Language Arts and The New Media

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Language Arts and The New Media

• Digitized Writings
• By Lauren Vohs

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INTRODUCTION

• English teachers are interested in defining how
  students learn to write with and for the new
  media, and how they learn to read and interpret
  the kinds of texts to which they now have access
  via the new technologies.

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New language arts standards mention the inclusion
of media and technology as part of literary
education.

• The New York City Curriculum Frameworks for
  language arts suggests that by grade 7, that
  students will read, listen, view and evaluate
  information from a variety of sources including
  literature, media and technology. By grade 8,
  students will access, interpret and evaluate
  print and nonprint sources in a variety of
  formats.

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It is up to the English teachers to help
investigate which literary ideas can be applied
to these new kinds of multimedia and where new
ones have to be invented to help students learn
to distinguish between polemic and scholarship
and between advertising and poetry.
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This chapter takes a critical look at the kinds
of resources brought into the English class by
the new media.

• The two types that it focuses on are digitized
  writings and digital writing. It focuses on the
  ways in which the media can be used to its best
  advantage.

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Digitized writings are literary resources that
are increasingly available as digitized text.
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Some examples of digitized writings

• On-Line Books
• E-Zines
• Expanded Books
• 3D Comics
• Interactive Narratives

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On-Line Books

• These give students and teachers access to a
  library on the computer. Teachers can copy and
  paste sections or excerpts of texts into handouts
  for the students. Students can copy and paste
  long quotations into their own reports.

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On-Line Books Cont.

• An example that everyone is familiar with is the
  Internet. The texts on the Internet can easily
  be manipulated (copied, paste, etc.) so it offers
  a range of new opportunities for constructive
  engagement.

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Expanded books puts a central work of print, film
or video into a wider context.

• An expanded books for a film can include the full
  script. For a book, it might include interactive
  illustrations and clips. Expanded books are
  usually found on CD-ROMS for a particular book,
  film or video.

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Cyber guides

• A digital lesson that guides students through the
  analysis of literary texts by linking them
  directly to relevant web sites.
• (EXAMPLE A Web Quests)

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Cyber guides cont.

• Supplementary units of instruction based on core
  works of literature, designed for students to use
  the World Wide Web.

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Each cyber guide contains

• a student and teacher edition,
• a statement of objectives,
• a task and process by which it may be completed,
• a rubric for assessing the quality of the
  product.