Multiliteracies in ELA Classrooms

When exploring the Internet for examples of e-literature I found one I’d like to share with the class. Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading is an online literary magazine devoted to keeping new and emerging literature at the forefront of popular culture, by connecting authors/editors and independent publishers to an online readership. It was created as an alternative to the passive selection of new literary works that readers often resort to because they are either too busy to research new works to read, or they aren’t sure where to start looking in the deep and chaotic world wide web. In short, it’s an anecdote to simply choosing from the “best seller” shelf at the big chain stores or the virtual equivalent on the online bookstores.

How it works:

Every week the editors of the magazine select a new story to publish.  The next week, they highlight an excerpt of a title by an independent publisher. The next week, an author recommendation. And the final week a piece from their archives. Each week there is also a note from the editor(s) introducing that week’s partner, and outlining their mission and body of work. So they are literally doing all of the leg work for us in terms of keeping up with new and independent published authors.

All writings on their site are available free. (But there is a donation option, starting at .25cents, to help pay the authors, who are all compensated for their work.)

Readers can subscribe by email, RSS Feed, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

I’m hooked! I subscribed! I’m so excited for next weeks instalment!  Is this how it felt to eagerly await the next installation of Charles Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers in 1836!?!!?

The model of this online literary magazine inspired this idea I could incorporate in my English Language Arts classroom.

Week One: Ask for a student volunteer. Ask this student to recommend any online resource (webpage, wikki, blog, e-lit story, etc.) for another person in the class to examine. That person does so.

Week Two: This second student reports to the class on their findings/thoughts related to that resource. In turn, they recommend to another student another a new resource (webpage, wikki, blog, e-lit story  etc.) that they were led to through their interaction with the initial site. The student does so, and returns the next week to do the same. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

We keep a digital record of every site throughout the year/term and at the end we have an electronic archive of our classroom community e-travels!

To view a three minute video about what inspired the online literary magazine Recommended Reading, view their You Tube video posted on their site:   http://recommendedreading.tumblr.com/about 

Thanks!

Maya