LIBE 477 Future Vision Blog # 2: Website’s Intended Audience, Structure, and Current Progress

 

  I want to create a website to help elementary teacher-librarians, teachers, and myself start a student creative writing club with lesson plans and other information ready to be used. The writing club is for students from grades 1 to 5 who would like to join and write stories, poems, comics, or whatever that interests them with the tools and mentors available. I also want to emphasize to teachers and teacher-librarians that the club is designed as a place for students to write for fun, not at all graded and assessed by educators. As stated in the previous blog, students are more willing to write when they can choose the topic and form of their creation, instead of being assigned one in class. They become excited to write and help others, eager to show their creations. I will discuss the website’s intended audience, how its information will be presented and used, possible challenges, and how educators can share their ideas and experiences on the website. 

     While substituting for classes across school districts in Victoria, B.C., I have heard from many elementary educators that they are worried about their students’ growth in literacy. Many teachers and librarians claimed that students are falling behind their grade expectations in literacy. Educators in Greater Victoria and Saanich districts are noticing a rise in reluctant readers and writers. They worry this will negatively impact student growth and learning if they don’t have enough support to develop their literacy skills. In an article, “Student performance on the wane in B.C,” Micheal Zwaagstra provides data on recent student performance in B.C:

B.C. used to be one of the top-performing provinces in Canada but test scores in have steadily declined over the last 20 years. For example, according to data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), since 2003 B.C. math scores declined by 34 points, more than every other province except Manitoba (-46) and Alberta (-38). And B.C. saw the second-largest decline in science scores (above only Manitoba).

 

In regard to literacy, Zwaadstra states, “B.C. students also went downhill in their reading skills. Only Manitoba and Saskatchewan experienced a steeper decline. This is particularly concerning, since reading is the most important skill taught in school. If schools don’t get this subject right, not much else that happens in school will matter.” Writing is still an important skill that students need to be successful in our 21^st century society. This skill will not only help them with their reading and careers, but with their creativity and innovation. Thus, my goal is to supply educators with resources, tools, and lesson plans to start a creative writing club. This club will hopefully help students develop more confidence and mastery in their literacy skills. 

 

Image from “ Student Performance on the wane in B.C”: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/blogs/student-performance-on-the-wane-in-bc

 

     The website will have five titled widgets that lead to five pages. There will be a homepage that users will begin on before choosing a widget for specific information and lesson plan. The homepage will contain an introduction to the website’s intention. The widgets will be titled as followed: Setting Up, Lesson Plan #1, Lesson Plan #2, Lesson Plan # 3, and Resources. There will be an extra widget for Forum where anyone can discuss and share new ideas regarding teaching literacy to students. Wix has a tool where I can add a forum on a separate page. 

 

Image from Wix: https://support.wix.com/en/article/wix-forum-adding-and-setting-up-your-forum

 

I decided to write three lesson plans instead of five since I feel there should page devoted to helping educators set up a writing club and a page for links to resources and other documents. I can always add more lesson plans in the future if educators would like to see more ideas. The Setting Up page will be dedicated to providing advice on how to begin a writing club. This page will have information on promoting the club to the school community, sending letters to parents, organizing dates of club meetings, determining how many students could join, collaborating with colleagues and community members, various ways of displaying student work, and digital programs. The Setting Up page will also consider various situations that teacher-librarians and teachers may encounter. The last page will focus on resources since there are so many sites and blogs with great ideas and tips in teaching creative writing to students. These resources supply templates and other documents that I would recommend printing for the club. The page will also contain links to writing prompts, journal studies, examples of creative writing workshops and clubs, digital writing programs, and more. 

     The challenge I see for this project is mainly the use of technology. In my lesson plans, I implement the use of computers, laptops, and Ipads for students so they can access digital programs for their writing. Although I believe it’s important to teach students how to use technology for creativity and digital literacy, I’m aware that not every school library will have these devices for student use, or unable to book enough for each club session. This will be one of the considerations I will have to discuss in the Setting Up page since accessibility to technology differs in each school. It would be nice if a creative writing club can give students the opportunity to work with different programs and devices to write, but I understand that this may not be possible for all schools. Therefore, I will discuss alternatives on the website. Here is a video from Edutopia which shows how technology can be integrated into content learning. 

 

“ Tech Literacy: Exploring Tools Through Content” 

 

    I hope this website will inspire educators to lead a creative writing club or workshop in their school library or classroom with the resources provided. Writing is an important skill that students need for their growth in literacy. Students should try to write on not only paper, but on mobile devices and computers. They need know how programs work, such as writing and other literacy apps, to develop skills relevant to the 21^st century world. Educators should try to use technology, especially the web, to display student writing to the school community. It would be a great learning moment if students learn how to post their work on a safe, school-supported platform. The website is intended as a resource for educators to start leading a student creative writing club or workshop. 

 

 

 (Sorry for the white highlights. I don’t know how they got there and couldn’t remove them. ) 

 

 

                                                              Works Cited 

 

Zwaagstra, Micheal. “Student Performance on the Wane in B.C.” Fraser Institute, 6 Oct. 

       2023, https://www.fraserinstitute.org/blogs/student-performance-on-the-wane-in-bc.