might we immerse our students and teachers in a 21st Century Writers Workshop?"

Throughout the course of the year, each grade level will be re-designing a Lucy Caulkins Unit of Study to infuse a digital tools for students to teach our students to become digital publishers.  This is one of our big lower school initiatives this year in which we are allocating faculty meeting time, curricular support and other resources.  Some of the items in the works include: video memoirs (5th Grade); persuasive PSA's (kindergarten); web design (4th grade) and more! We plan to provide our students with an authentic audience by having them share their pieces with classmates, families and more This will very much be about collaborative teacher planning (and coaching), hard work, resiliency, FUN and STUDENT ENGAGEMENT.  We are super excited to embark on this journey.  I look forward to sharing updates regularly (I Promise).

Both of these titles helped us identify our greatest needs, provided tools, process, and even some model lessons too.
- From Pencil's to Podcasts by Katie Stover & Lindsay Yerter
- Argument in the Real World by Troy Hicks & Kristen Hawley Turner.

Has anyone embarked on a similar journey? What kind of tips or feedback can you provide? Stay tuned for updates.