EN 591 Response #1
A multimodal representation of my relationship to composing:
Describe your relationship to writing:
Process based. Very spatial and visual (outlines and diagrams). Always emotionally driven. My brain doesn't turn off and I am always thinking about my topic and how I'd like to go about composing my argument/ purpose. Writing for me is also very "place" based and personal. I can't write with other people around me. I've never been able to have "study dates" where I go to cafe's with peers and just write. I have to be comfortable. If I'm in public I people watch. Usually that means that a lot of the actual writing takes place at home. It's also an incredibly emotional process for me. It's almost like going through the stages of grief (in a sense), but mainly it's focused around my confidence (denial/acceptance that I can actually write well). My emotions guide what, where and how I write. I need to have a plan, I've always been a planner. Every facet of my life is organized and planned, the thought of jumping in head first stresses me out. I need to feel like I'm in control. I also need to be well prepared and in order to be prepared I read, a lot. I take lots of notes. My books look like a rainbow of post-its.
EN 591 Response #2: The Reading
NCTE Position Statement on Multimodal Literacies
This article aims to not only broaden our conception of literacies to include multimodality, but also re-contextualizes what that expansion of literacy may mean for teaching within the english classroom. With this comes an attention towards assessing multimodal student work and a call to reassess overall literacy goals within curriculum and institution. Lastly, the article notes that we (as teachers) need to consider the role the digital places within our notions of literacy and how our students may be using such technology outside of the classroom, calling for teachers to encourage critical thinking and rhetorical theory in understanding the affordances of technology in its relation to multimodality.
metadata tags: multimodality, technology, ethics, literacy, pedagogy
Contending with Terms: "Multimodal" and "Multimedia" in the Academic and Public Spheres by Claire Lauer
Lauer's article seeks to define terms in a way that positions multimodality alongside academic discourse and critical thinking whereas multimedia is associated with production and the public sphere. Though Lauer notes that the two can be used (and viewed) as interdependent, it is important to note that multimedia primarily refers to the material (tools/technology), in contrast with mutlimodality which refers to the semiotic modes that work together to make and represent meaning (visual, gestural, aural, etc). Lauer positions these definitions within a historical context, noting the shifts and overlaps between the two terms. What I found most interesting was the association Lauer makes with those in the field who have their own take on what these terms mean, and how they are implemented. Lastly, the article makes an attempt to position the two terms alongside technology, noting historically how their "popularity" rose alongside the technology available within the 60's and 90's.
metadata tags: multimedia, multimodal, public, production, design
The Still-Unbuilt Hacienda by Geoffrey Sirc
Sric wants to return to the days where composition was seen as a "Happening". What this means is altering the conventions of space and formality within the composition classroom. Sirc pushes against the institution and calls out the field of composition as having to "prove" their worth within the academy and in doing so has lost their ability to be creative and blur boundaries. Sric discusses architecture and artist, and how their notion of breaking boundaries and manipulating space and perception allows for more enriched fluidity of making meaning. Sric also emphasizes the material, noting that material access isn't an issue in a Happening, its about using the objects around you to make meaning within production and performance.
metadata tags: Happening, performance, perception, artist, material
Made Not Only in Words: Composition in a New Key by Kathleen Blake Yancey
For Yancey literacy is changing. Students are composing in ways that are new and inventive outside of the composition classroom in a setting where no one is forcing them to write. Yancey is concerned that what we assess and profess in our classrooms is radically different then how our students are composing and communicating. Yancey looks to the public sphere as a means to inform the content and pedagogy of the classroom, stressing the importance of more than just words. In order to better prepare our students, Yancey calls for a major in rhetoric and composition, a new curriculum, and revised writing across the curriculum goals.
metadata tags: public, literacy, institution, curriculum, change
From A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures by The New London Group
The New London Group seeks to answer two fundamental questions: the "what" of literacy pedagogy; and the "how" of literacy pedagogy. In order to further explore these questions the New London Group calls for a metalanguage concerning multiliteracies concerning design and how to construct meaning. The New London Group breaks down design into three distinct categories beginning with Available Designs (which accounts for the resources), Design (which is more concerned with the process of the modes and how they are constructed), and The Redesigned (transformed meaning with a cultural and historical pattern/influence). To further assert this metalanguage the New London Group positions different key terms within discourse such as genre, style, voice, etc. as all relevant to the design process in the construction of composing and making meaning. Lastly the New London Group positions this framework alongside pedagogy, moving through the different (non linear) pedagogical approaches in relation to multimodality and elements of design.
metadata tags: design, pedagogy, literacy, critical framing, nominalization
From Analysis to Design: Visual Communication in the Teaching of Writing by Diana George
George begins by discussing visual communication in her students work in the construction of their visual arguments. From there she moves through a historical conversation concerning visual communication and how it has been perceived as a means to support the written (supplemental). George frames this conversation around literacy and how our notions of literacy is more than words and that the visual takes as much critical thinking and rhetorical considerations as a written text. In addition the discussion of the television and media within the classroom is discussed as a way of understanding literacy acquisition. George returns to her students and stresses that the construction of their visual arguments were just as complicated and complex as a written argument, noting the research, rhetoric, and revision necessary to communicate their visual argument effectively.
metadata tags: visual, communication, media, literacy, King Leopold
Multimodal representation of this week's assigned articles:
First, love the mm texts. The writing process one is really well done. I'm curious about the scale you chose to work on, it's interesting to me. Second, great summaries of the articles. The Sirc one seemed to trip up a lot of folks. I think people get hung up a bit too much on the happening itself as opposed to the overall argument he's making about comp's traditionalism.
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