24 bitstrips and storybird: writing development in a ......25. voices from the middle, volume 21...

Wertz | Bitstrips and Storybird: Writing Development in a Blended Literacy Camppage

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Voices from the Middle, Volume 21 Number 4, May 2014

Jessica A. Wertz

Bitstrips and Storybird: Writing Development in a Blended Literacy Camp

Today’s young adolescents live in a world that is continuously mediated by the Internet. “No

previous technology for literacy has been adopted by so many, in so many different places, in such a short period, and with such profound consequences” (Coiro, Knobel, Lankshear, & Leu, 2008, p. 2). In our society that is invariably mediated by the Internet, today’s young adoles-cents are constant consumers and produc-ers of text via the World Wide Web.

If our goal as literacy teachers is to prepare stu-dents for the demands of the 21st century, then the ways in which we engage middle level stu-dents with literacy in school must be in con-cert with the ways they authentically engage with literacy out of school (Xu, 2008). This ar-ticle describes the integration of Web 2.0 tech-nologies in writing instruction with upcoming fifth- and sixth-grade students during a Sum-mer Digital Literacy Camp; it also details how the students and I learned alongside each other as we “played” with digital literacy to write persuasive comic strips and digital storybooks. (To see a video about the Summer Digital Lit-eracy Camp, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C08f0ccnzTY). Through these literacy experiences, students used new literacies practic-es that emphasized multimodalities, socially situ-ated practices, and their own identities and lived experiences to learn key components of persua-sive and narrative writing.

The Common Core English Language Arts State Standards (National Governors Asso-ciation Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010) mandate that students in grades K–12 use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish their writing. Meet-ing these Standards requires teachers to use and teach with digital tools to mediate their students’ writing development. Furthermore, integrating digital literacies in instruction affords an oppor-tunity for teachers to engage students in authen-tic learning experiences that support the other English language arts Standards. In the “Position Statement on Multimodal Literacies,” NCTE (2005) recognized that even young students are often more literate in digital production than many of their teachers. This dynamic changes the traditional roles of teachers and students in today’s classrooms, as teachers no longer hold all the knowledge and expend it to their less knowl-edgeable students (Alvermann, 2002). As young adolescents bring knowledge and expertise about digital tools and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) media into our classrooms (Guzzetti, 2009), we must adapt to our new roles as learners and become “pedagogically nimble” (Vasudevan, DeJaynes, & Schmier, 2010, p. 6) in order to foster literacy learning with these young experts (Chandler-Ol-cott & Lewis, 2010).

Integrating new literacies into our teaching requires “using” these digital tools in instruction. Doing so may also involve shifting the ways par-ticipation and collaboration are valued so as to create spaces in which students can share their expertise (Hagood, 2009). It further requires educators to understand the complex ways stu-dents engage with multimedia (Hagood, Stevens,

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Wertz | Bitstrips and Storybird: Writing Development in a Blended Literacy Camp

Integrating new literacies

into our teaching requires

“using” these digital tools

in instruction. Doing so

may also involve shifting

the ways participation and

collaboration are valued so

as to create spaces in which

students can share their

expertise.

& Reinking, 2004) and to revalue the power of “play” in literacy learning (King & O’Brien, 2004; Vasudevan, DeJaynes, & Schmier, 2010).

Summer Digital Literacy CampTo meet the needs of both a graduate-level read-ing certification program and the local school district, a midwestern university created a sum-mer digital program to provide literacy interven-tion for upcoming fifth- and sixth-grade students who needed additional support in literacy. Fol-lowing the research-based practices that seemed to increase students’ interest and motivation in literacy learning (Fingon, Frank, & Kawell, 2010; Haddix, 2012), our camp was designed as a blended learning model, employing a “mixture of synchronous and asynchronous techniques by means of both face-to-face, online, and of-fline methods for instruction” (Massoud, Iqbal, Stockley, & Noureldin, 2011, p. 1). Our blended learning delivery included interactions between students and tutors in both a traditional and an e-learning environment using free software pro-grams and the Internet. The eTutors (under-graduate teacher candidates) were facilitators who contributed remotely from their summer locations. The two graduate student tutors were fulfilling their practicum requirement for licen-sure by facilitating the literacy camp on campus and providing face-to-face instruction in writing and guided reading.

