Digital Writing Teaching Ideas and My Final Project

There are many ways I would use digital technology in my classroom. Taking this class has really helped me see all the different technology options that are out there. Unfortunately I feel like the technology at my school is severely lacking. (I suppose I should probably start writing those grants...).

So at the moment with the current technology I have available at my school, there are a couple options as to how I can use digital writing in my classroom. I like the idea of individual blogs for each student. Instead of reflecting in daily journals as I have my students do now, I would have them reflect online. I like this idea because students can read their peers' work. But then again I'm not really sure if they would read their peers' work unless it was assigned.

I also like the idea of having a class wiki, or a wiki relating to a novel we're reading. I like the idea of collaboration. I think for my final project I will probably do a wiki for a novel. I'm leaning towards doing one for Lord of the Flies. I usually have students journal as one of the characters, but instead I may have them write wiki pages in groups as the characters. It would great to have them create vlogs as the characters as well. With the current technology at my school I don't think this is an option but maybe in the future.

I like the idea of place-based writing as well. Red Wing is an interesting town rich in history and although I'm not a history teacher, I think it would be interesting for students to gather photos of their town, stories, history, etc. and post it on a wiki. This may work well in American Literature and we could tie it in with authors who have lived or visited Red Wing, like Thoreau for example.