Integrating Technology with Literature?, USA

Dear Marika,

Firstly, I have a doubt regarding your question. Do you mean using modern technology in teaching literature? Or teaching literature to a student community concerned only with technology and utilitarian aspects of life?

If you mean the former

Modern means that can be adopted for teaching literature are: LCD Projectors, Overhead Projectors, CD Players or Cassette recorders etc. If you have a Computer and an LCD Projecter it is sufficient.

Supppose you are teaching a poem. You can project the lines in the LCD with proper background pictures which will illustrate the theme of the poem or arouse the feel of the poem. Then play a record of the poem. The audio will catch the ears while the visuals will catch the eyes. Lines displayed in proper background will certainly create in students an atmosphere which the poet experienced. The audio will also help you to overcome your difficuly to sing, if you have such a problem.

If you want to know more or if you meant the latter question, kindly send another mail to me. Surely I will answer you.

Yours Sincerely

Alwin

from INDIA

Hello my fellow English Teacher:

I know that technology can seem very overwhelming. I mean just take a look at the word and the connotation you receive from the word. However, relax! Like our former English teachers pointed out that the use of technology can be cd players, projectors, LCD projectors, computers, video cameras, computers, software, powerpoint, and there are many others.

Now for the big question. How do I integrate technology? Sure I gave you a list of things; however, how does this accomplish the No Child Left Behind Act? How does it afford my students the opportunities to be a part of the digital world?

Well, I will give you a few of the things that I do in the classroom in order to assist my students and introduce them to a digital world.

I use power point presentations. At first I started off basic. I mean importing or typing text into the slide and hitting next slide to complete a presentation. Later I began importing pictures and movies and sound. Jazzing it up. Now powerpoint is a great start because it introduces them to presentations that go beyond writing on the board and a transparency machine. You are also able to save the powerpoint and use it a later time. You can also teach your students how to use it. There are games made out of powerpoint, like Jeapordy. It is a great way to review a novel, short story, definitions, or any material in the classroom.

E-mail is another form of technology. Have your students e-mail you as if they were a character. Or have them write a proposal or letter. That covers characterization, writing, point of view, and audience.

In addition, have them videotape presentations. Critique them aftwards.

Have them create a poem and say it on the tape. In addition, have them select music to represent the mood in the background. You have so many benchmarks covered.

If possible, use a digital camera in class and create a newsletter with their work. The students would love to create a letter to their parents displaying their work.

There are many more things you can do. Hey, a website is using technology in the classroom.

Thanks and I hope I helped you.

Please e-mail me if you have any questions. Don't worry, just embrace it. There will always be some trial and errors. I find that the students know more than I know when it comes to technology.

Sincerely,

Latori Fulton

I teach 7th grade English also, and there are two projects I did this year that worked really well.

For Shakespeare, we did tableaux (where the kids dress up and pose in order to portray the scenes they selected as being most important). They took digital picturess of these and then created powerpoint presentations with the pictures and the appropriate lines from the play.

I also had a discussion forum set up that the kids could access from home, and their homework was to do whatever reading was assigned (whether in a book or online) and then check in at the forum and respond to a question or prompt. I also would have them do research and post links to whatever information they found. It was a way of continuing class discussions, letting shyer kids "speak up" and working on some communication skills.

Hope that helps!

Hi Jennifer-

I really liked your idea of setting up a discussion forum for literature. How do you do that? I'm trying to get myself up to speed with technology and there are some great ideas out there, but I don't know how to get them started. Thanks!

Diahnn

I just learned a few ways to integrate technology in literature and I hope them might be useful. One way is that you can have your students create a mind map of the story you are working on so they can see connections in the story. You can also have your students make a brochure on the computer about the author.

Kyle

Do you have a program that you can make webs off of? That program is free in some states, but in others I think you have to pay for it. It is a very easy program that lets you make webs for novels that you use and you can make it really creative.

Otherwise I would suggest using powerpoint like another teacher pointed out. At any age, people can really expand and get creative with those.

Blogging is a great way to integrate tech into class discussions.  Kids can really dig deep into a topic through electronic discussions.  Also check out http://trackstar.4teachers.org/trackstar/;jsessionid=582220E08F568E0F4B98E6CEC94A46B4

this a great site for teachers, especially LA and SS teachers.  There are tons of IT project based learning activities that can be easily built using this resource.  Good Luck

Maggie Tarbox

Marika,

  I am a middle school teacher in the State of Washington, and although I teach a variety of subjects, it seems to me that some of what we do could certainly be done with literature.

  It is a bit difficult to make too many recommendations without knowing a little more about the equipment and resources you have in your classroom or otherwise available to your students.  In my classroom we have 10 computers for 18 students to share, and most of what we do is in some way connected to technology.  A list of suggestions follows:

• United Streaming (Discovery Learning) for videos or video segments to intro or conclude a lesson
• Moodle (course management software) for on-line assignments, journaling, chatting, etc.
• There are commercially prepared programs for the writing component

You may contact me directly with questions. (rknopp@epals.com)

Best wishes.

RK