Shared Spaces

https://docs.google.com/a/bcacs.org/document/d/1ajcc9zxxWmUiesNn-isCz0GzLEPfmUO30-YZjfdHF0M/edit?usp=sharing

The above link is to a collaborative Halloween story I asked my American Literature students to write.

     When I was a kid, we told collaborative stories. One person would start the story and each person the circle would add to it one at a time. I have had my students do this assignment orally. I have even written it down as they spoke.  Shared spaces on the Internet changed all that.
     After my students and I read and discussed"The Legend of Sleepy Hallow," I had then write a collaborative Halloween story. I started it in a Google Doc and emailed them the link. Before they started, I asked one of them to be the one to end the story.  I gave them a deadline for writing, but they could do so whenever they wanted to in that timeframe.
      There were students who watched other students as they wrote in real time. There were students who wrote at home alone.  There were students who did not write at all.  To honor their effort, I read the work aloud when it was completed.  It gave public validation to their words.
     I have improved this lesson by letting students choose their time of writing. The first time I did it, they were assigned an order. That meant if someone did not do his or her part, they had to wait. This way was more fair.
    Google Docs is big in our school. My theology students use it to collaborate on study questions.  Teachers and administrators have used it in the accreditation process to share information. I use it to store large files my students need.  I have students with accommodations.  Some of what they read is recorded so they can listen to it as they read. I keep these files in a folder in Google Drive so they can access them.
     I have not used Padlet. It looks like a good way to brainstorm. That is one of my favorite ways to prepare to write.  My students could do the same.
     Sharing is so much easier with these programs. They go across platforms. They go across time.
They go across the curriculum.