For the past few months, I have been inquiring about the effects of the integration of multiliteracies on learners who are considered struggling readers and/or writers. During the final phase of
my inquiry, I decided to speak to the ICT teacher LeeUng at our school. Lee and I often collaborate in order to
integrate technology into our units of inquiry. During this particular time of the year, all classes had been preparing for a school event called "project week" where parents and community members are invited into
our school and learners share their learning in connection to one area of focus. Since
our school is an International Baccalaureate school, our focus areas for this year
were learner profiles and attitudes. Learner profiles and attitudes are essential components which make up the Primary Years Program within the International Baccalaureate, with a goal to foster lifelong
learners with international-mindedness.
Listed below are the learner profiles and attitudes.
Learner profiles: risk-taker, inquirer, communicator, principled, caring, reflective, thinker, balanced, open-minded, knowledgeable
Attitudes: confidence, commitment, cooperation, curiosity, creativity, appreciation, empathy, respect, tolerance, integrity, independence, enthusiasm
For "project week", Lee and I discussed how to help the learners articulate the
learner profiles and attitudes they were using during different activities
in school. As Lawson, Layton, Goldbart, Lacey, and
Miller explain (2012), a literate person “...makes intentional use
of some enduring representation (an artifact) in order to purposively
assign and convey meaning” (p. 106). In other words, the learners needed to
represent their understanding of how they demonstrated aspects of the learner profiles
or attitudes in various learning activities. What representation would help them convey their
messages to the visitors on the day of the event? I knew that simply asking
them to write down their ideas without artifacts would make it
difficult for some children to reflect back on their own learning, which was an
essential aspect of this project.
Since I already had an ongoing class blog
which highlighted key learning activities since the beginning of the year, we
decided that learners could reflect on their learning processes by looking through
pictures of themselves in my blog posts. Lee and I worked
together to create a class website using Weebly with a collaborative platform called Padlet embedded into the site.
Using this setup, learners selected
pictures of themselves in the class blog, learned to copy and paste the “image
link” onto the Padlet and comment on which learner profile/attitude the chosen picture
represented. Throughout the process, many of the students discovered that they
could also add videos which the PE teacher had previously posted onto the
school website. Using this tool, students were able to reflect on their own learning process in a truly
transdisciplinary manner and make connections between various subject areas.
After the project, I interviewed a
few of the learners about how they found the process of commenting on pictures
and videos in comparison to writing ideas down on paper. One learner responded
that being able to see what other children were typing on the screen helped him to consider which pictures he would choose, and helped him develop his ideas on how and what to comment.
He further explained that when he was confused about the meaning of a certain learner
profile or attitude, he could look at what a classmate had written regarding the particular word, which at times helped him to infer meanings. This way, the platform served as a window
into other children’s thinking processes, which helped learners develop their own
ideas. During the lessons leading up to the event, I also noticed that many of the learners were
pointing out their classmates’ comments on the screens and verbally giving and
receiving feedback to their peers sitting close by. This idea of learning from
social interactions is consistent with Vygotsky’s (1987) theory of social
constructivism which explains that learning takes place when a child interacts
with a more “knowledgeable other” within the zones of proximal development. In
the digital age, such interactions can certainly take place in both online and
offline learning environments.
Another learner explained that having
the photographs and videos helped him determine what to write about, rather
than being required to develop ideas out of the blue. In other words, looking
at artifacts, in this case pictures or videos which represented his process of learning, helped him write comments in connection to his own personal
experiences. As Wiseman, Makinen, and
Kupiainen (2015) state, integrating multimodal tools such as photography helps
learners make connections to personal experiences, which helps them process and
express themselves effectively in various ways. Children, especially those who struggle with
reading and/or writing, therefore tend to be more successful in expressing
themselves in comparison to being restricted to monomodal communication.
Based on this experience, I would like to make two recommendations to other educators.
Firstly, I recommend not to be afraid to collaborate with other teachers or staff, especially when
it comes to the integration of technology. Although multiliteracies does not
always require the use of technology, digital tools can often open up
possibilities for expression in various forms. With the rapid
development of devices, programs and applications, it can be difficult for
teachers to remain up to date with what is available. This is why I recommend
collaborating whenever possible, to avoid the repeated use of the same
programs, applications or devices when better, more appropriate tools may be
available. Collaboration also makes it easier for educators to share new
information gained from various professional development opportunities. What
better way to implement new knowledge than to apply it through collaborative lessons?
Secondly, I recommend
that educators widen their views of what it means to be truly literate. In the
21st century, the definition of literacy is no longer confined to traditional
views of simply reading and writing words and sentences on paper. Literacy in this age involves a much wider scope that keeps developing as new technological tools
are invented, allowing users to express themselves in new ways. As Lawson et al
(2012) stated, literacy involves intentionally assigning and conveying meaning
to representations. Although this new definition of literacy opens up
possibilities for people to express themselves in a multitude of ways, it also makes teachers responsible to help children develop 21st century literacy skills
which are essential to communicate both safely and effectively, especially when they are online. Finally, teachers must keep in mind that the focus of
lessons should not be on how to use a specific technological tool, but to enhance learning for that child. Therefore, deliberate planning of lessons with clear learning goals are integral to ensure that the students develop the skills and knowledge necessary to become active communicators of information in the 21st century.
References
Lawson, H., Layton, L., Goldbart, J., Lacey, P. and
Miller, C. (2012), Conceptualisations of literacy and literacy practices for
children with severe learning difficulties. Literacy,
46(2), 101–108.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). Thinking and speech. In R.W.
Rieber & A.S. Carton (Eds.), The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky,
Volume 1: Problems of general psychology (pp. 39–285). New York: Plenum
Press. (Original work published 1934.)
Wiseman, A. M., Makinen, M., & Kupiainen, R.
(2015). Literacy through photography: Multimodal and visual literacy in a third
grade classroom. Early
Childhood Education Journal, 44(201), 1-8.
