For English Teachers

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by lindseydunmire on March 21, 2008 at 5:21pm

I have my kids doing their own personal blogs as well as book group discussions online. My thought is that you could collaborate through book groups to discuss texts. I am going to attempt literature circles this quarter, it would be so much fun to get groups going within the schools and online! I am definitely game if anyone else is.

Permalink Reply by SparklingDrift on March 24, 2008 at 10:04am

Take a look at our blogs (nstearns.edublogs.org) and let me know what you're up to. My 10s are doing Macbeth now and soon will be on A Raisin in the Sun.
Also, have you seen the Comment press plug in for edublogs? It lets you make comments paragraph by paragraph.

Permalink Reply by Sarah Hanawald on April 26, 2008 at 8:35am

Our AP students did a closed Ning this year for Gatsby and the kids really responded well. A few tried to keep discussion going after the class had moved on and were really disappointed in their classmates' lack of interest once the graded portion was over. I so want to support those kids in their efforts for actual intellectual discourse rather than just writing for a grade! For next year, I'm hoping to push the teacher to collaborate--would anyone here be interested? The teacher is already 2.0 literate, but not experienced, and has a long history of success with AP's. Would you consider starting small, maybe with one novel, and then seeing where the kids go with it? I have grand visions of students forming literary circles and making connections that go beyond the unit. Who knows, some of them might end up in colleges together. I feel that it will not be long before some of our students start to make these interactive environments for themselves (I saw a group of students discussing APs on a gaming Ning I was, ahem, visiting) and I know they would benefit from having their teachers involved!

Permalink Reply by Jayne Vahle on May 28, 2008 at 6:42pm

Hi Sarah,

I also teach AP Language and would love an opportunity for students to discuss in a more virtual world. A colleague and I collaborate with our AP curriculum--we don't read too many novels. We do a banned/challenged group novel, 1984, Amusing Ourselves to Death, a group novel that tackles an argumentative issue and then quite the variety of non-fiction prose essay selections. Let me know if these sound viable or interesting as a test for interaction. (We have 4 sections of 90 students.)

Permalink Reply by lindseydunmire on April 26, 2008 at 8:27pm

I would love to set something up. I have seniors and freshman as of now and both are solidly in the middle of where they are supposed to be for reading ranges. It would depend on what books we did but I would love to participate.