“Collaboration and Social Interaction in English Classrooms” In Rural Areas (Blog 1)

Collaboration is essential to help create an interpretative community in an English classroom. Employers are looking for more students who not understand how to efficiently use technology but who can effectively interact and communicate with others. These skills can be fostered in the classrooms. Yet it should not be a goal for collaboration for students to obtain jobs after high school but to also become active citizens in their communities.

Students should understand that they do not always have to work alone. John Trimbur noted in the article that "writers are not the sole owners of the ideas they offer when they commit words to paper or electronic media" displaying that literacy is an active process that includes others so why not in the English classroom (DeCosta et al14)? Collaboration does not always have to be face-to-face but can be enriched through what James Paul Lee calls "affinity groups" or online groups (DeCosta et al 15). The article gave ideas of using Facebook groups or Twitter to have students not only share their ideas but to learn from others through social networking.

However, technology usage in schools is often overlooked in rural areas because they don't have resources for students to be 1:1 or can use technology as often like in suburban or urban areas which puts them at a disadvantage. As a teacher it is important to infuse as much tech usage in my classroom so that they will be more informed and stay up to date despite the lack of resources. Yet since students in rural areas are left without tech there is more room for face-to-face collaboration although it can be enhanced with technological resources.

Although students might not be able to use the internet or have computers at home they can still use what computers are available in the class to create a Facebook page to display the work that they have created in class (DeCosta et al 18). Or the teacher can create a social media page and create groups in the class that they can have a chance to post every week. Also, with Wiki's maybe instead of a research paper for one unit, they can create their own Wiki based on their research and post it (DeCosta et al 18). Since students in rural areas are not often connected with other communities, this allows them to reach out to other students across the states and even the world.

For students in rural areas collaboration is important not only within the classroom but it will make class tie more meaningful. Students can use what they post to share with the world so that they can feel that their voices are being heard.

Work Cited

“Collaboration and Social Interaction in English Classrooms” (DeCosta, Clifton, & Roen, 2010)