Multiliteracies in ELA Classrooms

The origin of this form of story telling goes all the way back to the time of stained glass windows, narrative painting and art. The role of these images were to unfold a story, events and actions. To say that humankind hasn’t had a preferred eye for this form of art would be untrue. Images are universal.
The article ‘Using Graphic Novels, Anime & Internet in Urban High Schools’ by Nancy Frey & Douglas Fisher talks about the use of graphic novels to help students improve their writing. Graphic novels helped students practice their writing while giving them the skills to become competent writers. Through the activities performed the students were able to slowly become more comfortable with experimenting with longer sentences. The students were also given images as writing prompts.
Many of the students who were in this class were English Language Learners. Although I have never taught a Graphic Novel I can see how using them with ELL’s would be very beneficial. When I used to teach English in China I would rely heavily on images for beginner ESL classes. It was the quickest and less intimidating way for students to learn new vocabulary. One of the other benefits mentioned in the article that I agree with is that limiting the amount of text is easier for students to digest. Presenting a student with a novel can be daunting whether or not they are an ELL. I also think that the minimal text gives the students more opportunity to use their creative thinking and imagination to fill in any blanks. We naturally assume things when we read based on the words we are seeing. The less words we see, the more we can imagine. As mentioned in the article and above, the use of grphic novels can improve sentence quality but it can also be a conduit for reading. I think that the feeling of success after completing a graphic novel can encourage a student to read more and boost their confidence if they were having difficulty reading or creating sentences before.
The article also mentioned that one of the benefits of using Graphic novels in the classroom with ELL is that there are many social justice issues that are present in graphic novels that could be taught. I thought this was an excellent point. I think it’s important for the curriculum to touch on social justice issues so that students are aware of what is going on around them. I do not think that this beneficial for only ELL because there are some students who are born and raised here and are not familiar with what is going on here due to many factors.

In addition to the points mentioned I think that Graphic Novels are fun. They appear less intimidating and can appeal to may different types of students. The benefits of them are plentiful and I hope to one day teach one in my classroom.

After yesterday’s discussion on gaming and how to incorporate games into the English classroom I was curious as to how exactly I could do this. I’ve often played video games for long periods throughout my life. I would get hooked on one game and would play it consistently until I beat it once, then I would replay it using cheat codes. Since I have some knowledge of gaming I have been thinking about how I could use that knowledge in the classroom. I do not agree that there is no place for gaming in the English classroom. I think that many of the problem solving techniques and self-correction that we develop help us guide our train of thought when reading difficult text and analyzing. I wouldn’t say that all video games can enhance student’s skills. It really depends on the activities and purpose of the game.
There was a game mentioned in class called ‘One and One Story.’ I looked it up and started playing it. This game requires you to move the two characters around so that they eventually meet face to face. There are obstacles that are placed in the game that you have to maneuver around. The levels also get increasingly harder as you progress.
As soon as I started playing the game I immediately could see that it would be beneficial for a student to play this game. Students have to rely on their problem solving skills to advance in the game. There are no hints available to the players and there are an unlimited amount of tries or lives available. I think that is the most important element to the game. Not everyone gets things right on the first try or even within three tries. I think the message behind the unlimited amount of lives available is very positive and encourages students to keep trying when they are problem solving because eventually they will get it. As you progress in the game the rules of each level change and so do the mechanisms. Things that you tried in the past levels do not necessarily work so you must change your approach. Which again provides students with a message; that you cannot approach each problem the same way. Finally, the game has an underlying story. It isn’t very detailed and is summed up before each level with a short sentence. However, the summary of the story must be interpreted because it provides players with a clue as to what it is you need to do in the next level. In lieu of direct instructions on how to play each level it is hinted at through the text provided. I thought that this was a brilliant way to engage players in the story and also give them instructions.
I loved this game but I personally do not know if I would want to use it in the classroom. The storyline was great and I think there are a few activities that could be done with it but I’m not sure it’s a direction I would like to take.

Humans of UBC Project pdf

Beginning with the clip that we presented from 30 Rock, which I believe is a fairly accurate representation of the state of much of the communication online today, the central ideas that I struggle with every day are the idea of expertise and public information.

With classrooms moving more and more towards being communities of learners and knowledge being created rather than curated, it is clear (as we discussed in our presentation) that teachers are no longer the safeguards of knowledge. How then, do we justify our positions as authority figures in the classroom? With our many years of higher education, class upon class discussing this same central idea, we have come up with more questions than we have answers, but the consensus seems to be that we are no longer teaching content, but instead teaching skills – and not just academic skills, either.

The advent of social and emotional learning means that teachers have moved beyond trying to teach children about books and numbers and into an attempt to mould them into socially literate, emotionally competent global citizens. But how does this apply to social media? Going back to the idea that “everyone and no one is an expert”, I am of the opinion that it is now part of our job as teachers to educate these digital native children on the difference between opinion and fact; information and misinformation; and most importantly, the difference between public and private.

