Remixing Composition: A History of Multimodal Writing Pedagogy

First of all. I just want to say that I really really loved this book. What I appreciated most was Jason's voice throughout the historical overview, and how he makes it a point to not only situate himself and his teaching alongside (or against) historical notions of multimodality, but he also offers pedagogical takeaways and remixes in how we can include multimodality within our classrooms in ways that aren't so reliant upon new technologies (or they can be, he touches on that too by offering up really awesome assignment ideas). I felt like the introduction was really honest and hits home in the sense that we often question our validity in regards to if we are qualified to actually teach multimodal composing and how we "justify" this practice to our peers, the institution, and most importantly, our students.

I really loved Jason's discussion in chapter 2 on Edward Corbett's ties to multimodality and classical rhetoric. It just made sense. It provided a very tangible way to consider multimodality, and that composing and "translating" between modes is an inherently rhetorical process. I found this to be incredibly important because we often tend to value writing above all other forms of composing which makes us "tend to de-emphasize the relevance of the auditory elements of [our] classes--placing almost all of the evaluative weight on the alphabetic products that students write rather than on the spoken words that they say" (52). For me this demystifies multimodality and reminds us that it doesn't have to be this overly digital practice (as Jody Shipka reminds us). However it can be easy to fall into the new fads in technology and we have to remember the issues of access with our students, which Jason does a nice job of highlighting. Also, I appreciated that Jason discussed the digital divide  (Prensky) and how we (as instructors) are also not experts in the technologies that we ask our students to use, so we can also learn a lot from the 'home' literacies are students are bringing into our classroom in regards to technology.

I also enjoyed chapter 1 and the discussion about the interdisciplinary affordances of multimodal composing. I now see Ann Berthoff in a totally new (and awesome) light and appreciate her call to collaborate and learn from other disciplines. It was really cool (and important) to see scholars such as Peter Elbow others with ties to multimodality. I really appreciated that this idea of "build[ing] upon the knowledge of composing that students already bring with them to the classroom" (40). Sure, we've heard this from scholars such as Kathleen Blake Yancey and Cynthia Selfe, but it was really moving to see it from the process theory scholars and how it has always been a historical part of the field of composition and rhetoric (I say rhetoric too in thinking all the way back to classical).

Lastly, I REALLY liked the discussion of different "textbooks" that allocated for students to work with content in rich multimodal ways. In looking at Kytle's Comp Box as well as Sparke and McKowen's Montage: Investigations in Language gave me insight into radically different ways to ask students to interact with course content (which makes not only the composing process inherently multimodal, but also the learning process as well, so cool!). These conceptions of instruction and pedagogical resources challenge the linear and and alphabetic tradition of higher education. For example Sparke and McKowen's Montage looked at "not just at how everything on one page or in one chapter is connected but rather looking at how fragments from diverse pages might be reassembled to create new compositions" (101).  

Awesome stuff. Truly

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Questions:
1. Historically, multimodality seems to be thought of as more of a low-stakes assignment geared towards assisting the writing process (at least that's the sense I got). Although a particular mode may help the process of how we consider our composing rhetorically, there is a push for a final written product. With the rise of new media and technology in the late 1970's-80's new and inventive ways to push against this notion and assign multimodal projects as major writing assignments come into conversation. You do make a valid point in asserting that we are in fact teaching a writing course. How do we work within this tension of curricular and WPA policies in teaching writing while also adhering to the call to teach students valuable and practical skills about composing and communicating effectively in the world (in ways that they may be doing outside of the classroom). I find this to be a really difficult paradigm that I don't have an answer to. How can we begin to see multimodal composing as more of a product in our writing courses and less of part of the process? 
      ----To accompany this, there always seems to be a push to "justify" or "reflect" in written discourse on multimodal projects (ex: you can do a multimodal rhetorical analysis but you need to write a justification paper to accompany your project). Why are we asked to justify our composing when we use modes outside of writing but never asked to justify our writing process? I've had conversations about this with or director of composition and my classmate Zarah and I just find this concept to be really problematic/interesting. I'm curious as to what your thoughts are on this issue.

2. I was glad you hit a bit on graduate education in the epilogue and what we need to see more of within higher education for those within the field of composition. I think one of the biggest scares for those of us just getting into this business if the allure of multimodality without much knowledge on assessment or critical assignment construction that inherently advocates for multimodality in the making, not just the product (in other words, not just slapping pictures with text but thinking critically about how each piece comes together to make the message). I find your discussion of considering the rhetorical principles in multimodal composing very important to consider but I'm wondering if there are particular scholars you can point me to that deal with assessment of multimodal projects and assignment construction? (for my own personal interests). I think the pedagogical resources and ideas you provide are so insightful and helpful for graduate students and I want more :)

3.  Lastly, what was your multimodal process like for writing this book? :)

Metadata tags: #interdisciplinary; #processtheory; #multimedia; #translation, #montagetheory