Planning for Opportunities

Providing authentic opportunities for students to create multimodal texts is a necessary part of curriculum planning to help increase student outcomes since “...being able to convey our thoughts through a combination of modes has become an essential skill in order to fully participate in society” (Zammit, 2014, p. 31). For example, incorporating multimodal writing as part of the inquiry process with emergent bilinguals will benefit all students in a classroom since students will have an opportunity to collaborate. In a previous post ( November 7), I outlined my plan for implementation for disciplinary learning. When planning, I used the Planning Elementary Digitally Supported Disciplinary Literacy Framework (PEDDL) (Colwell, Hutchison, & Woodward, 2020). Frameworks help guide thinking and planning for generating multimodal texts. Using the PEDDL framework helped guide the process of including digital literacies for construction of multimodal texts. This is not the only framework available. The purpose of this blog is to outline a three-part planning framework for incorporating ways to create multimodal texts in the classroom with emergent bilinguals.

Castek & Manderino (2017) designed a three-part planning framework for integrating digital literacies into disciplinary learning. The framework includes: a) accessing and evaluating information, b) using and representing information, and c) producing and exchanging information. The framework is not designed to be used in chronological order. It is constructed to allow teachers flexibility when planning for including digital literacy.

In one part, planning how to access and evaluate information, a teacher should include opportunities for students to locate quality resources and evaluate them. Students need to be taught how to critically evaluate the resources found online to determine which information is from a credible source. There are digital tools that can help students and teachers organize sources found on the internet. One digital tool, TES Teach with Blendspace enables teachers and students to collect digital content in one space. Once collected, multimodal presentations can be created and shared. This website is free.

A second part, planning for using and representing information, a variety of sources should be considered and examined to construct and make meaning. Videos on YouTube, websites, images, text, and other information gathered from different platforms are digital resources in various modes students can access. Using “...disciplinary representations to construct new meanings” is an active process for students in which they can re-shape information to create their own way to express meaning (Castek & Manderino, 2017).

The third part, planning for producing and exchanging information, happens rapidly in the digital world. Students have a variety of ways to immediately express knowledge through videos, blogs, podcasts, social media, and other platforms. The ways in which students can share information is continually evolving. Teachers must be aware and adapt to their teaching practices to reflect the real-life experiences of students (Castek & Manderino, 2017).

This blog outlined a three-part planning framework for incorporating digital literacy into disciplinary learning. This is just one framework available for planning. When emergent bilinguals are given authentic tasks to create multimodal texts, opportunities for engagement in the classroom are created. Teachers must plan for these opportunities using a framework of their choice.

Castek, J. & Manderino, M. (2017). A planning framework for integrating digital literacies for

disciplinary learning. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 60(6), 697-700.

https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jaal.637

Colwell, J., Hutchinson, A., & Woodward, L. (2020). Digitally supported Disciplinary

Literacy for Diverse K-5 Classrooms. Teachers College Press.

Zammit, K. (2014). Creating multimodal texts in the classroom: Shifting teaching practices,

influencing student outcomes. In R. E. Ferdig & K. E. Pytash (Eds.), Exploring

multimodal composition and digital writing (pp. 169-185). IGI Global.