Multimodal Documents (NWP 2007)

Multimodal Documents (NWP 2007) - Presentation Transcript

Multimodal Documents Writing in a Digital Age Peter Kittle, Northern California Writing Project NWP Annual Meeting New York City • 15 November 2007

Inquiry: Will studying and composing multimodal texts help students create compelling communications?

Context Advanced Composition for Future Teachers Prior Assignment: Literacy Acquisition Narrative Rose, Lives on the Boundary Brandt, Sponsors of Literacy Traditional essay form New Assignment: Multimodal Document on Learning Mixture of text, image, sound in single document Various modes can transmit different messages Modes combine to create unique meanings impossible in single-mode communications

Theory James Paul Gee, Professor of Linguistics and Education What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy (2003) Finding an inquiry: Learning outside of school Gee investigates the ways that learning happens in the virtual worlds of video games, and looks for ways to connect the video game learning principles to school.

Learning Principles Observation: Video games are often played in social contexts, and players' socializing aids their learning. Principle: Learning is facilitated when there is a social context characterized by shared goals. Observation: The signiﬁcance of certain objects in video games changes as the game progresses, and players learn how to pay attention to such objects based on the game's current state. Principle: Meaningful learning occurs when the skills and knowledge being learned apply directly to the learner's current context.

Genre What are the attributes of a multimodal text? SOAPS Protocol Speaker: Who is the speaker? What do you know (or can you ascertain) about his/her knowledge? Occasion: Why is s/he speaking? What is the context of the speech? Audience: Whom is the speaker addressing? Are you a member of the audience? Purpose: What appears to be the speaker’s objective? Subject: What topics are being addressed? In what manner are they being discussed?

Daddy Duty by Jason Shiroff Click to watch project

Classroom Application Public reﬂection journals: Weblogs What are you learning outside of school? What motivates you to learn outside school? How do you monitor your progress? Goal: Articulate an out-of-school learning experience to learning principles from James Gee’s book

Modeling and Co-Learning I had little experience with the genre, so I had to learn alongside students. Sharing developmental drafts Posted script drafts and comments on Google Docs Showed rough cuts of my multimodal document Used storyboarding

Peter’s Model Document A Question of Balance Click to watch project

Weblogs for Reﬂection

Weblogs for Reﬂection An Excerpt from Caitlin’s Blog Down With Reiﬁcation Phew. Done, done, done. I can't remember the last time I felt this challenged and out of my element. After hours of work, I still feel amazed that there is only a six minute movie. I feel like there should be something more comparable to a Star Wars movie. Above all else, this project made me respect the individuals who make movies for a living...I simply don't have the patience.

Weblogs for Reflection An Excerpt from Caitlin’s Blog When thinking about what I wanted to convey to my audience, I thought about people that wanted to learn an instrument, but felt that they couldn't for some reason or another. I mentioned these reasons in my narrative, such as fear, the inability to read music, the feeling that it was too late in life to start learning something like an instrument, the time constraints of a college student, and so on and so forth. I never mentioned specifically that this was the affinity group I dedicated my work to, so forgive me, but I tried to make this movie applicable to people outside of the Advanced Comp. realm.

Weblogs for Reflection An Excerpt from Caitlin’s Blog I constantly explained my problems and the mental processes that I used to fight through them. This connected to Gee's thoughts on a new literacy. I was learning something outside of my semiotic domain; furthermore, it didn't come easily, so I had to really work at the instrument. In the section where I get carried away with the thoughts of a career in Harmonica playing, with special accessories and my own tour bus, I was dealing with the Identity Principle of Gee's book. I was playing with identity, creating a fantasy about what I would do. Eventually, I slowed the process of daydreaming as I reflected on the reality of my identity, and how I would first have to learn the instrument, then begin to try to live out the dream. I have do understand my potential identity in baby steps, starting with my understanding of the instrument.

Caitlin’s Project Harmonica: Pocket-Sized Soul Click to watch project

Evaluation and Assessment

Evaluation and Assessment Collaborative development of a rubric for the project

Evaluation and Assessment Collaborative development of a rubric for the project Instructor comments in form of .mp3 audio recordings accompanying rubric