Using Computers to Improve Writing

by Carol Brown Dodson

In schools and classrooms where students are encouraged to use word processing programs for most of their writing assignments, students and teachers alike sometimes complain that students who are taking the writing OGT must use paper and pencil or pen instead of a computer. One student said he does nearly all his writing at the computer keyboard, but when he took the writing test for high school graduation, he had to go back to paper and pencil. He was sure he could have done better if he had used the computer. Teachers often voice the same beliefs about writing performance on the OGT and other high-stakes tests.

This common perception and seeming logic make a lot of sense until the evidence begins to come in. Following the dismal results of the 2000 Maine Educational Assessment in writing when a mere 29 percent of the students were proficient in writing, the state of Maine distributed 36,000 laptop computers to each seventh and eighth grader in Maine public schools (Silvernail & Gritter, 2008). In addition to purchasing the computers, Maine Writing Project leaders worked with teachers to help them use the computers for teaching writing.

Evidence indicates that Maine's program has had a positive effect on students' writing: "Five years after the initial implementation of the laptop program, students' writing scores on Maine's statewide test had significantly improved. Furthermore, students scored better the more extensively they used their laptops in developing and producing their writing. And finally, the evidence indicated that using their laptops in this fashion helped them to become better writers in general, not just better writers using laptops." Maine Education Assessment scores indicate that 49 percent of eighth graders were proficient in 2005 in writing.

"If you concentrate on whether laptops are helping kids achieve 21st-century skills, this demonstrates that it's happening in writing," according to David Silvernail, director of the Maine Education Policy Research Institute at the University of Southern Maine ("School laptop program," 2008). In explaining the writing assessment results, Silvernail said it's unrealistic to expect big increases on standardized test scores that are tied to laptops, but writing is the exception. Silvernail also stated that laptops make it easier for students to edit their copy and make changes without getting writer's cramp. As a result, students are writing and revising their work more frequently, which leads to better results. The fact that students' scores were higher, even when they took the writing test with paper and pen, underscores the importance of instruction using computers as well as the transfer of learning from computer-based composing to writing with paper and pen.

On the opposite coast, teachers in the Alhambra Unified School District just east of Los Angeles were introduced to a commercial online writing program (Briggs, 2008). Seventh grade scores on the California Standards Test writing assessment increased by 50 percentage points. In the 2005-2006 school year, 22 percent of students scored proficient or above; in 2006-2007, 70 percent of the seventh grade students scored proficient or above. The credit for this jump in scores is mixed, according to project coordinator Linda Benafel. "It's the technology; it's the staff development; it's the focus on writing and revision," Benafel said. "And the kids were very excited to get laptop computers."

As results of providing laptops for writing programs continue to come in, it becomes fairly obvious that these programs, when combined with professional development and the use of best practices in teaching writing, have the potential for improving writing success. But what happens in your district where students do not have constant access to computers for their writing? How can teachers in a typical Ohio district help their students improve test scores on the writing OGT while also helping them to become successful writers in multiple writing situations?

Ohio's tenth graders use pen or pencil and paper to take the OGT writing assessment, but success on the test depends on far more than the medium used during the test. Students must have enough experience in the process of writing to be comfortable and to write competently during the test itself. One of the ways to help students gain such experience is through the use of technology. Large numbers of teens are engaged in out-of-school writing on computers, whether through the use of blogs, wikis, social networks such as FaceBook and MySpace, or simply instant messaging and email. The frequency of this online communication can become a hook for engaging students in the academic writing needed for school and for the test.

Teacher-consultant Sandy Hayes of the Minnesota Writing Project (MWP) writes a column for Voices from the Middle, the National Council of Teachers of English journal for middle school teachers. Her columns include topics such as an examination of peer conferencing using an online bulletin board, an exhortation to understand and experience our students' "MySpace culture," and a how-to on mapping online literary road trips with your class.

The advice Sandy Hayes gives teachers fits into any research-based advice that might be given for the teaching of writing: "Giving students guidance and time to participate in youth culture, to create personal and meaningful content, and to create rules for our community and still have fun will help them move more responsibly into the larger spaces of our digital culture" (Oh, 2008).

Technology and writing are a perfect fit. Take some hints from experts such as Sandy Hayes and from programs such as the Maine school laptop program. Here are a few things you can put to work for your students immediately.

• Continue teaching the writing strategies and processes that you mastered through professional development acquired from one of the National Writing Project sites or OhioWINS writing institutes in Ohio.
• Use every possible opportunity to engage your students in the use of technology at all stages of the writing process— prewriting through publishing.
• Work with your tech coordinator to start a class blog and possibly individual student blogs.
• Just as teachers who write become better teachers of writing, teachers who blog become better teachers in promoting technology for writing.
• Try setting up a wiki or other type of writing-community software for students to work on peer revising and editing.

