Chapter 10 Technology and a "Writing Process Fit to Young Writers"

Writing in school is often taught as an exercise in memorizing, editing, and manipulating of words. The emphasis is generally on standard spelling and correct usage of conventions. Students often say they don't enjoy writing in school for many reasons. They may feel they are not smart because they don't write with ease and enjoy the process of writing. Students often want to be up and moving and lack the patience necessary for writing. A lot of pressure is place on students to spell words correctly and use punctuation, grammar, and other conventions of written language appropriately.

Technology has been shown to have a positive impact on student writing performance. Technology can be used by teachers to move student through the process of brainstorming to completed publication of written work. Students must believe their ideas do matter and it help students a lot if the process is individualized in the school setting. Computer based tools maximize and differentiate support for individual writers. Teachers can read a story aloud to students while other students read using the interactive book or other students can watch a video or CD of the book the teacher is reading. All of these options are using technology simultneously and creating different openers.