Reading Matters Winter 2019

they will not identify with it in a later season of life. Perhaps this book represented their identity when they were younger, or they have yet to make a personal connection to this book and can refer back to it one day. Books are both windows for students to see and learn about new experiences and mirrors to help them better see themselves (Bishop, 1990). Using technology with identity development. In her study, Black (2009) followed three adolescent ELL students as they created, restructured, and manipulated their identities through online participation in Fanfiction.net (FFN), a website devoted to fan fiction texts including books, TV shows, movies, games, comics, etc. This website archives over a million fan fiction texts from across the globe where young adults participate in reading, writing, and reviewing one another’s fan fiction posts. In a similar study, Korobkova and Black (2014) followed 24 adolescent students who created fanfiction stories about the British Band, One Direction, through Wattpad, a free online writing community. Ironically, the researchers in both studies noted a disconnect in their students’ writing abilities taking place on fanfiction sites and the writing these students typically portrayed. The effort that these students put into the writing projects through the fanfiction sites was qualitatively different and surpassed the abilities most of them displayed in school or during any other written communication. Because the fanfiction was something these students were passionate about, they were likely to spend more time and effort in producing it. Therefore, by incorporating students’ interests and identities in classroom activities, a connection between the two worlds of identity and in-class activities seems to increase students’ classroom participation, effort, and overall value in learning. Adolescents are often fully literate in terms of digital and media literacy modes, and many participate in some form of social media interaction daily. In fact, 95% of adolescents report owning or having access to a smart phone, while 45% report being online on a near-constant basis (Pew Research Center, 2018). The digital connections adolescents possess and their ability to take part in reading and responding to each other’s posts, allows them to form global connections and relationships with one another through a digital context (Williams, 2008). The textual identities that form online through the interactions with others encourage the development and practice of literacy skills such as reading, writing, language development, and most importantly, socialization with others who share similar interests. The anonymity a digitally-based platform provides can even allow students within the same classroom to learn from one another through personal and acquired knowledge. Without the fear of judgement or acceptance from peers, adolescent students are able to represent themselves through a digitally-based identity that may be different from what they portray to others face-to-face. This type of literacy utilization through technology is especially beneficial for adolescent students who are still figuring out their own identity. Suggestions for using technology in the classroom. Because students voluntarily participate in a vast array of digital literacy practices outside of the classroom, it is essential for teachers to

be familiar with and utilize these practices in the classroom to engage their students in activities that facilitate identity formation while furthering their literacy development. Digital platforms such YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest are sites students may already be familiar with outside of the classroom. Teachers could encourage students to compose original literary pieces on YouTube, follow and ask questions to their favorite authors on Twitter, create a classroom Facebook or Edmodo page for students (and parents) to follow at home, and have students collect/peruse various pins on a board for upcoming projects or assignments. Figures one and two demonstrate a classroom example of how to use Edmodo in the classroom. Figure one depicts the option of one-on-one messaging between the teacher and the students. Figure two depicts a small group virtual book club discussion within a classroom. Teachers can offer students time in class to complete discussion posts that coincide with face-to- face discussion. Additionally, discussion can continue between students at home. All names used in these figures are pseudonyms.

Reading Matters Choice Matters

Figure 1. Edmodo messages. Students can send messages directly to the teacher. Screenshot taken from Edmodo.com (https://www.edmodo.com/).

Figure 2. Edmodo small group discussions. Students in this classroom are grouped together according to their book club groups and have a virtual discussion about their books. Screenshot taken from Edmodo.com (https://www.edmodo.com/). Classroom websites allow students to create writing assignments, blogs, book reviews, and leave comments on others writing projects. Students can create their own accounts to create responses and leave comments or use anonymous accounts to remove a sense of judgement when writing/commenting. Figure three depicts an example of a teacher-created Google website where students are encouraged to write reviews of the books they read using Google forms. Other students can peruse

Reading Matters | Volume 19 Winter 2019 | scira.org | 15

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