Thursday, June 5, 2014

Between Modes Reading 3

1.      Copy and paste a quote from each reading that causes you to have a strong reaction (agreement, disagreement, confusion...) and explain your reaction.

“composing in new media usually involves bringing together multiple modes—text, image, sound, animation, and/or video—in order to convey a meaning or create an effect. The question for assessment is how this bringing together or composing of modes can be described and then evaluated” (Sorapure).

This quote caused me to have a strong reaction because it is just like art making.  Students create something from a variety of sources and mediums (in my case meaning paint or paper) to construct a piece of art that is to convey a variety of things to a viewer.  Art, like multimodal media is extremely difficult to evaluate, because of all the processes and factors involved.  It is very difficult to grade art work at times, so that is why I like working at a middle school where it is acceptable to grade students largely based on how much effort they put into their assignments rather than the end product exclusively.  Otherwise, grading would be very stressful and even more time-consuming than it already is. 

2.      Have you ever ask students to create a multimodal text? Have you ever created a multimodal text for a school related assignment? Described the assignment. What were the learning goals? How was it assessed? Do you feel the assignment improved you or your students comprehension of the content? Why? Why not?

I have created multimodal projects for school and to introduce topics to my art students through powerpoint and prezi presentations.  With regard to sharing information with my students through powerpoint, the learning goals are to convey information, ideas, and images to assist them in creating their own project.  powerpoint is very useful in conveying information quickly using visuals paired with text to convey the full scope of the project.  My powerpoints aren’t assessed, but I could connect the assessment of my powerpoint to how successfully the students understood the project based on the information I presented.  I do feel the presentations of information improve my students’ comprehension of the content because it is meant to be a preview of what is to come and to assist them in forming their ideas.  It is a process like most things in my classroom, a constant evolution of ideas and creativity.  I love it!

3.      Find an multimodal example of metonymy and embed it in your blog. Is it a good or poor example? Why?



I think this cover video is a good multimodal example of a metonymy because the song lyrics of John Mayer’s “Your body is a wonderland,” is full of metonymies.  The clip demonstrates an audio and video presentation of the song to dramatize the lyrics by a young, creative artist.  I enjoyed it!

4.      Find a multimodal example of metaphor and embed it in your blog. Is it a good or poor example Why?




I think this video is a great multimodal example of a metaphor.  The artist is taking you through a story and snapshot of her thoughts as she guides you through creative process.  It is a presentation with audio and video paired to convey feelings and thoughts.  I think it is an excellent example created by an extremely talented artist. 

5. How does this reading help you think about the use of multimodal text to support writing and content area instruction in school?

The reading helped me realize the importance of clear communication through audio, text and imagery.  I mentioned my powerpoint presentations of introducing projects to my students.  This reading has helped show me that I could also add text and written examples as well to assist in the dynamism of the presentation and overall effect.  Most helpful for the future - I am officially on summer vacation tomorrow and will be thinking more about next years lessons and what I can do to spice things up!

References:

Prescott, M. (2012, February 4). Drawing Metaphor. YouTube. Retrieved June 5, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F4GWfglJOI

Sorapure, M. (n.d.). Between Modes: Assessing Student New Media Compositions. <i></i>. Retrieved June 2, 2014, from http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/10.2/coverweb/sorapure/between_modes.pdf

Woolf, S. (2013, November 29). John Mayer - Your Body Is A Wonderland (Cover) Sam Woolf. YouTube. Retrieved June 5, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjCMR7Qayao


3 comments:

  1. Laura,
    I love the John Mayer song! One of my favorites! Great way to incorporate a metaphor into your blog by embedding a music video. I used YouTube videos for my metaphor and metonymy examples. One was a cartoon explaining what metonymy was and one was a clip from The Jay Leno Show of kids and their honest opinions "metaphors" for given situations. I really enjoy what everyone thinks of to share in their blogs! I look forward to reading your future posts!

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  2. I really like your connection to art in the reading. I am a very literal person, I am a biologist, so for me to judge a work of art is sometimes difficult. Watching your video on metaphors was mesmerizing.

    I've always wondered what it would be like to assess artwork in a classroom. My husband said he once got an F in art. I asked him, "How… why… does this happen?" He said, "It wasn't a lack of effort. I tried. I just couldn't draw as well as the other kids." I like the fact that you look at effort and not beauty per say. Combining that concept with multimodal presentations is definitely a good point worth making.

    I really hadn't thought about all the Prezis and PPTs I've made myself and how I should be assessing them for the audience. I think I do a fairly good job of presenting pictures that I can just talk about with no wording but I think I'll be extra cautious now.

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  3. Laura,

    I get what you are saying. Thanks for tying it into grading art. That is a great example. It helps me to see how difficult it is to assess multimodal text lending credence to the quote in our text "new lenses through which to look at the central issues of writing insruction".

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