A VISION OF NEW LITERACIES

Initially I have always envisioned literacy as how an individual thinks, speaks, listens, writes, reads, interacts with other people for the purpose of learning, daily activities, and social encounters. I personally believe that the list of elements that encompasses literacy is essential to understanding the most effective teaching strategies to further develop students’ literacy skills and strategies. However in today’s worlds there are an assortment of alternative meanings, interpretation, and forms of literacy. Gee (2003) writes about the diverse communication and language implications through “images, symbols, graphs, diagrams, artifacts, and many other types of “visual literacy” (p.13). In education there are various “texts” that teachers use as resources to educate students in different content areas. Within these texts there are often visual literacies that encompass comprehending the content. Personally I have never pondered upon the applicable impact or importance of visual literacies when teaching. I have referenced pictures, comics, graphics, videos, and symbols to reinforce a concept to my students. Visual literacies can be an essential teaching tool that guides students’ abilities into making connections and real meaning making from this form of literacy introduced as part of their curriculum. Learning experiences need to be developed that help students actually experience different modes and modality in literacy.

When I think about developing learning experiences that would represent multimodality and new literacy studies, I have to stop and re-evaluate my understanding of all that encompasses these two elements in education. I agree with Kress, (2000) who states “the world told is a different world to the world shown”. As an educator that instructs students with minimal background knowledge outside of their neighborhoods, I find it extremely important that different opportunities and methods to explore content areas are easily available. Implementing a multimodal approach to instruction will encourage students to explore new ideas, apply prior knowledge, and continue building background knowledge. With my recent introduction and exposure to the world of digital video an innovative pathway has been produced to succeed in multimodal instruction that is based on student interests and motivations.

Growing up in the millennial generation I have developed a good foundation of the innovative literacies that my current students have when entering my classroom (Miller, 2008). Being conscious of what Miller (2008) writes about the “dazzling array of digital forms/texts-electronically processed images and video, hypertext, Web pages, spreadsheets, game interfaces, simulations, interactive stories, multiform narratives, Facebooks, music videos, blogs, video blogs, zines, and other print-mixed assemblages” (p.2) is critical to my success in implementing the latest literacies in my classroom. All though I haven’t personally developed all of these new forms of electronic text; I have observed or experienced several elements of these forms in my life. This aspect of my personal experiences helps me to develop a bridge between my student’s interests and motivations and real meaning making learning experiences.

Unfortunately the majority of teachers working today haven’t grown up making web pages, blogs, playing video games, or using the internet for mass communication. I feel that my current school district needs to reconsider, redesign, or add professional development that addresses multimodal literacies in the classroom. I am very fortunate that my district equips classrooms with laptops, wireless internet, and overhead projectors to foster a multimodal learning environment. However, not every teacher has had the opportunity to be educated and explore with these various resources. Providing professional development that provides time for instruction, inquiry, and discovery with these multimodal resources will cultivate teachers to utilize these resources appropriately, affectively, or with the best implications for instruction and learning. Through superior professional development that encourages teachers to gain knowledge of how to scaffold new literacies and metacognitive strategies for multimodal designs I feel as teachers we can produce a bridge between the “insiders” and “outsiders” (Miller, 2008).

Through this course I have started to build a compilation of possible instruction based on multimodality and new literacies. Last year I implemented a mini lesson into the world of zines with my third grade students and they thoroughly cherished the process and meaning making that occurred. I hope through using a “new literacy stance” that I can develop literacy as a social practice to develop connections to students interests and motivations in the classroom (Miller, 2008). Based upon classroom inquiries I feel that digital video can be used in the classroom to teach, discover, share, and expand student learning experiences. Creating newscast, personal introductions, connections between visuals and reading experiences, personal narratives, inquiries, critical literacy, and instructional purpose are all innovative implications for digital video that I plan on implementing in my classroom. I would also like to develop an on going blog for my students to manage through their book clubs. Inviting parents, teachers, and administrators to visit the site and add comments. Adding these elements of instruction to my curriculum are excellent examples of how multimodality and new literacies can be implemented to enable a more individual, meaningful, and effective learning experience for my students.

Prior to this course I feel that this form of multimodality and new literacy would probably be used as a culminating activity in my classroom instead of a learning tool. After understanding the importance of ownership over learning, inquiry, multimodal possibilities, and the design elements available to make real meaning, I think next year I will use this mode for learning to begin instruction on a variety of content areas. I feel using digital video can provide students with situated practice and visualizing to assist comprehension. Students will have choices on what to explore within a large spectrum surrounding a central theme. The students will be able to build on their prior knowledge, interests, and experiences to explore educational standards. Contemplating on possible activities has opened my eyes to the possibilities of multimodality and new literacy in my classroom. I look forward to the next opportunity to implement these elements in my classroom to further student learning and development.

References:
Gee, J.P. (2003). Semiotic Domains: Is playing video games a “waste of time”? In What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy (pp. 13-50). NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kress, G. (2000). Multimodality. In B. Cope & M. Kalantziz (Eds.), Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures (pp. 182-202). London: Routledge.

Miller, S.M. (in press). Teacher learning for new times: Repurposing new multimodal literacies and digital video composing for schools (pp 1-53). NY: State University of New York Press.