This course is almost entirely inquiry-based; our assignments are then catered to our unique interests. In this way, I’m able to focus on subjects I’ve always been drawn to; I can explore them in the way I have always wanted to, but could never justify the time required to do so. For a long time, I’ve been deep in the work/school spiral. Free-time is a luxury. I usually spend it asleep, trying to avoid my next stint of bronchitis. So now that I have the option to study something just for me, I’m going to do it right.
I’ve settled on learning how to properly read tarot. I feel dramatic just typing that (in true irony, I’m currently writing this in a church). It is a study that raises opinion: interest, fear, a dismissive eye-roll. Still, I am unapologetic in my fascination and excited to see where it takes me.
In regards to my tech-based inquiry, things are a little less certain. I’m a language arts lover so I’m naturally drawn to the idea of digital storytelling in the classroom. More specifically, I’m curious as to how it may be able to make poetry a more accessible form of writing. Gone are the elitist days of tall-hatted men meeting in parlours and defining poetry for the world. Though still a dreaded subject for many, poetry has reached new popularity for teens with the emergence of YA focussed collections, a bustling spoken-word community, and the uber-popular bestseller, Rupi Kaur.
With this being said, I’m interested in tapping into this interest through technology with programs such as poetry generators and online magnetic poetry. Somehow, I hope to find a way to make poetry fun. Is it an impossible task? Maybe. I’ll find out soon enough.