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Gretchen Sprague

Dr. Booher

NDTW

10 July 2017

Research/Reflective Essay

Tech-illiterate. That is exactly what I refer to myself as. Words like multimodal and

digital rhetoric use to frighten me, frankly because of a lack of experience, expertise, and the

lack of technology available at the high school where I teach. However, through New Directions

in the Teaching of Writing, I have come to understand the importance of a shift in my

educational philosophy on technology. A multimodal approach to composition not only supports

the thinking necessary to the process of traditional writing and teaching of English, but it also

helps to reach various types of learners and encourages self-growth, which inspires me to use and

encourage students to use a more digital mindset next school year.

For whatever the reasons were, I was what some might call an old-fashioned teacher, or

maybe even a traditional English snob, meaning I focused on essay and research writing and the

power of words and text, particularly as opposed to visual or audio composition. Occasionally, I

would give students an option and tell them if they were tech-savvy that they may use

technology to produce certain projects, but I never aggressively tried to use it myself or

encourage them to do so. However, my experiences and reading in this course have shown me

writing is not a privileged form (Eyman). Having spent the last ten years as an Advanced

Placement teacher, I have probably spent the last ten years (over)dissecting word choice and
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literary terms and focusing on academic essay writing (or rather test prep writing). Gunther

Kresss statement made me consider movies, music, student projects and social media shares that

really have moved me in the past. He said, There are domains beyond the reach of language,

where it is insufficient, where semiotic-conceptual work has to be and is done by means of other

modes (qtd. in Ceraso 104). This brought to mind a video I once saw based on the Langston

Hughes poem Mother to Son. It was set to music, and while the text was present, the photos

and music playing along with the poem were beautiful and inspiring, showing that sometimes

real expression goes beyond just words. I mentioned in one of our class discussions that some

things HAVE to be heard. As a sports fan, there is something iconic and unforgettable about

hearing announcers when my favorite teams win. There are just some Touchdoooooown and

And he scores! that are iconic and unforgettable. Likewise, you can see the words Dont give

up. Dont ever give up, and be semi-inspired, but I become completely moved to tears when I

watch and listen to Jimmy Vs 1993 ESPY award speech. Gunther Kress is accurate that there

are domains, especially emotional ones, beyond the reach of simple words, and sometimes

silence is deafening.

Another perhaps unnoticed aspect of digital rhetoric is how it overlaps with what

writing teachers already do. Much of the research in this class discussed genre, audience,

purpose, all aspects English teachers typically focus on. Something for reluctant or

inexperienced teachers to consider is just how much digital rhetoric has in common with what

we are supposed to be teaching anyway. Obviously, good writers consider audience and

purpose, but Writer/Designer: A Guide to Making Multimodal Projects defines rhetoric as the

study of making texts that effectively persuade an audience toward change (Arola, Sheppard

and Ball 21). With Common Core at the forefront of current public education, students in even
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Kindergarten are supposed to be able to Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to

compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are

writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book

is . . .) (Common Core State Standards). Opinions and multimodal ways of expressing them

are present very early in the curriculum of our students and build throughout their school years,

so incorporating more multimodal is simply part of our job.

Likewise, as teachers, we are asked to address all types of learning and learners, and I see

now that I have really neglected students who learn differently in my room. Margaret Price's

retrofit point truly made me think about not being reactive but seeking to address and reach

all students with variety of modes (Yergeau et al.). I do not just want to use more visuals

because I have a student who has issues with sight; I want those students to feel welcomed and

included from the start and make sure they know they have a place in my room. As teachers we

too often privilege those who speak up (Yergeau et al.) and forget that students sometimes

prefer and even require audio or visual stimulation and interaction.

Also, I think approaching difficult concepts using multimodal avenues could truly help

increase student understanding. Consider Sean Moreys use of poetry terms in The Digital

Writer. As Morey explains, In addition to knowing the technology of making images, you also

need to know the rhetoric of making images (Morey 276), and he goes on to define and provide

examples of some very standard poetic terms like analogy and metaphor, and even surprisingly

synecdoche and metonymy. Reading about poetry terms in a digital rhetoric unit at first

surprised me, but the more I thought about it, I considered my struggles with getting Advanced

Placement students to understand and analyze poems for these terms. For my digitally and

visually inclined students, multimodal projects using the terms could deepen student
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understanding when it comes to the written text as well. I remember a unit I used to do with

Harry Nodens Image Grammar, where photos were used to apply grammatical concepts. Using

images, especially for the visual learner, simplified varying sentence structure and using stronger

verbs for my students. All of this illustrates the interconnectedness, and thus, power of the word

when expressed through visual, audio or digital worlds. Furthermore, while my students are not

always enthused about dissecting poetry, Spoken Word videos excite them and they come to

class with new suggestions to watch every day. Baiting students with their digital world may

just hook them when it comes to studying text. I know that I must come to terms with the fact

that today's student thinks, learns, and lives differently than I did, and I need to embrace it and

use it in order to reach them and offer the education they deserve.

