Weekly Reading #3

1. Copy and paste a quote from the reading that causes you to have a strong reaction (agreement, disagreement, confusion...) and explain your reaction. In the article it states, "Further, Jakobson argued that the metaphoric and metonymic processes are not confined to language but occur in other art forms such as painting and film." This quote from the text made me think more than anything. Honestly, when I think of the terms metaphor and metonymy, I think of the written text; I think of what I learned in English class growing up. The thought of art and film containing these tropes never really crossed my mind. It will be interesting to look at art and film expecting/hoping to be able to point these tropes out now. 

2. Have you ever ask students to create a multimodal text? Have you ever created a multimodal text  for a school related assignment? Described the assignment. What were the learning goals? How was it assessed? Do you feel the assignment improved  comprehension of the content? Why? Why not? I have never had my students present a multimodal presentation. However, I have made multimodal presentation for a graduate class before. Two semesters ago, I had to create a multimodal presentation that explained the story of me becoming a teacher. To complete this assignment, I had to use the software "Photostory". I had to embed pictures, pick music to go along with it, and use very few wording on the slides to tell the story. This was such a fun assignment to complete and a lot of thought, time, and effort had to be put into it. The teacher assessed the assignment by the clarity of the meaning, how easily the text was to read on the slides, the amount and relevance of pictures that were chosen, and the relevance of the music used for it. I think this assignment improved my understanding of what makes a multimodal presentation great. 

3. Find an multimodal example of metonymy and embed it in your blog. Is it a good or poor example? Why?

 In this video, Beyonce compares marriage or commitment to "putting a ring on it". This is a good example of a metonymy because the phrase "putting a ring on it" substitutes for the thought or word commitment/marriage. 

4. Find a multimodal  example of  metaphor and embed it in your blog. Is it a good or poor example Why?  I chose the clip from Forrest Gump where he says "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get." I think this is a great example of a metaphor. He is comparing the unpredictable moments of life to a box of mixed chocolates. 

5. How does this reading help you think about the use of multimodal text to support writing and learning across content area instruction in school? I think reading this article reminded me and opened my eyes up to the fact that I can use metaphor and metonymy tropes without having to display them through text. This article also focuses on the fact that a message can be conveyed without having to explain it through writing; it can be conveyed through song, visuals, etc. It is a proven and known fact that students learn in all different ways and it is extremely important to be able to reach all of them through their different learning styles. Multimodal text may be a way students can connect to a concept. Although I will be teaching first grade next year and it may be too advanced of an idea to have them create their own, I could still use multimodal text in my classroom to present concepts and lessons. 

Resources: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m1EFMoRFvY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWzrIX5l0vc
Sorapure, M. "Between Modes: Assessing Student New Media Compositions. Retrieved on 2 June 2014