We all know that many of our students spend hours upon hours of time chatting with friends on the Internet. This new form of communication has brought with it a wealth of abbreviations and modified spellings to make online chatting quicker and easier. Well, what happens when our students’ papers and essays are riddled with the same “2 b’s” and “4’s” instead of correct standard English spellings “to be” and “for”?
I think the first step is to maintain a perspective that rejoices in the fact that our students are spending so much time writing in that mode of communication. Rather than simply marking their abbreviations and misspellings as incorrect and moving on, we need to encouragingly teach and remind our students that they must consider the audience and the purpose of the writing. Often the abbreviations and modified spellings are so familiar and commonplace to students that they don’t even realize they are inappropriate in academic writing. Thus, as technology and the field of English Language Arts continues to change and evolve, we must take on the new responsibility of teaching our students the differences between Internet-speak and academic writing rather than scorning their occasional misspellings. Hey, they are writing aren’t they!?
While reading Alsup and Bush’s text, “But will it work with real students?” I was startled to come across the charge that we, as English teachers, need to consider “why [we] think literature should be taught” (2). My initial reaction was a dumbfounded, “well, isn’t it obvious!?” Reading and studying literature helps students learn to read more fluently, creates an environment in which important cultural and social discussions may take place in regards to classic and modern texts, helps students relate and respond to texts as readers and learn to make meaning as they learn to think critically, etc. etc. Not to mention the sheer enjoyment that comes with reading and studying good stories that teach us about ourselves and the world around us! As I continued to chew on Alsup and Bush’s question, I began to realize how important it is to develop a concise philosophy on why it is that we teach literature. Knowing the answer to that question empowers us as teachers to defend the importance of what we do and justify all the time we spend trying to teach our students to love and value literature as much as we do. Thus, I’d love to hear your reasons as to “why YOU think literature should be taught” (2). My top reason: Literature provides opportunities to make meaning in (and learn to analyze) texts as well as helping us find new meanings and understandings of our culture and worlds throught the stories we study. Please share your reasons! :)
Rex Gibson, in his book Teaching Shakespeare, states, “Knowledge about Shakespeare’s language is best acquired actively. When the language is spoken, enacted, explored, performed and used in ways which recognize and celebrate its dramatic qualities, response to the language is enlivened” (p. 92). There is no denying the excitement and drama of Shakespeare’s language and the staging of his plays … but I wonder if most high school students would disagree? So, how do we, as teachers, overcome the language barrier and help students to create meaning, humor, and lasting emotion? Well, I think the first step is to make the language come alive. Guide students in the staging of Shakespeare’s plays in order to help them recognize the original purpose for the language: theatre! Oftentimes Shakespeare’s stage directions help us find more meaning in the language. The more opportunities students have to become Shakespeare’s characters and witness the play in action, the more the language will come alive and we will slowly but surely overcome that language barrier. I also think activities that allow students to translate the text into modern day language helps them to recognize (hopefully) the power of the language and the story as well as gain a better understanding of Shakespeare’s language for future readings. What happens though, when students fail to get involved in the action and simply read the words rather than actively trying to understand the language? Have we failed as teachers in that situation, or are our students simply uncaring and unenthusiastic? I venture to say we fail as teachers when we don’t’ give our students the tools and the knowledge to find some kind of connection to or appreciation of Shakespeare. Thus, I’d love to hear suggestions about how to get all students interested and involved in Shakespeare and how to overcome an “uncaring” or “unenthused” attitude.
How many of you can remember attempting to read Shakespeare for the first time and coming away frustrated and confused? Maybe your students seem to resist the Elizabethan English that sounds so different from Modern English and have trouble understanding the basic plot structures. Fear not- we’ve all been there before. Chances are, we will find ourselves confused or perplexed many times in any in-depth study of Shakespeare. However, Shakespeare’s plays offer us all, both young and old, teacher and student, an incredible opportunity to learn about the power of language, figurative language, character, important life issues and themes, etc.
Rex Gibson, in his book, Teaching Shakespeare, offers a number of activities to make Shakespeare more accessible to students who might otherwise miss the beautiful opportunity in front of them without our guidance. Some of my favorite suggested activities include: casting the plays with well known figures (classmates, pop culture icons, sports stars, etc.), conducting job interviews of characters from the plays or allowing the character to conduct an interview, writing obituaries of dead characters, having students enact the story through a select ten lines “which give an outline of the play” while the teacher fills in narration in order “to give students an active grasp or the outline of the story and to help them learn by heart some of Shakespeare’s language” (p. 95,98).
Constructivism: when “instruction becomes less a matter of transmittal of an objective and culturally sanctioned body of knowledge, and more a matter of helping individual learners learn to construct and interpret for themselves” (according to Applebee (1993) as quoted in Appleman (2000).
What an exciting endeavor the field of English Language Arts instruction is! It is our job as English educators to develop and encourage in our students the ability to construct and interpret their own meanings in regards to texts and issues. In ELA, we get to explore and experience new and old texts together with our students as we give them the language and lenses to interpret those texts in personal ways. Now, perhaps more than ever before, it is so important to teach our students to read with literary theories in mind (Feminist, Reader Response, Marxist, etc.) as we live in a culture that continually debates whether there is ever one right answer to any question. Can any two people read the same text and have the same reaction or interpretation? I venture to say no. Thus, I love Applebee’s definition of constructivism and hope to adapt my teaching to a type of instruction that helps “individual learners learn to construct and interpret for themselves.”
I am a pre-service teacher studying for my Masters and Certification in Secondary English Education. I plan to use this blog to demonstrate my continued thinking and learning on the subject of English Language Arts Education. I am excited about the possibilities of using blogging to enhance my own learning and to connect with other students and learners. It is my hope and expectation that through blogging, we, as teachers, can build a community that supports, encourages, and challenges one another. In the next year I hope to be teaching ELA to high school students in the greater Atlanta area and would love to include blogging in my classroom in order to create a community of thinkers, writers, and readers among my students. So… happy blogging! :)
