I have spent the past week continuing to explore different elements of the Literature forum. I am really enjoying the content and structure of this forum because it allows members to engage in meaningful dialogue about literature, authors, and specific literary periods that they are interested in. I am currently teaching 10th and 12th grade English so I spend a good amount of time researching authors and literary movements that have had an impact on the trends and focal points of World Literature and British Literature. For this reason, I have been observing activity in forums centered around World Literature or British Literature.
I really appreciate that there are conversations sorted by literary period and genres. I love Medieval Literature (I know I am a total nerd) so finding and entire forum dedicated to authors of Medieval Literature was like heaven. I just finished teaching The Canterbury Tales in my 12th grade English class so I decided to spend some time reading threads about elements of The Canterbury Tales and Chaucer. During my time as undergraduate at APU, I was able to take an entire class on the works of Chaucer so I found these conversations to be fascinating. I especially enjoyed a thread in which members were debating the function of the retraction of The Canterbury Tales. Members seemed to have strong opinions, but expressed them in a respectful manner. For the most part, I have observed positive digital citizenship in conversations taking place on in this forum. Members seem to be thoughtful and intentional in their postings.
Another aspect of this forum that I am really enjoying is called "A Sonnet a Day," which is an optional email list that I signed up to be a part of. As a member of this list, I receive a daily email with one of Shakespeare's sonnets. Shakespeare wrote 150 sonnets so I have already encountered a few that I had never read. Because I teach British Literature, I have been able to use a few of the sonnets as warm up activities in my 12th grade class. I have had students annotate the sonnet and identify literary devices in it. It has been a really beneficial activity for my students that I wouldn't have thought of if I had not been exposed to this literature forum. I am excited to continue exploring this forum and further observing the digital citizenship taking place.
It is great to read how passionate you are about Literature. This forum just seems perfect for you. You seem very excited and connected to this forum and it is awesome that you are teaching high school English. This forum seems like it could definitely help you in your own classroom. I am really enjoying this part of our class, and even though my forum really is appropriate to implement in my own classroom, it is awesome you have found on that can be beneficial to you and possibly some of the things you are doing in your own classrooms. I am very interested to continue reading about your findings in the forum. I noticed you mentioned from what you can tell right now everyone in the forum is participating with positive digital citizenship. I hope you continue to enjoy exploring your forum and I am excited to read about what you find next.
ReplyDeleteKatie, it seems you have found a total gold mine for an English teacher! I definitely need to sign up for it. The sonnet a day list sounds excellent, and what a great idea to use them for warm-up activities! I also thoroughly enjoyed The Canterbury Tales and would imagine that the conversations surrounding it would be fascinating. I think it will be interesting to see if you find any examples of poor digital citizenship, given that this forum seems like quite a high-class location for lovers of literature.
ReplyDeleteWow that's neat how they have conversations sorted by literary periods and genres. Do you check them all out or just your faves? Literature isn't the easiest subject for high school students, myself included; however, you seem to really love what you do, which is great for engaging the students in learning. It would be great if I could find time to take a class in Literature and expand my English knowledge. I think it's so cool that the forum emails you a sonnet daily, a great way to stay active with Shakespeare and have the students use it as daily warm ups.
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