In this article, we illustrate the experience of three literacy educators who harnessed online, c... more In this article, we illustrate the experience of three literacy educators who harnessed online, collaborative platforms to cultivate community within their classrooms and with their colleagues. Through the use of creative practices including digital poetry, selfie collage, and curriculum sharing through video conferencing, the authors invited their students and professional peers to reflect on their perspectives and experiences related to social issues through the use of multimodal and media resources for composing. This article includes examples of creations from this context, including mentor text work, as well as implications for creativity and collaboration with students and colleagues.
The process of making a documentary film is messy. When interviewed about her award-winning docum... more The process of making a documentary film is messy. When interviewed about her award-winning documentary A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory, Esther Robinson (Molaro and Robinson) describes her process of filmmaking as involving three movies. She describes the first as the "movie in your head," the movie you set out to make. The second is "the interview movie," the concept that emerges while shooting the interview, perhaps because of an insightful interview or animated interviewee. Third is the movie that reveals itself in the footage during the editing process, perhaps because of the visual patterns that emerge in the footage, revealing yet another strand to the narrative. For Robinson, the biggest struggle that filmmakers face when transitioning from one movie idea to the next is the letting go of the first two movies to "find the third movie," which she believes is the "true movie."In a similar manner to Robinson's...
Issues of representation and identity are paramount in youth media. These issues are further comp... more Issues of representation and identity are paramount in youth media. These issues are further complicated when youth draw on popular culture and other media resources as vehicles to interpret and represent themselves ( Alvermann, 2008 , Jenkins et al., 2006 ). While youth-produced media often draw on popular culture resources and are frequently accused of reproducing dominant stereotypes, many young media makers are often acutely aware of their audiences and deliberately use media resources to establish social connections that will enhance and manipulate audience reception. Using mediated discourse analysis ( Norris & Jones, 2005 ), this paper examines the documentary video production process of one such group of youth, exploring their process of purposeful selection and assemblage of popular culture and media resources. Findings reveal nuanced patterns of multimodal combination to establish and maintain attention of key audiences while asserting alternative social positions.
University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. June 2013. Major: Education, Curriculum and Instructi... more University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. June 2013. Major: Education, Curriculum and Instruction. Advisor: Cynthia Lewis. 1 computer file (PDF); ix, 176 pages, appendix A.
I'm realizing that a few students working together to create change on a subject they feel pa... more I'm realizing that a few students working together to create change on a subject they feel passionate about can actually make a difference, whether it be in the school or community. —Sasha, a participant in online role-play s tudents in Elizabeth Boeser's twelfth-grade College Writing class at Jefferson High School, in Bloom ington, Minnesota, were upset that when researching various topics they were often un able to access important websites because of Inter net filters. For example, one student interested in studying issues of gun control found that the NRA site was blocked. Another student, seeking clarifi cation on MLA citation, typed in "Diana Hacker" and found that it was blocked due to the composi tion scholar's last name. These same students were
Drawing on multimodal, sound-based data, this study examines how high school students harnessed e... more Drawing on multimodal, sound-based data, this study examines how high school students harnessed elements of sound and music for multicultural learning within collaborative research and radio podcasting. Data were collected from a variety of sources, including field notes, final media projects, and audio and video footage of students’ collaborative media production processes and interviews. Findings reveal multivocal and divergent engagements in the sound editing process as well as multimodal struggles in which students leveraged sound to express nuanced views about racism, culture, and privilege. This study has implications for educators teaching multicultural perspectives and critical media literacy studies.
Purpose This study/paper aims to explore civic participation within multimodal expression. With t... more Purpose This study/paper aims to explore civic participation within multimodal expression. With the rise of content produced and circulated within participatory cultures online, there has been much attention raised regarding questions of audience and attention to this content. For example, does production of media content constitute having a voice if no one is paying attention? Design/methodology/approach Using multimodal analysis and mediated discourse analysis, this study examines adolescents’ school-based media production and use of multimodal ensembles to recruit and maintain audience attention to specific content in their radio and video documentaries. Findings Research findings reveal deliberate attempts to connect with audience needs when creating media as well as exploration of emerging civic identities. Research limitations/implications Questions for how researchers in literacy and learning can further investigate and articulate civic engagement and advocacy are suggested. ...
In this article, we illustrate the experience of three literacy educators who harnessed online, c... more In this article, we illustrate the experience of three literacy educators who harnessed online, collaborative platforms to cultivate community within their classrooms and with their colleagues. Through the use of creative practices including digital poetry, selfie collage, and curriculum sharing through video conferencing, the authors invited their students and professional peers to reflect on their perspectives and experiences related to social issues through the use of multimodal and media resources for composing. This article includes examples of creations from this context, including mentor text work, as well as implications for creativity and collaboration with students and colleagues.
The process of making a documentary film is messy. When interviewed about her award-winning docum... more The process of making a documentary film is messy. When interviewed about her award-winning documentary A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory, Esther Robinson (Molaro and Robinson) describes her process of filmmaking as involving three movies. She describes the first as the "movie in your head," the movie you set out to make. The second is "the interview movie," the concept that emerges while shooting the interview, perhaps because of an insightful interview or animated interviewee. Third is the movie that reveals itself in the footage during the editing process, perhaps because of the visual patterns that emerge in the footage, revealing yet another strand to the narrative. For Robinson, the biggest struggle that filmmakers face when transitioning from one movie idea to the next is the letting go of the first two movies to "find the third movie," which she believes is the "true movie."In a similar manner to Robinson's...
