Week Five

As I was exploring the Literature Network Forum this week, I came across an interesting discussion thread about literature and education. The initial question posted in this thread was this: “Teachers, is it still essential to teach the classics or should we be designing curriculum around more modern literature that may be more relatable to students?” I found this question to be both alarming and bias. The forum member who posted this question seems to be attempting to justify teaching modern literature in place of classics, which have earned a place in the literary cannon based on their merit and timeless themes. I was more alarmed by the number of forum members who were validating the notion to teach modern novels and non-fiction in place of classic literature. After reading through the responses in this thread, I decided that this would be where I would make my second post.

            I came across a response posted by a 12^th grade English teacher, who stated the following: “Over the years I have found that I have to present my content matter to students in such a way that they care about it. My 12^th graders would zone out reading Hamlet or Heart of Darkness so I decided to stop teaching these works. This year I have had students reading novels like Life of Pi and Looking for Alaska. They have found these stories much easier to relate to and their engagement level has been much higher…” This teacher went on to state his or her thoughts about the way education is changing and that because education is changing, curriculum should be adjusted to better meet the needs o students. I wanted my response to be simply, while still expressing my strong feelings of disagreement with what this teacher had said. I responded with the following: “I also teach 12^th grade English and I totally agree that half the battle is engaging students in the content. While I love reading more contemporary novels in my free time, I do not feel that they belong in the classroom in place of classic literature. Using modern writing as a supplement to a unit is one thing, but to completely replace the classics with literature from the 21^st century seems irresponsible. Eliminating the classics from curriculum communicates to students that classic literature is not important. There may be some classics that students just don’t like, and that’s okay. I think part of being a teacher is teaching students that sometimes we have to do things, or in this case read things, that we don’t like.” I posted this response on Saturday afternoon. I have not had any feedback to my response at this point, but I am anticipating responses in the near future. For the most part, the digital citizenship throughout this thread has been positive, with members agreeing or disagreeing with one another in a respectable manner. I am hoping that any responses to my post will be the same. 

Week Four

Over the course of this week, I have continued to explore communities within the Literature Network forum. I spent some time reading through threads pertaining specifically to authors who wrote during the Italian and British Renaissances. I spent the majority of my time reading through posts about the works of Dante, Petrarch, and Shakespeare. Members posed some very thoughtful questions concerning the works of these famous Renaissances authors.

As I was reading through the threads concerning the works of Shakespeare, I decided to respond to the following question: “What is the most prevalent theme used by Shakespeare?” When I responded, a few members had already weighed in with their opinions. I attempted to keep my response rather simple. This was my response: “In my opinion, Shakespeare’s most dominant theme is that of appearance vs. reality. This theme is evident in Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, and many of his other works. It seems that Shakespeare utilizes this theme to comment on specific elements of English society, during the Elizabethan era, such as the relationship between men and women, the division of social classes, and the consequences of mans pride.” I posted this reply on Wednesday and have not received any responses so far, not even from the member who initial posted the question, which surprised me.

Reading through the responses posted before mine, the digital citizenship appeared to be pretty positive. What I noticed was that posts seem to get a good deal of initial feedback, but after a few days the responses seemed to dwindle. I am wondering if this is true of all posts or only posts that do not raise controversy. My goal over the next week is going to be to find a post that appears to be controversial and observe the dialogue that is taking place in the thread. I am hoping to find some interesting digital citizenship and a lengthier discussion.