Digital Badge H

I had never heard of Multimodal learning prior to reading this chapter.  According to David Lazear, at davidlazeargroup.com “the more different ways you learn something the more you will really learn it, remember it and understand it.”  For the most part, schools do not teach in all the different ways students really learn making it more difficult for some students to grasp the information.  Multimodal learning is a combination of “spoken words, visuals, written text, audio and models or some other type of simulations.” (Maloy, 217).  An example of this could be a list of spelling words spoken orally by the teacher and displayed on the smart board.  They could be turned in to a poem, the poems then could be written out and posted in the classroom as well as recorded digitally and uploaded to the classroom website.   

I like the idea of using images to generate class discussion.  In my humanities class last semester, we would look at a piece of artwork and discuss orally what each thought about the piece.  It was very interesting and I enjoyed listening to what each student’s interpretation was.  From Tefl.net there are an endless list of questions that a teacher could ask about an image.  This promotes whole group discussion and gives opportunities for all students to participate in the discussion.  This could be a picture from a book the class is reading together or a picture related to a history assignment. 

On page 230 of the textbook, the author states that making alphabet books is a good way for all younger students to learn letter-sound association, what types of nouns should be capitalized and the correct way to use apostrophe’s.  This would also be helpful for ELL students.  According, to Jennifer Atkinson on Scholastic.com a first grade teacher in Texas, she recommends doing this activity because it is an enjoyable learning experience for the students.  With the student’s photograph’s in the book, it becomes more meaningful and memorable; they also enjoy making the books.  The photos could also be displayed in the classroom or on a classroom website.   

 Atkinson, Jennifer. (2014). Creating Class Made ABC Books. Retrieved from http://blogs.scholastic.com/1_2/2009/04/creating-class-made-abc-books.html

Case, Alex. (1998-2014). Discussion questions using images. Retrieved from http://edition.tefl.net/ideas/speak/discussion-questions-images/

Lazear, David. (2003-2008). A Different Kind of Smart! A Different Kind of Learning. Retrieved from http://www.davidlazeargroup.com/free_articles/multi-modal.html

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.