To: Ms. Linette Moorman

From: Thomasina LaGuardia & Bo Wu

Date: May, 15,1999

Re: Proposal for a New Course: Teaching Writing with Technology

Purpose

We propose to initiate a new 6-credit graduate course for teachers, Teaching Writing with Technology. In this new course, many of the principles that guide the New York City Writing Project (NYCWP)'s work will be emphasized and approached from a new perspective with the powerful tool of technology. Some twenty teachers of all disciplines from a variety of Manhattan high schools will convene weekly to learn by experiencing the conduct of a technology classroom. We will explore together the use of technology to do research, to write, revise and publish, and to respond critically to the Internet materials. This course will be a model for teaching in the Internet-connected classroom.

The Advantages of Adopting the New Approach

1.Process writing is the soul and essence of the NYCWP; this new approach will enhance this application. Through dialogues with published writers, participants will see how writers turn drafts into published work*, and they will experience the same process before they publish their own work onto the web. when adopted to their classroom, such a dialogue will have a genuine impact on students' views of themselves as writers.

2.Peer review and response can be conducted by visiting each other's web sites and commenting on each other's work through the class discussion forum or private e-mail.

3.This unique setting creates a reader-response atmosphere. Participants respond to writers** about their work and get feedback from them through discussion forums or chat rooms in the Internet. Their students will benefit when teachers bring this practice to their high school classes. Before a student shows finished work to the world by publishing it onto the web, or when preparing to share responses to literary works with other writers, s/he will revise the work. Revision will be so emphasized, and will be so facilitated by technology that students will revise as if it were second nature.

4. The nature of web publishing and discussion forum supports our belief that each person is a writer and each writer owns his or her own piece. Writers have control over which of their pieces to publish on the web. When applied to students, motivation is embedded in the nature of the class - more participation, and more time on revision.

5. In the technology classroom, teachers and students have a greater number of audiences than ever since their work is open to the world through the web. Writers are able to share their finished work with peers, other writers, parents, friends, and any member of the cyber community. A writer wants his voice to be heard and that is one advantage the course offers.

6. The major magazines such as Time, Newsweek, the New Yorker, and Business Week maintain chat rooms. Students can write to the editors, and receive responses.

7.Portfolios will be replaced by webfolios that can be viewed and commented on by the writer's peers, students, school administrators, friends and colleagues. When the approach is applied to their classroom, their students will enjoy the benefit of having their friends , family members, and even their future employers see their school work.

8.This unique setting will forever shift the focus of a classroom from teacher-centered to student-centered.

Suggested Ways of Using the Internet in a Classroom

1.Teachers will learn to use hypertext in creating lessons, guiding research, and suggesting writing activities. There is a plethora of resources on any subject on the Internet. The Internet makes possible interdisciplinary linking among many subject fields instantly. For example, when teaching Hamlet, a teacher can present the idea of how imprudent and meaningless Fortinbras's decision ( to take 20,000 soldiers from Norway to Poland just to "gain a little patch of ground that has in it no profit" ) is by linking a map of Baltic Sea area in the Internet lesson. Students examine the map online. After locating Norway and Poland on the map, they will realize how far the soldiers have to travel, without any modern transportation means, before they reach the destination- they have to go through Denmark, cross the Baltic Sea, and borrow a path in Germany before they touch the border of Poland. Students will learn geographically how impossible Fortinbras's decision is, which also leads to the understanding of this foil character of Hamlet.

2.Taking virtual trips will become a regular part of classroom activities. For example, teachers will design activities such that students can visit museums all over the world virtually and use artistic works for creative writing.

3.Teachers will use the rich resources of the Internet to help students develop critical views on curricular topics.

4.Teachers will use discussion forum to help students publish their ideas and respond to each other's comments.

5. Teachers will create their own web sites to anchor and guide the work of the class from day to day.

6. The PC could serve as an expanding notebook. For example, based on the theory of double-entry journal, students can add two columns for two classmates' responses, and add another column for her or his last responses.

Suggestion for the Class Site

We suggest Murry Bergtram High School as the site for the graduate course since there are many Internet-connected computer labs available there and the school has the highest number of Impact II grant recipients implementing technology into classroom teaching, which could provide participants from other schools opportunities to observe. In addition, Murry Bergtraum has been selected as a model site for implementing technology into teaching.

Costs

Domain registration fee is $70 for two years. Each year 's web site hosting will cost about $270 additional. Floppy discs, software, ……will cost approximately $______more.

Expected Outcomes:

1.Writing becomes more meaningful. Having one's work published is no longer the privilege of an elite group but of any writer.

2.Students will gain an understanding of policy-making through responding immediately to influential media such as the New York Times and Business Week online about current issues.

3.Being abreast of current issues prepares students for future careers.

4.Online information about many colleges throughout the world and easy-to-access online college applications enable students to choose wisely the colleges they want to attend.

5.Due to the richness of text in the Internet, students will have many opportunities to read cross-curriculum materials and graphs in addition to literary works online, which will help them meet the New Standards. Many major magazines provide online articles on cutting edge science, medicine, health and other science-related subjects. There are sites in the Internet that provide primary sources for American history and global history. Students have the opportunity to venture virtually in the stock market. No matter what subject we teach, we can always find exhaustive resources in the Internet.

6.Students no longer learn from one teacher, but from many people who provide the information. Students' learning environment is no longer limited to a small classroom but expanded to the much bigger world outside the classroom.

Anticipated Problems

1.Teachers may need basic computer knowledge.

2.The traditional approach will be challenged drastically by the new approach, which may cause conflicts between participants and others in their schools who believe only in traditional classroom teaching.

3.A great deal of preparation is needed, which is extremely time consuming.

Conclusion
This new approach will have groundbreaking impact on education. Many persistent problems in school such as poor attendance, incomplete homework, inattentiveness, lack of communication between students & teachers, fear of reading and writing, lack of participation, and teachers' inability to meet individual student's needs will dissolve after this approach is implemented. Students' performance will be more laudable than in a traditional classroom. Students will no longer depend only on their teachers but on peers and, more importantly, on themselves. The sense of self-confidence, self-reliance, and self-sufficiency among students will increase. Writing will become a necessity and the best way for them to communicate.

Footnotes:
*Collaboration with Teachers & Writers Collaborative
** Cooperating with NYU and City College students