Week 12: Media Integration

For my English 12 classes, I have four units, one for each quarter of the school year. I start off the year with Contemporary World Literature, then we move into The Tragic Hero, then we have Women in Literature and we end the year with Satire. This course has given me some ideas of how to integrate media into each of these units.

For the unit on Contemporary World Literature, my students read two novels. One is a novel of their choice from a large list of books published in the 20th and 21st centuries by authors around the world. The other novel is a choice among the following list: The Kite Runner by Kahled Hosseini, Stones from the River by Ursela Hegi, Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende and In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez.

I am interested in doing something with film for this unit. The past two years I have showed the movie Whale Rider to show a perspective from another part of the world. I'll admit that I show this film right after I collect their essays on their novel, to give them a break and to give me some time to get started with the enormous task of grading! To save my sanity, I'll probably continue to do this, but I think I'll come up with an assignment for them to view a film that depicts a culture/country similar to the one in the novel they're reading. I also think I could incorporate a blog or another way for them to post and chat about their novels online, but I'm not sure how to do this since so many of my students don't have computers at home.

For my unit on The Tragic Hero, my student read Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and Hamlet by Shakespeare. I think it would be interesting to create a webquest for Things Fall Apart, to have students research issues of slavery, colonization and missionary work in Nigeria. For Hamlet, I think I could have students compare film versions of the play.

For my Women in Literature unit, my students read a novel written by (and about) women, as well as poetry and short stories. For the past couple of years I have had students watch the Still Killing Us Softly videos, which discuss how women are portrayed and stereotyped in advertising, and how that affects our society. Then I have had students find and analyze a magazine article they feel negatively portrays and/or contributes to a stereotype of women. It's been an enlightening experience for many of my students, and I plan to continue with that assignment. I think I might take it a step further and have students also view and analyze the way women are portrayed in music videos and popular television programs. I could also have students create an advertisement that shows women (and men) positively.

Finally, I have a few ideas of how to incorporate media into my unit on Satire. Actually, that is the focus of my final project for this course, so you will be able to look at the details of all my ideas when I post my final project!