Session 13: Multiliteracies
This reflection is a post about multiliteracy and multimodal learning. This week we discussed our thoughts about literacy and how it affects our identity. Taking into account the differences of learners means making opportunities for them to express their learning and approach topics in ways that are meaningful to them. My classmates and I agree that students need to feel ownership over their learning and be allowed to demonstrate what they know/can do.
Amanda's reflection on April 20, 2014:
1. To me multiple literacies encompass the diversity of skills and situations where we use language and other nonverbal cues to send and receive messages with others. Multi-literacies includes the idea that technology and diversity are part of an ever-changing web of communication. In a sense we all have our own unique ways of expressing our ideas whether through writing, drawing, gesturing, singing, or showing, and we also share some common language, symbols, body language, and other semiotic cues. Since our identity is constructed through our interactions with others, multiliteracy allows individuals to share experiences that shape who they are and how they fit into the world.
2. The ideological model of literacy has the power to transform how we teach language learners. According to Larson (2006) curricula for literacy of English Learners is almost exclusively a textbook-based autonomous model. We currently view students as having deficits in learning the type of literacy that can be measured by tests of their discrete skills with language, which skills, if you think about it, could only be enhanced through practice of multiliteracy. Having students communicate effectively in a variety of modalities and with various real-world social interactions and training them to recognize these authentic literacies as part of their language identity would facilitate their in-school literacy as well. Students might be able to connect their communication outside of school to the things they read and are expected to analyze at school.
Most importantly an emphasis on multiliteracy would give students an advantage for life after school, in the job market, and in communication with other adults and members of society. These authentic situations require students to make sense of messages for meaningful results: to live their lives in a way that brings them closer to achieving their goals, to socialize with people globally or in their community, and to make important decisions that can make a difference in the world.
3. As I just stated, this multiliteracy can have an effect on students' choices for how to shape their world. When I think about critical literacy I can't help but think about how necessary it is to have literacy of media and technology. Children need not just to be able to think critically about fairy tales and story books: they will be faced throughout their lives with messages that are attempting to covertly or overtly persuade them and reshape their identities. If students are aware of these messages and can identify the methods being used to convey them (including multi-modal images, sounds, and symbols) then they can remain critical long enough to make a choice that is in line with their own values. A student who is familiar with multi-modal material will be able to communicate to others, and show his or her own understanding in a variety of ways.
I really support the way the students in the Ajayi (2011) article drew their representation of the ideas that they discussed and also wrote an explanation of their drawings. This made their pictures more meaningful to me. I felt that without their written explanation I would not have seen some of the critical perspectives they had taken on the topics of gender, class, and justice. I also support the way that they had time to discuss the film in small groups and relate their own experiences to the Cinderella story.
The multi-modal activities and resources would allow students to contribute to a deeper meaning and more relevant, personalized discussion of whatever topics arise. I was wondering, however, if Ajayi and other educators are leaving something out of their critical literacy lessons: are they letting the students in on why they are viewing critically? Even as young as 3rd grade, students should be aware when they are being asked to challenge a text (or multimodal source of information) and why the teacher is having them do so. Include the students in the conversation so that they can begin to see critical thinking as a skill that has to be intentionally employed at times, when we feel most comfortable, in order to see things from a new perspective and make our own judgments about truth and information.
Sahal's reply:
Amanda
I totally agree with your idea about literacy in media and technology and think it is the same attitude that make Ajayi ask for including Disney movies in the curriculum. The technology became in students' pockets- cells phones- and, therefore, we need to give the students its advantages and this what Hafner et all called the digital literacy.
Dustin's reply:
Amanda,
I think you have a good understanding of the complexity of multiliteracies and how they fit into current curriculum and with itself. It's interesting to note that any deficit in a student's learning is more precisely a deficit in their ability to negotiate the form of their evaluation, and when certain technologies are used the percentage of learners able to comfortably provision their success decreases still. I wholeheartedly agree that the earlier good habits can be encouraged in young children the better. As we have discussed from previous readings, bringing students into the loop, i.e., letting them know the plan and the reason for it, can be empowering in education. I wish Ajayi had indicated whether or not this was a part of that lesson plan.
Jan's reflection:
1. Multiliteracies means to me as a teacher that I need to incorporate a variety of literacy modes to teach the four domains of language effectively and within a cultural diverse setting. In other words, I need to expose my students to more than just books and to blend literacy into my lesson planning by using a combination of videos, Power Points, magazines, songs, advertisements, newspapers, internet materials from our digitial world, etc.. I think the autonomous view is out-dated and the quote from the Larson article quite clearly argues that perspective; "a multiple literacies perspective is a meaningful position from which education can remain revelant in contemporary society." I am afraid that if I continue to teach more from an autonomous model that my students are the ones that will suffer in the long run even if they have mastered the necessary foundational set of skills that are deemed necessary for elementary. Those skills will not be sufficient for middle school or beyond in this digital age.