Issues of representation and identity are paramount in youth media. These issues are further comp... more Issues of representation and identity are paramount in youth media. These issues are further complicated when youth draw on popular culture and other media resources as vehicles to interpret and represent themselves ( Alvermann, 2008 , Jenkins et al., 2006 ). While youth-produced media often draw on popular culture resources and are frequently accused of reproducing dominant stereotypes, many young media makers are often acutely aware of their audiences and deliberately use media resources to establish social connections that will enhance and manipulate audience reception. Using mediated discourse analysis ( Norris & Jones, 2005 ), this paper examines the documentary video production process of one such group of youth, exploring their process of purposeful selection and assemblage of popular culture and media resources. Findings reveal nuanced patterns of multimodal combination to establish and maintain attention of key audiences while asserting alternative social positions.
University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. June 2013. Major: Education, Curriculum and Instructi... more University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. June 2013. Major: Education, Curriculum and Instruction. Advisor: Cynthia Lewis. 1 computer file (PDF); ix, 176 pages, appendix A.
I'm realizing that a few students working together to create change on a subject they feel pa... more I'm realizing that a few students working together to create change on a subject they feel passionate about can actually make a difference, whether it be in the school or community. —Sasha, a participant in online role-play s tudents in Elizabeth Boeser's twelfth-grade College Writing class at Jefferson High School, in Bloom ington, Minnesota, were upset that when researching various topics they were often un able to access important websites because of Inter net filters. For example, one student interested in studying issues of gun control found that the NRA site was blocked. Another student, seeking clarifi cation on MLA citation, typed in "Diana Hacker" and found that it was blocked due to the composi tion scholar's last name. These same students were
Drawing on multimodal, sound-based data, this study examines how high school students harnessed e... more Drawing on multimodal, sound-based data, this study examines how high school students harnessed elements of sound and music for multicultural learning within collaborative research and radio podcasting. Data were collected from a variety of sources, including field notes, final media projects, and audio and video footage of students’ collaborative media production processes and interviews. Findings reveal multivocal and divergent engagements in the sound editing process as well as multimodal struggles in which students leveraged sound to express nuanced views about racism, culture, and privilege. This study has implications for educators teaching multicultural perspectives and critical media literacy studies.
Purpose This study/paper aims to explore civic participation within multimodal expression. With t... more Purpose This study/paper aims to explore civic participation within multimodal expression. With the rise of content produced and circulated within participatory cultures online, there has been much attention raised regarding questions of audience and attention to this content. For example, does production of media content constitute having a voice if no one is paying attention? Design/methodology/approach Using multimodal analysis and mediated discourse analysis, this study examines adolescents’ school-based media production and use of multimodal ensembles to recruit and maintain audience attention to specific content in their radio and video documentaries. Findings Research findings reveal deliberate attempts to connect with audience needs when creating media as well as exploration of emerging civic identities. Research limitations/implications Questions for how researchers in literacy and learning can further investigate and articulate civic engagement and advocacy are suggested. ...
This study investigates the processes and products of multimodal and multi-authored digital media... more This study investigates the processes and products of multimodal and multi-authored digital media composition. Using ethnographic case study and Mediated Discourse Analysis (Norris & Jones, 2005), this study focuses specifically on the digital media composition of radio and film documentaries, examining struggle among students, media, and technology as vehicles for knowledge construction and social position. (Erstad & Silseth, 2008; Holland, Skinner, Lachiotte, & Cain, 1998). Drawing on the work of Bakhtin (1981, 1986) and Nelson and Hull (2008), struggle is theorized as a diverse “heteroglossia” or “many-voiced-ness,” inherent in all acts of communication, in particular digital media texts.
Conducted in a diverse, urban high school, data was collected from a variety of sources including field notes, class work, final media projects, and several hours of audio and video footage of students’ collaborative process. Findings reveal intense engagement in the digital media composition process, often fueled by struggle surrounding media selections. Analysis of both the collaborative production process and final media products reveals a series of multimodal struggles in which students appropriate certain modes of communication within the documentary (e.g. sound, video, interviews, or voice over) in order to express nuanced views on the issue that may or may not be shared by the whole group. In gaining a deeper understanding of the struggles involved in the process of collaborative digital media composition, it becomes clear that literacy practices involve a continual negotiation among the various people, technology, and media involved. Such nuanced depictions of literacy provide theoretical infrastructure and frameworks both for researchers, who seek to impact policy related to literacy instruction, and teachers who continually guide students in their search and appropriation of a media voice.
The Power of Community-Engaged Teacher Preparation: Voices and Visions of Hope and Healing, 2021
As a chapter in the edited volume "The Power of Community-Engaged Teacher Preparation: Voices and... more As a chapter in the edited volume "The Power of Community-Engaged Teacher Preparation: Voices and Visions of Hope and Healing" by Patricia Clark, Eva Zygmunt, Susan Tancock, Kristin Cipollone, this chapter explores how one university considered a community-engaged approach to enhance teacher candidates' cultural dexterity.
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Conducted in a diverse, urban high school, data was collected from a variety of sources including field notes, class work, final media projects, and several hours of audio and video footage of students’ collaborative process. Findings reveal intense engagement in the digital media composition process, often fueled by struggle surrounding media selections. Analysis of both the collaborative production process and final media products reveals a series of multimodal struggles in which students appropriate certain modes of communication within the documentary (e.g. sound, video, interviews, or voice over) in order to express nuanced views on the issue that may or may not be shared by the whole group. In gaining a deeper understanding of the struggles involved in the process of collaborative digital media composition, it becomes clear that literacy practices involve a continual negotiation among the various people, technology, and media involved. Such nuanced depictions of literacy provide theoretical infrastructure and frameworks both for researchers, who seek to impact policy related to literacy instruction, and teachers who continually guide students in their search and appropriation of a media voice.