Internet-Savvy Language in the Classroom
from NCTE INBOX 6/3/08

The recent LA Times article on TwitLit demonstrates how Web 2.0 technologies can change even our conceptions of a genre. Students' understanding and use of such technologies provide a great opportunity for us as teachers -- the challenge of supporting the use of Internet-savvy language in the classroom.

The ReadWriteThink lessons What's the Difference? Beginning Writers Compare Email with Letter Writing and Write Right Back: Recognizing Readers' Needs and Expectations for Email Replies (E) outline opportunities for investigating the genre of email in the classroom. For more information, read the article that inspired the lessons: "Email as Genre: A Beginning Writer Learns the Conventions" (E) from Language Arts.

Explore the language of electronic messages and how it affects other writing with the ReadWriteThink lesson Audience, Purpose, and Language Use in Electronic Messages (M). To set up online chats and email with students, check out the Voices from the Middle article "Improving Writing: Online Bulletin Boards" (M).

The English Journal article "Virtually Being There: Creating Authentic Experiences through Interactive Exchanges" (S-TE) describes an email writing exchange between preservice teachers and high school students, designed to help students develop conversations about writing as a tool for learning across the curriculum. For resources to structure your own writing exchange, check out the ReadWriteThink lesson Exploring Literature through Letter Writing Groups (S-C).

Invite students to explore the lingo of the online world by reading books included in the English Journal book review "Internet Literature for Media-Savvy Students" (M-S). Even teachers with limited technology access in the classroom can explore the ways that people read and write with technology.

The College English article "Distant Voices: Teaching Writing in a Culture of Technology" (C) considers the ways that technology can influence our teaching in light of "the increasing replacement of face-to-face contact by 'virtual' interaction via multimedia technology, e-mail communication systems, and the recently expanded capabilities of the World Wide Web" in our campus classrooms and in distance education.

NOTE: Free access to journal articles mentioned in this INBOX is provided for 21 days. After this free access period expires, articles are available to journal subscribers only. This Inbox Idea was published 6-3-08.

Initials in annotations indicate academic level of the resource (E=Elementary, M=Middle, S=Secondary, C=College, TE=Teacher Education, G=General).

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