Writing using multimodal approaches KS3

Course information

This is one of the ‘project courses’ from Vital. It provides an opportunity for you to plan, carry out and evaluate a project in your classroom. It is supported by a set of resources and activities to give you ideas for possible projects. You are not expected go through every resource but to pick those which are most relevant to your interests, context and possible project.

You will need access to:

• a computer with a web browser
• headset (including microphone and speakers) for online tutorials (optional webcam)
• a class/group of students – groups could be within classes, whole classes, or groups across classes (e.g. clubs) and schools (e.g. clusters of schools or in collaborative projects).

Duration of the course: You should allow for about one to two hours per week for this on top of the time taken to do the project in your classroom or other setting.

Learning outcomes

N.B. The technology or technologies to be used are identified in the Resources section for the course.

Professional and reflective practitioner skills

At the completion of this course, you should be able to:

• identify areas within the curriculum where you can introduce multimodal writing activities
• identify opportunities for the effective use of technology to support learning activities linked to your curriculum plans
• reflect on and discuss the impact of the use of technology to support learning in multimodality, writing, ICT and English at KS3
• share your learning with others in your field.

Practical skills

At the completion of this course, you should be able to:

• use technology to support teaching and learning in multimodality, writing, ICT and English at KS3
• use a range of tools to support multimodality, writing, ICT and English at KS3

Knowledge and understanding

At the completion of this course, you should be able to demonstrate an understanding of:

• a range of uses of technology to support multimodality, writing, ICT and English at KS3
• the issues involved in using technology in multimodality, writing, ICT and English at KS3.

Cognitive skills

At the completion of this course, you should be able to:

• critically review the use of technology to support teaching and learning in multimodality, writing, ICT and English at KS3
• share these reviews with others, constructively critiquing others’ views.

Course schedule

Introduction

The course applies a practitioner research model to look at how aspects of learning may be supported and enhanced through the use of technology. Your starting point is ‘a need’ within your practice, which you will investigate how to address. This will involve exploring how other people have already attempted to address a similar need in their practice (bringing in some practical examples of how particular technologies are used in schools), before you plan and implement their use in your school and reflect and discuss what worked and what needs further refinement.

At the heart of your learning is a project that you will carry out in your teaching and learning setting. These materials are written assuming that you have signed up for a course, although they can be followed in self-study mode. Where you have signed up for a course you will be carrying out a project with similar focus to others, both in terms of the phase of education, technology and the curriculum.

Throughout you have an opportunity to share experiences with other participants. Where you have signed up to use these materials as part of a course you will have a facilitator who will conduct tutorials and help support you in your learning and reflection.

The Practitioner Research Cycle

Vital courses are based on a Practitioner Research Cycle as shown in the diagram below.

This cycle draws on, and develops, personal and professional knowledge bases. The latter may be seen in the literature, resources, policies and other materials that are used to inform practice.

Throughout the course small icons will indicate the stage of the cycle being addressed.

NB Prof/Pers KB = Professional/Personal knowledge base

Introducing ourselves

For the purposes of clarity the activities from this point on assume that you are on a course with others. If you are in self-study mode then some activities will not be applicable.

This part of the course provides an introduction to each other, to get a feel for the contexts others are working in. This may allow for cross-fertilisation of ideas in projects and for supported reflection.

Using the course resources in your project

These materials, are complemented by supporting resources and activities, which you can use to support your project. Your facilitator, and others on the course, will help to you to plan and refine your ideas for this project.

The project

Having developed your plan on how to use the supporting resources in your classroom you now need to carry out the project. This will last for about half a term. Each week, as you work through the project, you should reflect on what you have learnt and the impact it is having on learners. You should be prepared to share your thoughts and reflections with others.

Reflect, evaluate and share with others

Having carried out a classroom project, you will share your reflections of what you learnt from it.

Use the key questions below to help evaluate your project. Use your initial planning sheet and the reflections you have captured as a source of data to help you do this.

• What did the learners do? This is a descriptive activity that explains your action with the learners.
• What did they learn and how do you know? This is an issue of assessment including observation, discussion, question and answer, testing, etc
• Was it worthwhile, i.e. did it succeed in meeting your targets? This question relates to your purposes and intended learning outcomes.
• What did I do? Practitioner research is often done by individuals in their own work. This question requires a description of your own actions.
• What did I learn? This requires analysis of your data and reflection on your answers.
• What do I intend to do next? This relates to your next steps for action. This is where you will try to do things to achieve an improvement and to make the work you do with learners more worthwhile in your terms.

