Getting LIT 🔥with Literature 👀📝📚

Spitting Literature 📚 FACTS like hot FIRE 🔥

[lizluzz]

I love that Buttons was like 'mutiny is a-brewing, the nose never lies.' as if he's so mysterious and experienced that he could just sense stuff like that, even though he literally just heard everyone on deck openly discussing murdering Stede.

[romantoy]

i’m gonna collapse

[thepaupauheart]

[thepaupauheart]

INNOVATIVE PROJECT - Outline

Link to the PDF version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-s1XVXEMFL8iW0q2ir5MQvZDO2bs_iVl/view?usp=sharing

[thepaupauheart]

TO MEME OR NOT TO MEME?

Sometimes the hardest task is starting. I always find myself overthinking this process or just blankly staring at my computer’s screen, hoping for the inspiration to come, and sometimes it does. Unfortunately, today is not one of those days, so I will just resort to one of my favorite lost generation writers to start this off for me; without further ado, Mr. Fitzgerald you’ve got the floor, sir.

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."

These are the starting lines of Fitzgerald’s renowned novel “The Great Gatsby”. Words to live by, truly, and they are not here randomly either. I have chosen this quotation because I consider it expresses a crucial quality that any English language teacher (and any teacher to be honest) should abide by, and that is empathy; the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another being. On her video, Rita Pierson emphasizes the importance of human connection, of building meaningful relationships between teacher and students, and that should be founded on mutual understanding and trust. Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like, so to successfully communicate your knowledge to your students, first you will have to create a bond with them, and this starts with treating them like people, as the saying goes “Don't do unto others what you don't want done unto you.”

I have come upon many a teacher who treated students as mere automatons, brainless machines onto which to project their “lesson” of the day, not caring in the slightest about the different situations these people are going through or even taking them and their interests into account when preparing the classes, so as to make it more amenable and entertaining for them. And while this is preoccupying, the current state of the English language classes is mainly due to the fact that the Spanish educational system has not yet figured out what is the best way to teach this language, well, let me rephrase that, it has figured out a way, but not exactly the most successful one to be honest. Knowing that this method has been implemented for years and it has not shown any promising results, it should have been changed by now but alas, no progress has been made on that field. Our challenge as future English teachers has to be to try and change this situation as best as we can, with what the government and the educational system gives us. Classes should not be boring by default, even if teenagers are going to complain about them anyway. We have it in our hands to alter this tendency, to make a change; something that Jay Gatsby is the perfect example of is that unalterable determination of knowing what you want, and getting it, and this, this is our vibrant green light at the other side of the pier, so close and yet so far away, we just have to keep throwing parties! And we know teenagers do love a good party...

That was a Great Gatsby reference, if that wasn’t clear enough, very related to the topic at hand if I must say. One of the biggest difficulties teachers face when trying to connect with their students is the evident generational age gap, so, to be able to communicate our knowledge to them, you have to speak their language, the thing is, How do you teach them another language IN their language? Easy peasy, relating it to something they can understand and probably use in their daily lives: MEMES. Memes are a universal language, vastly popularised by the widespread of the internet, and the main mean of communication of millennials and gen z’s. It is really important that we use new technologies in class as it is something they use daily, not only as a way of communication but also of information and knowledge-gathering, so it would be pretty concerning if the other way of getting knowledge they have (through their teachers) was completely disconnected from the normal usual stuff they accustomed to on their non-academic lives. The fact that memes come in different shapes and forms also helps the students, as it caters to their different intelligences or ways of learning: more visual or audiolingual students will appreciate the pictures, audio, or video memes that exist; motor students will enjoy representing the different dances or movements that some memes entail, and more linguistic types of students will have a blast deciphering the different meanings that those memes could represent. This is especially interesting when you try to teach the students a specific topic or subject, as there are probably already created memes about that stuff that can be useful for your explanation of the topic to the class, specifically with already socially rooted cultural phenomenons, and that’s where literature comes in. By mixing a modern and online concept with a more classical and philosophical one, you are not only left with current teenagers actually interested in literary classics, but you will make them understand what those literary classics were about and they will also create their own assumptions and critical thoughts about those works. So, to answer the question, To meme or not to meme? I think it already has answered itself  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[thepaupauheart]

INNOVATIVE PROJECT - Key Words

Here we have some key concepts that will be of great importance for the development of the innovative project:

Link to the Padlet: https://padlet.com/al315964/f7ad4ggsh8ew

REFERENCES:

ICTs and E-learning: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/ICT_in_Education/Definition_of_Terms

Active Learning: https://cei.umn.edu/active-learning

Internet Meme: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme

Intrinsic Motivation: https://www.healthline.com/health/intrinsic-motivation

[thepaupauheart]

INNOVATIVE PROJECT - Mind Map

Better quality image: https://imgur.com/EW5Abth

METHODOLOGY

The students will be active participants on the literature posts of the blog, they will have to create their own blogs and also participate not only with comments and opinions but also with literature posts of their own.

It will work as a collective activity in which the teacher will upload the literature memes and explain the overall meaning and themes within the literature they are related to but give space for the students to include their own reflections about the topic of discussion.

This type of dynamic will not only foster the student’s creativity and autonomy on their own learning process but also will increase their intrinsic motivation as it will be like creating our own literary social network.

This will be an in-home activity, the students will be able to post and participate as much as they want but, at least, they will have to create a post per week, and comment on one of the posts created by the teacher.

The evaluation process will be based on the quality and quantity of the entries they create and the comments they make on the posts created by the teacher and their other classmates.

There will also be a process of self-evaluation as their last post for the activity will be a reflection on their own learning process, the effectiveness of the method and what they thought was missing. This will also serve as feedback for the teacher.

The teacher’s role will be as a guide, contributor, and assistant. They will provide new topics of debate and commentary on their reflections, guide the students

[thepaupauheart]

If this is the beginning, the ending will SHOCK you!! 👀📝

Greetings guys, gals, and non-binary pals! If you came here looking for a cool way to learn literature then you are in the right place! This blog will tackle EVERYTHING! From the classics to old and middle English legends; from The Bard’s genius dramas and comedies to the Romantics dramaticism and theatrics; from the beginnings of the literary “American Dream” to the rapid realisation that that dream is more of a dark nightmare; from the ardent ashes of rebellion to the philosophical revolt against the universe; from the transcendental treaties about humanity and nature to the off-beat road trips of spatial and personal discovery; from the slow and steady steps of the civil, queer, and feminist rights to the contemporary communities of respect and acceptance... and what a better way to learn all this (sometimes boring but not really) stuff than with memes! Yes! You read it correctly MEMES! Millennials and gen z’s main form of communication! With this, you will learn not only to appreciate the literary classics and modern masterpieces, but also to relate to them through a language you will understand! Ain’t that fun?