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

Featured · 2 Comments

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

Featured · 2 Comments

#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

April 27, 2013 · Leave a Comment

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

February 7, 2013 · 1 Comment

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on Dangers of the Single Story and Teju Cole’s Small Fates Series

“Show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.” “It is impossible to talk about the single story without … Continue reading

January 2, 2013 · 2 Comments

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

January 2, 2013 · 5 Comments

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

December 20, 2012 · 1 Comment

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

December 19, 2012 · 3 Comments

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

December 6, 2012 · 1 Comment

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

November 11, 2012 · Leave a Comment

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

November 1, 2012 · 1 Comment

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

October 18, 2012 · Leave a Comment

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

October 16, 2012 · 8 Comments

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

October 13, 2012 · 1 Comment

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

September 14, 2012 · 6 Comments

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

September 10, 2012 · Leave a Comment

#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

September 3, 2012 · Leave a Comment

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

August 14, 2012 · 4 Comments

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

August 14, 2012 · 6 Comments

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

July 21, 2012 · Leave a Comment

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

July 6, 2012 · 15 Comments

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

June 28, 2012 · 1 Comment

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

June 26, 2012 · 5 Comments

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

May 31, 2012 · Leave a Comment

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

April 18, 2012 · Leave a Comment

#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

February 24, 2012 · 4 Comments

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

February 21, 2012 · 12 Comments

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

February 12, 2012 · 6 Comments

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

January 19, 2012 · 6 Comments

#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

December 20, 2011 · Leave a Comment

‘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

December 13, 2011 · 3 Comments

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

December 6, 2011 · 1 Comment

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

November 28, 2011 · 3 Comments

A Lesson in #21stCenturyReading: Being ‘Readable’

In the #teachread project, we have each set up a particular social media venue (we are new to) through which we share and interact with others regarding the YA books we are … Continue reading

October 27, 2011 · Leave a Comment

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

October 18, 2011 · 8 Comments

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

October 17, 2011 · Leave a Comment

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

October 11, 2011 · Leave a Comment

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

October 5, 2011 · 3 Comments

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

October 3, 2011 · 2 Comments

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

September 16, 2011 · 2 Comments

All About.Me & My Digital Footprint

Anna Smith

Anna Smith

In 140 Characters

  • LGA-->MSN-->LAS-->SEA-->PEK (not kidding) 18 hours ago
  • @poh Maybe I should start packing... 1 day ago
  • Figuring out and articulating pivotal, guiding questions is so satisfying. Great hangout, @poh! I'm definitely looking forward to #clmooc! 1 day ago

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