Notes from Kajder Chp 5

Chapter 5: Reading and Writing Multimodal Texts

Kajder begins this chapter with some grim statistics on adolescent reading-- which boils down to the idea that adolescents don't read very well.  For example, NEAP 2007 revealed that "only 31 percent of eighth graders are able to read and write with proficiency" (p. 68).  

I think many teachers want to embrace multimodal texts if it helps their students in traditional literacy; Kajder argues that when "students read to participate in social networks... they develop identity and engage in self improvement and gain information that they can put to use" (p. 69).  Students are already richly literate in many ways-- the classroom needs to open up to those ways without rejecting traditional literacy.  

NCTE's AL brief encourages teachers to expand the definition of literacy, value the literacies that students bring to the classroom, and help create points of connection between out-of-school literacy and the more traditional English curriculum. 


Reinventing the Book Report: Kajder profiles Kristen, an eighth grade teacher who wanted to re-vamp the way her students approached their independent reading book reports.  First, she opened up the format of their independent reading book to include audiobooks, but more than anything, she wanted to increase student discussion and make the product something more than just to turn into the teacher. 

She asked them to develop a multimodal response/review that presented their thinking in original images and embedded audio using Voicethread.com as a tool for created and presenting their work. 

She didn't show the students what to do with the technology; rather she showed them (briefly) how to use it as a writer and let them figure the rest out (and they did). 

To spur discussion, she required that students randomly select three peers' projects to view and comment on-- either orally or written-- which would be embedded in the project. 


When we open up what counts as valued communication in the classroom, we:

• provide students with the opportunity to produce something unexpected, new, and creative
• foster students' confidence
• encourage innovation
• model for students that learning and knowledge isn't a tangible "thing" but an activity