Final Thoughts on WATs for Now
I am writing this a few days after the last day of the close of the regular school year of 2020/2021. I am teaching the English portion of summer school this year which despite my exhaustion I am looking forward to. Already in these first few days of summer, I’ve had time to reflect and think in between the long naps I’ve taken mostly every day.
There is no denying this year was draining. But I have to say this work with WATs and the discussions it has led to with my students has been one of the consistent highlights. When I went into this project, I knew of tools like Grammarly and NoRedInk, but I didn’t know how wide-reaching software was in both teaching and education without this project and the extra inquiry work with the Chippewa River Writing Project. This inquiry has led me to learn a lot and look at tools in new ways and with a newer and deeper understanding.
When I think about this project, I think about three main points that kept coming up to me over and over again in this process and as I reflected on everything.
- I have still so much more to learn. As a writing project, my group read two books: Algorithms of Oppression and The Hidden Role of Software in Educational Research. Both of which helped me see how much software has been layered into what we do without even realizing it. It affected our culture, our biases, our understandings, or evaluations, the way we teach, the way students learn, the way people view education, and so much more. Because these books and this work have opened up my eyes so much, it has made me realize that I still have many things I want to look at and research further on my own.
- WATs will never replace good teachers or good writing instruction. I am comparing their work to translation apps. They are effective and helpful, but language is way more complex than what 1s and 0s can comprehend because people are so much more complicated than that. Algorithms twist language and like it when it fits into a box of binary ideas. What we know and love about language and writing is when it's out of the box and breaks all the rules. WATs are tools and should be thought of as nothing more than that for any writer at any stage.
- Because there are so many different types of WATs you need to remember the purpose. The purpose of anything you do in a classroom (ie what you want students to learn or get from the lessons or continue to practice) should be the critical component that drives the selection of a tool. And so often this is forgotten. Many schools or districts just buy these programs thinking it will be the thing that pushes them to the next level. But they don’t consider the purpose and I believe are doing harm to students this way. Teachers are then forced to shoehorn WATs into their curriculum even if it might not be the BEST option or the right option for the things their students need to keep working on to grow as writers and learners. They also sometimes get the teachers the basic training which is just where to click and the bells and whistles and don’t give them the chance to truly understand what the WAT is or how it works. I urge anyone when bringing technology into the classroom, WATs or not, to think about the purpose. Because sometimes you don’t need to do tech for a lesson to be effective. And this is coming with someone who has a Master’s degree in instructional technology. There is a time and a place for everything and sometimes there is not a time or place for it.
Moving forward, I think I can better teach students about what WATs are and when it's time to use them. I think I also have a better understanding of writing instruction in a new medium and a new way. But do I feel like my job is threatened by WATs? No. I think I’m safe for as long as I want to keep teaching.
The final thing I want to write about is that I encourage every teacher every few years to do some sort of action research or inquiry project for themselves to keep learning and pushing themselves in a new way. It's work, but it's very rewarding and interesting because it's driven by what you decide to do. We often say that we want our kids to be lifelong learners and this is a chance for us to model for them what that looks like in practice. We don’t have all the answers and this field changes so much. Just look at the shift that has happened in the last 12- 20 months in this field. We’ve never been more aware of the shifts that this career is changing. Why not be a part of it in a positive way and in a way that you have control over what the focus is and what to bring into your classroom?
