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in a time when so many people have access to technology that
can so easily record and edit sound and video. Many students
were already familiar with these programs and how to work with
them. In pairs, students took no time at all imagining ways to
work in these new modalities and had proposals outlined at the
end of the class period. When the projects were underway and
in the editing phases, Selfe’s argument in favor of multi-modal
composition became quite clear to me.
Sound effects established pensive and curious tones or
sudden, impactful epiphanies. Dialogue, interviews and casual
conversations conjured a playfulness and spontaneity missing
in most high school essays. Video and photo collage enhanced
and overlaid imagery central to the texts we were studying. It
was clear. Multi-modal compositions freed up a way of thinking
that is often inhibited in text based composition. Whether they
were analyzing Shakespeare’s
Tempest
,
Cormac McCarthy’s
The Road
or Ray Bradbury’s
Fahrenheit 451
students were
proposing and arguing a thesis via a new form of digital literacy
more fitting to the world that they live in today where most of
the information they digest comes in various digital formats.
Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of the process, though,
occurred after they completed the final edits of their multi-
modal essays, and I reined them in to do a more traditional,
formal writing assignment. The batch of essays I received had
an increased level of
insight, and most
importantly a confi-
dence and enthusiasm
which told me that they
had begun to care about
their ideas — that
they had ideas worth
communicating. For
more than a few this
amounted to a notice-
able improvement in
their writing. Had
they not have composed in alternative modalities before hand,
their text-based essays, in my opinion, would have been much
weaker, unenthusiastic, and not as rich
in content.
As a department this year we are
integrating into the curriculum the
opportunity for students to explore
non-text based forms of composition
alongside the practice of traditional
writing. But for the traditionalist out
there, don’t fear; we also strive to honor
the balance between tradition and
innovation. We are still fighting the
good fight to teach students MLA style
research papers, proper grammar and usage, the ‘five-paragraph
essay’, the expository essay, and creative writing projects, to
name a few of our curriculum goals.
“
As a department this year we are integrating
into the curriculum the opportunity for students
to explore non-text based forms of composition
alongside the practice of traditional writing.”
—
Jeremy Freeman, English Department Chair
Imani McPherson ‘14 (front) and Dylan Chirls ‘14 (back) working with the
mobile audio lab on a video essay exploring Northrop Frye’s concept of
the Green World in Shakespeare’s romance
The Tempest
.
