Teaching Modules for ://english matters

These teaching modules were designed by faculty in the English Department to help instructors integrate the materials presented in ://english matters--essays, poetry, annotations of websites--into their courses. These modules are designed for students in lower-division literature classes.

Please try the teaching modules and let us know how they work. We welcome your feedback on using ://english matters in the classroom.

Plum Flowers
by Todd Pitt and Kenneth Thompson

Reading Performance Art
by Devon Hodges and Mel Nichols

Stories and Storytelling
by Margaret Yocom

Writing and Spontaneous Memorials
by Margaret Yocom

Digital Essays
by Dean Taciuch

Teaching Collaboration in Writing
by Rebecca Dunham

Sound & Sense: Cider & Salt
by Beth George

On-Line Annotation
by Cynthia Gilmore Patterson

Annotation exercise
by Rosemary Jann & Robert Matz

Reading Hypertext
by Kaia Sand

Teaching Modules
These teaching modules were designed by faculty in the English Department to help instructors integrate the materials presented in ://english matters--essays, poetry, annotations of websites--into their courses. These modules are designed for students in lower-division literature classes. Please try the teaching modules and let us know how they work. We welcome your feedback on using ://english matters in the classroom. Plum Flowers by Todd Pitt and Kenneth Thompson Reading Performance Art by Devon Hodges and Mel Nichols Stories and Storytelling by Margaret Yocom Writing and Spontaneous Memorials by Margaret Yocom Digital Essays by Dean Taciuch Teaching Collaboration in Writing by Rebecca Dunham Sound & Sense: Cider & Salt by Beth George On-Line Annotation by Cynthia Gilmore Patterson Annotation exercise by Rosemary Jann & Robert Matz Reading Hypertext by Kaia Sand
Modules
	Teaching Collaboration in Writing by Rebecca Dunham This module helps students identify their preconceptions about authorship and expose them to a variety of collaborative texts. They study a collaborative exhibit (a hypertext poem) featured in ://english matters in depth. Their response to the piece takes the form of a close reading which they compose with another student in the class, allowing them the experience of collaborative writing. The final portion of the assignment asks them to reflect on this writing experience and how it may differ from their own solitary writing practices.
	Sound & Sense: Cider & Salt by Beth George Sound, Sense and Form in Cider and Salt explores the structure of a free-verse poem and provides definitions and examples of poetic devices found in several lines.
	Using Annotation for an On-Line E-Forum for Students by Cynthia Gilmore Patterson This annotation exercise introduces students to the "comments" function of WORD 2000 and encourages them to annotate their work using computer-mediated writing techniques. While navigating the hypertext applications of ://english matters and analyzing the connections between hard copy annotations, in relation to those of the electronic and hypertextual nature, students develop a greater understanding of this type of computer mediated writing.
	Annotation exercise. by Rosemary Jann & Robert Matz We do not envision that students will complete the assignment in web form, but rather on separate sheets of paper. However, we would like to collect the best responses and create one web version that represents the most successful work of the class (the rationale here is that it seems too time consuming to ask students to create web versions of their work). The final web version could be used for more discussion in class, and also posted on English Matters. We would like to discuss whether the course instructor would create the class web page, or whether there would be outside resources to do this. The assignment, along with results, could also be posted on English Matters. Here is the URL for you to look at the assignment and our results: http://mason.gmu.edu/~rmatz/annotations.html.
	Reading Hypertext: by Kaia Sand This module is designed for students to consider, in a course designed around "reading texts," what it means to read hypertext. How does the experience of reading hypertext differ from that of reading books? And, what do our students think about that experience? In order for students to look critically at reading hypertext, they must slow down to read the text and evaluate their link choices. This assignment asks them to map their links as they navigate through "Weepers"; trade their maps with a partner; and follow their partners' path; and then discuss their experiences. This assignment is doubly comparative: it is comparative between two readers of the same hypertext to foreground the dynamic nature of hypertext, and it is comparative between hypertext and book-texts (assuming that most of the text in the course will be in books and handouts). This comparative approach allows students to reflect on and analyze what it means to read.
	Digital Essays by Dean Taciuch This assignment asks students to respond to criticism written by students in issue #4 of English Matters.
	(writing about) Spontaneous Memorials by Margaret Yocom This assignment offers students a way to consider (and write about) the meanings and uses of spontaneous memorials--particularly those that have come about as a result of September 11.
	Stories and Storytelling by Margaret Yocom UNDER CONSTRUCTION
	Reading Performance Art by Devon Hodges and Mel Nichols This assignment asks students to examine the ways in which outside forces shape performance through a study of the work of two artists: Paras Kaul, who works with a brain/computer interface to perform brain wave music influenced by the meditative environments and text that she creates, and Reneé Barger, a choreographer who brings text and dance together in an interactive web environment.
	Plum Flowers by Todd Pitt This assignment asks students to analyze the ways in which poetry is conceived and interpreted through the use of regenerating hypermedia poem.