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Me, too.
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And little known fact, I'm not just a writing teacher, I'm a writer...too.
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But no one's ever really read my work.
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Because back in the days when I was building brave, new worlds with words in pink ink (that tender age of 7, though), there wasn't really a way for my work to be read by, well, anyone other than my mama.
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So in keeping it all to myself for 30+ years, you better believe I never found any kind of confidence in sharing what I wrote.
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Hence that little novel I want to write, but the likes of it have *yet* to see the light of day...
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Sigh.
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But the part that makes the writing teacher in me smile, is that it's not like that for *my* students.
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Instead, the Digital Era brings the noise when it comes to sharing in an instant our work with those folks we could never reach before.
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Our four walls are far less limiting when it comes to getting student work out there and into the great, wide open.
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And they need that. They need authentic audiences. They need feedback and critique from more than just our audience of one.
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Because 'when our students create for the world, they make it good; when they create for us, they make it good enough.'
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(Rushton Hurley, I'm lookin' at you, man...#ballerquotes)
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So which would *you* rather they create?
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Well if you're down for the former, if you think there's worth in our writers writing for someone other than us or examinations officers, I've got the ultimate geek-sesh for you.
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Today, I'm goin' live and gettin' real about what it means to teach writing in today's digital era.
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And I'm shelling out 3 legit ways you can pivot your writing instruction in a more authentic direction.
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So if you teach writing, I look forward to meeting up and nerding out.
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Link in bio, yo. 'See' you there!
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #iteachhighschool #iteachela #highschool #teachersofinsta #igteachers #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofig #teachertalk #teacherpreneur #21stcenturyteaching
When I started teaching, this wasn’t a question I found myself asking.
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Apparently, in 2004, smart phones weren’t quite smarter than our 5th graders just yet.
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But fast forward to 2019...even now, lots of teachers will tell you, ‘well, that’s not *my* job.’
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Well, iTeacher here...I’m here to say, ‘oh, hecks yes it is, brave teacher’...
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Our ~job~ is to transform learners into good citizens, right?
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‘Productive members of society,’ we beam.
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Well the digital footprints they create *reflect directly* the humans we’re shaping them to be, academically, socially, and professionally.
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Think about it…
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In a world like this one, where technology + communication = ubiquitous 4ever...where much of our reading, writing, seeking, and finding is conducted online...
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N O T having a digital footprint just isn’t an option anymore.
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Being Google-able is what opens the proverbial doors these days.
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(And apologies here, but, ‘I’m going to Google a few of her formal essays,’ said no human-or-employer ever!)
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Being Google-able is our resume and our business card.
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But here’s the kicker for the status-quo classroom…
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One must C R E A T E something in order for it to be Googled.
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Instead of just finding the answer online, our writers need license + encouragement to *produce* the answers t h e m s e l v e s.
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And in giving them the space to figure out what’s worth sharing, they’re building a bridge toward who they are in the process.
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Right now, they share for self(ie). This is what they know.
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But they don’t know what they don’t know, right?
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What would it look like if we started teaching them to share online for others?
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Because #truthbomb of the school day...if it isn’t in our job description to do it, and unless they take the initiative to Google it themselves, who *else* will? #iteachhighschool #iteachela #highschool #teachersofinsta #igteachers #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofig #teachertalk #teacherpreneur #teacherpreneurtribe #21stcenturyteaching
WARNING: if you teach writing to high schoolers, you might be under-serving them.
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I should know…
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As a die-hard, high school ELA teacher-slash-nerd, I spent way too long letting one rubric dictate my entire approach to instruction.
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...rubrics are funny like that, na’mean?!
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In their original sense, they’re just these fuzzy little creatures that help us set expectations for our writers and communicate feedback.
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But tether ‘em up to a standardized exam, and…SHAZAAM!
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They bewitch us right into thinking there’s only:
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✏️ 1 Form
✏️ 1 Medium
✏️ 1 Way...
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to teach writing skills!
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So for me, that meant:
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✔️ teaching argument (‘the form’),
✔️ by way of formal essay (‘the medium’),
✔️ followed by a lot of ‘you better do it like this, but not like this, and don’t even think of doing X, Y, or Z if you’re gonna call this an essay,’ type-of-prescriptive ~rigor~...
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(Sighs at former self…)
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Now don’t get it twisted...
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It’s not the rubric itself that’s full of dark magic, but rather, the threat or reward attached to *how well we follow* that document...that’s the hand that rocks the academic cradle.
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(Slides soap box onto stage)
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If we are going to equip our students with *real* writing skills, ones that *really* translate into the *real* world, we’re going to have to do much better than one form, one medium, and one set of ‘rules’ as our definition of what’s considered ‘acceptable’ writing...
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But hold up, where are my manners?!
