Multimodal Writing: Reflections and Shifts As We Move Forward

In one of our third-grade distance learning classrooms, there has been a French toast frenzy. Because one of the students not only wrote his informational piece about the tasty breakfast treat, but also created a video showing how to make it, his classmates have all become specialists. 

One of the common phrases I hear or read when educators are talking about reading is that there’s no such thing as a non-reader. There are students who have not yet read the right book. I could say something similar when it comes to writing. Here goes: there’s no such thing as a non-writer. There are students who have not yet found the right topic and format of expression. People are programmed to communicate, and writing is a way to do it! Just as the expansion of access was something to consider before the pandemic, it is absolutely something to keep as educators move forward.

Technology usage has skyrocketed since March 2020, and many people have learned about platforms that previously existed, but were not widely used. These platforms provide opportunities for a variety of ways to communicate, provide access, and offer entry points for students who have yet to identify as writers. Multimodal writing is not a new concept; texts, memes, TikToks, tweets, vines, infographics, and more all provide additional forms of high-impact communication. Shawna Coppola shares insights about visual communication here in an article that was published before March 2020. She also has a one-pager that provides and explanation and many examples of multi-modal writing. And if you really want to be inspired, head to Shawna’s Padlet. Shawna wrote Writing Redefined, and I recommend it highly! It’s a book that can transform writing instruction. 

Academic writing emphasizes alphabetic text, and by that, I mean communication through paper or a keyboard, and words. Alan’s report on French toast met lots of writing standards without inspiring his classmates to chef it up. There is an expectation for “proper” grammar that addresses spelling, punctuation, and grammar, and may or may not be reflective of how students speak and communicate in their daily lives. This sort of writing has an important role in the lives of many people, as it involves cover letters, emails, and other professional sorts of communication. However, there are many ways to deliver a message or tell a story. 

Some of the highest impact forms of writing that people consume blend visuals, fonts, and written words. And many times, those forms of writing– social media, posters, advertisements, commercials, speeches, videos– are created to impact the world. In addition to these variations from alphabetic text, there are also the opportunities for audio and video as a way to communicate. Here are a few ways to consider incorporating multimodal writing into the experiences of students in your classrooms or purviews. 

A Unit on Multimodal Writing

After attending a presentation from Shawna, I was inspired to write a unit that leaned into multimodal writing. Another colleague and I created a Padlet of examples for students to see the many ways and options to deliver messages. From there, we challenged students to consider some questions:

• How can they express their message? 
• What medium offers the highest impact? 
• How can they hone their expression to add to the impact? 

Awareness of the audience is an important skill to develop for all writers, and this unit inspired second-grade students to create and revise in order to deliver messages that could change the world. I think this unit and the concepts within it are appropriate and engaging for grades 2-8, as they lean so heavily into creativity and innovation. 

As students collected messages and various ways to express them, they also considered language, word choice, font, repetition, pacing, and other craft moves to strengthen their message. Students had a blast with these decisions, volume of writing was high, and the conversations, collaborations, and critiques were constant. Yes, many pieces were drawings– they were second-gaders!– but with nudges, students added writing and clarified their meaning and intent with an expanding consideration and understanding of audience. 

Multimodal Enrichment Opportunities for Students

While I did not have the chance to teach this entire unit to older students, I did get to work with some strong sixth-grader writers who completed their research-based essays and were eager to consider other ways to deliver their messages. We framed the idea of other forms of communication as an extension for them, and the energy and agency soared. Right away, there was interest in memes. One student who had studied and written about the complexity of causes for the Titanic’s demise, came up with this meme: 

She had a great time explaining to me the connections she saw between her favorite movie and the Titanic. In a couple of days, she made several other memes, and I have no doubt that she would have loved the idea of adding video and audio, as well. For a student who loves to write as she does, and also has mastered the alphabetic essay, this multimodal opportunity invited creativity, humor, and innovation, skills and attributes that will serve her well!

Multimodal Opportunities Throughout Curriculum

French toast expert Alan’s teacher, Christine Neskie uses Padlet extensively for students to share their thinking. (For incredible inspiration, be sure to follow Christine on Twitter. She’s awesome!) Therefore, students have had multiple opportunities to practice their presentation skills. One of her students wrote about skiing as an information piece. From there, he created an elaborate model of all he was talking about and a video presentation to accompany it. 

On a smaller scale, Christine’s class did a quick study of Katherine Johnson, and Christine invited students to share their knowledge in whatever mode worked for them. As you can see on the Padlet, there were written reports, but also audios, videos, interviews, artwork, timelines, and more. 

Closing Thoughts

Multimodal writing was not a new concept before the Pandemic. However, as students’ and teachers’ comfort levels and knowledge about technology has soared, the opportunities have also increased. Universal Design emphasizes the importance of offering students ways to express what they know and are able to do in various ways. Multimodal writing not only provides multiple ways of expression, it inspires creativity and innovation, skills that matter in life. There is no question that I will be weaving it into curriculum and options for writers wherever and whenever I can!

GIVEAWAY INFO:

• This giveaway is for a copy of The Responsive Writing Teacher. Many thanks to Corwin Literacy for donating a copy for one reader.
• For a chance to win this copy of The Responsive Writing Teacher, please leave a comment about this post by Saturday, May 8th at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Kathleen Sokolowski will use a random number generator to pick the winner, whose names she will announce at the bottom of the ICYMI post on Monday, May10th. NOTE: You must have a U.S. mailing address to enter the giveaway.
  • Please be sure to leave a valid e-mail address when you post your comment, so Kathleen can contact you to obtain your mailing address if you win. From there, our contact at Corwin will ship your book out to you.  (NOTE: Your e-mail address will not be published online if you leave it in the e-mail field only.)
• If you are the winner of the book, Kathleen will email you with the subject line of TWO WRITING TEACHERS – MAY BLOG SERIES. Please respond to Kathleen’s email with your mailing address within five days of receipt. Unfortunately, a new winner will be chosen if a response isn’t received within five days of the giveaway announcement.