Author's Computer Chair

Linda D. Labbo


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In the 1980s the nature of children's writing in school was transformed with the introduction of a process approach that included a social, peer collaboration activity known as Author's Chair (Calkins, 1983; Graves, 1983; Graves & Hansen, 1983). Natural flow is an integral part of the writing process, and Author's Chair allowed children to benefit from a physical place, a sanctioned time, and a social routine for requesting feedback and support from peers and teachers during any writing phase—brainstorming ideas, writing rough drafts, revising drafts, editing drafts, or producing and celebrating final copies. Over time, children who sat in the classroom Author's Chair developed a sense of audience as their peers and teachers asked clarifying questions that guided subsequent drafts. Participants came to expect that their published stories would be valued and celebrated. And, along the way they learned foundational literacy skills and strategies for writing as members of a community where meaning making was a shared event.

Two decades later, the time has come for another transformation in the nature of children's writing process that includes a social activity that I, and the teachers I work with during staff development training and research projects, have come to know as Author's Computer Chair. Computers, frequently equipped with kid-friendly word processors, presentation software, and multimedia authoring programs, are now commonplace fixtures in the modern classroom, and they have been readily available for use in most elementary schools for several years (Jerald & Galofsky, 1999). For example, a survey conducted in the United States by the National Center for Education Statistics in 1999 noted that schools had already invested US$4 billion dollars to place computers in 90% of K–5 classrooms. However, 80% of the teachers who participated in the survey revealed that they did not feel adequately prepared to use computer technology for instruction.

Over the last five years, I have worked with various teachers in early childhood classrooms to support their efforts to integrate computer technologies into the classroom-learning environment. Thus, the guidelines I share in this article represent a synthesis of ideas drawn from data I have collected in qualitative ethnographies and case studies of early childhood classrooms where teachers and I have grappled with the practical aspects of implementing Author's Computer Chair. Findings suggest that while many of the goals and procedures are similar, the primary difference between Author's Chair and Author's Computer Chair is that in the latter, children discuss computer-related processes of meaning making. This is not a casual observation to be glossed over lightly because reading and writing on a computer screen is inherently different from reading and writing on paper. Indeed, this is an essential concept to grasp because it is critical that we provide students with opportunities to develop multimedia literacies (Flood & Lapp, 1998) as well as print-based literacies if we are to prepare them for their literacy futures.

Guidelines for Implementing Author's Computer Chair

Children benefit from Author's Computer Chair when given a physical place, a sanctioned time, and a social routine for requesting feedback and support during any phase of computer-related activities, whether it be discussing computer works in progress, demonstrating computer tools, sharing e-mail, or showcasing the final versions of projects. Teachers I have worked with in staff development training sessions and observed during qualitative research projects have been successful in implementing Author's Computer Chair when they adhere to five key guidelines: create the right social atmosphere, conduct minilessons, schedule time and space, invite children to share different types of computer work, and build children's capacity to participate in discussion routines.

1. Create a social atmosphere and learning environment that fosters peer collaboration and a sense of community where it's safe to share one's ideas and receive appropriate feedback. Teachers need to talk with students about the purpose and expected tone for discussion activities that are conducted during Author's Computer Chair. Remind children that part of learning is making some mistakes along the way. Thus, Author's Computer Chair is not a time for teasing or making fun of a person for seeking help. Rather, it is a time for asking helpful questions and offering supportive comments. For example, tell children that if someone requests help with a computer activity, others in the class will need to put on their thinking caps and try to help solve the problem.

2. Conduct minilessons to demonstrate and model Author's Computer Chair components. Below is an example of an Author's Computer Chair conference in which a second-grade teacher conducts an interactive minilesson that models how to use Author's Computer Chair time to seek help in gathering information from the Internet (all names are pseudonyms).

3. Schedule time and space to accommodate Author's Computer Chair. Build computer-sharing time into your daily or weekly schedule. Expect young children to need time, support, and frequent opportunities to learn how to conduct, participate in, and benefit from the activities. Be sure that the class members can see the child's computer-related work during the activity (e.g., attach the computer to a larger monitor, shift chairs, or make space where children in the class can view the monitor). Maintain and display an Author's Computer Chair sign-up sheet to accommodate children's access to this important activity.

4. Invite children to share different types of computer-related work that are in different stages of completion. Begin with three distinct uses of Author's Computer Chair—seeking help or feedback for a work in progress, sharing knowledge and expertise, and showcasing or celebrating the completion of a computer activity.

Seeking help or feedback for a work in progress. Students will benefit from peer feedback when they run into difficulties at the onset or in the midst of a computer activity. It's not uncommon for children to require feedback during the process of multimedia composing. When using creativity software (e.g., KidPix2) or word processing and desktop publishing programs, children may need help to select an appropriate symbol system or combination of symbol systems (e.g., clip art, digital photographs, text, sound effects) to best express an idea. For example, to add an eerie effect to a Halloween poem, a child might combine the written text with clip art or animated icons of the full moon and the wind blowing dark tree limbs, all accompanied by wind sound effects. On other occasions as children attempt to assemble knowledge from the Internet, peers may be able to share search strategies or offer critical views on content published on the Internet. Students might seek peer support in initiating or responding to online communications like e-mail. The bottom line is that children benefit from Author's Computer Chair when they have opportunities to share an issue of concern, receive feedback, and summarize how they plan to use the suggestions in their computer-related meaning-making processes.

