Using Daybooks: Jill Puchacz and talking on paper

I started using daybooks in my classroom and I have had a mix of responses, some students love using them and other say they would rather use a lap top or text their thoughts on their phone.  Even though I understand that using a paper and pencil is archaic to them, I find it important and almost freeing to leave the phone or computer behind for a few minutes a day and just write.

I wonder how I could get kids more excited to use paper.  I model it for them and show them how I write and that its okay to be messy and spell incorrectly.  They have such a hard time writing for the sake of writing because they were never taught that.  How do I teach them that writing isn't only for when you need to pass in  a paper for class, but as a way to organize your thoughts and sometimes find out thoughts that you didn't know you had?

This goes back to a post I made a while ago about being a digital native or a digital immigrant.  How do we express the wonder of using paper?


Jill Puchacz