Some of ORC's web-based resources are particularly useful in helping students become better writers through the use of technology. This first lesson below takes students from quotations they select after reading a novel to four kinds of writing. Students ultimately publish writings and photos on a website.

Reader Response in Hypertext: Making Personal Connections to Literature

In this lesson, students choose four quotations to inspire their personal responses to a novel that they have read. Students write a narrative of place, complete a character sketch, create an extended metaphor poem, and write a persuasive essay. Each piece of writing is linked to the quotations. Students may also incorporate photos into their presentation and then publish the collected texts on the school, class, or student website. This lesson may be used with novels that contain a strong sense of place, that focus on closeness of characters, and that are metaphorical in character, such as A River Runs Through It, Montana 1948, and The Bean Trees. This lesson also taps the connection among reading, writing, and Web page design and combines collaborative, small-group, and individual learning activities. It leans heavily on personal connections that the reader makes with the text, and translates into a written hyperlinked project. Teachers will find handouts such as the "Hypertext Response Planning Sheet" extremely useful in guiding students through this complex lesson plan. (author/ncl/cbd)

The next lesson encourages students to write and exchange letters about literature in a group setting.

Exploring Literature Through Letter Writing Groups

In this lesson, students discuss literature through a series of letter exchanges. Though not a new idea, this lesson provides an alternative to traditional literature discussion groups. The author also encourages the use of electronic media. Exchanged letters can be used with email, discussion boards, or weblogs. The letter generator gives struggling writers a process for mastering the parts of a letter and for writing their own letters. The letter writing series may be used in conjunction with any work of literature and any other assignment. The content focus may be adjusted to more closely match literary text benchmarks and to address particular aspects of literary analysis in which some students may need additional practice. Students can even be asked to carry on a year-long discussion in which they make connections among a number of literary works. It is recommended that teachers research ideas for managing and monitoring the electronic discussions. Specific ideas are not provided at this website. The letter exchange rubrics are especially useful for self and peer evaluation of the letters. (author/ncl/cbd)

Another useful resource is the Lexipedia site.

Lexipedia— Where Words Have Meaning

This content resource is an interactive dictionary and thesaurus that allows the user to see a dynamic, visual view of related words and their meanings. Lexipedia creates a visual word web that links the word to associated concepts and indicates parts of speech. Audio files provide correct pronunciation of the word or term in the web. Teachers will find Lexipedia to be a useful tool when students are prewriting, editing, and revising; working on content vocabulary learning; and working with parts of speech. (author/cbd)

The lesson below presents a purposeful use of the Internet for researching, writing, and posting journal entries, essays, and letters. The link to http://nicenet.org lets the teacher create a discussion forum for the class.

Writing a Short Story Based on Kindred

Created by a high school English teacher, this language arts project integrates literature study, creative writing, and technology. Based on Kindred, a story about slavery in the United States written by Octavia Butler, the unit uses literature to examine the impact of historical events and social norms on personal lives. Students complete such activities as using the Internet as a research tool and writing and posting journal entries, essays, and letters on a class online discussion forum, where peers read and respond to each other's writing. A class discussion forum is available free to teachers at nicenet.org. As a culminating activity, students create an original short story, based on the characters and events from Kindred and historical information gathered through independent research. A short story writing chart and grading rubric are also available at the website. (author/ncl)

References

Briggs, Linda L. (2008, January). Web technology boosts writing performance at Alhambra USD. T.H.E. Journal.
http://thejournal.com/articles/21847

Oh, Paul. (2008, March). A technology toolkit that is really an educational toolkit. National Writing Project.
http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/2539

School laptop program begets writing gains. (2008, February 4). eSchool News.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/news-by-subject/research/?i=50322

Silvernail, David L., & Gritter, Aaron K. (2008). Maine's middle school laptop program: Creating better writers. Research Brief. Maine Education Policy Research Institute, University of Southern Maine Office, Gorham.
http://www.usm.maine.edu/cepare/Impact_on_Student_Writing_Brief.pdf.
 

Note: The links provided for each ORC resource take you to the ORC page that includes a list of standards, benchmarks, and grade-level indicators covered by the resource. From that page, you can click the URL to go directly to the resource. In case you are not familiar with ORC's records, you can read a very brief explanation of the resource commentaries and the records.

Carol Brown Dodson is the outreach specialist for the Ohio Resource Center. Dodson was an English language arts consultant for the Ohio Department of Education and is past president of OCTELA (Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts). Dodson, formerly a high school English teacher, department chair, and supervisor of English language arts in Columbus Public Schools, serves on the Ohio Graduation Test Reading Content Committee.

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