Palmeri Chs. 3-4
- Remixing Composition: A History of Multimodal
- Jun 24, 2016
- 2 min read
Here's the big picture: I want to graduate students who know how to be engaged, critical-thinking citizens of their community and world.
Sometimes when I think about all the types of media I could incorporate into my classes, I lose focus of the big picture. The seemingly endless possibilities could render one unduly fixated on details, and we all know that usually impedes and/or destroys vision. Even as I explore and invent and stumble in this journey through multimodal media literacy, I don't want to lose sight of this overarching goal.
With this proverbial horizon before me, multimodal instruction and invention is not optional, rather absolutely required. My students, as Palmeri notes, "strongly value" these various media (148), so a negligence of multimodal writing renders me an irresponsible teacher. Moving to multimodal schools requires a necessary shift in the perception of teacher and student roles in the classroom, ultimately creating the best kind of student, one actively engaged in creating their own meaning of their own world around them (Kytle in Palmeri 105). Isn't that what we want of any student in any subject area?
I feel especially convicted after reading these chapters that I must do my part in working against the "'spectatorism'" of our media-driven culture (138). Citing Ira Shor's work from 1980, Palmeri via Shor reminds us that an unthinking consumption of media makes for 1-sided communication: "The information flow goes one way, from the medium to the person. Each student is not trained to analyze critically the message thrown at her or him or to be a creator of the media filling daily life" (Shor as qtd. in Palmer 138). No, I want my students to "produce knowledge rather than just receive knowledge, to make media rather than just consume media" (127).
Not an easy journey, I'm beginning to imagine, one requiring some patience and fortitude. Hiking even partially up Atalaya Mountain wasn't easy either, but if even the unfinished journey of that venture was rewarding, I expect this one will be so, too.
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