A Weird Ethnography
10 years ago
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Digital Activities
While reading To Kill a Mockingbird's trial scene (Ch. 17-18) students could enact the persona of a modern-day political blogger reporting on the day-to-day of the trial. We would look at existing blogs and what kinds of things the students view. It would easily dovetail into our required bias instruction and then students would also become bloggers themselves, taking on a biased persona of their own. This would help students identify pieces of text that support their interpretation, developing a voice, etc. within an environment that seems more authentic than an essay or in-class assignment. Blogs could also be used instead of in-class journaling. While reading our texts, it could help students create a digital conversation between each other and how they read and identify with the text. I also have students read outside of class--a class blog could help students bring all their texts together in conversation with each other...
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Well, Brandon, I just wrote a lengthy comment that was well thought out, but somehow lost my connection in the process of publishing it, and now it's gone. . .
In brief, I agree that blogs can be used as a good tool for examining bias, persona, etc. Additionally, students could write a reflection piece about how the biased persona that they created was consistent with the text, and what motivating factors might have influenced their character.
I also wrote about a unit that we read about in a course offered this summer at the U. on Multicultural Lit. Many of us thought this was pretty over-the-top, but we'd read about a teacher who teaches To Kill a Mockingbird using performances called The Mockingbird Monologues. Students compose monologues, peer review each others' works, design advertisements, create costumes/make-up designs, and organize a final performance for a live audience at a local theater. Blogs might provide a forum for creating a filmed performance through iMovie that can be embedded in the blog, reducing time and anxiety spent on memorizing lines, and allowing students to view these performances in class, with opportunities for reflection in class.
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