Reading+and+Writing+in+the+Digital+Age

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This is a **draft** of a new course that is being developed to modernize our LA curriculum. This course is being developed by two Upper Darby High School CFF teachers who are currently in their second year of CFF. We welcome any feedback and suggestions. If you have any specific lesson ideas that go with any of the topics, we would love to see them posted to this wiki for all to see. Thanks! If you want to contact us directly, email Kathy Blair at kblair@upperdarbysd.org or call 610-622-7000x485.

Core Units:

 * **Precursors to the Digital Age** (Ovid's Prometheus and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein)
 * **Utopian Novels** (H.G. Well's Men Like Gods and/or Huxley's Island)
 * **Dystopian Novels** (George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World, and/or Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451)
 * **Science Fiction** (William Gibson's Neuromancer and/or Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and/or The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
 * **Hyperfiction** (Michael Joyce's Afternoon, a story, Stuart Moulthrop's Victory Garden, and/or Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl )
 * **Vocabulary** (unit overlaps all novels throughout semester)
 * **Writing** (unit overlaps all novels throughout semester)
 * correct academic email etiquette
 * use of discussion boards
 * blogging on academic topics
 * use of collaborative writing tools
 * **Career Opportunities and Job Skills**
 * **video conferencing (use and etiquette)**
 * **identify career opportunities in information technology/digital workforce**
 * **concept of working from remote locations - technologies/advantages**
 * **Public Speaking**
 * **use of digital audio**
 * **podcasting**
 * **multimedia**
 * **Research**
 * **use of wikis**
 * **use of newsfeeds**
 * **citing Internet sources, fair use, copyright, legal issues**
 * **using off-line sources to corroborate online sources**
 * **finding reliable info on the web**
 * **effective search strategies**
 * **identification of website authors/organizations**
 * **evaluating websites**
 * **audio archives(podcasts, radio)**
 * **using video on the web**

Essential Questions
(in progress of being updated)
 * 1) How has the emergence of digital technologies redefined the ways in which we read, write and think about our society?
 * 2) How does written communication in the digital age impact our life and culture now and in the future?
 * 3) What skills are necessary to be a literate and functional member of a digital society?

Key Assessments:

 * Participation
 * Individual and Group Presentations
 * Essays, Journal/Log
 * Final Examination
 * Formal Research Paper
 * Written assignments
 * Class discussions
 * Homework
 * Independent and Group Multimedia Projects
 * Worksheets
 * Literature Tests and Quizzes
 * Vocabulary Tests and Quizzes

Texts and Additional Works:

 * Ovid's Prometheus
 * Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
 * H.G. Well's Men Like Gods
 * Aldous Huxley's Island
 * George Orwell's 1984
 * Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World
 * Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451
 * William Gibson's Neuromancer
 * Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
 * Michael Joyce's Afternoon, a story
 * Stuart Moulthrop's Victory Garden
 * Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl
 * Teacher-made handouts

Technology:

 * Classrooms For The Future Mac laptop carts with CFF Software Applications
 * Internet