Multi-Modal Composition: It's here, It's now!

 Pro Blog Post #4

I am a visual person by nature. I loved it as a kid in elementary school, when every project required me to have a fancy cover or I got to illustrate my pages. Then somewhere in middle school, the images weren't required anymore and all of a sudden writing required simply words on a page…so I modified, adapted and learned to love to write as well.  But something got lost. Maybe some energy but more noticeably–me. My personality got lost a bit because art and aesthetics are still a big part of who I am. 

A project from 9th grade

Oh, wasn't I clever??

Fast forward to my teaching career, I strive to provide students the ability to produce a wide variety of texts, even when the standards I’m assessing are meant for writing alone. Visual literacy is more important than ever. In their review of literature advocating for the use of multimodal literacies, Chisholm & Trent (2012) point out that “schools have an obligation to prepare students to develop competencies in new literacies”(p.308), and yet, whenever I have tried to offer such opportunities, many of my fellow English teacher colleagues fall back old opinions. Claims of what is and what isn’t REAL writing, ideas of fairness and equal work loads drive the conversations rather than looking towards the potential in engaging students. I think Chisholm and Trent probably came under this fire as well with their digital storytelling units based on the various times their article refers back to Common Core standards being met! They not only worked hard to provide that experience to their students, but equally as hard to prove why that experience meets the district's standards.

And the truth is, getting kids to write in multiple modes and genres is hard work, for student and teacher both! I have had issues with kids not having enough declarative knowledge (What does a personal letter look like? What is an Op.Ed. article?), juggling teaching 8-10 different types of procedural knowledge (How do I sound like a politician? Does this metaphor work in this poem?), and learning new technological knowledge in order to support the students goals (Which platform is best for poem layout? Are there any templates for newspapers?). See this article by Hicks, Turner & Stratton(2013) for more information on the writer’s process in digital spaces.  It takes a lot of preparation and organization on the teacher’s end for students to be fully supported in engaging in the multi-modal project…but in my experience, it’s all worth it! Exhausting, but worth it :)

While I have often pushed for a multi-genre writing project, I am excited in pushing myself to learn new digital knowledge that I can push my students to craft multi-modal-genre projects.  I think bringing in digital platforms will increase rhetorical agency in my students!  The audience will be more than just me, the teacher, and how they present themselves to that varied audience will inevitably affect their choices. Digital storytelling and visual essays really feel connected to me–finally erasing the line between academic and creative writing. As we get closer to the end of the year, I plan to incorporate a final project for my seniors that requires them to reflect back on their learning over their high school years and craft a digital story/essay that makes a claim they have on life.  I am excited to use the readings from class to inspire my planning and give me resources to share with me students!  I hope this project will both help them prepare for their future lives beyond high school and encourage them to dream about what is next!