May
24
Connective Writing
May 24, 2008 | Tagged brookgreen gardens, coastal area writing project, connective writing, const, writing project | Leave a Comment
I started reading Will Richardson’s book Blogs, Wikis, Podcast a few weeks ago. The books sits on my desk at school and every few days I grab a few moments of reading time between the many other things that I must read. I just finished the end of chapter 2-this tells you a little about the reading that is getting done. In chapter 2 on page 29 he talks about a new genre to describe the type of writing in a blog. He calls it “connected writing.” Since I read the section this morning, I have been sort of awestruck with the term and he has coined something that is so true as I reflect about my blogging experiences. Writing in our blogs forces us to read carefully and critically, that we write with clarity, we write for an audience, and our writing links to sources of ideas expressed. (Will Richardson) Lots of time our students have a difficult time with writing because they lack the depth from their reading. I too find this true with my history of reading and writing.
I have often spent time writing off and on since my graduation or completion of the Coastal Area Writing Project in 1992 or 93 (I am getting older —48). Since November 2007, I have been a regular writer either in my blog (here) or my personal writing journal. The more I read from others the more I have time to make connected writing from my reading. My writing comes from the things I am reading whether is professionally, a blog, this coursework, your discussion thread, etc. Blogging has been a wonderful experience for me. I get to read some great blogs of fellow like minded educators such as the looneyhiker, Will Richardson, Cathy Nelson, Clay Burrell, Kevin’s Meandering Mind, Anne …… Plus I try to stay abreast of what is going on in educational journals from subscription from the Marshall Memo’s. Plus I am taking my next to last course in a degree program for a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction with emphasis in technology. With all that I am learning, I have a lot to write about.
The oddest thing is that I feel I have learned more from the people I have connected with from the blogs I read and comment on than I have from the graduate program. I think the potential for learning is greater from the audiences that we are connected with than something that in controlled, contrived, and structures as such as a university graduate program. I would have quit long time ago, but I need that piece of paper that says I have that degree.
Connected writing can be done in a blog, a wiki, or some other writing container. We can capture our personal reactions to topics covered in class, post links, write reflectively, and summarize or annotate reading. It has the potential to be a constructive tool for learning and become a part of a wider body on knowledge that rests on the Internet. Readers/learners have the potential to unleash their thinking whether right or wrong, to test their thoughts, or seek input from others. Connective writing takes shape when we make comments or dialogue through blogs or wikis. Comments that are given to our thoughts push and motivate us to think deeply.
I have often read a person’s blog, made a comment, and felt the need to write my on blog post about the post I read. The reading from Will’s book pushed me to write this post along with comments from a discussion board from the course I am taking. I am using what I am learning to prepare me for a professional development I will lead in August. My thinking is being pushed to new levels.
All this happens in the name of “connected writing.” I leave this by asking my readers about their experience with “connective writing.”
Comments
Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and more!)No Comment
Comment »
[Reply]
Thanks Kevin….You make a good point. I think we have a lot more to learn from using audio and video and connecting it to writing. That is why I want the CAWP participants to take now of how I used voice thread on our blog site. I want them to see has connective writing and think about it as possibilities as prewriting.
Another thing that occurred to me is the danger of only reading blogs. That too allows writers to fall into a vacuum if we only depend on writings from other people’s blogs. I am reading Will’s book and Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. Bloggers must have outside readings whether from journals, books, magazines, online journals, etc….
I think it was Samuel Johnson who said he hates a writer who writes more than he reads.
[Reply]
Kevin—Thanks for the video….I need to get a camera…
[Reply]
Authentic learning, as we are finding it through our Professional Learning Networks, remains the most powerful form of professional education; it seems that this form needs to be incorporated within our more static, traditional forms of teacher education.
[Reply]
Sheryl–I agree with you one hundred percent. Connective learning through our PLN is very powerful. How do we go about getting higher ed in teacher colleges on this bandwagon? How imperative is this?
[Reply]
Hey CAWP!! I love that book you’re reading. I read it about 2 years ago, but often loan it to newbies. Say, BTW you referred to me as Cathy Johnson in the blog! I read this post earlier this mornign, but didn’t know it was me until this afternoon when I got a pingback on my blog. LOL. I have to say even with 2 grad degrees under the belt, I’ve learned more form my PLN than anywhere else. Great post.
[Reply]
Dear Cathy,
I have fixed you and I send my deep apologies. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Bill
[Reply]
Anne Lamott says that writers create a dream into which he or she invites the reader, and that dream must be vivid and continuous. Learning with others is the same way. When we share our thoughts we make sure that the learning becomes continuous.. Sharing with others makes it continuous and allows our thoughts to grow or be replaced with something new. Sharing allows us to test our ideas. This makes Blogging so much more powerful than any other type of writing we do. This makes writing more connective.
[Reply]
It’s interesting that I came to your blog today. I’m working through different ideas in a comment challenge and the item I am thinking about right now relates to the following question: should we be leaving comments on other people’s blogs. Part of my learning takes place when people take a moment to respond to what I am saying in my blog posts. I think this is part of what makes these such useful learning environments.
I occasionally toy with the idea of getting a masters myself. So far, the timing hasn’t been right. While there is so much that any individual can learn online, there is still that piece of paper that is the key to many doors.
I really enjoy writing blog posts because of the connective piece. There is something so useful in being able to write and reflect by linking to other information, and then connect with other people’s ideas through comments. I haven’t picked up Will Richardson’s book, but I know in time I will. It’s good to hear your reflections.
Ann
[Reply]
Ann Oro,
Thanks for commenting on my blog. I am guilty of reading other people’s blogs and not leaving a comment. I leave a comment when I think I have something important to contribute. But Should go ahead a make a comment regardless? What do you think?