When I watched the SHALL video, I noticed that one of the teachers talked about how educators need to be taken out of the driver's seat and to stop prescribing what and how students should do things. When students are given a chance to use hands-on technology for instance, they are integrating life skills that are essential in this world and will eventually promote further enhanced communication skills that facilitate a culture of success for everyone involved. The idea of making students more accountable for their own learning through team building groupings is challenging for teachers, but highly rewarding and beneficial for futuristic goal planning. From the other video about digital storytelling, I learned that student initiated work provided the most meaning to the students. When they interviewed family members about their past and immigration, the students were able to be part of an authentic learning experience that invoked emotional responses from the audience once their three minute videos were aired. That tells me as a teacher that the students' planning, hard work, steps to good writing, computer resourcefulness, and execution were all affective ways of learning with an end result in mind. On the other hand, there was one student who found it difficult to work with a partner even though that was frustrating to him I felt that social component outweighed any negative negotiations that might have occurred. Again this activity prepared students for the real world.
In the Hafner article, I learned that I must start to think from a global context and engage with digital literacies. Since there are many different kinds of communication from social media sites to evaluating information from online databases to online platforms such as blogs, I have to ensure that I myself develop a deeper understanding of these online settings, so that I can incorporate them into my lesson planning to facilitate my ELLs language development in L2. Since language is intermixed, this process only seems natural to me by building a digital literacy environment in my classroom.
2. Like I just said, having multiliteracies in the classroom is a necessity for all teachers, especially since we are moving in this direction as a nation. I believe that we need to educate teachers through in-service opportunities to share the benefits of this type of exposure to varying modes of literacy for all students. The problem with transforming is that some districts are not willing to accept change and don't understand how ESL programs should run in the 21st century, especially if they have a low population of ELLs. I think instructing students the old way of foundational linguistic skills using print-based texts only isolates culturally diverse students even more. In the article from Ajayi, Ajayi does a good job explaining how to utilize new multimedia in the classroom to meet the needs of the culturally diverse students you will have. Ajayi points out that we need to instruct from multimodal texts because that is what students encounter in their everyday lives. In order to make learning more meaningful for ELLs, we need to change our instructional practices by building "instructional practices around students' situated literacy practices, knowledge, interests, and experiences" (Ajayi, 2011). Once teachers understand how their ESL students use media, access knowledge, develop social skills, and use literacy skills in their everyday lives, then teachers can add to that knowledge by using multiliteracies to further develop English language learning. The assessment pieces should entail observational practices as well as a variety of assessing techniques like portfolios, storytelling, Power Points, writing samples, and open-ended questions/ answers just to name a few. Lastly, students must take part in standardized assessments, but hopefully more meaningful assessment practices will emerge to produce literate contemporary individuals.
3. The muliliteracies pedagogy is much like critical literacy in that ESL students expand their literacy practices by constructing meaning from a different perspective. This can be done by either reading controversial things or by understanding different representational modes of language whether it be digital or not. All students come with their own prior knowledge and their own social and cultural experiences that make them who they are, so constructing lesson plans based on their particular interests and motivations only makes sense for both fields of study. Not only that, but they are connected through authentic learning experiences that analyze literacy in different forms. In conclusion, multimodal based-materials can be used as a tool for providing critical literacy instruction through questioning existing stereotypes, analyzing gender role specific behaviors/jobs, and studying ethnic discriminations.This can be done by exposuring students to media sources or even by "reading" videos. As Ajayi stated,"learning does not take place in a vacuum" (Ajayi, 2011) and any tool to assist in that process is welcomed.
Amanda's response:
Hi, Jan. Thanks for posting your thoughts on multiple literacies. Reading your comments and those of others has caused me to formulate a question: How can we make use of our traditional classroom resources to increase literacy of all kinds? I think the key in your classroom is to have a balance and a variety of opportunities for students to practice their skills, whether that be using physical text resources, computer internet access, or some new technology yet to be invented. We can't always foresee what skills kids will need to be on the cutting edge, as the video "Did You Know" points out: some of what we are learning now will be abandoned when new information comes out. What really matters is allowing students to have experiences where they can believe they are capable learners. Impart to them what knowledge you feel (in your most professional judgment) will be useful to their futures. And allow the students to be in control of the direction of their learning at least some of the time.
Changes of technology into the classroom can be slow to implement or come on rapidly, but will they ever truly replace our textbooks or a good-old fashioned newspaper clipping? Only time will tell us that. In the meantime there are plenty of literacies that we have as educated persons that we can share with our schools: knowledge of journalism, creating and interpreting different text types, viewing and hearing media for its multiple meanings, etc. As you said, the students will construct meaning from their perspective and should have a variety of perspectives to listen to.