"Multimodal Composition" is this a pedagogy worth exploring?
The composer can mix and lace together if you will text, sound and image in order to convey ones thoughts. This kind of communication is interesting to me because just as it states in the text, "multimodal approach allows educators and researchers to attend to all of the resources involved in composing" (Lankshear & Knobel,2013). This says so much about exploration and discovery. However, not just exploration and discovery of clever and creative ways to use multimodalities but more importantly the exploration of the persons and minds doing the creating and the discovery of aptitudes and talents.
For instance, lets say a student has difficulty expressing ones thoughts clearly with the written word but is excellent with artistic. The multimodal approach in this case can help the student place a higher emphasis on imagery while underscoring the images with short word phrases thus allowing the student to utilize more of their natural talent or aptitude rather than being stunted by the one modality that they struggle with.
Reference:
Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2013). A new literacies reader: educational perspectives. New York: Peter Lang.
The would have been wonderful to have when I was a child in school. It's interesting to me because I think about English as a New Language learners these days. Schools don't want students to use their first language to help them learn English. There are ways to learn through what you already know but most school districts today have told me that learning in an "only English" classroom setting will make the process of learning English occur faster. I disagree, I think the multimodal approach would benefit these students in learning.
ReplyDeleteJoseph,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you on the value of multimodal play. When learning to be a teacher, you constantly hear the phrase, "show them it in different ways". You want to take the material that you're going to teach and allow your students to experience it in text, video, personally (through writing or blogging), and orally through a project or presentation. By doing this, you're allowing the student not only increased exposure to the material, but to see it and interact with it in many different ways, allowing for better comprehension. All of this ties directly into the multimodal approach.
Hi Joseph,
ReplyDeleteI feel that we need more multimodal play in classrooms so that students are able to absorb the information in the most productive way. Many times (and I am guilty of this too) we stick to one way of teaching to reach the majority of the students in the class. I believe if we incorporate more of a variety of resources in the classroom it will invite students of all reading levels, as well as those like Kristen mentioned, that may struggle with a language barrier to participate. This can encourage students to work together and create a better environment in the classroom.