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
- Introduction
- Magnetic Poetry
- Analysing Poetry with the Whiteboard
- Possible advantages:
- Possible disadvantages:
- Creative Writing: Poetry
- Personal Reflection
Objectives and Key Themes
The aim of this project was to demonstrate that using the Whiteboard (WB) in a poetry lesson in the English Foreign Language classroom can enhance the teaching and learning experience. The project also aims to inspire future teachers to explore the possibilities of the WB in their future classrooms. The session uses poetry, particularly creative aspects and analytical tasks, as a medium for exploration. This choice is based on the inherent nature of poetry, which allows for diverse interpretations and creative expression.
- The potential of the interactive whiteboard to enrich the teaching and learning experience
- The application of various WB features in a poetry lesson
- The exploration of multimodal and intermedial forms of poetry
- The benefits of the WB for different learner types and learning styles
- The creative and analytical possibilities of poetry in an EFL classroom
Chapter Summaries
The first chapter introduces the project's thesis and outlines the overall structure of the session. It emphasizes the diverse possibilities for teaching and learning poetry through the use of the interactive whiteboard. The second chapter focuses on a group activity involving magnetic poetry, where participants engage with the WB by creating poems on the magneticpoetry.com website. This chapter highlights the benefits of the WB for interactive and collaborative learning. The third chapter explores the use of the WB for analyzing poetry, specifically examining the lyrical devices of simile and metaphor. The chapter includes a list of advantages and disadvantages of using the WB for analyzing poetry. The fourth chapter explores the application of the WB in a creative writing session focused on poetry. This chapter examines the use of the WB in stimulating creative writing and creating a supportive learning environment for students to produce their own poems. The fifth chapter concludes the project by reflecting on the overall effectiveness of the WB in enriching the teaching and learning experience.
Keywords
The main keywords and focus topics of this project are: interactive whiteboard, poetry, EFL classroom, multimodal learning, creative writing, analytical tasks, learning styles, learner types, intermodal forms of poetry, digital tools, and classroom technology.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Markus Emerson (Autor:in), 2012, Teaching Poetry in the EFL Classroom. A Multimodal Lesson with an interactive Whiteboard, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/311258
