Dystopian literature circles
Date
2014-10-29
Authors
Whitney, Claire
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Abstract
This project features the teacher resource, “Dystopian Literature Circles,” which is designed to integrate technology with literacy in meaningful and authentic ways that foster student engagement. The design of the teacher resource reflects the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of Rosenblatt’s transactional theory, Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, multiliteracies, multimodality, and affinity spaces. The overarching goal of the teaching unit is to deepen and expand students’ responses during dystopian literature circle novels through participation in both face-to-face and online discussions. The review of the literature revealed that students develop both their face-to-face and online communication skills when online discussions are combined with face-to-face peer led discussions – skills that students will be required to use throughout school and into adulthood. Additionally, the culminating activity of the unit where students create their own utopia is designed to foster students’ creativity and to integrate their digital literacy skills with in-school literacy practices. The teacher resource also includes a variety of activities, and assessments that are intended to meaningfully engage students and that are directly connected to the British Columbia’s new English Language Arts curriculum (2013).
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Keywords
Literature Circles, Dystopias