The mere format of current social media means that one’s online presence becomes a highly curated version of one’s self. Social media is a place where opinion, fact, information, misinformation, public and private become a blur of share-and-share-again narcissism saturated with selfies and pictures of food. Racism and ignorance are rampant, ideas transform into certainties, and the failures of global education are evident in the poor spelling and grammar that permeate the platforms. In addition, the relative anonymity of online communication has created a mob mentality which, unfortunately for all involved, has real world consequences.

We must teach our children that online communication is no longer anonymous, that how you present yourself in the virtual world has become just as important as dressing for a job interview or knowing how to converse with superiors. We must teach them how to find and use reliable sources, how to recognize bias or slant, and how to defer to expertise while still thinking critically. Today’s children (or “screenagers” as they’re being referred to in Maclean’s) need to be taught that the virtual world has become the real world, that if they wouldn’t scream something out loud in a crowded room that they shouldn’t say it online, and that they need to be careful about what they share to safeguard their own privacy. In short, we need to prepare Generation Z to overcome the narcissism and entitlement of the Millenials, and begin a whole new era of social media.

Robb Ross: Commentary on presentation on “Good Video Games and Good Learning” article by James Paul Gee

I enjoyed this group’s presentation and thought they explored the topic of how engaging with video games develops universal and transferable skills. However I would like to further expand on the conversation that ensued after.

But before I do, Teresa, could we just consider the emails we exchanged on this subject to be my 300-word commentary, and call it a day?

lol

About 2 hours ago, as we were walking, I suggested that perhaps there was a link between the fact Naz, Peter, and I spoke critically of this topic because we have Master’s Degree and are older than other students. Therefore, we may have more entrenched (conservative) views about writing and the study of English. I have to confess that I harbor a very judgmental view that anyone reading comics or watching anime after the age of 12 is in some form of arrested development. Cognitively I know that’s harsh and limiting, but it’s just a visceral reaction I have. So when I hear about using games in the classroom I shudder.

Another issue is that for the past 4 years I’ve been an overseas high school IB teacher. I don’t teach ELA. My students write papers on existentialism in Albert Camus’ The Stranger or explore alienation in Kafka’s Metamorphosis. As well, the syllabus is packed and I often have only 12 classes to teach a complex novel and also conduct assessment. Therefore, time is an issue.

Part of the problem is that I’ve been pondering the use of video games in English lessons for only 4 days. I’m going to need time to evolve on the issue. As I said in class, I would think that the validity of using them could be tied to the nature of the text. Fantasy novels like The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe like C.S. Lewis would seem to more naturally mesh with learning through video games.

Probably the comment that most resonates in my mind is when you said that the types of narratives that exist in video games also exist in literature. Both can be equally complex or simple. As that’s the case, then video games can be a valid way to motivate students and explore the text.

What it likely comes down to is that I stopped playing video games when I was 10 years old. I just don’t know enough about them yet to make an informed judgment.

This project entailed collecting favourite literary quotations via various social media venues and creating an installation of the quotations in a public space. Some images documenting the project are below; the attached PDF explains the process.

A link to the write-up for our second media project:

Media Project II

Follow the link for my meme of myself!

https://imgflip.com/i/af59g

Our second media project was almost a companion piece to the first in that it ultimately became an exploration of the UBC campus space. Drawing a blank on what we might do, the idea of using QR (quick response) codes in some capacity came about following a brief discussion with Teresa. We just couldn’t decide how to use them. Eventually, we determined that our plan be to set out around the campus individually for inspiration—seeing what spoke to us, what thoughts or memories were evoked, and how these might be somehow represented. We would plan to tag these places with QR codes which would simply link to a webpage of our choosing. As this was personal, there were no set rules to follow concerning the link. Also, we decided that over-collaborating would produce less interesting results so we kept some distance with our ideas. Over the next couple of days, locations had been marked, and group members had made their connections by way of a link. For the class activity, we put together a map of the campus, flagging these particular spots. Class members would set out in small groups—an “advencha”, as one member put it—to find the QR codes, using their smart-phones to unlock the codes and connect with our chosen pages. Ultimately, we were not sure whether or not these would mean anything to anyone but ourselves. 

For my second media project, I decided to create a fake twitter page for Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “The Lady of Shalott”.

Here is the project:

faketwittertemplate

I thought of this idea because I think we can relate to the Lady of Shalott’s isolation. Whereas she is trapped in a tower and can only view the outside world from the reflections in her mirror, we sit at our laptops with our eyes glued to our screens from which we glean bits of news. I also saw us posting tweets and facebook status updates as us “weaving” our own personal narratives. Originally, I had planned on creating an art installation, but the logistics were too complicated, so I decided to focus solely on the modernized aspect. I googled “Twitter in the classroom” and found a teacher’s blog where the teacher had posted a twitter page for William Shakespeare (http://ichooseawesome.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/choose-a-fake-twitter-template/). I downloaded his template and changed all the pictures and text to create a page for the Lady of Shalott. I chose to create a fake twitter page instead of creating a new twitter account because not all students have twitter and they may not be comfortable with posting their assignments publicly on the “twitterverse”.

I think this could be an engaging way for students to try to relate to a character and see things from his or her perspective. I would evaluate students on their ability to capture the tone and theme of the literary work in the tweets and hashtags. Please do feel free to use this fake twitter template if you so wish.

Here is the template itself in editable form:

faketwittertemplate