Writer's Sharing Writing Using Technology

One of the most important components to the Writer's Workshop is the "share time" at the end of a lesson. This is where the teacher gets the opportunity to see if the mini lesson was understood by the student. A tool we use to share the actual writing is called an "Elmo." The children are very familiar with this technology because it is used quite frequently in the classroom. A child or two is invited to share his/her paper with the class when he/she has implemented the lesson taught. Students have the opportunity to see their writing up on a big screen and read it to the class. Their classmates can read along with the student and see the writing that their peers are producing. Having this visual helps other students improve upon their own works. After the writer reads his/her piece, the children give meaningful compliments on their friend's stories. For instance, "I like how you "stayed in the moment" or "You did a great job on punctuation." Being able to see a student's work clearly on the "Elmo" gives us a chance to look at writing in a whole new way. Writer's love sharing their writing using this technology!