“Digital Discourse for What?” Turning the Digital Toward Collective Humanization in English Classrooms

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Suppoorting Teachers' Instructional Practices and Writer Identity (Table 18)

Abstract

This paper centers the work of teacher-researchers engaging in ‘digital discourse’ (DD)– the multiple interactive dimensions of communicating online– as part of a five-year research project about how English teachers engage students in online discussions of literature. We pose the question, “digital discourse for what?”, to consider the deeper purposes for engaging in DD. Using a practitioner research framework, we draw from teacher-researchers’ reflections on their practice to answer our question. Findings include the necessity of DD for humanizing purposes with students, and the role of DD in generating knowledge as practitioners and connecting with educators. These insights serve as grounding principles in these times when the field of English grapples with the role of the digital in the classroom.

Authors

• Barrett Rosser, Morgan State University

• Mary Elizabeth Talian, University of Pennsylvania

• Angela Crawford, The School District of Philadelphia

• Jennifer Freed, University of Pennsylvania