Reaction to Chapter 4: Supporting Writing With Technology

What I was looking for as I began reading this chapter was ways to get students to enjoy or at least not dislike writing. I figured that this chapter should be rather interesting since the connection of technology can get students into doing a lot of things. The last chapter talked about how to involve writing with the quests or tasks the students would have to do in simulations so I am interested in seeing what other ways there are. Unless I am not getting the full understanding of what they are fully capable of, I really don’t see the use of the computer based semantic maps. I feel that if students are interested in it then it is more because of the fact that they are just using the computer. The program should offer more than what can be given on a paper, other than its visual effects. I feel as if a lot of the explanations given in the chapter are just of concept maps in general, all things I feel can be done on regular paper. I agree with all of the ways students can present writing and I think that they help encourage students slightly but I actually expected more from this chapter. When I began reading this chapter I was expecting technological ways to help support or aid students in their writing. I thought that this chapter would represent ways or programs that would peek students minds and make them think of new creative and innovative ways to say things. This was not delivered in the text of this chapter. What I did appreciate in the powerpoint section was the mention of things that may distract students from their writing or their work in general. It reminds us as teachers to point these out or at least look for these as our students work so that they are not distracted. As I continued reading I found out about “The Pigman” and I think that that is a great idea, and is something that we should try doing in other forms. That is just the tip of the iceberg but I feel that there are more ways that technology can contribute to students writing creativity.
*B.C.*