When I Grow Up, I Wanna Write Like Pixar!

Who doesn't love Pixar? They have created not only some of the most visually pleasing movies in the past few years, but also some of the most compelling stories. People of all ages love Pixar. When I saw this entry on Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=digital%20writing), I had to investigate further.

I was directed to a Huffington Post article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/30/pixar-storytelling_n_1718854.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003 from April 12, 2015.  It turns out that Emma Coats, a storyboard artist who worked at Pixar, created this beautiful poster from ideas she learned while at Pixar. The 22 ideas are relevant to any writer. I personally appreciated #9. How often have I gotten stuck and tried to figure out what to do? 

Pinterest is a feast for the eyes, an amazing accumulation of visually interesting posts that lead the viewer to more information. With the ubiquity of technology, visual stimulation has become a must for anyone wanting to grab an audience's attention. We all, for instance, can identify websites, tech tools, and apps with merely an icon.  Something catches my eye. I investigate, applying, whether I realize it or not, Hicks' MAPS hueristic (p. 154).  I size up whether the post could be useful for me, my purposes, my situation. Then I launch my exploration and begin to read.

As regards Hicks' MAPS heuristic, my search on Pinterest yielded up a nonfiction collection of websites and images that provided me with many possibilities for digital writing. The medium, the Pinterest website, is a very popular site for research for many interests, both personal and professional.  A search on Google, for instance, invariably yields a host of Pinterest pins for further inquiry. The purpose of Pinterest is to allow users to collect "pins" that allow bookmarking on specific topics. Users can also access the boards of others' whose pins may then be shared. 

In Hicks' text, I found page 180 VERY helpful. There Hicks provides more information to consider when assigning digital writing, including "who might encounter this piece of digital writing?" Students need to consider the audience.  For this point, I found another great entry on Pinterest that I think might resonate with students:

 Another item to consider (and goodness knows we teachers must always give consideration to this one) is how much "students have choice over the technologies they will use to create this piece of digital writing"(Hicks, p. 180).  Sometimes, as we have all admitted in our class assignments, students have little choice in the technologies. The world is turning to online writing, and our students, who must learn to navigate this brave new world, often do not have access to the technology that will enable them to become successful. (I will refrain from preaching to the choir here.)

PBS has a collection of short videos that teach viewers to use digital tools, including social media, for learning, sharing, and teaching. The video on the use of hashtags provides technical details and guides viewers in the best use of hashtags to enhance a message.The video can be found at PBS Learning Media.

Hashtags on social media kind of do what Pins do on Pinterest--link people not otherwise linked via their shared interests. On Twitter I use #tlap to connect with other educators who are interested in Dave Burgess' "pirate" mentality. (The PBS website offers a plethora of other helpful videos. I recommend that my colleagues visit and bookmark--PIN even!--this page.)

I do not participate in social media very often. Most of my media usage is directed toward finding ways to enhance my lesson plans. I do not see how the items I have detailed above can be enhanced.  Pinterest and PBS both have excellent resources, visually appealing platforms, and easy-to-use search engines. I use these sites BECAUSE they are awesome, and I would not change a thing, not even the barrage of images on Pinterest! 

Hicks, T. (2013). Creating Digital Writing: Composing Texts Across Media and Genres. Portsmouth, 

         N.H.: Heineman. Print.