Sharing knowledge and expertise. Conferences provide children with a forum for articulating and demonstrating areas of computer expertise they have gained while accomplishing tasks. For example, a child might model how to use a particularly helpful computer tool function (e.g., how to navigate through linked hypertext). At other times, children might provide a virtual field trip through an informative website that relates to a topic of study. Students could also present demonstrations of a new computer application (e.g., how to play a new computer game, how to access special effects in a new interactive talking book). Children gain confidence in their computer abilities when given a forum for sharing expertise. In addition, other children, who view and ask questions about the demonstration, learn new strategies and techniques for using computer tools and resources.

Showcasing or celebrating the completion of a computer activity. Showcasing conferences lets students share their computer-related work, such as final versions of computer-generated stories, multimedia computer slide shows, work published on a classroom webpage, completed projects, and so forth. When sharing their accomplishments, students should be encouraged to discuss the process they used to complete the work. This is also a time for inviting peer comments or asking questions about the computer work. Children are likely to persevere toward task completion and be engaged and focused on their work when they know others value it.

5. Build capacity for discussion routines during Author's Computer Chair. Learning to participate in an Author's Computer Chair conference may require a great deal of practice and time before children become accustomed to the language, rhythm, and purposes for the activity. As indicated in guideline 2, teachers can model and scaffold children's induction into the cognitive work involved in sharing their ideas through the give and take of group conferences. It might also be advisable to post a chart that includes a list of discussion routines so that the class can refer to the steps until they have been fully adopted by group members. The Figure lists recommended steps for establishing routines to discuss computer works in progress, to showcase computer expertise, or to showcase completed computer work.

Expected Benefits of Author's Computer Chair

Findings I have studied, drawn from qualitative research in early childhood classrooms, suggest that children may benefit in several ways from Author's Computer Chair discussions. By inviting others in the classroom to view their works in progress at the computer, young children will have unique occasions to use computer-related vocabulary, demonstrate how to use computer application tools, and discover the value of collaboration and feedback. By having occasions to showcase their computer work in Author's Computer Chair, children are likely to value their own and others' computer work. Indeed, they are likely to spend more time engaged with computer tasks because they know that they will have unique opportunities to discuss their work. When children become proficient at using computer applications, they can begin to serve as peer resource experts for the use of specific computer meaning-making processes. Children who serve in this way need to understand the problem in order to give effective feedback. Thus, they are likely to become better listeners. When presenting information on works in progress in Author's Computer Chair, children need to carefully describe the process, the purpose, and the problem to be solved, and thus they may become better communicators.

When children interact with information on computer screens, they encounter a convergence of multimedia and symbolic forms (e.g., images, voices, music, video, animations, and text) that they do not encounter on the printed page. When children read a computer screen, they do so for various purposes as they encounter dynamic digital constructs and genres (e.g., interactive games, storybooks, e-mail, and websites). Teachers who implement Author's Computer Chair are in a powerful position to support children's development of conventional (paper- and print-based) and digital (computer-based) literacy. Children who are digitally literate are equipped to use, comprehend, and manipulate computer-related content and processes to meet their communicative, personal, academic, social, and cultural goals.

References

Calkins, L.M. (1983). Lessons from a child. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
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Flood, J., & Lapp, D. (1998). Broadening conceptualizations of literacy: The visual and communicative arts. The Reading Teacher, 5, 342-344.
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Graves, D. (1983). Writing: Teachers and children at work. Exeter, NH: Heinemann.
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Graves, D., & Hansen, J. (1983). The Author's Chair. Language Arts, 60, 176-183.
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Jerald, C.D., & Galofsky, G.F. (1999). Raising the bar on school technology. Education Week, 24(4), 58-69.
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Labbo, L.D. (1996). A semiotic analysis of young children's symbol making in a classroom computer center. Reading Research Quarterly, 31, 356-385.

National Center for Educational Statistics. (1999). National Center for Educational Statistics Issue Brief: Internet Access in Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994-1998. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=1999017
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The department editor welcomes reader comments on this column. E-mail llabbo@coe.uga.edu. Write to Linda D. Labbo, The University of Georgia, 309 Aderhold Hall, Athens, GA 30602, USA.

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Citation: Labbo, L.D. (2004, April). Author's computer chair [Technology in Literacy department]. The Reading Teacher, 57(7), 688-691. Available: http://www.readingonline.org/electronic/elec_index.asp?HREF=/electronic/RT/4-04_column/index.html

Reading Online, www.readingonline.org   ISSN 1096-1232
Published April 2004 in The Reading Teacher
Posted May 2004 in Reading Online
© 2004 International Reading Association, Inc.