Living Life Twice

My fervent hope for this year, as it is every year, is for student writers to encounter teachers who are focused on teaching the inexperienced writer how to write, rather than what to write.  For this to become a reality, teachers of writing must be prepared to commit to being writers too.  Writing alongside your students sends a vital message regarding the importance of being someone who chooses to write. it immediately elevates writing in the minds of impressionable, curious learners. I urge everyone who is responsible for teaching writing to be bold and brave. Become the risk taker you want your students to be.   I can say this with full confidence;  every teacher possesses the potential to be the most influential writing mentor students will encounter in any school year.  You don’t have to be a published writer to successfully mentor young writers, but you most certainly need to be a teacher who writes. You must be someone who makes time to write. S...

Wandering with my camera beside the creek looking for Monarch butterflies. I find the connection between photography and writing an irresistible and compelling force. Along with writing, I have always loved photography and I believe the attention to detail that photography requires, has assisted me as a writer to observe more closely the small detail of my surrounding world. It is a partnership that enables creative perspectives and enhances visual and verbal literacy. The outcome hopefully produces outcomes that are pleasurable to the eye and the ear. Modern technology has made photography so accessible. Smart phones, ipads, and social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook have created infinite opportunities for sharing visual images. Our lives are increasingly documented in images. Some have inherent beauty, others provoke while others are questionable. Our photographic archives are rapidly expanding. My computer contains more that 15000 images. It grows daily....

A recent break in Bali enabled me to enlist my writer's notebook and camera in a joint venture. In recent days they have assisted me to create a digital story based on a setting I find fascinating. I share it with you now. Digital story telling represents a further opportunity to share our writing lives with an audience.  I shared my digital story with two grade four classes in the hope that it sparks possibilities for them as writers.

It's always good to have the opportunity to share a couple of articles you believe might prove useful to everyone… They are from the Reading Rocket’s Web Page. Hope you can follow the links and find something of value to you in your important work as teachers of writing. Persuasive Writing Persuasive writing is a form of nonfiction writing that encourages careful word choice, the development of logical arguments, and a cohesive summary. Young children can be guided through a series of simple steps in an effort to develop their persuasive writing skills. http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/persuasive_writing/ Digital Storytelling: Extending the Potential for Struggling Writers By: Ruth Sylvester and Wendy-lou Greenidge While some young writers may struggle with traditional literacy, tapping into new literacies like digital storytelling may boost motivation and scaffold understanding of traditional literacies. Three types of struggling writers are introd...

This post comes courtesy of Lindsey Wright , a guest blogger to Living Life Twice. Welcome Lindsey! Lindsey is fascinated with the potential of emerging educational technologies, particularly the online school, to transform the landscape of learning. She writes about web-based learning, electronic and mobile learning, and the possible future of education and its potential for writing. 'From hieroglyphics to blogs, humans have always had a need for written communication. Evolution and technology have made use of the written word increasingly complex. The rise of Web 2.0 has brought about a major shift in the media through which people communicate. Consumers of media are now increasingly the producers of media. Writing has become the fundamental skill essential to surviving in a globalized, Internet-based society. Writing is the basis for Web 2.0 participation and contribution and has become one of the most important skills learned in school. Scholars Sean Wiebe and Sandy McAu...

Storytelling: digital technology allows us to tell tales in innovative new ways As the tools available to publishers grow more sophisticated, it's up to us to experiment and see what sticks. Check out this link for some thought provoking possibilities. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/aug/07/digital-media-storytelling-internet?CMP=twt_gu

Summer Story Video Finally Completed!  Today, a Slice with a Digital Difference... This morning I finally finished my digital story! I have gradually assembled the pieces of the summer past into a form that hopefully conveys the spirit of the season. No matter where one resides, there are commonalities surrounding summertime. There are also events unique to our respective parts of the world. What I now share with you is a glimpse of my summer.   I wanted to tell the story of my Australian summer –what there was of it. A summer of record rain, gloomy grey skies the colour of bruises and the all too infrequent beach days. The days we naturally savoured. Sandwiched between these extremes were the unforgettable memories of precious moments spent with family and friends.  Each day I tried to find a scene, a moment, something seemingly unnoticed to freeze in time with my camera. The photogrpahic eye and the eye of the writer hopefully workin...

Some of my recent conversations with teachers regarding publishing have raised the possibility of incorporating digital storytelling into the publishing frame... Somewhat fortuitously, Stenhouse Publishers announce the imminent release of Lisa Miller's book 'Make Me a Story- Teaching Writing Through Digital Storytelling'! So I present the following as something to consider. The writing process and digital storytelling go together naturally. Just as writing can be a process of discovery, so can digital storytelling, where images, words, and music all work together to create meaning. In her new book, Make Me a Story, Lisa Miller describes the power of digital storytelling as a tool for teaching writing and engaging elementary students. She walks teachers step-by-step through the elements of a digital story project, from prewriting and research through putting the story together in the computer using photos, drawings, paintings, video, narration, and music. Readers will also...