Multiliteracies in ELA Classrooms

In the summer of 2009, I did a volunteer internship with Amnesty International. Part of my job was to design educational kits for the classroom which would teach youth about human rights.  Although some may argue that an introduction to the concept of humanitarianism belongs in a social studies curriculum, I think that any field of study can incorporate philanthropy into its discourse.

I must admit that since being introduced to Wordle in this class, I’ve become slightly addicted.  I can see how it would be a great tool, especially for determining students’ prior knowledge on a subject, and also as a hook to a possible lesson.   I re-examined the UN Declaration of Human Rights, and thought it’d be neat to take the preamble of the document, and see what I could create in Wordle.  I thought it’d be neat to take what as text appears somewhat dry, and re-animate it using this tool.  I also tried to shape the actual image so it was balanced both horizontally and vertically in an attempt to create a globe-like structure.  This is what I came up with.  Although it’s not exactly what I had in mind, I still think it’s a beautiful representation of the very first global expression of human rights.

– Kiran Aujlay