For a period of three weeks, 12 upcoming fifth- and sixth-grade students met daily on the university campus from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Students were divided into three groups and ro-tated between three stations. The first station fo-cused on face-to-face guided reading and was led by a practicing third-grade teacher working to earn a master’s in reading education. The second station focused on face-to-face writing and was led by myself, a practicing ninth-grade English teacher working to earn a reading endorsement. The third station offered individual instruction online with undergraduate eTutors majoring in early or middle childhood education. Individual tutoring was mediated using iChat and various

websites to engage students in interactive word sorts, phonics and fluency activities, and vocabu-lary development.

Each student group visited each station once per day. At the start of the summer camp, the university loaned each student an iPad, provid-ing access to the Inter-net as well as apps for literacy learning. In ad-dition, each student had access to a MacBook for use while working in my writing group. In the following sections, I de-scribe how students and I explored persuasive and narrative writing by “playing” with digital litera-cy in our face-to-face sessions.

Writing Persuasive Comic StripsOur partnership school district asked us to fo-cus on persuasive writing, in large part because of the emphasis on argument in the Common Core English Language Arts State Standards (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Of-ficers, 2010). The time constraints of the pro-gram limited our study of persuasive writing to one week of 45-minute sessions with each small group. Recognizing this wasn’t enough time for most fifth- and sixth-grade students to develop a quality traditional text, I looked to other genres of digital texts that might help us meet the goals of introducing a claim and stating a position, or-ganizing reasons clearly, providing evidence, and formulating a conclusion that follows from the stated position. For these purposes, and from my initial interactions with the students participating in the camp, digital comic strips became the most appropriate written genre.

To study persuasion, I started by adapting lessons from the ReadWriteThink (http://www .readwritethink.org) lesson: “Can You Convince

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Me? Developing Persuasive Writing” (Manning, n.d.). The students and I viewed and then dis-cussed a PowerPoint presentation that outlined various types of persuasive strategies. We also watched YouTube videos of television commer-cials to evaluate the marketing based on the per-suasive strategies the students had just learned. As the students remembered other especially persua-sive commercials they had seen, we searched the YouTube website for those clips and discussed what attributes made them so persuasive. Stu-

dents became more engaged in the activity when they could make connections to their own TV viewing and then have them instantly validated when we found their commercials on YouTube.

In another lesson, we brainstormed issues the students felt strongly about and recorded our ideas using the Notability app on our iPads. We then narrowed the list down to one topic that we could develop into a persuasive comic. One group selected sibling relationships, another se-lected bullying, and the third selected playing sports to stay healthy. Rather than printing out the graphic organizer that accompanies the les-

son, we imported the PDF file into the Notability app. We learned the annotating functions of the app while also exploring how we could persuade someone to take a position on a specific is-sue using various persuasive strategies.

Figure 1 illustrates one student’s development using the app. He progressed from writing with his finger on the screen to inserting text into a PDF document and high-lighting boxes that would not be effective strategies for his issue. As students experi-mented with the new digital tools, they shared with each other (and me) the tricks they discovered. Each activity be-came both a writing lesson and an opportunity to ex-plore a new digital tool.

To learn about each of the selected issues, we con-sulted InfOhio (http://www .infohio.org), an EBSCO Host research database de-signed for elementary and middle level students with a kid-friendly interface that

Figure 1. Example of a graphic organizer completed with an iPad (IRA/NCTE, 2006)

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filters search results by Lexile ranges. Working collaboratively, we tried various search terms related to each group’s issue. After reading ab-stracts from several articles, each group selected one article to read that would help build back-ground knowledge and provide reasons to sup-

port the overarching claims. The members of each group then collaborated on ideas to include in the interactive “Persuasion Map” on the Read-WriteThink website (IRA/NCTE, 2010). Figure 2 shows an example of a file one student created using the interactive tool.

