Proposed Topic:
‘Sticking Around’ – Exploring the hidden narratives of graffiti through digital poetry.
- Utilising photos of a sticker-wall located in Brisbane and digitally born poetry that explores self-expression, identity, and belonging.
- Inspiration drawn from the interactive narrative stylisation of ‘Mary Rose’ created by Natasha Nunn.
Proposed Digital Tools/Spaces:
The intended tool to be used will be an application called Genial.ly. This application will allow me to create an interactive image, which will have multiple layers of text, sound, and movement embedded into it. These embedded layers are activated by user engagement with the interface. Additionally, Genial.ly allows for the creator to add elements to their work for user sharability – such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Once the software component of the digital poetry has been completed, it will be uploaded to a domain for convenient and registration/subscription free viewing (for Assessment 4, either Think Space or WordPress).
Rationale:
Due to the ever-changing nature of the digital landscape, adolescents are connected to the digital world more than ever. Therefore, it is important to harness online literacy practices in ways that are familiar and relevant to adolescents (Kovalik & Curwood, 2019, p. 185).
Hirsch and Macleroy (2020) state that poetry is a powerful, versatile, and innovative way of working with language (p. 43). However, poetry is often viewed by adolescents as traditional, irrelevant, and unappealing. Yet, poetry can function as an avenue for artistic, multimodal, and meaningful learning to occur if used within a familiar, digital landscape. Through the affordances and platform appeal of digital poetry, learners can experience literature in more immersive, interactive, and collaborative ways (Gregory, 2013, p. 120-122).
Targeting the demographic of reluctant learners, Sticking Around would be used as a resource by secondary teachers to explore digital poetry and experimental artforms, in conjunction with the concepts of self-expression, identity and belonging. Alternatively, it could also be utilised as a model for students to create their own digital poems. Sticking Around also offers opportunities for discussion on the cultural and political opinions surrounding vandalism. Educationally, Sticking Around will attempt to develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions needed by students to interpret and use language confidently for academic and social communication; as well as allowing students to explore the evaluative language and techniques of digital poetry or poetic art. Sticking Around, will also address the general capabilities of Literacy, Personal and Social Capability, and Critical and Creative Thinking (ACARA).
References:
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). N.D. Australian Curriculum: General capabilities. https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/
Genially (2021). Genial.ly application. https://genial.ly
Gregory, H. (2013). Youth take the lead: Digital poetry and the next generation. English in Education, 47(2), pp. 118-133. https://doi.org/10.1111/eie.12011
Hirsch, S., & Macleroy, V. (2020). The art of belonging: exploring the effects on the English classroom when poetry meets multilingual digital storytelling. English in Education, 54(1), pp. 41-57. https://doi.org/10.1080/04250494.2019.1690394
Kovalik, K., & Curwood, J. S. (2019). #poetryisnotdead: understanding Instagram poetry within a transliteracies framework. Literacy, 53, pp. 185 – 195. https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.12186
Nunn. N (2017/2018). Mary Rose. http://mary-rose.ca/index.html