Resource Book Review: Because Digital Writing Matters

Because Digital Writing Matters: Improving Student Writing in Online and Multimedia Environments by National Writing Project

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Built more on theory and pedagogy, this NWP book provides sound, rational reasoning for building the digital literacies of ourselves and our students--in that order.

A generalization referenced in the book resonated with me: our students are "digital natives" and their teachers are "digital immigrants". I appreciate the idea that we (the teachers) are constantly working to fit in technology. The book goes on to point out that since 2003 when everything began to become networked and our cloud environment was in its infancy, our students are now no longer the people our educational system was built to support.

It is different than The Digital Writing Workshop by Troy Hicks in that there are scant few authentic examples of projects, student work, or specific digital technology. While BDWM will certainly provide some moments for you to chew on, it is not the book to reference for quick adjustments to bring back to your classroom.

This is the slow-simmer book. It contains the ideas to bring back to your colleagues and your administrators. It is the book to bring back to your school community.

Are things really just the same as they were 30 years ago just with nicer computers, or has the world dramatically shifted, and with it writing, composing, conferring, reading...learning?

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