Digital Discourse: Composing with media in the writing classroom Karen Gocsik This article, posted under the writing and rhetoric section of the Dartmouth University website, discusses the potential multi-media assignments and teaching methods can have on new-age students. Gocsik feels that the literacy of the screen should become a third type of literacy behind oral and print. The nuances in composing a webpage or video reveal similar elements to that of constructing an essay. Gocsik makes the point that making a video project teaches students how to: come up with explicit vs. implied theses, structure according to the expectations of the audience and conventions of a particular medium or genre, and how to craft arguments out of a polophony of voices while creating a multimedia voice of one's own (Gocsik). Multimedia devices such as blogs or webpage's can be used to assist in the bigger project of a video collaboration.

Hypermedia Authoring as Critical Literacy Jamie Myers Richard Beach This article talks about the benefits of implementing hypermedia into literacy education. Hypermedia or hypertext is a web tool that allows students to access school texts via the Internet and actively engage in annotating those texts or providing links to relating websites, pictures, or videos. Students don't have to just link either, they can create their own webpage geared towards whatever it is their doing. A student could make a webpage featuring a paper they wrote, with links to videos and pictures that the creator feels relates to the paper. It's a type of personalization that would motivate a student and make them view their writing differently. Free writing is a useful tool for helping a writer find their voice or develop their own style. Hypertext allows students to free write with freedom and creativity about particular texts, and puts their writing into conversation with other student's responses. Similar to the way we use dijgo, but with a focus on the inquires made into a certain school text. Discussion of the various posts can be made in class, to create a literal conversation on inquires and interpretations of a text.

The University of Austin Texas posted an article on their website talking about the innovative approach English professors John Rumrich and Coleman Hutichson created for teaching Milton's poem Paradise Lost. The two wanted to incorporate multimedia uses into the teaching of the poem in order to enhance the reading and listening experience, as well as actively engage students into incorporating their meaning of the texts. The website they created has the poem being read aloud be various voices while the text itself is highlighted on the screen. Each line or group of lines has links to them that a student can follow which provide images, websites, or comments from students and teachers expressing their interpretation of the lines or ideas and questions prompted from them. The website Rumrich and Hutichson created have had around 25,000 hits world wide, and have inspired similar projects dedicated to the poems Leaves of Grass and Song of Myself. If poetry were to be taught in high schools with technology in mind, students would be more likely to actively participate in reading and discussing poetry then if it were just read as any other text.

This article by Dr. Janette Hughes talks about the import role poetry plays in literacy development and how multi-media uses of poetry in the classroom can further enhance and engage a students learning process. For the sake of how in depth both of these subjects are, I'm only going to discuss what Dr. Hughes says about poetry and literacy development in this article. "Paying attention to the language and rhythms of poetry helps build oral language skills…..Children with well-developed oral language skills are more likely to have higher achievement in reading and writing" (Hughes). Poetry has an elitist stereotype to it, and tends to be something kept out of middle school and high school classrooms for the most part. Some English classes may briefly touch on some of the cannons of poetry, but only focus on a traditional notion of reading the context and finding the one single meaning. As Hughes states, "The dominant model of poetry teaching, particularly for older students, has been to teach poetry through print text and to focus on finding one meaning to be dissected. In contrast, poets emphasize the importance of hearing the poem read aloud, engaging with it, and probing for deeper meaning through discussion with others" (Hughes). I feel that engagement in poetry provides tools applicable to understanding every type of text. The brevity in poetry forces your mind to work in more analytical ways, and a facilitation of this analysis with other students provides a type of engaging learning experience that can be applied to any type of text for any class. This article really fascinated me, and left me with many more questions and ideas I would like to explore regarding poetry in the classroom.

The Brain on Music
Dr. Ellen Webber

This article presents finding in a neurological study showing the effects different musical genres can have on our brains. The question I was thinking about when looking for an article was: what can better motivate students in their writing process? When talking about the different writing processes in our last class (2/20), I noticed most students listened to music during certain stages of their writing. What I was most curious about, since I almost never listen to music when I write, was if there were conscious decisions on what music was to be played. This article presents the positive results of every genre of music I.e. music from the baroque period can create mentally stimulating environments for creativity and new innovations, or that heavy metal and hip hop can excite our nervous system, and allow listeners to be more dynamic and expressive (Webber). Musical tastes differ from person to person, thus different music will have a different effect on each individual. Having a conscious decision regarding the music being played in the context of the writing being done is a practice I feel can motivate students to want to write, in order see how different music stimulates or hinders their writing process. What I plan to do is bring these questions into my internship and ask the students what music they like to listen to (if any) while they write, and have them explain, to see if maybe they aren't listening to the best music for them, and possibly motivate them to find the musical that really gets their thoughts flowing. And a student doesn't listen to music when they write, I think it might be interesting to engage them what whey would listen to if they literally had to listen to music while writing. I find this interesting because just yesterday my roommates decided to throw a party, sun up till sun down (Sunday), while I was in my room, sick, studying for a test I had Monday. Apparently my test isn't important enough to have the blaring dubstep turned down, so I was faced with the decision to leave, or put on my headphones to drown out music that distracted the hell out of me.