Using Multimodal Literacy Tools to Support Learners Who Need Challenging

  The multimodal activities I have thus far discussed in this blog have included the use of comics, video games, photography, and many other mediums of expression in order to strengthen students’ literacy skills (this post includes even more comics and adds literature circles to that as well). An understanding of multimodal literacy and its value of making literacy learning equitable is essential for modern teachers. Students who need to be challenged in reading and writing, whether they are gifted in this area or not, will benefit from inclusion of multimodal elements in praxis in the classroom. In one article I will review (Dallacqua, 2020), students used a comic entitled The Black Death (World History Ink, 2009) to study the plague. The author notes that “even though comics are positioned to engage readers, especially those often struggling, scholarship contends that they are valuable for a “wide range of subjects and benefit various student populations, from hesitant readers...

  The multiliteracies theory is a term coined in the mid 1990’s by the New London Group, and includes a pedagogical framework comprised of four parts: situated practice, critical framing, overt instruction, and transformed practice. Multiliteracies theory arose as a new definition of literacy in response to linguistic diversity in classrooms. Many students are bilingual, and some students speak localized English outside of school and are unfamiliar with standard English and grammatical structures appropriate to school (Olthouse, 2013, p 247). A need for a different view of literacy in the interest of equity was brought up and remains a relevant venture for educators, and multimodal tools and pedagogy through the lens of the multiliteracies theory are excellent solutions to both accommodate and challenge all types of learners. In one article I will review (Olthouse, 2013), the author imagines three example cases that describe how the multiliteracies theory would work in classrooms...

  When planning activities and lessons to foster literacy skills in students that need challenging, it is important to include multimodal tools. Students that are bored with traditional reading and writing methods will be more engaged with unique opportunities to use different methods to express themselves and deepen their learning, such as spending time engaging with websites and apps that do not seem like regular schoolwork. In this post, I will review three multimodal tools (Story Jumper, Bubbl.us, and Atlas Obscura); two that I included in my lesson plan, and one educational website that is geared towards curiosity and personal digital inquiry. In my lesson plan, students will be using Story Jumper to create their own storybooks. Story Jumper is a collaborative website where students (and anyone) can create, narrate, and publish their own books. It is appropriate for elementary students at all levels, since it features a voice recording tool for very young students that do no...

As a graduate student with an art background and experience of two years as an art teacher in Oklahoma City Public Schools, interdisciplinary literacy and arts integration are important concepts for me to focus on. When writing lesson plans, I often considered content that classroom teachers were teaching for all grades, and found ways to incorporate it into my lesson plans. I chose the PEDDL framework, found in Digitally Supported Disciplinary Literacy for K-5 Classrooms (Colwell, Hutchison, & Woodward, 2020) to implement a digitally supported, interdisciplinary lesson plan for a small group of fourth grade students. The lesson plan implements two different digital tools; a graphic organizer created on Bubbl.us to use for ideas, key concepts, and vocabulary, and a storybook creator website (Story Jumper or Little Bird Tales, depending on ease of access). The lesson will focus on fourth grade English language arts standards for second quarter, according to Oklahoma City Public Sch...

    The integration of modern technology into multimodal lesson planning is something that we as educators strive to do in order to make lessons more engaging and relevant to our students. Though it is challenging, between funding issues, general troubleshooting when things don’t go as planned, and adhering to curriculum, there are many options and ideas that we can use to creatively engage students in material. I will describe three studies that incorporate technology into lesson plans and the positive effects that were noted. In one study (Doyle-Jones, 2019), ten participating teachers were interviewed about how they plan writing curriculum through the new literacies theory, and how they integrated technology into their lessons. One teacher used Moodle in literacy and math programs, and found that it “encouraged his students to write more, both collaboratively and individually, as the students saw their work as authentic and purposeful” (p 55). The teachers were asked to...

  Interdisciplinary literacy is a concept that has risen in importance within the past few decades. It is a way to enrich students’ understanding of how various subjects (math, science, language arts) are interwoven, rather than just standalone, unrelated subjects. As teachers, we often include interdisciplinary elements in our lesson plans. Students might use art, music, and even math in writing projects, and an important objective is to do our best to relate the subject matter to our students’ lives. The three research articles I talk about in this blog post use interdisciplinary modes (photography, graphic novels, and a multimodal, music-related research project) to foster literacy skills in students and engage them in new types of writing. One study (Wiseman, 2015) uses a literacy through photography curriculum, which combines traditional methods like writer’s workshop with photography as another form of communication. The students in this study are third graders, and are sho...