February 29 - Multimodality or Logic?

If you ask anyone who knows me, they could affirm that I love specifics and tend to be skeptical and frustrated with generalities. For example, I prefer a pastor to preach on a specific bible passage or talk about a specific problem and its specific solution instead of talking about general concepts and general problems and how we should generally change our lives. If this is confusing, ask me about it sometime, I'd love to explain. What I'm trying to communicate is that I would rather have you tell me straight about a teaching strategy using specific examples and clear, short definitions instead of a list of researched standards and clever pneumonic devices. I feel that the Hinchman text this week was full of this. It had paragraphs and paragraphs of big words and processes and standards that made for heavy reading and frustration. It left me thinking that I could have easily written that same chapter in a shorter and clearer fashion….and this is one reason I'm going into teaching. I’m often left feeling that I could explain something in a much better way than the teacher (or book) could explain. On the other hand, the Beers text was a breath of fresh air after struggling through the Hinchman text. It was specific, open for interpretation, and readable. And it conveyed the same information without dwelling on the theory and standards behind multimodality.

Okay, I just had to get that off my chest. My initial reactions to this topic is that, as a student and a recent high school graduate, multimodality does not blow my mind. It makes logical sense to use multiple forms of information besides straight text to teach something. Photos, websites, blogs, videos, podcasts, guest speakers, these are all ways of educating students about a concept or idea. I reflect on past teachers who have made an impact on me and I am able to tell you right away that these forms of education are so beneficial in helping students think about something differently and keep that something in their memory. The Internet is the perfect place to foster this type of instruction. Additionally, it would advantageous for educators to also take the time to teach Internet etiquette and safety along with taking advantage of its assets.

One thing that I appreciated that the Beers text mentioned was the sensitivity we need to have as teachers when requiring the class to use technology. Some students do not have Internet access or a computer at home. It depends on what school district and community you teach in. Always be aware that not every student has the same resources as the next.

All of this said, I write down a few ideas I gathered from the reading to use in my future mathematics classroom. One that stuck out to me was the podcast idea mixed with the class blog idea. Podcasts of students solving problems and/or explaining their personal thought processes could be shared between students to allow them to approach mathematics from different ways. This helps students see how they think about math versus how their peers think about math. Throughout the years, I could even have my class look at past class’s blogs. With students acquiring and using Internet skills, we need to take advantage of this.