As you’ll notice from the citation, this is not from a primary source of Vygotsky’s ideas, but rather is a bit from Lisabeth Dixon-Krauss’ book, Vygotsky in the Classroom. This morning, I’ve been working on adding Vygotsky to the outline of my next paper (which is already much longer than the paper will be… I definitely write with the fiction writers iceberg theory even when writing academically). As I worked through Dixon-Krauss’ book, this particular quote struck me as relevant to the work we are doing with student blogging:
Adults involved in the teaching of writing will write and share their writing, if they are teaching it authentically. Adults who teach writing authentically must write to express themselves and to learn how the teaching/learning is progressing. When we view writing as a process, as an important end in itself (a way for people to express themselves), and as a way to learn what and how we think, we understand how it must be an integral part of the school setting. Without writing or some kind of discussion , how can we know what the children already understand or have learned about a subject? (Dixon-Krauss, 1996, p. 102)
The social constructivism I am studying in relation to games in education continues to seem highly relevant to my other recent passion, the read/write web in education.
Incidentally, the Squire stuff I’ve mentioned is for the paper after this one… I’m alternating between reading for that project and writing for this one, in order to maximize my time, my moods, and my circumstances. :)
Comments are closed.