Jennifer has learned that technology can greatly enhance the writing process. Read in her own words how she uses technology in truly transformational ways.
Technology in our 6th grade classroom has clearly facilitated the writing process . . .
The program Inspiration, which is installed on the classroom set of laptops, guides students to organize their thoughts and to visualize how a graphic diagram can be adapted into an outline. This outline is then followed as the students create paragraphs for their essay. This process helps to develop organization and confidence in insecure writers and encourages more experienced writers to integrate more details and expression. Inspiration has a way of turning the intimidating act of writing for many kids into an easy step-by-step process that has a rewarding end result.
Click here to go to the Inspiration Web site to check out the program. 
Sixth graders typing papers is a time-consuming process as the students are still developing their typing skills. Therefore, we have found that typing at home is an ideal option for some students. The challenge has been to provide the means to save their work at home but then transfer it to school to be used on the classroom computers. This year, many students purchased a saving device (portable hard drive), allowing them to move their work from a PC at home to the Macs we use at school. This has saved a lot of class time and relieves some of the pressure the kids feel as they try to "keep up" in class.
Technology is a great help during the editing and revising process.
Students use Track Changes in Microsoft Word in order to go into one or their classmate's papers and suggest any changes. The author of the paper later has a chance to accept or reject those suggestions.
Click here to download a how-to sheet on how to use Track Changes.
Students find the thesaurus, dictionary and spell check quite helpful as they search for new and challenging words to integrate into their writing.
Using the classroom Smartboard, we project individual papers so that we can point out areas of strength as well as ideas for revising. It is amazing to feel the excitement in the room as the students wait to see their own paper up on the board in order for their peers to provide constructive ideas. We underline topic sentences, highlight supporting details and point out transitional words and phrases. Any comments written up on the student's paper can then be saved or printed out so that the student can reflect on these ideas. The Smartboard has been a critical component in the entire writing process.
By saving all of their class work on the school network, the students are building an electronic portfolio, documenting the progress made throughout the year. As the students integrate more sophisticated writing strategies, their progress will be evident ... especially if they save this portfolio on their saving device and label it as "My 6th grade writing".
