Multimodality,'reading' and literacy

During the class activity, Joyce and I were wondering how we should approach the website
http://eyesondarfur.org , just then we decided to look at the website's main page and see where it leads us without really thinking about how we should go about it, then I realised and understand why this is one of the the award winning websites. The entire website is very structured and at any point we are able to explore it with ease.

It is from this activity that “the affordances of new technologies reconfigure the multimodal aspects of reading and writing in ways that are newly significant for reading” (pg 107, Jewitt) made more sense to me. I have not thought about my reading path when viewing any websites, but usually thought of them as easy or difficult to move from one page to the other, which somehow makes me realise that I can teach children about their reading path through linking this experience. As I am very sure they would have similar experiences thus it might make them more aware about their reading path and if they would to ever get a chance to create a website of their own that they would also take into consideration their viewers' reading path and create good websites. :)

Hybridity and Diversity!!!

What stuck me when I was reading the readings was that a hybrid activity was one that bridged the official and unofficial spaces of both home and school, I felt that very often teachers are focused on covering the curriculum and finishing planned activities that they often overlook teachable moments that may happen in the classroom and thus not be able to make use of such moments as a teaching tools.

I also felt that teachers (may be due to their workload and time constraints) find that integrating more strategies in their daily lessons will take up time in planning and also may not be effective thus not trying out ways to incorporate new strategies, but after reading the examples in the readings, I realised that we can use small incidents in the classroom to introduce topics close to the students' hearts and thus making lessons authentic for students and in fact much more learning takes place in such classrooms.

I guess this makes me more aware and would then take note of the teachable moments in my future classroom to be able to utilise them fully to cater to hybridity and diversity...

Critical Reading in Everyday Life

*Sorry for the poor quality*

How do I Crack This?

This is the packaging of a packet of Double A A4 paper. The text on the packaging is mainly using the left-to-right orientation with some icons to complement the text. Some texts are framed with dark blue box as headings to the information provided. The packet of paper is made in Thailand as the origin is stated and there is also a small section with Thai language text. To entice the consumer, the company included the ISO labels on the packaging as well.

What does this Mean?

The typography of the label is simple and straight, it may be so to aid easy reading when consumers want to know what they are purchasing.
The label was created by the company which produced the paper, they would know the best way to store/use the paper therefore at the beginning of the label and it is stated “FOR BEST RESULT” as though instructing the consumer what to do with the packet after the purchase.
The inclusion of the of the ISO labels is used to show the manufacturer’s creditability for the quality of goods they produce and by indicating means of contact on the label they are also ensuring to their consumers that they are contactable in times of need or query.
It is interesting to note that the text takes up half of the label and the other half shows the brand of the product spanning across, I suppose this is so to remind the consumer of the brand they are holding on to.

What do I do with this Here and Now?

The company has taken into consideration questions that consumers may have and answered them through the text on the label. By doing so, the consumers will also feel confident in buying their products as they will be able to contact the company if required. If the packaging was blank and if the consumer has any queries the staff of the company will not be there at the spot to answer their queries, so by including instructions and information on the packaging the company is acknowledging that in this current fast paced society people want answers there and then and they will lose out if they do not meet up to the current expectations.
What is the text trying to do to me? In whose interests?
The text is trying to convince the consumer to choose this brand of A4 paper as opposed to picking up another brand. The inclusion of ISO labels (certification that of being environmentally friendly) it will appeal to the environmentally-conscious to play a part in caring for our environment. It is in the company’s interest as the text is there to ensure consumers select their brand over others.




In a Secondary 2 classroom

I would get students to form groups of 4/5. I would also prepare various brands of the back label of A4 paper in the market. Then I will get them to answer questions related to the labels and finally get them to create a back label of their own brand of A4 paper.

Some questions:

• Which brand of A4 paper would you buy based on looking at the information provided on the labels?
• What are the reasons for your choice?
• Is it important to include ISO labels?
• Is it important to be contactable?
• Does the colour play a part in your selection?
• If you were the product designer, what will you include on the label and how would you organise it?
• If the product was for another country would your design be different?
  

The students will try to answer the questions posed to them, then created a label for their own brand. Then they can present their answers, designs and reasons to their classmates. By allowing them to be the designers they will be able to be in the shoes of the company and then they will be able to rationalise why they are selecting certain design and information over others rather than for them to look at it for a 3rd person perspective.