Through my recent experience composing digitally, I discovered that it is the journey and

the experience that fosters self-growth. Reluctant at first, I definitely took some risks, learned

new things and found that multimodal is worthwhile. The first assignment, the visual

composition, was actually fun for me, even though it was not a breathtaking piece of

composition. Although I had not used Google Slides before, I found it very similar to

PowerPoint and easy to use. (Actually, I really did not realize I wasnt using PowerPoint until

about halfway through it). I did not try much fancy with this assignment. I thought the Bitmojis

were funny and entertaining, but it could have been more effective with animations and

transitions between slides. From experience, I was leery of ruining my whole project and having

to start over, so I just did what I knew, although I do think the project was entertaining. In some

ways, I wish I did a more impactful topic like emotional abuse, and really tried to capture it with

just images and no text (an assignment I may save for my students).
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The next project was the audio composition, which was my least favorite. I hate my

voice, have very little experience with sound and could not download Audacity without fear of

viruses. I really could not even think of anything to talk about even though a podcast sounded

like a neat idea. I think I sort of made a Spoken Word poem, but I thought using Powerpoint to

make an audio project was extremely lame. Again, it was just safe for me. I had put sound on a

Powerpoint before and knew I could accomplish it. I struggled with topic ideas here too; after

all, what would anyone want to hear from me? I think I was in a Facebook funk and tired of the

nonsense, drama and repetitive nature on the site, and that became a sort of rant and mockery of

typical posts. I would definitely love to try podcasts in my classroom; I think it would be a fun

and easy way to assess discussion leading and interacting by having students respond to one

another. It is an assignment that is definitely in my radar currently.

By far, my favorite project was the digital composition. The topic is meaningful to me, a

daily thought of mine as I think of my daughters and body image. Although it may not seem like

much, I was proud of myself for going beyond the comfort of what I knew or had already done,

and I spent a little time this time trying to use the technology available. I googled how to add

sound and found my computer has a sound recorder! Who knew? After playing around with it,

I actually figured out I could make a sound clip start automatically without being clicked. Again,

who knew? I was a little disappointed that I could not figure out how to add a music clip. I

wanted to add TLCs Unpretty somewhere, but I figured it would probably take away from the

reading of the poem anyway. I feel like I should have started with a slide of the entire poem too

(maybe that is where the song could go?), although I did include the lines in my captions. I was

also glad my Powerpoint moved on its own instead of viewers having to use the arrow (Yeah
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me!). I actually included photos and videos of my baby girls too, so I felt a little bit more

techie by the end of it!

I once heard someone say that we receive more information in one hour than a caveman

received in his lifetime. Or was it one day? Maybe it was one minute? (Hang on a second; I am

sure I can google it). Undoubtedly, life is changing and becoming more and more digital,

multimodal, and even rhetorical, with sounds and images and opinions constantly coming at us

from thousands of directions. It is overwhelming and exciting and frustrating and annoying all at

the same time, but for my students, I think it is important and part of life for them. As teachers,

we complain about always teaching to the test, but then we teach to the test and do not branch

out and try something new. (Speaking for me personally, I guess). Yergeau et al. referred to the

kairotic space Where knowledge is produced and power exchanged and I believe significantly

this is what education should be about. Multimodal projects produce knowledge and can be

extremely powerful. I think I need to stop complaining about the testing environment and start

teaching to Cerasos embodied audiences--sensing, nerve-filled, responsive bodies instead of

test graders and readers.

Sadly, there is no room on standardized exams for this digital work, which is a

disadvantage to students who think and compose in this way. However, digital rhetoric

definitely utilizes the process of writing and creative thinking, and frankly, digital mindset that is

more important for todays workforce and society than a test score. It is the world we are living

in and reaches even those who do not read well, who can move an audience through audio and

visual and digital expression.

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John Dewey, in Experience and Education, said, In a certain sense every experience

should do something to prepare a person for later experiences of a deeper and more expansive

quality. That is the very meaning of growth, continuity, reconstruction of experience (qtd. in

Ceraso ). If we want education to go beyond the tests, we have to bring this experience, depth

and growth into the classrooms ourselves, and digital rhetoric and multimodality is definitely a

place to start. I will be using visual and audio projects in my classroom next year. I will force

students to start small with technology they know, and that our school has, (and what I can help

them with for that matter). I am fairly sure that this will engage more students in my classroom,

make all learner-types more welcome, and probably change the level of expression, passion,

composing and learning as I branch out beyond the written word. All composing is writing, and

I liked thinking of it this way: Digital writing is not simply a matter of learning about and

integrating new digital tools into an unchanged repertoire of writing processes, practices, skills,

and habits of mind. Digital writing is about the dramatic changes in the ecology of writing and

communication and, indeed, what it means to writeto create and compose and share (Reilly

and Atkins). Education is about creating, sharing and most of all, changing our thoughts and

practices with the times, and so begins my journey with digital rhetoric and composition.

Works Cited
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Arola, Kristin L., Jennifer Sheppard, and Cheryl Ball. Writer/Designer: A Guide to Making

Multimodal Projects.

Ceraso, Steph. (Re)Educating the Senses: Multimodal Listening, Bodily Learning, and the

Composition of Sonic Experiences. College English. 77:2, 2014. 102-123.

Common Core State Standards. http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/

Eyman, Douglas. Digital Rhetoric: Theory, Method, Practice. Ann Arbor, MI: University of

Michigan Press, 2015. Web.

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-

idx?cc=dh;c=dh;idno=13030181.0001.001;rgn=full%20text;view=toc;xc=1;g=dculture.

Morey, Sean. The Digital Writer. Southlake, TX: Fountainhead Press, 2017.

Reilly, Colleen A. and Anthony T. Atkins. Rewarding Risk: Designing Aspirational Assessment

Processes for Digital Writing Projects. McKee, Heidi A., and Dnielle Nicole DeVoss

DeVoss, Eds. Digital Writing Assessment & Evaluation.

Yergeau, Melanie, et. al. MultimodalityInMotion: Disability & Kairotic Spaces, Kairos, 18.1,

2013. Web. http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/18.1/coverweb/yergeau-et-al/.