Thinking about the craft of digital writing....

Three years ago with the Writing Project was when I first encountered the idea that when we compose just about anything, we utilize many of same processes as we do when we write.  This about blew my mind and,  given my other concurrent interest of technology, left me refiguring how learning would happen in my classroom.  .  

In the card featured below is my question from the crowd sourcing activity, in its most current form.  I don't expect anyone to be able to read it, so for the sake of clarity, I'll translate.  It reads, "I am wondering about teaching writer's craft through digital modes of composition."

I think that the first "yes, and.." response to my question is right on, that teaching the craft of writing is best taught in a process approach. That's where I am, too.  Digital composition, like writing, best grows in the context of a workshop that allows the recursive stuff to happen.  But what I want to figure out more about is how best I can go about teaching my students to compose digitally, deliberately. I want my class to give them the tools to decide on a mode of composition that best meets their communication purposes, and I want them to not just utilize, but have command of the features specific to that mode that serve to represent meaning.  That's what I'm thinking when I say deliberate. 

On a related note....

I'm excited to be involved this summer of making with the NWP's connected learning mooc.  I was a bit late to jump in, but I decided to just do it last night by using some of my daughter's toys and an iPad  app called ComicMaker.  I have never used it before, and while I have read a few comics, but I have  never really thought much about making them.  When I created this one, I was faced with quite a few questions that I didn't know how to answer. Like, where are the speech bubbles supposed to go? How much space should the image take up on the frame? Why are frames different sizes? And what about the filters--what effect to each create for the readers?

While my comic wasn't difficult to create (the app was totally user friendly), it did take me quite a bit longer than I'm sure it looks like it took.  And, creating it I became aware of just how much I didn't know about comic making.  

So what do I as a learner need to create this type of composition more effectively.  I think that the time and space to play was important, but I also think that having mentors to refer back to also would be a big help.  

It's inevitable, given the breadth of possibilities for compositions, that my students will be working in mediums where my knowledge doesn't extend much farther than it did with this Comic Maker app, but even so, I think that it is completely worth doing.  As can be seen in my case, the decisions that I considered are those that we want all student writers to be mindful of, and I'm pretty sure that juxtaposing these sorts of composition opportunities with traditional writing opportunities serves to grow students as writers. But, I'm still feeling a little stuck as to what my role should be in structuring and facilitating such experiences for my students.