Sunday, October 23, 2016

1:30-2:30 pm EST
Collaborative Writing 2.0: Moves Writers Can Make
Featured Speaker: Ari Dolid, Bay Area Writing Project
Moderator: Caroline Thompson, Oakland Writing Project
RECORDING    SLIDES    RESOURCES

Most students type their writing individually on digital platforms and pass around laptops through a lengthy drafting and revision process. Here's a new approach: let's learn how to combine the special features of these digital platforms with collaborative writing strategies to more effectively teach students how to talk, think, and communicate as writers for continuous drafting and revision and stronger writing. In this workshop, you’ll engage in writing exercises that creatively scaffold critical thinking and analytical and argumentative writing by using Google Docs and Padlet. You will experience a new drafting and revision process on computers in pairs and groups, and you'll gain strategies for responding to student writing faster as a teacher. This fun, thoughtful workshop will help you understand how the writing process shifts in digital spaces and how to use technology meaningfully to support student writing.

3:00-4:00 pm EST
Digital Writing Across the Disciplines
Special Invited Guest: Kristy Pytash, Kent State University
Moderator: ​Amber White, Saginaw Bay Writing Project
​​RECORDING    SLIDES    RESOURCES

Teachers typically use mentor texts and models to guide students through the writing process. As students learn to "read like writers," they begin to think more deeply about the craft of writing. This presentation will explore how students can analyze digital texts when crafting digital writing across the disciplines. In addition, specific digital tools and apps will be featured. The purpose of this session is to help teachers in various content areas purposefully integrate technology into their teaching of writing.   ​

4:30-5:30 pm EST
​Re-tooling the Writing Process
Retuning Featured Speaker: Mary Kate O'Meara, Grosse Pointe Park Schools
Moderator: Delia DeCourcy, Oakland Writing Project
​RECORDING    SLIDES    RESOURCES

"The artist does not tinker with the universe, he recreates it out of his own experience and understanding of life." - Henry Miller

Come explore how to retool Writer's Workshop to develop the art of writing through making, tinkering and digital tools. Learn how to blend components of the design process, such as prototypes, feedback, iterative change and digital tools at each phase of the writing process from pre-writing to publishing.

6:00-7:00 pm EST 
Panel: The National Writing Project - College-Ready Writers Program & Letters to the Next President 2.0
Panelists: Rachel Bear, National Writing Project; Linda Denstaedt, Oakland Writing Project; Casey Olsen, Montana Writing Project, Dawn Reed, Red Cedar Writing Project
Moderators: Delia DeCourcy & Troy Hicks
​​RECORDING    SLIDES    

The National Writing Project's mission is to focus the knowledge, expertise, and leadership of the nation's educators on sustained efforts to improve writing and learning for all learners. The NWP is a network of sites anchored at colleges and universities and serving teachers across disciplines and at all levels, early childhood through university. This panel will explore two extraordinary NWP initiatives currently in the works. Letters to the Next President 2.0 engages and connects students, aged 13-18, as they research, write, and voice their opinions on issues that matter to them in the coming election. The project is built by teachers for teachers and students and engages a range of partners interested in supporting youth civic participation. The College Ready Writers Program answers the call for respectful argumentative discourse, ​integrating instructional, formative assessment, and professional development resources in at least 4 "cycles of writing," during which both teachers and students learn. The instructional resources help teachers and students read critically, explore multiple points of view, and finally take a stand on important issues. 

7:30-8:30 pm EST CLOSING KEYNOTE
A Day in the Life of a Digital Writer/Educator
Kevin Hodgson, Western Massachusetts Writing Project
RECORDING    SLIDES    RESOURCES - keynote, discussion/making session 

Sixth grade teacher and Western Massachusetts Writing Project Technology Co-Director Kevin Hodgson breaks down a day of digital writing. His keynote will not only uncover the widening variety of media available to compose in this digital age, but also make visible the strategies and intent of using technology for an ever-expanding notion of what writing is and can be. Topics of audience, stance, publication, collaboration and Connected Learning principles will inform the session, making clear that it's not about the technology--it's about the writer. Kevin will also connect his personal life as a digital writer with his teaching practice in the classroom. And he will preview the annual global Digital Writing Month inquiry celebration happening in November.

8:30-9:30 pm EST
Closing Conference Discussion & Making Session
Moderators: Kevin Hodgson, Delia DeCourcy, Troy Hicks & Amber White
(see keynote links)

Stick around post-keynote to talk about the abundance of ideas from the entire conference and to make a digital artifact to share that reflects your learning. The moderators will discuss key themes, pose questions to the audience, and ask to hear about how participants have already begun to implement what they learned at this year's 4TDW in the their classrooms and schools.