The thesis for our project was the following:
Using the Whiteboard (WB) in a poetry lesson in the English Foreign Language classroom can enrich the teaching and learning experience and therefore foster a positive learning climate where different learner types are addressed.
We tried to create a ninety-minute seminar session, which, firstly, proves our thesis, and, secondly, motivate you to take a closer look at the opportunities that the WB offers for teachers. Thus, we chose a variety of four different sessions that featured various usages of the WB in an entertaining but academic way and should raise awareness of possible and new ways to use the WB as well as to inspire students (who will themselves be teachers one day) for the future. Hence, we tried to incorporate various forms of WB usage to show how it can transcend usual PowerPoint presentations and add more media.
As far as the content of the session is concerned, we focused on poetry (creative aspects as well as analytical tasks) as poetry is a form of writing that can be produced and received in various different and individual ways due to its nature. Feelings and ideas can be expressed freely and creatively. As poems are usually in a condensed and short format, connected activities like producing, reading or interpreting them can all be done in the classroom. The individual and creative aspect motivates pupils and can support a very personal access to this format of writing.
Combining poetry and WB can lead to a new poetry teaching experience. According to Fleming, pupils’ ideas about poetry
will inevitably be formed by the extent and variety of their reading; in fact, as suggested earlier, confusion is likely to arise if poetry is introduced into the classroom only at infrequent intervals (40).
Employing the WB offers the chance to have a greater variety of readings and understandings through different channels and input (visual, audio-visual, video). That the WB combines different media also makes it easier to discuss intermedial/intermodal forms of poetry. This is also supported by Shenton and Pagett’s research on the WB in classrooms. They conclude that WBs have “great potential for motivating and engaging pupils in sophisticated forms of multimodality” (135). Furthermore, the frequency of dealing with poetry can be raised. It is much quicker to analyse a poem, save the changes, connect to the internet and be interactive with the WB. [...]
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Magnetic Poetry
3. Analysing Poetry with the Whiteboard
4. Creative Writing: Poetry
5. Personal Reflection
Research Objectives and Themes
This work investigates the integration of Interactive Whiteboards (WB) within English Foreign Language (EFL) poetry lessons to enhance pedagogical engagement and address diverse learner needs through multimodal learning experiences.
- The didactic potential of Interactive Whiteboards in language classrooms.
- Enhancing learner motivation and participation via multimodal technology.
- Methods for creative writing and poetic analysis using interactive tools.
- Fostering a positive learning climate through personal and interactive tasks.
- The evolution of literacy and communication in a digital, multimodal landscape.
Excerpt from the Book
3. Analysing Poetry with the Whiteboard
In this session you were asked to analyse two different poems (“Dreams” by Langston Hughes and an excerpt from “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot) together with us teachers on the Whiteboard. Apart from content, we dealt with the lyrical devices ‘simile’ and ‘metaphor’. The session was organised as team teaching.
There is a heated discussion in how far the WB can aid the teaching or whether it complicates it. Nevertheless, Jewitt, et al. found out that the interactive WB (in contrast to lessons with an overhead projector OHP) is beneficial, as teacher and student share a more similar position to the poem on the screen. They claim that this “rhetorical reshaping is aligned with the modernisation agenda, notions of explicitness, equity, participation and ownership” and that all of these “serve to emphasise the role of the learner” (13).
By including pictures in our presentation on the whiteboard and by manipulating and annotating the poems with you during the session we tried to get as much out of the WB as possible. We wanted to stress the role of your reception of the poems as well as discussing and explaining the two lyrical devices simile and metaphor.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter outlines the project's thesis, asserting that using a whiteboard in the EFL classroom enriches the learning experience and fosters a positive atmosphere for diverse learners.
2. Magnetic Poetry: This section details a warm-up activity involving a digital word kit that introduces students to poetry through guided creativity and interactive whiteboard manipulation.
3. Analysing Poetry with the Whiteboard: This chapter covers the use of the whiteboard for team teaching and literary analysis, focusing on how technology facilitates the study of metaphors and similes.
4. Creative Writing: Poetry: This chapter explores the method of creative writing in the EFL classroom, using childhood memories and meditation exercises to encourage students to produce their own poems.
5. Personal Reflection: This concluding section reflects on the success of the project in proving the thesis and encourages future teachers to consider the impact of multimodality in modern communication.
Keywords
Interactive Whiteboard, EFL Classroom, Poetry Education, Multimodal Learning, Creative Writing, Digital Literacy, Teaching Methodology, Learner Motivation, Pedagogical Technology, Metaphor, Simile, Language Acquisition, Classroom Interaction, Team Teaching.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research paper?
The paper primarily focuses on the pedagogical integration of Interactive Whiteboards (WB) in English Foreign Language classrooms to improve the teaching and learning experience of poetry.
What are the central themes addressed in the text?
The central themes include multimodal teaching methods, the impact of digital tools on student engagement, creative writing processes, and the changing landscape of literacy in the 21st century.
What is the primary objective or research question?
The goal is to prove that the use of a Whiteboard in an EFL setting fosters a positive learning climate and addresses different learner types more effectively than traditional methods.
Which scientific methods are utilized?
The authors employ a practical, session-based approach, combining theoretical research from experts like Jewitt, Fleming, and Morgan with empirical observations from seminar sessions conducted with students.
What does the main body of the work cover?
The main body examines three specific practical applications: the "Magnetic Poetry" warm-up, the analytical session using classic poems, and the creative writing workshop focusing on childhood memories.
Which keywords characterize this work?
Key terms include Interactive Whiteboard, Multimodality, EFL, Poetry, Learner Motivation, and Creative Writing.
How does the use of the Whiteboard specifically aid poetic analysis?
The Whiteboard allows for direct manipulation, annotation, and interaction with the text, enabling teachers and students to highlight lyrical devices like similes and metaphors in a shared, visual space.
Why is the "Creative Writing" chapter linked to meditation?
The authors use meditation soundtracks and imagination exercises to create a low-fear environment, helping students overcome self-consciousness and access personal memories for their writing.
What is the significance of the "Magnetic Poetry" exercise?
It acts as a "guided creativity" warm-up that familiarizes students with the Whiteboard technology and language manipulation before moving to more complex analytical tasks.
What advice do the authors give to future teachers regarding the Whiteboard?
The authors encourage future teachers to reflect on the multimodal nature of modern communication and to consider ritualizing creative writing sessions to give students the necessary time for the creative process.
- Quote paper
- Markus Emerson (Author), 2012, Teaching Poetry in the EFL Classroom. A Multimodal Lesson with an interactive Whiteboard, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/311258
