Well, Did You Learn Anything?
From Facebook to Slang to Twitter, we've tried to show the ways in which typical English classrooms are failing our students. We have a print-biased classroom when our students do not exist in a world of print. And they won't be asked to, either, when they leave our schools. With the rise of Internet media, students and teachers have access to an unbelievable number of genres.
Teachers can use slang to intorduce wordplay to their students and harnass a love of words students already have. Webcomics allow students to access information in a popular and immediate format. This genre also priveds students with the ability to create their own comics on-line and have authentic audiences for their written work. We've also seen how social networking sites can be analyzed as literature themselves and also used to talk about literature in a familar format for students.
We're not suggesting throwing Shakespeare out with the bathwater. These modes of communication provide us with inventive ways to talk to our students where they are. Once we understand their langauge, we can talk to them about lots of things -- Shakespeare included. Maybe the Bard will even get his own Facebook page.
Teachers can use slang to intorduce wordplay to their students and harnass a love of words students already have. Webcomics allow students to access information in a popular and immediate format. This genre also priveds students with the ability to create their own comics on-line and have authentic audiences for their written work. We've also seen how social networking sites can be analyzed as literature themselves and also used to talk about literature in a familar format for students.
We're not suggesting throwing Shakespeare out with the bathwater. These modes of communication provide us with inventive ways to talk to our students where they are. Once we understand their langauge, we can talk to them about lots of things -- Shakespeare included. Maybe the Bard will even get his own Facebook page.
