Informational writing is often endorsed as “an entry point for
emergent writers, especially boys, and for students who struggle with writing”
(Beschorner & Hall, 2018, p. 597). This is largely because the
informational genre invites students to further their understanding of subjects
that interest them and to share their expertise, in turn, promoting motivation
to write and read (Beschorner & Hall, 2018; Senn, 2012). Furthermore,
Beschorner and Hall (2018) argue that carefully selected digital tools can
enhance young students’ informational writing performance and motivation.
Specifically, they maintain that “Twenty-first century students learn about
literacy from living in a technological world” and though few are likely to disagree
with them, it is important to recognize the limited time teachers have to identify,
experiment with, and authentically integrate new technological tools into writing
instruction.
Luckily, Beschorner and Hall (2018) have done some of the
heavy lifting for us in a recent article published in The Reading Teacher. They identify and synthesize multiple digital
tools that can be utilized with young children at each of the major stages of informational
writing (i.e., research, prewriting, writing, and publishing). This post
highlights three of six digital tools included in the article. Each is intended
to scaffold younger students’ collection and organization of pertinent ideas
and concepts to be later utilized in their writing. I went ahead and
field-tested all six planning tools mentioned in the article with my
three-year-old daughter and five-year-old neighbor; the three described below were
the most engaging and accessible for them.
STICKY NOTES
This app allows children in the very beginning stage of
informational writing to collect facts electronically and even organize them by
color. My daughter wanted to collect information on various PBS television
shows (i.e., Curious George, Pinkalicious, and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood),
and so, we identified a color for each show and collected images of favorite
characters, vocabulary, and major ideas stemming from the shows (e.g., the
glitterizer - an invention created by Pinkalicious’s mom). She had a blast with
this, though it did require me helping her quite a bit (keep in mind she’s
three!). Our neighbor used the Sticky Note app to gather and color-code
information related to three kinds of rabbits she was considering having for a
pet. With the exception of a brief overview of how to use the tool, she
required very little assistance.
DOODLE BUDDY
Doodle Buddy was fun for all three of us. It allows the user
to both create images and annotate them. My daughter and I created a family tree
onto which we added each family member from her favorite PBS show,
Pinkalicious. We later annotated the tree by including the characters’ names
and by indicating the relationships between characters (e.g., brother,
neighbor, friend, etc.). Our five-year-old neighbor labeled the parts of her
favorite rabbit, the Netherland Dwarf.
POPPLET
Popplet is fantastic for webbing ideas. My daughter decided to
make a web of all of the art ideas she had gathered from watching Pinkalicious.
Her plan included using the web to create a book of Pinkalicious-inspired,
do-it-yourself, art projects. Though she needed a considerable amount of help
collecting and storing the images to add them to the web, she generated the
ideas on her own, chose the representative pictures and words, and dictated their
arrangement in Popplet. We placed an image of Pinkalicious, in the center of
the web and then linked each of her ideas back to the center bubble. Ideas
included the glitterizer (of course), a fairy house, and homemade wrapping
paper. She also brainstormed and added the materials she would need to create
each of the art projects to the Popplet. She is currently working on her nonfiction
book of art projects from the Popplet. Our neighbor created a Popplet detailing
how to take care of a rabbit. She too, is in the process of writing a
nonfiction text from the Popplet, which includes her Doodle Buddy diagram of a
rabbit.
In sum, the above digital tools offer accessible and
engaging ways of planning for informational writing with young children.
Beschorner, B. & Hall, A. H. (2018). Taking a closer
look at your informational writing instruction. The Reading Teacher, 71(5),
597-600.
Senn, N. (2012). Effective approaches to motivate and engage
reluctant boys in literacy. The Reading Teacher. 66(3), 211-210.
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