MC Responding Exercise

I really enjoyed reading my classmates' blogs and finding out their thoughts on the chapters we were assigned to read. I feel that it helped me gain another perspective in some cases, and definitely solidified the information in my mind to read the info through a different avenue.

Amanda's blog on chapter 7 really helped me. She zeroed in on the issues teachers having when trying to teach multimodally-- there's a lot of pressure involved, and they have to learn to be quick troubleshooters. This is absolutely true, and interesting to think about. So much focus is on the students and how they will accept multimodality. The teachers have quite an adjustment to make, also.

I also referenced Amanda's blog for chapter 5. In it, she addressed using a rhetorical lens for multimodal projects. She liked the fact that the chapter provided key terms and examples for going about teaching multimodally through a more rhetorical method. This is a great perspective, as I myself sort of shy away from theory in general. It's not all bad, though, and should be considered at least somewhat.

I used Sarah's blog to revisit chapters 3 and 4. In chapter 4, Sarah addressed collaboration. She really liked the keys for success in collaborating digitally. It can be really difficult to get students to want to collaborate. This can be especially true in a digital environment, which is largely seen as a solitary endeavor. This chapter provides real world examples and keys for success, which Sarah deemed important.

In chapter 3, she addressed the portion of the chapter that implores teachers to really think about the theory, structure, and circulation of multimodal assignments. Teachers become so enthusiastic sometimes, that they forget exactly how to convey to their students exactly what they expect, and exactly how they want the project to play out. Think about your audience, teachers! In this case, your audience is the students.

I used Beth's blog for chapter 2. In this chapter, Beth really liked the diagrams given for the similarities and differences among modes. There are so many types of composing, that multimodal composition is really a lofty term. If we can use these handy diagrams, and others like it, we can more effectively find the right fit for our students. In addition, Beth liked that this listed challenges, which I agree is great. We have to acknowledge that there are challenges to multimodal composition. That way, we can share ideas on how to overcome these challenges.