entry 8 - Digital_Composition.pdf

 Digital composition is something that is growing in importance and will continue to do so as we advance further into our technological timeline. Growing up in a technological society, the youth of today is forced into developing fluency in using technology for every aspect of their lives from learning to entertainment typically deals with technology in some aspect. Being able to produce proficient digital composition will prove to be exceedingly valuable when transitioning into the workforce, proving an ability to efficiently utilize modern forms of communication. 

In the article, When Our Students Voice Their Truths: "This I  Believe" Multimodal Essays in Action, we read about public figures such as Greta Thunberg, Malala Yousafzai, X Gonzalez, and Amanda Gorman. What all of these people have in common is that they all fought against public issues as teenagers. Examining these people and how they were able to use their voices to spark such a great change within so many people across the world to move toward a common goal is something that we as educators must take note of when taking on the responsibility of educating our nation's youth. Centering student voices, the article talks about the "This I Believe" assignment which began as a radio program that featured individuals reciting short writings about values that helped guide their lives. I think that having students focus on something that has made a big impact on the way that they live their lives is a great way to spark interest in an assignment amongst students. Pairing this with a task of needing to communicate this idea to their peers through a vessel such as a podcast or mock tweets could be a great way to aid students in building up their skills in digital composition, as well as giving them a platform to speak on something that they are passionate about.

In the chapter, Use of Multimodal/Digital Tools for Responding to and Creating Multimodal/Digital Texts, the author speaks about a survey of K-12 instructors that make use of games in their classrooms. There was a noticeable difference between the commonality of games within grades 3-5 (79%) and that of high school classrooms (40%). I believe that games should be commonly used in every classroom no matter the grade level. Games are often played by high percentages of students outside of the learning environment, so the implementation of games in the classroom setting would be introducing a learning tool that many students would already be familiar with. If a student was not familiar with playing games, it would still be something new and refreshing to utilize in order to prevent your classroom from becoming boring and stagnant. Playing multiplayer games in schools would also be effective in teaching students skills such as teamwork, cooperation, and communication using technology and would aid in their digital composition skills.