If a student writes a story or a paragraph on a piece of paper, it can easily be crumpled up, stuffed into the bottom of a backpack, and forgotten or thrown away.
But letting a 1st grader use a digital platform to draw, say, a rainbow glitter cat to illustrate a sentence they’ve written or create a digital character reading their writing back to them, and then sharing the results with classmates and parents, feels a lot more permanent and engaging, said Traci Piltz, an instructional technology coach for Montana’s Billings Public Schools at a session at the ISTELive 25 + ASCD Annual Conference 25 here, June 29 to July 2.
Piltz, a former kindergarten teacher, has been using writing tech tools with the littlest learners for more than a decade, beginning back around 2012 when iPads in classrooms were a novel idea.
These days, though, “kids are used to having a device in their hands all the time, so [the technology is] not engaging them in some way,” Piltz said. “It’s really no different than putting a worksheet in front of them.”
Piltz’s three favorite platforms for teaching writing include: Book Creator, ChatterPix, and Seesaw. Each has a free version available to teachers. And in Piltz’s mind, they’ve stood the test of time.
“They’re simple enough that our young learners can get on and use them,” Piltz said. But “they’re robust enough that it’s like the sky is the limit. [You can go] as far as your imagination can take you.”
Teaching writing with tech tools develops creativity
Letting students use technology to create and share their writing can elevate their learning, Piltz said. It gives them different ways to express their thinking and show what they’ve learned.
In Book Creator, for instance, students can add images or even their own audio to their writing. “Think about the excitement that comes along with being able to draw the rainbow glitter pen,” Piltz said.
Student can also use their cameras to add pictures and images to the page, and can click a microphone to record themselves reading. “The audio is huge” for developing readers, Piltz said.
Seesaw also includes a voice recording feature and allows students to add different background shapes or pictures.
In ChatterPix, students can “draw a little mouth, and then they make it talk,” Piltz said. “It’s literally that simple.”
Student writing can be shared with classmates and parents
Seeing their work published in some form can be a significant incentive for reluctant early writers, Piltz said.
“When students see they had an authentic audience for what they were making and writing, that is so motivating to them as young writers,” Piltz said.
As a teacher, “I was always blown away by their ability to write for long periods of time,” when they knew their work would be shared, she said. “They wanted to write. They wanted to be creating and sharing their learning. They would say, ‘Has my mom seen it yet?’ Being able to share, whether it’s with your peers in class or sharing outside of the classroom, I think, is huge.”
Teaching writing using these apps is a good way to begin introducing digital citizenship skills
Teaching digital citizenship skills has become the responsibility of everyone in a district, Piltz said. One major point to get students to hook into: Using technology doesn’t have to be passive.
“They’ve been on devices, but do they know how to use them as a tool?” Piltz said. “We want to teach them how to use the device as a tool, because we know that they’re part of their world.”
But giving students a chance to create with technology can be hard to fit around, for instance, a 90-minute reading block or a 60-minute math block.
“So [these writing tools] are a great entry point,” Piltz said.