Connotations... Spider Lily....

Connotation

For me, the image of the spider lily connotates with life. It shows how life and death occurs almost simultaneously and side by side, sometimes we notice it and other times we do not. If the wilting flowers are on the same stalk we can see it therefore it concerns us directly and we notice them but is the wilting flowers are on another stalk we might just turn a blind eye to it, like for example, if our loved ones or things close to our hearts are no longer with us we feel the lost and pain but when the same things would to happen to other people we are not related at all we have a lesser degree of emotion (we may empathise with them but we do not feel the pain directly).

The colour white, represents purity and new life, like a clean sheet starting fresh to learn new things and have experience imprinted on it and when the flower continues to grow sometimes it will have different variations of white and sometimes brown. These to me are then the marks experiences leaves on us in the course of our lives. The orange coloured pollen grains symbolises vibrancy to reach and start a new life. They are lifted high up for whatever comes their way (like wind to aid their reproduction), shows us that there are many factors affecting our paths and what comes out of those decisions and finally when we reach our purpose in life we move on like for the flower when it has completed its task of reproduction the next phase is death and that is our LIFE…

It is interesting to be able to look at an image or things around us to realise that there could be so many ways of looking and so many different interpretations of a single scene or moment.

A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies

This is a rather difficult article, here is what I understand of it.

1. Overall, what is the point that this article attempts to make?

I think this article attempts to make us aware that literacy pedagogy is no longer like what we are used to and exposed to as students in schools where the focus was on “learning to read and write in page-bound, official standard forms of the national language” (pg. 9), but is moving on to an era where “understanding and competent control of representational forms that are becoming increasingly significant to the overall communications environments, such as visual images and their relationship to the written word” (pg. 9) and teachers are designers of their classroom practices to work towards this changing world.

2. What aspects of 'multiplicity' do multiliteracies attempt to accommodate?

I am still unsure how to answer this question even though I have read the article a few times, can someone help?

3. What do the NLG mean by 'design'?

There are 3 elements to NLG's designs of meaning: Avaliable Designs, Designing and The Redesign. Avaliable designs are like templates which people are familiar with and often use with little variation, Designing never reproduces avaliable designs and involves "new use of old materials, a re-articulation and recombination of the given resources in avaliable designs" (pg. 22) and The Redesigned is based on prior received patterns of meaning and at the same time a totally new product which can become an avaliable design for future use.

4. How do you imagine multiliteracies pedagogy, as the NLG describe it, might operate in the contexts in which you have taught (e.g. your practicum experience(s))?

In my practicum experience I have always included PowerPoint slides with animation and used BrainPop (a website) in my lessons, but I have never considered that I am using multiliteracies in the classroom. I was using these as I knew that these will appeal to the students and will be able to capture their attention better.

Can image do what writing does, or writing what image does?

After Wednesday's lesson I was thinking about this question. While fishing, I was looking at crabs eating algae in the fishing pond and was thinking to myself "what a sight!", if I had a video camera to record the scene it could be used to show pupils in future then this question "Can image do what writing does, or writing what image does?" suddenly reappeared in my mind and started thinking, as a teacher in my future lessons if I would to show pupils a write up about crabs' eating habits would it be as effective as showing them a video clip of the crabs in action then I realised that writing cannot be effective in this sense as the image. How about this write up? "It's easy to tell the difference between a male and female (she-crab) by looking at the underside of the shell (see photos). The female has a broad, triangular-shaped area in the center of the shell, whereas the male has a distinctive, elongated spire in the center." We can also see that the writer has to use photos to illustrate the difference between male and female crabs thus further showcasing that writing cannot do what image does.

Then I thought how about the reverse, could image do what writing does? I feel that it supports writing but it still cannot replace writing entirely as information about the crabs cannot be all captured by images and it is not effective to use images to replace writing because we might end up having to use many images to convey information that writing can do in a sentence and there are certain scenarios that is impossible for images to replace writing, another example "The crab is one of the oldest species on earth. The horseshoe crab dates back over 200 million years and is literally a living fossil."

*examples sentences were take from http://homecooking.about.com/cs/productreviews/p/crab_pro.htm