In the Blinded Manuscript research paper, the researchers viewed teachers modeling and teaching 'close viewing' as a strategy with classroom games. They implemented an "I do, we do , you do" approach to playing the games in the classroom with students. They emphasized playing with the class in order to model the use of academic vocabulary and close viewing strategies. I loved their idea of 'gaming circles' of students playing together and using the strategies taught! How do you already model close viewing in your classroom? If you don't have a classroom, how do you think we could we effectively model close viewing for students?
Multimodal texts include various forms of 5 semiotic systems: linguistic, visual, spatial, audio, gestural accoridng to these graphics. Do you guys agree with these 5 forms? Would you include any more, or make any arguments against any of these as varieties of 'text'?
How do multimodal texts help readers move to a deeper understanding of content? I feel that multimodal texts support various types of learners by providing multiple presentations of the content, meaning readers are given many different forms and levels of the subject matter. A video can explain, in deeper detail, or even in a different way, something that text cannot. Text can leave holes in understanding, which makes room for deeper information gleaned from visual and audio sources.
What type of multimodal texts do you use in your classroom? How can you help your students critique them? I use eStudies weekly to go along with our classroom social studies units and they are decent. They are technically mutimodal, but the forms of text are separated by tabs. So we read the digital text/news article that goes along with the lesson, then we have to click on the videos tab to view videos about it, and then the photos tab to view images from the time period, etc. If they were embedded my students could get some practice maneuvering through a digital page like that. What do you guys use?
Has your definition of 'text' changed since these readings? How so?
How can we teach students how to break down multimodal texts for meaning?
ReplyDeleteI usually start with the multimodal part of the text before reading the words. For example, on PebbleGo there is usually a video and/or audio text. First we watch/listen to that. Then, each page of an article has a heading that is read aloud when clicked and a picture. So we listen to each heading and "read" the pictures to make predictions about what information we will find. Then we go back and read the words.
I definitely agree you can find text in linguistic, audio, visual, and gestural form. However, I am not really sure what spatial text looks like in a classroom or how I would teach kids to comprehend visual/spatial text. Ideas?
Couldn't a play or skit be considered spatial? When we do Shakespeare, I teach my students about staging and movement and how it conveys meaning. Would that be a form of spatial text?
DeleteYeah that's what I would say, Angela. Proximity and layouts I consider to fall under 'spatial' because they contribute to meaning-making.
DeleteI was thinking that one way we could allow our students to experience spatial text is to let them act out a text without using words, or possibly even play "charades" and let them guess which part of the text a group is acting out. It could allow students to comprehend how movement and facial expressions can be used to tell a story.
DeleteOoh, I like that idea, Courtney! It would also be a really cool way to practice vocabulary!
DeleteI'm going to talk about the first question right now because it relates directly to the topic I've been working with in my research for this class, but I'll also address some other questions later. I think there are a lot of useful guiding questions you can use when helping students examine multimodal texts. First, you can just have them discuss among themselves (or as a whole class) about what they notice in general, which can work as a good springboard for the rest of the discussion. You can also ask them what the text communicates, what the images/video/audio communicates, why they are put together the way that they are, etc. You can focus your discussion on the placement of each component of the text--why is there a large image at the top?, why is the video at the end?, etc. You can talk about specific choices that the author/creator made--why are there bright colors?, did they put the picture at the beginning to give us clues about the story?, etc. I found several useful guiding questions in my research that I'll share after school, and many of them should be adaptable to younger grades.
ReplyDeleteAngela, those examples are a great way to help students learn about digital text features in particular! I had not those about that before.
DeleteDigital text features - yes! You are so on to something...and those guiding questions help students to make deeper meaning of the text itself, Angela! Which benefits comprehension....which is the ultimate goal. I'm thinking of the readworks passages I use with my class now, and they are not particularly mutimodal since they only have an image, usually. Where can we find some multimodal texts for elementary students that benefit comprehension, Neka?
DeleteBreanna, it is really hard to find free multimodal text! My school has a subscription to Bookflix, but all that it does it read the text to the students in a video format or display the words on a screen.
DeleteNorman also has a district-wide subscription to PebbleGo, which I am obsessed with. It is super expensive, but it is the best digital text I have come across. I just found out that you can try a demo for free at https://www.pebblego.com/info/trial.html.
I am interested in trying the free trial Skybrary from Reading Rainbow. https://www.readingrainbow.com/school/features
Angela I like those questions! I feel like in general teachers do not focus enough on WHY authors do the things that they do. Each of the text features has a purpose and a reason for being in the text. I think this would be a good discussion to get the kids thinking deeper about the text (incorporating those higher levels of Blooms Taxonomy :D)!
DeleteThanks for those links Neka! I should try out the PebbleGo, or maybe I can work at a district that has it. :)
DeleteMaybe I can put in a plug for PebbleGo at my school...we already have so many subscriptions and programs though. Ugh! It seems very beneficial, though. What would you consider the age range for PebbleGo?
DeleteThey advertise for K-3, which I would agree with. It is non-fiction text, so there is some academic vocabulary that is harder to decode and comprehend. There is also PebbleGoNext, which is intended for 3-6. I think they are two separate subscriptions, though.
DeleteThey're not always super multimodal, but have you looked at NewsELA? You can find a lot of articles that have pictures, captions, and sometimes charts, and most of them can be read on any grade level as low as 3rd grade. It's really cool, and it allows for differentiating for students who need more or less challenging texts!
Deletehow do multimodal texts help readers move to a deeper understanding and what multimodal texts do I use?
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Breanna! Lots of good questions!! I think multimodal texts are so important for our students because they allow students to experience the text in a way they would not receive if the text was simply words on a paper. Multimodal texts, such as a website, have audio and visual elements that allow the students to immerse themselves in the content. The type of multimodal text that I have used most often are texts viewed on the smartboard. Our social studies and science texts had online versions that made it easy to view it as a class on the board. Either I would read the text or the students and I would read it together, and the text was always accompanied by pictures/videos. The students and I were also able to circle and underline different words from the text which they always enjoyed. Another multimodal text that I think people forget about is going to view a performance. I remember when I was young I went to attend the Nutcracker as a field trip. I had to interpret what was happening and use the movements, costumes, and music as clues to understand. I think we need to allow our kids with all the opportunities for field trips and real life experiences as possible.
YES to real-life experiences! I so want to give my kids mroe of those - it's so difficult, though. I know there's a way!
DeleteHow do multimodal texts help readers move to a deeper understanding of content? I feel like multimodal texts can express a wider range of meaning, with more nuance, than print-only texts often do. I took a visual literacy class once, and we talked about how you can spend hours talking about the meaning behind a single image, and it's harder to do that when you're talking about written text. I think that it's useful because it can convey so much meaning, and combining multiple modes of expression allows you to choose the best mode to convey each part of the meaning and have them all work together cohesively.
ReplyDeleteOh that visual literacy class sounds interesting Angela! I think that a good activity to do with students would simply be showing them an image and letting the class have a conversation about it. Usually, the longer you look at a picture, the more things you notice. This would also be a great activity to practice making predictions and hypothesizing.
DeleteVery interesting conversation, and thanks for sharing resources!
ReplyDelete