Drawing+-+Writing+Tool

media type="custom" key="12547580"

I am very excited for my students to use this drawing and writing tool next week! We have been talking and reading about perseverance and sticking to it. They have read stories, poems, and folktales about it, and have made connections to a time they had perseverance during writing. This tool will allow me to combine all those lessons in a fun, exciting way; a tool to motivate my students. I have read about "increased motivation...as a result of access to laptop computers" (Cummins, 2007). The students will be so excited to have their own laptop for awhile and animate themselves and I am so excited to be able to assess them without it seeming like a test.

We have also been talking about thought clouds and how they are used in books. This program allows users to insert thought clouds and then type into them. I have been struggling with different ways to expose students to thought clouds as not many books in my classroom library use them. The students have used them in their writing a few times but very rarely and I would like to see them used more often to express how they and how they think the people around them are feeling. When I ask students to add thought clouds to their writing they are hesitant so I feel like this is one of the tools Cummins (2007) is talking about when he discusses the "potential of technology supported instruction to increase both cognitive engagement and identity investment in learning."

Cummins, J., Brown, K., Sayers, D. (2007). //Literacy, technology, and diversity: Teaching for success in changing times.// Boston: Pearson.