Abstract
Pedagogies that foster inclusion, diversity, and the celebration of difference are central in contemporary classrooms that are characterized by an ethnically diverse population with multiple learning styles and ranging abilities. A powerful and flexible venue for educators to address the complex literacy needs of all students is incorporating multimodalities into teaching that draw upon a variety of modes including visual, linguistic, gestural, oral, and spatial. The chapter offers theoretical foundations about the pedagogy of multiliteracy through digital storytelling and provides specific examples of tools and strategies such as thinking routines and story element creation tools that are framed within the Harvard's Project Zero's dispositional framework and the StoryLogicNet project. Using these frameworks and tools, the authors seek to contribute authentic examples on developing and advancing young students' multiliteracy skills for inside and outside the classroom.
TopBackground
The world is facing unprecedented challenges, and this time has underscored the importance of equiping young students with all of the competences that are needed to communicate successfully with others in culturally diverse classrooms. At the same time the 21st century creates more persistent expectations for higher and wider levels of literacy from all students in order to communicate across differences and make meaningful contributions to their societies. A powerful and flexible venue for educators to address the complex literacy needs of all students is incorporating multimodalities into teaching that draw upon a variety of modes including visual, linguistic, gestural, oral, and spatial.
Multiliteracy, the ability to identify, interpret, create, and communicate meaning across a variety of visual, oral, corporal, musical and alphabetical forms of communication involving an awareness of the social, economic and wider cultural factors that frame communication is strongly connected to multimodality. This interplay between different representational modes and the freedom to use any medium and tool to create meaning provide students with the opportunity to learn in an environment that is more engaging and relevant to their lifeworlds. Multiliteracy aims to make online and traditional classroom teaching more inclusive of cultural, linguistic, communicative, and technological diversity. In addition, the use of and access to a variety of literacies and modes of meaning making broaden the teaching landscape and create opportunities for students to take ownership of their own learning process and develop knowledge and skill sets relevant to the 21st century.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Dispositions for a World on the Move: One way to think about the dispositions is as the overarching learning goals of curriculum preparing young people for a world on the move. They are highlighting cognitive as well as social, emotional, and ethical dimensions of learning and development.
Multiliteracy: Is the ability to identify, interpret, create, and communicate meaning across a variety of visual, oral, corporal, musical and alphabetical forms of communication.
Visible Thinking: It is a flexible and systematic research-based conceptual framework, which aims to integrate the development of students’ thinking with content learning across subject matters. Visible Thinking began as an initiative to develop a research-based approach to teaching thinking dispositions.
Digital Storytelling: Is the combination of traditional, oral narration with multimedia and communication tools combining different types of multimedia material, including images, text, video clips, audio narration and music to tell a short story on a particular topic or theme.
Reimagining Migration: Is a learning framework that presents migration as an opportunity. RM is catalyzing a community of educational leaders and social organizations around making migration a part of their curriculum and culture so that all students can feel supported in their social, emotional, academic, and civic growth.
Design Thinking: Relates to understanding and applying the way a product designer thinks and acts in order to solve complex or ill-defined through an iterative process.
Thinking Routines: Harvard Project Zero research-based tools to promote thinking.