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(mother shakes her head)
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I’m Jill Pavich, and I help high school teachers make writing more relevant, more authentic, more R E A L for today’s learners and tomorrow’s leaders.
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So, if you’re bobbin’ your head to this one, nerd with me this week in *real*-time...click the link in bio for deets!
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#iteachhighschool #iteachela #highschool #teachersofinsta #igteachers #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofig #teachertalk #teacherpreneur #teacherpreneurtribe #21stcenturyteaching #brainstorming #essaybasics #instructionalstrategies
👩🏼🏫 As teachers, we're always looking for great headlines to share with our students (because content is king, right?).
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But here's a lead worth our *own* attention...
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🗞 According to Forbes magazine, freelancers are expected to become the workforce majority by 2027, in large part, due to the perks of a digital era.
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*Freelancers*...those cool dudes (and dudettes) that work from wherever they want, whenever they want to...
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🛤 Those pickers-and-choosers who go in a direction befitted to their own passions and interests. *Those* guys-n-dolls...
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And by the way, this lifestyle brought to you by digital unicorns like like:
⚙️ automation
🎥 video conferencing
🗃 document sharing
💫 and infinite digital reach
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Our modern means of communication are vast, and they’re opening doors to this kind of freedom + flexibility, this unique chance to work from *virtually* anywhere but an office cubicle.
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🙋🏼♀️ Today, freelance is more *preference* than it is 'last resort', and it's picking up steam.
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Ok...so…?
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🤷🏼♀️ Why does this matter to us as teachers, and what does this mean for our students?
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It has everything to do with the way we're teaching and learning in the classroom, that’s what!
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👉🏻 If our students are moving into a world where they can (literally) grant themselves #BossStatus, they're going to need to know how to self-direct...
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During the time under our care, they need to ease UP on the passive consumption of information and double DOWN on producing it themselves. That’s the view from my Teacher’s Desk, anyhow...
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🤔 I’d love to hear yours! What’re *your* best thoughts on helping our students prepare for what lies ahead in this e’er-changin’ world we’re tryin’ to change-make in?
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Let’s talk!
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* #iteachhighschool #iteachela #highschool #teachersofinsta #igteachers #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofig #21stcenturyteaching #pedagogy
*Actual* footage from my classroom, lol.
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That was three years ago, right around the time my school started consistently showing up on Washington Post's Top 25 list of 'Most Challenging Schools in the Nation.'
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Sounds impressive at first, sure...but what that actually translates into is that my high school was plugging out an *impressive* number of standardized exams...
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So it's no surprise those 465,000 words were a direct product of the standardized writing tasks my 15-year-old writers were responsible for completing to earn college credits.
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Formal essay-writing skills? Check.
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Chances of them using said writing skills outside academia? Not-so-check.
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Education Week lays this one plain:
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'Some of the most common writing tasks in the work world never find their way into high school English courses, and modern students may be less likely...to learn professional writing on their own.'
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So 465,000 words later, I was certainly helping those students get into college.
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But if I'm being honest with myself, I wasn't helping the other students who *weren't* planning on a 4-year university...
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These days, writing isn't just for college students and academia.
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In a digital era, we are *all* published authors. We are all writing, all the time.
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From our text messages to our blog posts; in our emails and on our fundraiser pages.
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We jot our thoughts on social media, expressing opinions and advocating for ideas.
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We send DMs, and draft bios…
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The formal essay will get our students into college, but there are so many *other* writing experiences that can give our students the hands-on, tangible know-how they need, right now, to get a foot in the door in the real world.
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So let’s brainstorm...right here, right now.
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Give me your best lesson plan idea for teaching writing more practically--to write, now--in the high school classroom...go!
#iteachhighschool #iteachela #highschool #teachersofinsta #igteachers #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofig #teachertalk #teacherpreneur #teach
Prior to drafting the various elements of their essay, we typically encourage students to generate a few ideas and consider strategic order before committing these thoughts to the page or screen.
And we facilitate this process in any number of ways. Lots of times, our writers are asked to draft essays individually and on-demand, meaning a time limit is in place.
So we share idea-generating strategies in the form of steps, pneumonic associations, or other memory triggers. These give writers a framework to access ideas quickly and efficiently within that limited time frame.
But most of the time, we speak of brainstorming in the context of generating ideas for essays *exclusively*. It's important, however, that we translate just. how. valuable. this skill is beyond that.
In other words, we need to peel back the classroom curtain to reveal the bigger picture of how brainstorming can lend itself to real-world application.
In this blog post, I’m sharing 6 different strategies to get students brainstorming in real-world ways! Click the link in my bio to visit this post! .
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#teachersofinsta #igteachers #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofig #iteachhighschool #iteachwriting #teachertalk #teacherpreneur #teacherpreneurtribe #21stcenturyteaching #brainstorming #essaybasics #instructionalstrategies
