I found the project of conversing with others through a variety of web media a fascinating experience. Although writing with just 140 characters (for my responses and posts on Twitter) was an exercise in learning how to respond succinctly. I had to pare down each sentence. It was a challenging application in making concise points. Yet, while visiting other classmates’ pages, I realized how adaptable this narrow format could be. I read posts, which shared forceful quotes from the book or revealed reflections from the protagonists’ perspectives. I especially appreciated reading Emily’s perspective where she presented an imagined point of view by the receiver of the main character’s letters from Perks of a Wallflower.

I recently read in a cover story in the New York Magazine, a quote, which caught my attention on the social and economic situation in using Twitter:

What’s great about Twitter, as opposed to its competitors Google+ and Facebook, is that it’s a free-for-all, with few rules, welcoming anyone and anything—it can be unpredictable and wild. But the danger is the Wild West becomes so many digital strip malls. And who’d want to spend time there? (NY Mag 10/1/11)

Other elements of this exercise I enjoyed were when we were asked to think in the point of view of the characters from the books. I could actually visualize Junior from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian conversing with the other classmates! This impromptu exercise also reminded me of similar dramatic activities in process drama. They can be used as ways to develop empathy through playing/examining multiple perspectives. I plan to implement exercises like Hot Seat (where a student assumes the role of a fictional character as the rest of the class asks him or her questions) in my future English class.

In Teaching Elements of Story through Drama, John Corten embellishes these ideas:

set the stage for some interesting conversation when you invite your students to portray literary characters and/or historical figures at a dinner party. These soirees can be used to bring together people whom students have encountered through books- individuals who might have diverse opinions on a topic due to their different life experiences, social status, ethnicity, or the era in which they lived. (Corton, pg. 14)

I’ve also been thinking that as future teachers, we should incorporate our students’ interests as entry points into the curriculum. Since many students who will be in our classes will probably already have blogs, or be on Facebook, and/or are using twitter, then this is a form that would lend itself naturally for multimedia integration. One of my favorite sample lessons I am reminded of from a class last year was using the Craigslist “missed connections” format. We related Romeo and Juliet’s missed opportunities with using Craigslist to try and contact each other. It displayed how this usage of the website could shed new light on the characters’ objectives. The Web 2.0 project provided me the opportunity to realize how we, as teachers, can harness technology in ways that add to our curriculum in our English classes.