Using Multimodal Literacy Tools to Support Learners Who Need Challenging

  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...