Thursday, August 14, 2008

Ophelia on Facebook

Drpezz's recent post reminded me of another way my classmates and I were able to use social networking to create a learning activity that promotes character analysis and creativity. We created a Facebook page for Ophelia.

First of all, this was attractive to the classmates we instructed because the novelty of giving a character of Elizabethan literature a new millennium identity struck them as a cool idea. It has even reached several people we don't know, as strangers have friended Ophelia. If you have a Facebook account or can use a friend's, search for Ophelia TheDane.

More importantly, this really forces the students to think about Ophelia's character. Think about music. Would she like Amy Winehouse or Jewel? No Doubt or The Carpenters? Why? This also allows an opportunity for humor. We decided that Ophelia's hobbies included gardening and swimming. I did this for another lesson plan for The Scarlet Letter and my roommate and I came up with a dozen ideas or jokes without much effort. (Hawthorne Heights, Bad Religion, "Lady in Red," "Son of a Preacher Man," "Tempted by the Fruit of Another," Sherlock Holmes, Raising Ophelia...) Try it out as a warm-up or review activity and see what you get.

P.S. Why does Ophelia love Scooby-Doo?

Because he's a Great Dane!

1 comment:

Dr Pezz said...

We did something very similar to this last year in my English class, and the students really enjoyed it. Great idea about using Facebook. This would be tough for us to share since our school blocks all of these types of sites, but we could still view them outside of the school.

Sounds like you had a great rapport with your students, which as many people can attest will make your job much easier.