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Creative writing is an important concept to learn in the classroom. The good news for teachers is that creative writing can be taught and expanded through the use of technology. When you take the proper steps to integrate technology in the classroom, your students have access to a wide variety of tools that can enhance the overall experience.
According to The National Commission on Writing, the use of technology tools can help motivate writers as technology-based writing creates some form of publishing. For instance, you can have your students read a book in class pertaining to a key lesson. As a next step, have your students write another chapter to that book and then publish it on the Internet.
When you integrate technology into learning in this way, students take a much more serious approach to their writing as they understand other people will be reading it. It encourages them to reach a level of inflection and reflection regarding their work that is not normally found in the standard educational setting. Students will write with purpose and critically think about what they write. They will also pay closer attention to what is written by their peers, reflecting on the work and how it differs from their own.
Websites are available that allow your students to do this. Kidscribe is one such site created with the purpose of providing students writers with a forum for publishing their own writing. This outlet helps to build the student’s sense of confidence and pride in their own work. This site provides students with an opportunity to view writing samples without the distraction of advertisements. The site does not offer support, but it is a valuable tool to use in conjunction with your support as the teacher.
Scholastic.com is another outlet designed for a similar purpose, providing you with a useful way to integrate technology into the writing lesson. While it is not ad-free, this site provides a venue for publishing poetry and other forms of writing. In addition, the site also offers lessons that are guided and grade-level specific to support the student’s efforts. Writing workshops and other tools help students to build on the skills you have help them to develop in class. You can also incorporate such lessons or workshops into your own curriculum to enhance the overall writing lesson.
When poetry is the topic of the lesson, Poetry Forge, developed by the University of Virginia’s Center for Technology and Teacher Education can offer support to creative writing. The focus is of course poetry and the site provides downloadable tools for use within the classroom. These tools allow you to integrate technology in the classroom that challenges your students in their understanding of simple parts of speech, complex phrases and what is necessary semantically and syntactically for language to be effective in its ability to convey meaning through poetry.
No matter what tools you use when you integrate technology in your classroom, all students can benefit in their creative writing capabilities when you go beyond traditional methods. The ideas presented here can greatly enhance the learning experience and make the process fun for both you and your students.
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Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Integrate-Technology-Into-Your-Writing-Lessons&id=2767286