Adapted from Open University Curriculum in Action materials (1981)

Shared learning

The reflective practitioner cycle is based on developing the professional knowledge base. We have come to the end of the personal reflection phase and will now develop a common understanding of what we have learnt. We will share the key learning points as a group so that these may be collated and added to the community knowledge.

Evaluation

This final section allows for evaluation.

Resources

You do not need to do all the activities contained in this Resources section. Select those that are most appropriate to your context, interests and possible projects.

Where possible we provide links to materials hosted by Vital. However, this is not always feasible so please bear in mind that over time material from external websites may become unavailable or obsolete.

1 Using multimodal approaches

This resource invites you to consider some key questions about using multimodal approaches in teaching and learning. Teaching methods are often adopted unquestioningly; indeed, it is part of a teacher’s professional skill to be able to select, almost instinctively, suitable approaches. New technologies can be disruptive in both valuable and harmful ways, so we’d like you to reflect on some practical examples before embarking on planning your own project.

Other resources

• Making hard topics easier to teach with ICT: case studies from a NATE/Becta project, www.nate.org.uk/ htt (this page also links to the Teachers TV video mentioned earlier). We shall be referring to a number of the case studies in other resource sections.
• NATE ICT pages, www.nate.org.uk/ ict, these pages contain a range of documents on policy and practice in the application of ICT to English, including:
  • The Entitlement to ICT in secondary English
  • ICT in English: A NATE Position Paper
  • Resources, including lists of websites for teachers and students, materials for interactive whiteboards, etc.
• Becta: this government agency is scheduled to close in 2011, though the resources are supposed to continue to be available. The schools section has a number of useful resources that teachers and students can explore to reflect on the impact of ICT.

  Visit http://schools.becta.org.uk/ and look, particularly, in the Curriculum section for English resources (some of which have already appeared on the NATE site) and in the Learning and teaching section for more general materials on how teachers can, in their words, ‘integrate technology effectively into their teaching to create an inclusive, innovative and exciting learning environment’.

Background reading

Twenty things to do with a word processor, by Trevor Millum and Chris Warren, Resource Education, 2001

ICT and literacy, by Trevor Millum, NATE, 2003: although aimed primarily at Key Stage 2, many of the materials here will be useful for Key Stage 3.

Sharing not staring, edited by Trevor Millum and Chris Warren, NATE, 2008: using the interactive whiteboard in ways which tap into its huge potential in English.

These three books are available from NATE, the professional association for those involved and interested in the teaching of English at any level in the United Kingdom:

NATE, 50 Broadfield Road, Sheffield, S8 0XJ; www.nate.org.uk; telephone: 0114 255 5419.

English in the digital age, edited by Andrew Goodwyn, Cassell, 2000

This is one of a series of units written for Vital by Trevor Millum, Chris Warren and Tom Rank on behalf of the National Association for the Teaching of English. NATE is the professional association for those involved and interested in the teaching of English at any level in the United Kingdom.

2 Podcasting

Speaking and listening has often (most teachers would say always) been a poor relation in the English classroom. In recent years there have been a number of efforts to give due attention to speaking and listening (or oracy, as it’s sometimes called). These include making assessment compulsory at GCSE and, most recently, requiring GCSE students to study spoken language as part of their courses.

This unit explores some approaches to producing sound recordings. In the process, students will be using a range of strategies, including formal writing for planning, scripts and note-taking, as well as plenty of unscripted discussion. The final podcast may be scripted, improvised or a mix of both. (Strictly, there is more to podcasting than just making an audio recording – we suggest later that students might like to investigate this for themselves.)

Modern computers are likely to have basic sound recording abilities. For easier recording and higher quality you can use a range of additional equipment, from cheap microphones and speakers (or headsets) to portable sound recorders – you can clip a small microphone to an iPod, for example. You do not need access to expensive equipment, though of course if your school or college has facilities such as a studio, you can achieve better results. This unit assumes only basic facilities and shows you where you can find free editing software that is perfectly adequate for classroom use.

Further activities

Visit the Assignment: podcast page on the BT Learning and Skills website, http://www.btplc.com/Responsiblebusiness/Supportingourcommunities/Learningandskills/Freeresources/ResourceView.aspx?id=3. Read and listen to the materials there, especially the short podcast (of course) from two experienced broadcasters. This activity is aimed at both teachers and students – you may find it a useful resource for your own students to use.