Figure 2. Persuasion map PDF file generated from student interactive (IRA/NCTE, 2010)

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Using the website Bitstrips for Schools (http://www.bitstripsforschools.com), the stu-dents created digital comic strips by selecting settings, characters, and props for each panel, and writing captions and dialogue. They used the information from their persuasion map to write the text for each panel in their comic strip, transferring ideas generated through the inter-active tool to the digital comic strip platform. I encouraged them to use settings and characters to nonverbally represent ideas documented in their graphic organizer that would persuade oth-ers to agree with their claim. The claim and main points of their arguments became the captions for the comic strip, while the dialogue between characters and content in thought bubbles above individual characters became the evidence that supported their claim. Groups were encouraged to use at least three persuasive strategies in their comic strips. With the comic strips completed, the groups came together at the end of the day and each took a turn displaying and reading its comic strip to the other groups. Figure 3 illus-trates the comic created by the group that select-ed sibling relationships as its issue.

Through this process, students drew on mul-timodalities, socially situated practices, and their own identities and lived experiences to learn key components of persuasion that would help them create more extended representations of persua-sive writing in the coming school year.

Writing Narratives as Digital StorybooksOur next writing exploration focused on narra-tive writing. We discussed the common charac-teristics of a narrative, such as real and imagined experiences, dialogue, description, and a predict-able story structure (i.e., exposition, rising action, climax, resolution). Once students understood the idea of narrative, we began generating a list of memories. I modeled by sharing a memory from my list, and students were then invited to share the memory that was most vivid in their minds. After talking through the memory with the group, students engaged in a five-minute

quick write to capture every detail they could re-member (Kittle, 2008). I shared what I had writ-ten about my memory, and students shared their writing.

The next day we visited the Storybird web-site (http://www.storybird.com), and students logged into the accounts I had created for them. This website makes it possible for students to use artwork as a tool for storytelling; users select a picture set to illustrate their digital storybooks and then write text to tell their own stories us-ing the images as inspiration. The artwork is meant to aid in narrative writing by giving users a source for plot, setting, characterization, and descriptive details. Because we were coming to the website with initial ideas for the stories we would like to tell, we looked for picture sets that related in some way to our ideas; however, we also remained open to images that tapped into new memories. Some students changed their topics based on the images in the picture sets.

Once students had selected a picture set, they chose art for each page of their digital storybook and then wrote text based on their memories; they used the art and their imaginations to fic-tionalize their stories as needed to blend their memories with the artwork. For instance, one student wrote about a trip to the zoo. As she de-scribed the animals she remembered, she also in-cluded details from the artwork she had selected to represent her story. Figure 4 illustrates how she began with her memory of seeing pandas, and then used the details in the artwork to write de-scriptive details for her story. By interacting with artwork she found on the Storybird website dur-ing her composing process, this student moved beyond listing the animals she remembered see-ing as a child to creating an engaging story detail-ing a little girl’s experience at the zoo.

Once students had written a first draft, I modeled revising my initial draft. I demonstrated how I revised by adding more details and descrip-tive words that would help my readers visualize my story; in doing so, I used the images from Storybird as inspiration and actively encouraged students to help me craft phrases to add more

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Figure 3. Digital comic strip created by 5th- and 6th-grade students (Bitstrips, 2011)

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vivid description. The students then worked col-laboratively to add imagery to their own stories and edited for grammar, spelling, and word us-age. Once they considered their stories finished,

they published them to the Storybird website.

