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**Welcome to the CDWP2011 Writing and Technology Wiki!** This wiki traces its beginning to the 2011 cohort of teacher-writers, who gathered together to participate in the Capital District Writing Project Invitational Summer Institute. During this summer experience, several of us began an inquiry, using the following questions to guide us:


 * How might technology help us engage students in authentic and meaningful writing experiences?
 * What are some practical roles technology can play in the teaching of writing, particularly in schools with limited budgets for technology?
 * How does technology shape writing practices?
 * How has technology changed what counts as writing?

As we engaged in this inquiry, we were particularly interested in exploring and gathering resources that take advantage of the design, multimodal, collaborative, and audience opportunities available when using technology in the classroom. In other words, while we were interested in uses of technology that closely parallel pen-and-paper composing (such as having students work on computers to do what they might ordinarily do in handwriting), we focused more on ways to use technology to extend students' concepts of writing and ways of engaging in writing.

We invite you to use the Discussion tab at the top of this page to start and contribute to discussions on any topic!

If you are new to the world of wikis, think of our wiki as a book, with the chapter titles listed in a column down the left-hand side of the page. The first link, for Resources, is a great place to get started. It takes you to a page with options for General Resources, Digital Writing, and Technology in Action.

The next group of links look at three categories of digital writing, described by [|Troy Hicks], author of several texts and resources for digital writing. The first is a link that looks at resources associated with digital writing as Writing and Responding, such as opportunities for students and teachers to conduct online conversations about pretty much anything. In this category, writers post and respond to posts on blogs, videos, and sites modeled after Facebook. The second category of digital writing considers Collaborative Writing opportunities, and sites which support groups of writers collaborating on composing a "text" such as a wiki or a document. The final category considers digital writing as Multimedia Writing, in which we have collected some sites where students and teachers can compose multimedia projects, from digital stories to games.

We also have gathered Resources for Inspiring Writing, such as sites where students and teachers can find artwork, photography, and music to inspire or support writing. Below that you can find a page devoted to Supporting Teachers as Writers, where you can find suggestions on forming and continuing writing groups beyond the Summer Institute.

Finally, we have a group of pages where you can find and share Lesson Plans, favorite Mentor Texts, and materials related to our Summer Institute.

The last page on this wiki contains Wiki Editing Instructions, and reminds you that this wiki is open and can be edited by anyone who is a member. So we invite you to participate as collaborative writers, to share favorite resources and sites.