Other resources

• Podcast revision, from a school in Durham, has podcasts for GCSE English revision and the SATs, including readings of poems and commentaries in good quality sound, http://www.podcastrevision.co.uk/
• Web 2.0 for rookies: podcasting, this article by Terry Freedman provides a concise overview with a number of useful links for more resources and case studies, http://www.ictineducation.org/ home-page/ 2009/ 12/ 29/ web-20-for-rookies-what-is-a-podcast.html

Software

• Audacity software can be downloaded free from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
• Podium is educational software which offers recording and hosting of podcasts and other tools; it is a commercial product, http://www.podiumpodcasting.com/

Sound files to use in recordings

• Students can have fun creating and recording their own effects; these sites offer alternative sources which are free for non-commercial use:
• A1 Radio Sounds, http://www.a1freesoundeffects.com/ radio.html
• SFX, free sound effects for multimedia productions, http://www.pacdv.com/ sounds/
• Royalty-free music from the Incompetech site, a good choice of music which is free to use, provided credit is given, http://www.incompetech.com/ m/ c/ royalty-free/.

This is one of a series of units written for Vital by Trevor Millum, Chris Warren and Tom Rank on behalf of the National Association for the Teaching of English. NATE is the professional association for those involved and interested in the teaching of English at any level in the United Kingdom.

3 Composing, re-composing, decomposing

This resource looks at the writing process and the ways in which a multimodal approach can impact upon it and make it explicit. As for previous resources, we’d like you to reflect on a practical example before thinking about how this might be helpful in developing your own teaching in this area.

Other resources

• Take a look at the case studies of Phil Grosset (Using a visualiser, http://www.nate.org.uk/ cmsfiles/ ict/ h2t/ 3_Visualiser.pdf) and Sam Custance (Using SMART Notebook 10 for refining and presenting information, http://www.nate.org.uk/ cmsfiles/ ict/ h2t/ 20_Refining.pdf) on the ‘Hard to Teach’ area of the NATE website, www.nate.org.uk/ htt (this page also links to the Teachers TV video mentioned earlier).
• Teachit’s Poetry Place, www.teachit.co.uk/ poetryplace, provides ideas that will assist with the development writing, many of which involve the use of ‘low-level’ ICT. Navigate to the Workshop and then scroll down to KS3 Creative Writing.
• Language is a virus, www.languageisavirus.com, is aimed at adult writers but has advice and tips ranging from the practical to the whimsical.
• Creative Copy Challenge, www.creativecopychallenge.com, is also addressed to adult writers but has an interesting challenge which you may find useful to adapt. An article, ICT in education, provides some teaching ideas from an ICT angle which English teachers will find highly relevant, www.ictineducation.org/ home-page/ 2010/ 7/ 5/ the-power-of-words.html
• Further back in the writing process come the difficulties of generating and organising ideas. The first of these is beyond the scope of this resource, but there are numerous applications which can assist in the organising of ideas as the writing process begins to get under way, e.g. www.bubbl.us.

This is one of a series of units written for Vital by Trevor Millum, Chris Warren and Tom Rank on behalf of the National Association for the Teaching of English. NATE is the professional association for those involved and interested in the teaching of English at any level in the United Kingdom.

4 PowerPoint counterpoint

• Visit the Vital page on the NATE site to see the materials provided for this resource, http://www.nate.org.uk/ page/ vital.

  The files you can download and adapt there include the scripts for the speeches from Macbeth and Blake’s A Poison Tree as well as ‘PowerPoint counterpoint’, an illustration based on a speech from Macbeth.

The basic idea is simple – perform a poem, a story, or a scene from a play while projecting text and images in the background, and possibly playing a soundtrack.

The writing involves creating the projected image/text in such a way that it provides a commentary on, or provocatively disagrees with, the performance.

For instance, Macbeth is quizzing Banquo about his movements, trying to tease out key details. Although he sounds amicable enough, in fact he intends to murder him. Banquo senses the approach of a predator and tries to say as little as possible.

The projected text might simply consist of the two characters’ private thoughts, presented in cartoon fashion as bubbles. During the performance of the scene these thoughts would appear in the background as a counterpoint to the speeches of two live actors. It is fairly clear what well-chosen music might do to this scene – sinister music would also cast doubt on Macbeth’s apparent friendliness.

Or another example from Macbeth – Macbeth is thinking through the reasons why murdering Duncan would be wrong. ‘He’s here in double trust’. The screen behind the performer of these lines shows images of scorpions, spiders, sharks and vampire bats juxtaposed with single words from the text and other words – all working to undermine (counterpoint) the apparent sincerity of Macbeth’s words.

The activity involves groups of three students. A close reading of the text is followed by a brainstorm of ‘counterpoint’ possibilities; the writing and designing of the PowerPoint slides; the writing and adjustment of the performance scripts and the practice of the finished work to get timing and effects just right. Students ought to be encouraged to reflect on their work and adjust the text and effects accordingly.

