Student book reviews using twitter

Using twitter to share, reflect on, clarify and evaluate opinions and arguments about aspects of literary texts (ACELT1627)

I recently started following Ann s. Michaelsen on twitter and this led me to her blog  where I was especially interested in her latest post, Teaching Literature with oral presentations. Last year, I also taught a similar lesson with students making oral presentation book reports. Ann’s book report lesson made me realise how I could use twitter to bring about student participation.

Last year, in my blog post on Visual Thinking I reflected on the learning activities I utilised to analyse The Lottery by Shirley Jackson.

In groups my students read the “Appreciating Fiction” chapter in Pearson and then through the visible thinking tools of layering, and the silent card shuffle analysed how stories are constructed. This was followed by the students creating a philographic  image to open up discussion on themes contained in the story.

These visible thinking activities helped students to use ideas and gave them the vocabulary to talk about literature for their oral assessment task. The groups presented to the class a “book chat” style television program based on the ABC show The Book Club.

We watched a Book Club episode on Jayne Eyre and  Peter Pan. Then, in groups the students took roles similar to Ann’s book interview task. Their presentations were totally engaging as the students took on the different characters from the Book Club program. Next time, I do this lesson I’d like to enhance audience participation by using twitter.

Thanks Ann for ideas on how to use twitter and for sharing resources at The Book Report and Books and Literature Radio.

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4 Comments
  1. Thanks Ann for sharing your expertise. Always enlightening and I know that your students really benefit from your creative approach and in particular the use of technology.

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