WritingBoxes, Art and Drawing, and Writing Technologies

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Writing Boxes

Art and Drawing

History of Writing Technologies

Smartphones in Classrooms

      • Alexander Graham Bell and the History of the Telephone

Writing Boxes

Read "Writing Boxes: The Reading/Writing Connection Supporting Literacy in the Library." Lisa Von Drasek. Children and Libraries (Spring 2018), 8-13.

Build a Physical Writing Box

  • Containers: Plastic Sweater Box, Basket, Backpack, Pencil Box

  • Markers: Pencils, Colored Pencils, Felt-Tipped Markers, Crayons

  • Surfaces: Paper, Notebook, Pads, Write-on/Wipe-off Board

  • Supplies: Tape, Glue, Stapler Ruler

  • Need more ideas? See Mini-Writing Centers from Scholastic

Build a Digital Writing Box

Use Environmentally-Friendly Writing Materials

Statute of Thomas Jefferson and his Writing Box

Mr. Jefferson's Writing Box. Smithsonian.com (February 2001). Jefferson used a writing box as a portable desk when drafting the Declaration of Independence

A collection of pens, pencils, scissors, and rulerrs

Classroom Materials by Lyn Lomasi CC BY 2.0

Kid drawing with colored pencils

History of Writing Technologies

The Mark I Computer at Harvard: The First Programmable Computer in the United States

Timeline of the Development of Computable Knowledge: 20,000 BCE to Present

Computer History Timeline: 1930 to Present

Online Tools for Teaching and Learning. Digital tools on this website are organized according to the National Research Council’s (2000) four types of learning environments: assessment-centered, community-centered, knowledge-centered, learner-centered.

Our Kids Have All the Write Stuff Digital Connections Toolkit. Hundreds of apps and digital tools to inspire and support writing

First Digital Computer, 1953

First Digital Computer, 1953

Computer, tablet, smartphone

Computer, tablet, smartphone

The Latest Research on Technology, Children and Teens

Social Media Demographics for Marketers in 2020

Screen Time: Conclusions about the Effects of Digital Media Are Often Incomplete, Irrelevant or Wrong, The Conversation, January 15, 2020

High Amounts of Screen Time Begin as Early as Infancy, National Institutes of Health (November, 2019)

    • Babies as young as 12 months get nearly an hour of screen time a day

    • 3 year-olds average 150 minutes on screens a day

    • American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children 2 to 5 years-old spend no more than an hour on screens; adults should avoid digital media exposure for children under 18 months except for face-to-face family interactions.

No Sedentary Screen Time for Babies, World Health Organization

    • WHO advice focuses on passive viewing - youngsters being placed in front of a TV or computer screen or handed a tablet or mobile phone for entertainment

The Health Impacts of Screen Time: A Guide for Clinicians and Parents

    • UK's Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health insists there is little evidence screen use for children is harmful in itself

    • Evidence is weak for a threshold to guide children and parents to the appropriate level of screen time. We are unable to recommend a cut-off for children’s screen time overall

    • Our primary recommendation is that families should negotiate screen time limits with their children based upon the needs of an individual child, the ways in which screens are used and the degree to which use of screens appears to displace (or not) physical and social activities and sleep

Interactive Family Media Plan Builder and Media Time Calculator, American Academy of Pediatrics

Social Media Has Not Destroyed a Generation, Scientific American (November 1, 2019)

    • Most young texters and Instagrammers are fine.

    • Heavy use can lead to problems, but many early studies and news headlines have overstated dangers and omitted context

Children Need Digital Mentorship, not World Health Organization's Restrictions on Screen Time, Brookings (April 26, 2019)

Everything in Moderation: Moderate Use of Screens Unassociated with Child Behavior Problems, Psychiatric Quarterly (February 2017)

Picture Books about Writing Technologies

Books showing children, adolescents and adults using writing and drawing technologies as writers, scientists, directors, movie makers, game players and other creative roles.