Animation of text and images should be kept simple. Images can be sourced from ClipArt or tracked down using Google Images. As a teacher you need to have a basic grasp of stock animations in PowerPoint and how to sequence and time effects – so that the sequence tracks the script. Students will often be familiar with these features, but it helps to have tried it out yourself.

The same approach can be applied to performances of appropriate poems and readings of passages from short stories.

Other resources

• Two case studies from NATE’s project on ‘Making hard topics easier to teach with ICT’, http://www.nate.org.uk/ htt, provide examples of other ways of using texts and images together:
  • Caroline Mortlock’s work, Engaging with poetry, http://www.nate.org.uk/ cmsfiles/ ict/ h2t/ 5_Poetry.pdf adopts a similar strategy. Here she uses MovieMaker instead of PowerPoint – and she provided a gallery of images to give her students a flying start.
  • Also see Gregory Anderson’ project, Interpreting texts through interactive storyboarding, http://www.nate.org.uk/ cmsfiles/ ict/ h2t/ 4_Storyboards.pdf, where he uses images to help analyse and interpret text.

This is one of a series of units written for Vital by Trevor Millum, Chris Warren and Tom Rank on behalf of the National Association for the Teaching of English. NATE is the professional association for those involved and interested in the teaching of English at any level in the United Kingdom.

5 Gathering digital assets

To conduct successful writing activities using a range of digital effects, you’ll need to explore how to get ‘assets’ – the technical term for sound files, pictures, video clips and text-based information.

The most obvious starting point is the DIY approach. Pretty well all modern mobile phones contain digital cameras, often with the ability to record video. MP3 players frequently allow sound recording. Video recordings not only capture moving pictures but also the accompanying sound, so they too can be deployed as audio recorders. Thus, even if your school is not equipped with the very neat and cheap equipment currently available, you can still do some very interesting work if you ask pupils to work in teams, and each team has access to one of these devices.

The prospect of sending students out to record images or sound may seem daunting or problematic, although some of the best creative work comes out of giving students autonomy. If it just doesn’t match the culture of your school, then your next approach should be to look for assets on the computers themselves – Microsoft Office applications, for instance, come with a huge library of clip art. This can be the visual equivalent of a cliché – we’ve seen these images so much that they’re often stale, hackneyed and disappointing. However it’s always worth checking through clip banks – occasionally the image exactly fits what you want to do. The shark/spider/scorpion clip art is ideal for the Macbeth exercise outlined in Resource 4, PowerPoint counterpoint.

If your school’s computers don’t contain the material, the internet abounds in free resources. Apart from the sites that are routinely blocked by ICT departments (often misguidedly) such as YouTube and Google Images, there are many very fine sources. The Poetry Archive, The British Library, The JISC collections, the Pathé News – all these archives are rich in fine source materials to play with in English. There are also sites that offer sound-file collections for free, and although these sound snippets are very short, they can often do the job very well (see the unit on podcasting for details of some of these sites).

Other resources

• The Poetry Archive includes priceless archive readings from poets of the past such as Tennyson, Sassoon, Larkin and Yeats, classroom favourites such as Armitage and Causley, and lesson plans too, http://www.poetryarchive.org/.
• The British Library, http://www.bl.uk/, see especially the Learning section.
• JISC Collections for Schools enables schools to access a range of high quality online subscription resources at discounted prices: http://www.jcs.nen.gov.uk/
• British Pathé News Archive, an agreement between British Pathé and the regional broadband consortia allows schools free access to high-resolution digitised clips of news film dating back to the 1890s. The collection includes 3500 hours of film and 12,000,000 stills, http://www.britishpathe.com/.
• The British Film Institute has a wide range of resources, including film clips freely available to schools and colleges, http://www.bfi.org.uk/. The BFI’s Screenonline site is also worth a visit, http://www.screenonline.org.uk/
• You and your students may also find some useful material on this site, TrueTube, a free UK educational website which uses ‘real-life stories and issues to encourage teenagers to explore and debate the world of morality, ethics, politics and religion’, http://www.truetube.co.uk/.

This is one of a series of units written for Vital by Trevor Millum, Chris Warren and Tom Rank on behalf of the National Association for the Teaching of English. NATE is the professional association for those involved and interested in the teaching of English at any level in the United Kingdom.

References

Acknowledgements

Authors: Tom Rank, Chris Warren, Trevor Millum

Reviewers: Terry Freedman, Pete Bradshaw

Editor: Matthew Driver