Qualitative Data Results
Remixing Print Stories.
For three weeks during the semester, preservice teachers were engaged in a genre study exploring Flash Fiction. Flash fiction is a short, fictional story that is typically between 250-750 words (Batchelor & King, 2014). The purpose of introducing preservice teachers to this genre was to engage them in narrative writing that pays specific attention to word choice and important literary techniques through immersion in the genre by reading and responding to many mentor texts. Therefore, instructors and preservice teachers studied elements of craft unique to the genre, such as striking imagery, specific verb choice, pacing, and surprise endings. As the preservice teachers wrote in the genre of flash fiction, they strengthened their understanding of these elements. They also seemed to heighten their capacity to apply similar approaches to teaching writing to their future practice. At the end of the unit, preservice teachers transformed their flash fiction stories into a #25wordstory. #25wordstory is a participatory community on Twitter that shares short stories in 25 words or less (within the confines of the 140 Twitter character count). Each preservice teacher posted their
#25wordstory to their Twitter account using the hashtag #25wordstory. After completing this activity, their flash fiction pieces were remixed as kinetic poetry. Kinetic poetry is poetry created with digital tools that creates arrangements of words that show movement on the page. Finally, preservice teachers used video, images, and audio to create multimodal compositions based on their flash fiction pieces. Interestingly, all of the preservice teachers reported this assignment to be a salient course experience.
Preservice teachers reported that their experiences with transforming print writing into multiple modes led them to consider the implications for students if they were to do a similar activity in their classrooms. For example, Kaitlin explained, “writing in different modes honestly affects your writing and how you
look at it from a different perspective.” Similarly, Melody stated, “this was definitely one of my favorite things we did. It’s an important skill to be able to convey the same message in multiple ways. And it was a fun way to develop that skill.” Interestingly, other preservice teachers found that transferring modes changed the theme of their story. Michelle explained, “I had this big, ah-ha moment when we turned our written flash fiction pieces into a multimodal piece. I realized that through doing that the focus of my story was totally different when I was trying to tell it with pictures and video.”
Other preservice teachers described the flash fiction remix as a “reflective activity.” For example, Kari stated, that there was a significant amount of “thinking” that took place as they transformed and remixed their original pieces. For her, the benefit of remixing was that “it forced me to think about my language.”
Their experience with remixing flash fiction provided preservice teachers an opportunity to consider implications for students and teaching writing. Michelle explained, “it would make students think about their own writing. This makes students think about how to get the point across in 25 words.” Similarly, Jack said, “it would make students think about their learning.” Dan explained the benefits of introducing students to a range of genres, and ways to write. He shared, “I definitely see where using social media can be helpful. Like the
#25wordstory. I really like the idea of helping students understand that a story doesn’t have to be this super long thing, like you can tell a story in a simple 25 words.”
Online Journaling Apps.
Preservice teachers were asked to write during every class period using an online journaling app, such as Penzu, A Little Memory, or Penmia. The act of routinely writing in their online journals seemed to reinforce the importance of writing on a daily basis as preservice teachers reported the benefits of having many opportunities to write. For example, Michelle discussed the importance of students having the opportunity to write. She explains, “just write, because writing really is such a cathartic thing. I really want to give my students that opportunity to just write. And, to write and not worry about what “their” they use.” Sam shared a similar belief in the importance of regular opportunities to write. He stated, “I think having them write as much as possible is a good thing. You can see their growth throughout the year.”
In addition to the importance of providing students with opportunities to write, preservice teachers alluded to the importance of sustaining the habit of writing themselves. When discussing the importance of having an online journal,
Kari explained, “I noticed when in my field experience if I’m writing myself and sharing my work with my students they connect on a whole new level.” For example, Jack stated that he learned teachers should be “constantly writing” as “teachers should be experts in their field.” Jack later confirmed this sentiment when he stated, “...if you’re teaching writing, students should see you writing.”
Affordances and Tensions about Writing Instruction and Technology