This
article appears in School
Talk, a publication of the National Council of
Teachers of English in the April 2003 issue.
As
a teacher of fifth graders, it’s often a monumental task
to motivate students to write! It’s even a larger task
to encourage students to revise and edit their written work.
I have found that handheld computers are an effective way to
motivate learners to write.
Each
of my students is equipped with a Palm™ handheld and
keyboard. Whether at their classroom desk or dining room table
at home, students have access to a variety of writing tools
on their handhelds. There’s WordSmith, the word processor
that includes a spellchecker and a thesaurus. There’s
also Noah Lite, a dictionary with over 100,000 words. The handhelds
have the concept mapping software, PiCoMap. Furthermore, there’s
Palm Reader, which has e-books and checklists about the six
writing traits, transition words, writing examples, and more.
Besides these applications, my students have access to one
PalmPix digital camera. The PalmPix camera attaches to the
handhelds and stores digital images. These tools allow students
to have writing resources readily at hand.
Handhelds
have certainly motivated students to write. Fifth graders are
actually excited to take out their Palm Handhelds and keyboards
to compose a writing piece. The best part is that they realize
how easy it is to revise. According to one of my fifth grade
students, “I can type and edit easily. With a paper,
if I erase something, usually it will mess up the paper and
I’ll have to restart. With a handheld, it’s a lot
easier.” When students perceive the task of writing as
being easier, I have found that many writers may begin to write
more and more often.
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The
best part is that they realize how easy it is to revise.
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One
of the best examples of how handhelds have made writing more
meaningful and productive in my classroom is the Roving Reporter.
The Roving Reporter writes articles for the Daily Log. Each
day I assign one student to be the Roving Reporter. This student
is in charge of taking photos with the PalmPix camera and composing
a well-written article about the day’s learning. The
photos and article are posted onto a section of the class web
site called the Daily Log.
One
of my students comments,“My parents read the Daily Log
everyday. I think it makes me write a lot better because I
know my parents are reading it.” Students know that the
Daily Log is read by family, friends, and visitors to the web
site. It makes a very authentic experience because students
are writing for a clear purpose. Even if parents aren’t
reading the Daily Log online, they read their student’s
writing on the handheld itself. WordSmith stores all of a student’s
writing for the entire school year, making an instant portfolio.
All
students love being a photographer. Because they get to take
pictures with the PalmPix camera, my students really look forward
to being the Roving Reporter. The students also love the fact
that they get to take their handheld computers home with them
in the evening to compose the articles. Students have their
digital photos available for viewing on their handhelds. When
they compose their articles, the photos remind students what
to write about.
Submitting
the photos and article is a very simple process. The following
morning after being the day’s Roving Reporter, the student
places his or her handheld into the synching cradle and presses
the button. The photos and WordSmith document are automatically
transferred to the desktop computer attached to the cradle.
That desktop computer is accessible from my laptop. I easily
open the student’s Palm user folder and combine the photos
and text into a web page. This page is immediately uploaded
to the class web site. The world can then see the Roving Reporter’s
masterpiece!
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"I
think I have finally found a way to make readers enjoy
my articles."
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Because
there’s a Roving Reporter each day, students get a chance
to write several articles throughout the school year. One student
told me, “I think I have finally found a way to make
readers enjoy my articles.” All students have improved
their articles for the Daily Log throughout the course of the
year. In fact, my fifth graders can tell you exactly how they
have improved and are proud of their improvements.
To
improve the writing for the Daily Log, I keep a Word document
on my laptop computer. I copy and paste writing from the articles
submitted by Roving Reporters. Often these include grammar
mistakes. Once a week, I upload this Word document to my handheld.
I then beam this document to each student. Next, the class
individually revises and edits the writing in this document.
Later, I show this document on a large projection screen. The
class and I have great discussions as we revise and edit the
document together. Students tell me they enjoy practicing grammar
and revising much more using this system rather than always
filling out worksheets. The editing on handhelds is meaningful
because students are learning from their own mistakes, not
mistakes found in some workbook.
Check
out the Daily Log at www.mpsomaha.org/willow/p5.
You’ll see that handheld computers have helped my students
think about communication in significant ways. Teaching and
learning in my classroom have changed to make a more productive
and effective learning environment, thanks to handheld technology.
