Here's a cool way to "animate" students of poetry who haven't quite figured out the beauty of the medium and that it's about THEM. Ask students in groups (or solo) to create an Animoto to express the essence of a poem as these students have done here.
My program chair for literature contacted me two weeks ago and said that students were struggling in the poetry unit, whereas in the short story unit (where joy, and not just rigor) was built in, students flourished. think her poetry unit was written from a DISTANCE and not self-immersion. Immerse until joy bubbles up -- simmer well within the appropriate technological apparatus, season with boundaries and student choices -- and voila! One has a complete educational experience.
-Exquisite Corpse
ARVEL = Applied Research in Virtual Environments for Learning
Great resource for new, current articles about virtual worlds and educational application.
***we scored the front page photo, go VWMOOC***