Our final step was to transition each student’s creation from a digital sto-rybook to an act of digital storytelling (Skinner & Lichtenstein, 2009). Us-ing the screen capture feature of the MacBook, I captured pages from the digital storybook and im-

ported them into iMovie. Then each student and I sat together as the student read each page of the storybook while I used iMovie to record the reading and time slides to coincide with the voice file. The final product was a movie file including the student’s recorded voice reading each page of the digital storybook. Those files were burned

onto DVDs, along with other files created dur-ing the Summer Digital Literacy Camp, and mailed to students and their parents shortly after the program concluded. The use of these tech-nologies allowed students to create, publish, and share their words with their families and friends.

Beyond the Digital Literacy CampIn three short weeks, students used their personal knowledge of issues, such as bullying and sibling rivalry, while also drawing from personal expe-riences, such as vacations and trips to the zoo, to explore persuasive and narrative writing in authentic ways through the use of digital tools. Although the writing concepts were grounded in traditional school-based literacies, the ways the students and I engaged with these ideas were all mediated by technology. The students worked collaboratively and individually to create digital products that not only demonstrated their mas-tery of the Common Core Writing Standards but also made it possible for them to create identities

Figure 4. Sample page from a student’s Storybird (Storybird, n.d.)

Although the writing

concepts were grounded

in traditional school-based

literacies, the ways the

students and I engaged

with these ideas were all

mediated by technology.

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connections From readwritethink

merging research skills with digital storytelling

“Digitally Telling the Story of Greek Figures” invites students to become engaged learners through this unit that pre-pares them for studying ancient Greece and combines learning basic research skills with digital storytelling skills. While researching about Greek gods, heroes, and creatures, students learn how to find main ideas in sentences and paragraphs in books and Internet articles, which they then learn to record in short phrases on index cards divided by topic. Working with a partner, students turn these short phrases into the script for their digital story that includes music and pictures.

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/digitally-telling-story-greek-30805.html

Interested in the Persuasion Map shared in the article? Visit the printout here: http://www.readwritethink.org/ classroom-resources/printouts/persuasion-a-30310.html and the online interactive tool here: http:// www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/persuasion-30034.html.

Lisa Finkwww.readwritethink.org

within their comic strips and digital storybooks to give voice to their lived experiences.

The activities I used in this Summer Digi-tal Literacy Camp can easily be adapted for a classroom setting. Teachers with limited access to a computer lab could have students plan their comic strips or digital storybooks in the class-room before using the websites to create them. Students could also work in groups and share computers to create collaborative projects. My youngest students had just completed fourth grade and were able to learn and successfully use both the Bitstrips for Schools and Storybird websites. Both sites offer enough choices to make them appropriate for older students as well. As a ninth-grade English teacher, I have no doubt that my freshmen would have enjoyed using the websites just as much as the students I worked with in this camp. Teachers could use these re-sources for short activities such as prewriting, or they could design larger units of study around the websites (e.g., a unit on ad campaigns to study argument).

Final ThoughtsStudents began the Summer Digital Literacy Camp by equating it with summer school. When

they realized that the focus of the camp was more about utilizing digital literacy tools and less about remediating their literacy skills, their perceptions of the camp quickly brightened. Those of us who organized the camp knew we had created something powerful when a student said she was dis-appointed that she would have to miss a day of the camp to attend a popu-lar amusement park with her family. By immersing students in new literacies practices and valuing collaboration and shared learning mediated by Web 2.0 digital tools, we changed the dynamics of literacy instruction; as a result, students who had previously struggled in the areas of reading and writing were given a space in which to share their expertise and play with literacy.

ReferencesAlvermann, D. E. (Ed.). (2002). Adolescents and litera-

cies in a digital world. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

When they realized that

the focus of the camp was

more about utilizing digi-

tal literacy tools and less

about remediating their

literacy skills, their percep-

tions of the camp quickly

brightened.

