developing writers
Anna Smith, educational researcher & teacher educator blogging about composition in the digital age, contexts for learning, theories of development, and global youth.
Dummy Runs and Schooled Writing
In December I had the pleasure of joining a group of 5th graders in the high desert mountains of Utah. That week, my niece, Alaina, and her classmates had just … Continue reading
Your Voice in Mine
How can I hear my own voice unless it bounces off of yours? I have had that single line in my mind for years. It isn’t particularly poetic, and I … Continue reading
#AERA13 or What I’m Up To This Week–Other Than 37,989 Feet Above Iowa
I am currently 37,989 feet above the middle of Iowa sending digital messages to people around the world. The next generation will be unfazed with this phenomenon. I don’t think … Continue reading
Playfulness, Risk-Taking and the Developing Writer: #engchat Reflection Part I
Last month I had the pleasure of guest hosting the weekly #engchat on Twitter. Sixty minutes zoomed by as the tweets poured in in rapid succession. I knew I would … Continue reading
Writing for Self and Others in an Era of Shared Social Realities
The following is a Guest Post from Julie Warner, a doctoral candidate at Teachers College, Columbia University in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis on literacies and an instructor of … Continue reading
Your Invitation to Join Me When I Guest Host #engchat 01/07/13
I am ecstatic to have the opportunity to guest host #engchat on Monday 01/07/13 at 7PM EST. By hosting #engchat, I get to have 100s of dedicated and inquisitive English … Continue reading
Creating Conversation: Composing in the Digital Age
Update: You can now navigate this conversation here. One of the many potentials of the shifts in re-envisioning writing in multimodal spaces is the chance for new conversations — for stretching … Continue reading
Neil Gaiman on Demythologizing the Creative Process and Point of View
I don’t have much to add. I just particularly enjoyed his comments on “demythologizing the creative process.” Also, in his response to the question from the young woman, I heard … Continue reading
Un/Sanctioned Play
A few threads: Last week Hurricane Sandy destroyed dreams and lives. Of lesser importance, it also hijacked the NYC Marathon. I was set to run it as a celebration of … Continue reading
You Say Hello & I Say Goodbye
This is a post. This is a post about how easy it is to write words. This is a post about how easy it is to write words just in … Continue reading
Inaugural Brown Bag (Bb) Experiential Dialogue Series, Teachers College, Columbia University
See the Archive of tweets here: #3MMBb Archive: Inaugural Brown Bag (Bb) Experiential Dialogue Series w/ Anna Smith
Sticks and Stones May Break my Bones, but Your Words CAN Affect my Literacy
The following is a Guest Post from Phil Park who is currently studying at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development as a Masters student on a … Continue reading
Don’t Blink! My NY Comic Con Report is Here!
UPDATE: Post is now live! (That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy the little cosplay vid below though…) Here’s the Post: New York Comic Con and the Literacies of Fandom On … Continue reading
To DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) or to DREAM (DRop Everything And Make)
Last weekend, as I was walking to my weekend office (my favorite cafe in El Barrio, East Harlem Cafe), I passed the corner of 105th and Lexington, which had been … Continue reading
I Know What You Read Last Summer
I just spent an amazing month traveling with two weeks on the sleepy side of Cabo at my own DIY Writer’s Retreat. (I left feeling lucky, blessed, tan, centered, and … Continue reading
#literacies chat: The Reboot
As many of you know, after an intriguing semester collaborating across our courses in New Literacies and Content Area Literacies, using the hashtag #literacies on Twitter, Emily Pendergrass (Lecturer at Vanderbilt … Continue reading
My Month as a “Disconnected” Educator–Part I
In Part I, I describe the Connected Educator Month and what activities I’d participate in if I were not so “disconnected” right now. In Part II, I describe what I … Continue reading
My Month as a “Disconnected” Educator–Part II
In Part I, I described Connected Educator Month, and how I have purposefully “disconnected” this month by heading out to the mountain deserts of my youth, and next week off to a … Continue reading
The Texas GOP’s Real Mistake: Thinking? Misunderstanding? Fearing?
