28th Annual Student Research Conference
Getting to Know Canonic Characters with Social Media
Nicole L. Boyer♦
Dr. Rebecca Dierking, Dr. Barbara Price, and Dr. Wendy Miner, Faculty Mentors
Current research suggests that secondary students too often focus on surface features of literary characters rather than truly understanding characters' essences; therefore, tying students reading processes to their real world processes, such as social media stalking, becomes a viable strategy to help students authentically delve into character. This study examines the influence of students' creation of character social media profiles on their understanding of literature. In a class of sixteen sophomores at a rural Midwestern high school, students generated a battery of social media profiles for a single character in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Types of data collected include surveys, student products and reflections, peer commentary, conferences with students, and teacher observation. The data demonstrates that the use of social media generation helped students to use their understanding of character to illustrate events from the text, expand upon events in the text, and extend beyond events in the text.
Keywords: technology, literature, English education, characterization, social media
Topic(s):English, Secondary MAE Research
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 308-1
Location: VH 1212
Time: 1:00