Writing

Writing in the digital era can be lit and give you the feels.

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There is a chance that this might seem like another language to you, or that you might be able to understand this and feel disappointed that a third grade teacher would write like a teenager. Interestingly, school children as young as eight are showing a growing proficiency in bilingualism, according to a recent poll of parents and teachers. The only hitch? They’re bilingual in English and "text-speak" (Merritt, A. 2013, April 3). The words and phrases such as “lit” and “giving you the feels”, that I used earlier are examples of text speak. Less than two decades ago, new forms of social media were believed to be “devaluing writing, marginalizing the essay, and contributing to a postmodern death of the author. But today writing is more important the ever. The author is alive and well, and has a blog” (Warschauer, M. 2010). Finally, digital tools can help us be more robust, creative and efficient in more ways than we ever had available before as writing teachers. Embracing digital writing will ultimately support all our students both in their academics, in their lives, and in their future (Hicks, T. 2013).