My Multi-Genre Autobiography

I recently had to create a Multi-Genre Autobiography for my Multi-Modal Literacies class. I was expecting the project to be tedious, but I ended up spending a lot of time on it because the topic was very personal.

It was interesting to explore my childhood memories and figure out how the different media I experienced back then affect how I see the world now. After watching my classmates autobiographies, I realize that many of us came from the same media background. It was funny to hear other people yell out when they remembered some long forgotten television show they religiously watched in their youth or some book that they remember being forced to read when they were in the third grade.

One consistent thing I noticed about the presentations was the lack of school influence. Most of my classmates remembered watching television or movies that they had not been exposed to at school. Also, many of the books they mentioned were books that they had read for fun. They were not often books that had been required to read for a class.

While I do not think that students should be watching television and movies in school, I do think that schools should have a greater impact on their students when it comes to media exposure. Students should remember the books they read in high school because they actually enjoyed them. Instead, students forget the books they read because the teacher presents them in a boring way.

To solve this problem, teachers can incorporate technology into their classrooms to expose their students to new media. Then, maybe students will remember the media they experience in the classroom, just like I remembered the television shows I watched in the third grade. On the other hand, teachers can continue to present literature in a boring way, watch out-dated videos and have students play Oregon Trail on a DOS system. Maybe the students will pay attention. Maybe not.

Cory Doctorow's Little Brother

I recently finished reading Cory Doctorow's Little Brother for my Multi-Modal Literacies class. I found that the themes closely reflected the themes presented in Orwell's 1984. A stark difference in Doctorow's text was how he used modern day and futuristic technology to help give a techno-savvy feeling to his narrative. While I question Doctorow's style, I acknowledge that he took a chance (and won) by delving into a technological subculture that few know about. His descriptions, character development and plot line lend to an exciting reading experience.

I think the novel shows me how technologically illiterate teachers tend to be. While some are employing technology that would interest students, many are still sticking with the old curriculum. After reading this novel, I am forced to ask a very frank question: Why would students pay attention to me when they could be entertaining themselves with modern technology? In essence, to make sure that students remain engaged in the classroom, teachers have to utilize the technology students use everyday. Otherwise, there will be countless cases of students texting in the back of the room, surfing the web during research tutorials and refusing to turn in assignments because they weren't interesting. Teachers need to realize this paradigm shift and adjust their teaching styles accordingly, so students can learn through the medium they understand.

Introduction

The mission of this blog is to help me reflect on my professional and intellectual pursuits. It will also allow me to contemplate how to effectively use multi-modal literacies in my future classroom. I plan to post reflections on current literature I am reading, discussions from my classes and insights on multi-modal literature. Please feel free to comment!