I thoroughly enjoyed Colbert’s skewering of the Texas GOP 2012 Platform, which involves a rejection of “critical thinking skills.” The Washington Post quoted the statement as such: Knowledge-Based Education – … Continue reading
Forget Defining Literacies. What’s ‘Writing’?
I’d like to talk to you about the 468th episode of This American Life. Specifically, I want to hone in to 23 and 1/2 minutes that makes up Act Two: Forgive … Continue reading
There’s Literacy and There are Contemporary Literacies
Where did these come from? Via Twitter, I came across the idea from Mrs. Baldwin and her class at Anastasis Academy to use the memo below (claimed to be given to … Continue reading
Social Media and Language Democratization in Egypt
The following is a Guest Post from my good friend and a great scholar, Janine Jones, a doctoral student in modern Middle East intellectual history at The University of Texas … Continue reading
The #literacies Chat is Born!
Below you’ll find the birthing story of the #literacies chat, a weekly chat on Twitter bringing together educators, researchers and thinkers fascinated by contemporary literacies. Our first chat will be June … Continue reading
Getting the Picture: Writing in a Parallel Pedagogy Classroom
It has been a while since Joel Malley provided the following video in preparation for a congressional briefing on digital literacies. However, after a couple of months of conference attendance, … Continue reading
#ethnog12 Presentation Slide: Silent & Silenced Identity Work
I just presented at the University of Pennsylvania 33rd Annual Ethnography in Education Research Forum with colleagues Tracie Wallace at UC Berkeley, and John Scott and Dee Anne Anderson at … Continue reading
A New Ethic for Digital Composition: Cosmopolitanism
Do youth need thoughtful, guided practice composing for potentially global audiences? Recently, a friend on Facebook posted a question asking what age it is appropriate for a child to have … Continue reading
Poll: Up for Conversation?
I take the idea of “conversation” seriously. In fact, I just tweeted about it this week. For a whole week I was stuck trying to figure out how to frame … Continue reading
Alternative Metaphors for Classroom Texts
This post was written with Teaching Reading in Secondary English Language Arts class members, who are all Master of Education candidates at New York University. These are the same authors … Continue reading
#teachread Final Responses
Throughout Fall 2012, in the Teaching Reading in Secondary English Language Arts course at NYU, we investigated reading and teaching reading in the digital age. We read one Young Adult novel from the … Continue reading
‘Invented Adolescents’ & Classroom Activities
Guest Post from Lucia Brockway, a preservice English teacher working toward her Master’s of Education at New York University. Lucia is part of the #teachread project within which her work … Continue reading
2′s Day Post: Internet 1996 vs 2011
There’s much to say about the changed nature of the Internet circa 1996 and that of Internet 2011, and this infographic from Online University captures several aspects. In this blog, I’ve … Continue reading
Digital Tools for 21st Century Content Area Classrooms
This is a Guest Post from class members of Language Acquisition and Literacy Education in Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts, who are all content area pre-service teachers in math, social studies, … Continue reading
Define Urban, Please
Recently, Emily Pendergrass tweeted a request: Define urban, please.— Emily Pendergrass (@Dr_Pendergrass) October 14, 2011 ‘Urban’ has been on my mind for a while—most recently on my trip to Peru … Continue reading
Welcome to the United States, Developing Writers!
Although only the hardback version (a.k.a. expensive collectors’ item) of our new book, Developing Writers: Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age, shows up on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, the Buy … Continue reading
2′s Day Post: The Digital Divide Goes to School
As of late, I have been enamored with infographics—the epitome of “a picture is worth a thousand words.” So, beginning this week and running indefinitely, I will be posting infographics … Continue reading
We Learn With & With is Messy
I was in Duluth, Minnesota the week school was starting. I was standing out on the lighthouse pier on Lake Superior enjoying the summer evening air and the full moon … Continue reading
Take a Poll on Plagiarism in the Digital Age!
A poll in preparation for an upcoming guest post from Roey Ahram, expert in education equity issues and urban school reform, as well as photographer extraordinaire (featured in The Local East Village New York … Continue reading
Multimodality is Old News: The Incas and Khipu
I have been off the grid for a bit, but more importantly, I have been on vacation. With some old and some new friends, I hiked the Inca Trail through … Continue reading
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A Few Blogs I Follow