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Chandler-Olcott, K., & Lewis, E. (2010). “I think they’re being wired differently’: Secondary teach-ers’ cultural models of adolescents and their online literacies. In D. E. Alvermann (Ed.), Adolescents’ online literacies: Connecting classrooms, digital me-dia, & popular culture (pp. 163–182). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Coiro, J., Knobel, M., Lankshear, C., & Leu, D. J. (2008). Handbook on research on new literacies. New York, NY: Routledge.

Fingon, J., Frank, C., & Kawell, S. (2010). Young readers camp: Developing a university model for supporting struggling readers and families. The California Reader, 43(4), 36–41.

Guzzetti, B. J. (2009). Adolescents’ explorations with do-it-yourself media: Authoring identity in out-of-school settings. In M. C. Hagood (Ed.), New literacies practices: Designing literacy learning (pp. 41–57). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Haddix, M. M. (2012). Reclaiming and rebuilding the writer identities of black adolescent males. In D. E. Alvermann & K. A. Hinchman (Eds.), Reconceptu-alizing the literacies in adolescents’ lives: Bridging the everyday/academic divide (3rd ed.) (pp. 112–131). New York, NY: Routledge.

Hagood, M. C. (Ed.). (2009). New literacies practices: Designing literacy learning. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Hagood, M. C., Stevens, L. P., & Reinking, D. (2004). What do they have to teach us? Talkin’ ’cross generations! In D. E. Alvermann (Ed.), Adolescents and literacies in a digital world (pp. 68–83). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

IRA/NCTE. (2006). Persuasive strategy definitions. Retrieved from http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson56/strategy-definition.pdf.

IRA/NCTE. (2010). Persuasion map [student interac-tive]. Retrieved from http://www.readwritethink .org/files/resources/interactives/persuasion_map.

King, J. R., & O’Brien, D. G. (2004). Adolescents’ multiliteracies and their teachers’ needs to know: Toward a digital détente. In D. E. Alvermann (Ed.), Adolescents and literacies in a digital world

(pp. 40–50). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Kittle, P. (2008). Write beside them: Risk, voice, and clarity in high school writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Manning, E. (n.d.). “Can you convince me?”: Devel-oping persuasive writing. Retrieved from http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/convince-developing-persuasive- writing-56.html?tab=1#tabs.

Massoud, A., Iqbal, U., Stockley, D., & Noureldin, A. (2011). Using blended learning to foster education in a contemporary classroom. Transformative Dia-logues: Teaching & Learning Journal, 5(2), 1–11.

National Council of Teachers of English. (2005). Position statement on multimodal literacies. Urbana, IL: Author. Retrieved from http:// www.readwritethink.org/professional- development/professional-library/position- statement-multimodal-literacies-30471.html.

National Governors Association Center for Best Prac-tices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common core state standards for English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards .org/the-standards.

Skinner, E. N., & Lichtenstein, M. J. (2009). Digital storytelling is not the new PowerPoint: Adoles-cents’ critical constructions of presidential election issues. In M. C. Hagood (Ed.), New literacies practices: Designing literacy learning (pp. 91–112). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Vasudevan, L., DeJaynes, T., & Schmier, S. (2010). Multimodal pedagogies: Playing, teaching, and learning with adolescents’ digital literacies. In D. E. Alvermann (Ed.), Adolescents’ online literacies: Connecting classrooms, digital media, and popular culture (pp. 5–25). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Xu, S. H. (2008). Rethinking literacy learning and teaching: Intersections of adolescents’ in-school and out-of-school literacy practices. In K. A. Hinchman & H. K. Sheridan-Thomas (Eds.), Best practices in adolescent literacy instruction (pp. 39–56). New York, NY: Guildford Press.

Jessica A. Wertz is a former high school English teacher and a current doctoral student at the University of Cincinnati, where she studies adolescent literacy and teaches educational technology

courses to teacher candidates. She can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

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24 bitstrips and storybird: writing development in a ......25. voices from the middle, volume 21...

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