Bill
[Reply]
What a great post! I feel the same way about the connectedness of reading the blogs and writing about them. I find myself thinking about whether I agree with the blogger and why. This is helping me reflect and clarify about what I value and believe in which I think will make me a better teacher. When I teach my course this summer I worry that my students won’t feel that they learned what they could like you mentioned so I hope I can teach them some tools that will help them to learn from others what they couldn’t or didn’t in my class. I may not know it all or be able to teach it all, but hopefully they will be able to say that I taught them ways to find it all.
[Reply]
Pat,
It is always a pleasure to have you make a comment on my blog. You make a great point that the blogger and his/her post must push our thinking and beliefs about what we already know.
How do we go about designing assessments to push those we teach to new levels? How do we get the student involved in setting goals for learning? I think if we can get students involved in setting goals for learning and allowing them lead way in showing how they will demonstrate learning we may find ourselves with a more dedicated student. I wonder how many students would take teachers seriously if we offered them this option.
Bill
[Reply]
You know, I meant to say that I love Annie Lamott and I love that book (and most of her writing). At one point, as I was trying to envision myself as a writer, I turned to Bird by Bird (and also Anne Dillard and E. Annie Proulx — some strange Annie fixation that I cannot account for in that period of life, but I loved all three at the same exact time) and came away with a better head for writing.
I thought I would poke my head back into the conversation and add my two cents.
Kevin
[Reply]
If you are following this discussion, you must go to http://macmomma.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-posts-stimulate-readers-to-comment.html and read this post. Please take time to read all the comments…
[Reply]
I guess, for me, part of the fun of blogging is hearing what someone else has to say about what I’ve written. In theory, when a person edits themselves by thinking they don’t have something important to contribute they might underestimate their part in a conversation. Sometimes little thoughts can build into bigger ideas. I don’t just leave comments for the sake of writing on a blog post. I do try to add or reflect and hope it adds to the conversation.
[Reply]
Ann Oro,
It is fun to see what others have to contribute. I had a conversation yesterday with a friend a learning. He a made the comment that learning is greater when you can do it with someone else or someone to share with. Connective Writing has to do with the conversation that in creates, continues, and past learning. Learning is most significant when it is interactive. Thanks for keeping this conversation going. I am thinking about a part two to this post. Would you be interested in writing it together?
Bill
[Reply]
Just another thought:
Connective writing allows us to connect and network with a larger audience that no one else would understand with out doing it. It is like a child who can verbally share with others about what they read and their interpretation to an adult or another child. In the oral context, the listener contributes the child’s thoughts.
Bill
[Reply]
Bill,
Great post, and it sounds familiar to something I have written also. What does it for me is things like what happened this morning. You left a comment on one of my posts, and I was intrigued by what you had to say. So now I am here, reading more about what your though processes are. I don’t know where you live (it’s near a coast, I assume), I don’t really know what you teach or if you teach, but I here I am reading your writing.
So many pundits (take Andrew Keen, for example) decry the notion that everyone and anyone can publish and proclaim themselves experts in some field due to the ability to publish instantaneously; I couldn’t disagree more. My name and my likeness are attached to everything I put on the web, and like we tell our students: “if it has your name on it, it better be worth it.” Being connected to the readers of my blog and learning from their feedback has changed the way I acquire knowledge and how I find new paths to follow.
Great post.
[Reply]
Dear Patrick,
Thanks for writing. I live near the coast of South Carolina between Myrtle Beach and Charleston. I am an instructional technology coach.
I don’t write to publish. I write to share ideas and connect with other people’s thinking. I don’t proclaim to be an expert on any subject, but I love to learn. I like blogging and writing because it makes me feel connected to a group of like minded people.
Bill
[Reply]
Bill,
Connective writing through blogging has certainly taken me to another level of professional development. I’ve been experience what you mentioned in your post of unleashing our own thoughts and ideas, as well as others’. Blogging has changed my teaching practices and has directly reflected on the way my students learn. Now, I’m able to tap into their interests more easily, we can personalize learning, we can have our own class online space for sharing and going way beyond the classroom walls. I connect to each one of them in totally unexpected and meaningful ways. As I’m currently teaching online, I’m geographically distant from my students, but never felt so close to them.
Blogging is transformative and a powerful learning/teaching tool.
Thanks for the great post!
[Reply]
Dear Carla,
Thanks for your comment. I agree with you most of all when you say that blogging has taken me to another level of professional development. Throughout my 20 years of teaching, i have had the opportunity work with small groups of teachers on special projects such as curriculum design or in a professional development course. During our time together, our relationship and enthusiam is awesome. Then when it is over, we are finished. What blogging has done for me is to make learning and that group dynamic experience to continue. Our learning and growth continues. Thanks for stopping by and making your comment.
Bill
[Reply]
You’re right, Bill, about the on-going connections and exchanges. In my educator sphere, I’ve been connecting more and more with like-minded professionals and learning in ways never imagined before. It’s just like an octopus with many tentacles reaching different spaces. I have a group of very close friends in which we keep sharing, expanding, remixing ideas that eventually become great collaborative projects. Just amazing blogosphere…
[Reply]
[...] comments from part one of this post that the Connective Writing Part One helped her reflect and clarify about what she valued and believe in which it will make her a better [...]
Dear Carla–Please take a look at my new post on connective writing. I agree with your comments and I like the metaphor you used in your comment.
Thanks
Bill
[Reply]
Bill:
I’ve never co-written an article with anyone, but let me know when you’re working on it. I’ll give it a try.
Ann
[Reply]