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An Introduction to Illuminated Texts - A Screencast
This is the first in what I hope to be a long series of screencasts to help teachers and their students with the creation of Illuminated Texts. This video introduces the concepts of Illuminated Texts - shows and describes two of them - and gives an explanation of The Illuminated Text Learning Center. If you've ever wanted to know just what an Illuminated Text is - or if you want to hear a little history behind their inception, this would be a good video to watch. The presentation last about 10 minutes. Read more »
Cat in the Rain by Jenny Lee
The Illuminated Text that convinced me of the power and potential of the medium. This project explicates the short story "Cat in the Rain" from In Our Time. About a year and a half after this site opened, someone asked me how I got the idea for Illuminated Texts -- the answer for that one is easy: I saw Jenny Lee's "Cat in the Rain." Note: We now have a movie version of "Cat in the Rain" in case any of you were having problems viewing the Power Point version.
Click Here to View the QuickTime (video) Version of Cat in the Rain
Click Here to View the Power Point Version of - Cat in the Rain Read more »
"i carry your heart" by e e cummings - An Illuminated Text in Flash
This is the second Illuminated Text that I have created using this poem. As my students transition from Power Point to Adobe Flash -- I wanted to go through the process and acquaint myself with what they were going through for myself. I chose this poem because I love it dearly- and, to me, it is an ideal candidate for a text-based animation -- the words are rich, beautiful, and multi-layered. When I was writing this Illuminated Text - it occurred to me how much these presentations are like essays or writing in general - you need to have some kind of overriding idea or thesis and each piece must support and play off of the other.
"Indian Camp" - Illuminated text by Jesus Alonso
This illuminated text on Hemingway's "Indian Camp" uses to text, to among other things, point out the journey from dark to light and back to light again. The words, in the presentation, move from darkness to light, echoing Nick's journey to the world that awaits him at the Indian Camp. It is moving and insightful. I also continue to show this Illuminated Text every year when we read the story - it never fails to impress me or my students.
Click Here to view the Flash Video Illuminated Text of "Indian Camp"
Click Here to view the Power Point Illuminated Text of "Indian Camp"
Beowulf, Heroism, and 9/11 - A Presentation
This brief slide show begins with the moving, translated words of Beowulf where he states that he would not race ahead of his friend Brecca, because he had promised him he would stay by his side. The presentation next recounts some of the heroes of 9/11while subtly (I hope) comparing it ideas of heroism from Beowulf. It ends with the fiery funeral of Beowulf and the casket of the last 9/11 firefighter being carried away on his fire truck. This is used with a group work on the same subject.
The Treasured Key: A Flash Illuminated Text of Shakespeare's Sonnet 52
Students, Eric Jang and Yucong Feng created this outstanding Adobe Flash-based Illuminated Text of Shakespeare's Sonnet 52. For the discordant music to the choices of animation and movement -- they get everything right. As has been said earlier, the Illuminated Texts created with Flash show the potential of that medium -- it also forces the students to think about the how and why of every move and every flourish that they create. Well-do Read more »
Viewing Illuminated Texts at AwaytoTeach
How do you view the Illuminated Texts that are found on this website? Any of the Illuminated Texts written in Flash (see the menu at the top - these are still a small minority of all of the presentations on this site) can be viewed with any browser - you may need to download the newest Flash Player from Adobe -- if you do your browser will prompt you to do so. Read more »
Dreams often Lie: A Critical Thinking Webquest for Romeo and Juliet
This Web Quest has students putting together ideas from Romeo and Juliet such as Queen Mab, Romeo and Juliet in Sarajevo (a documentary about two lovers from different faiths in civil war-torn Bosnia), and the origins of Shakespeare's play. I have always believed that Web Quests can be a valuable tool - however, they too often seem to be a technologically-enabled treasure hunt. I hope that this assignment pushes the genre to a level were a good deal of critical thinking can take place.
