Facebook with Literature

Eleventh graders were asked to reflect on their outside readings in a very avant-garde manner. Instead of submitting regular book reports or presenting short novel talks, I asked each student to create a Facebook profile page for the main character in his assigned book. This gave my students the opportunity to think about characteristics, interests, activities, quotes and some creative license to flesh out the details. Students created the profile pages as a starting place for further posts and discussions between the other characters from the various books assigned to class.
“We used to believe that only an author can talk about his characters,” says Yasmeen Nasser who was reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, “however, in this project we used our imagination to get into the character’s heads. Being in Santiago’s shoes, I interpreted his clothes, his favorite quotes, his dialect, his interests… and I tolerated all that reasonably well.”
Lana Fayad who was reading Emma Donoghue’s Room- the number one IndieNext pick by independent booksellers for September 2010 - says, “I used Facebook as a social networking site, but I’ve never used it before as an educational tool. Creating a profile page on Facebook that accurately reflects the personality of the five-year- old Jack, made me better understand his motives and his psychological turbulences in the plot of Room.”
“This project increases my understanding of online communication and the positive benefits of appropriate use of social network sites,” Dima Kobrosli says.
While we were wrapping up the lesson, my students suggested if they could go on and create some of these for historical characters. One wanted to take on Ghandi and another Cleopatra. I always consider a lesson successful when students aren’t ready to stop the learning!

Mona Majzoub - Director of Students' Affairs and Guidance Department