Abstract:

What does it mean in today’s world to be a “Renaissance man/woman”? How can literature bring about a more thought provoking discussion of the time period that is so <foreign> to students of the twenty-first century? What relationship does the Middle Ages have to today’s society? How can art help us bridge the cultural gap as partially represented in literary works? What are some of the technological methods that can bring forth a rewarding experience in the literature classroom? These are the questions that will be addressed in the article and presentation of this topic.
There are four factors that should be kept in mind when connecting literature and art: 1) this is usually seen as two separate entities ; 2) teacher education programs do not provide a methods course in the area of teaching literature and how to incorporate interdisciplinary concepts; 3) techniques being employed, in the classrooms, have the tendency to follow the classical model with very little, if any, globalization/internationalization introduced, let alone cultural awareness; 4) technology should be integrated in all courses (be it ground or virtual) in doing so it augments the experience and enriches the study of literature threefold plus encourages cultural awareness and knowledge that can be tied into the present day. In this globalized and technological society it is of the utter most importance that new methodology be incorporated in the literature courses to enhance them bringing forth a connection to elements that are relevant to the student’s environment and knowledge base. This project is focused on how to bring about an innovative manner to incorporate cross discipline, global, and the literary piece(s) that are being taught into a focus that bridges the gap with artwork of the time period to illustrate the connection visually. There is also the need to engage the students in the four skills that were the primary focus during their course of their second language acquisition. What educators must come to terms with today is that learners are limited to what is within their realm of knowledge in regards to their societal mores and cannot imagine life in another era. It is for this reason that implementation of the arts helps to inculcate the inquisitiveness of the learners in regards to the time period of the work being studied. Another objective of this project is the incorporation of some methodology that will enable the teacher candidates to be affective when teaching literature. This will be coupled with technology and how to incorporate it into the methodology.

Keywords:

Literature, Culture, Teacher Education, Methodology, Technology.