Thoughts on New Media and Multi-Modality

Digital Literacy Narrative
Growing up, I was an avid reader. Memoirs, Mystery, Romance, and Dystopian novels were all part of my literary collection. The only thing I could never really get into was non-fiction historical biographies, and I only ever caught glimpses of that section in the library when I would pass it on my way to some engaging literary event that consisted of all the things kids love- snacks, prizes, and all the wondrous things that accompanied entering the imaginary world of Harry Potter. It wasn’t until I hit that awkward adolescent but not-yet-teenage years that I became engrossed in reading Science Fiction. But college was when I found a whole new world where I could actually produce the stories I had been reading about. And so instead of the endless hours of essay writing and thesis production that the educational system has deemed most important for students, my adventure of creative writing began. Yet, my digital footprint and digital application of writing was still never fully developed. Sure, I struggled through the period of “how many posts can I make in one day?” and “is this a good caption?” on Instagram, but I never got into the social media world of tweeting, posting, and pinning.
Looking back, I suppose it’s a shame that the schools I went to never did more than expect us to learn the cursive alphabet and type essays on Microsoft Word. The digital world is always changing, and it’s important to keep up with a presence and voice in the online community. As Wong brings up in her article, “Digital Narratives, Yet Strangers to the Web,” adolescent students need the space to do more than engage with New Media and writing solely through social media. They need to learn the ways that online living affects how individuals in society are personally transformed and how their interactions with others have been altered (Wong). Wong also considers the concerns of teachers who find that new media is undermining to their pedagogical practices. Yet, in “Thinking About Modality,” Selfe and Takayoshi produce the fact that John Dewey, who is integral to the pedagogy of educators, was himself in support of progressive education. As a future educator, I can see how the intersection between New Media and Writing doesn’t have to be separate from the pedagogy I’m learning about. Funds of Knowledge, for example, takes the background knowledge that students hold and applies it to classroom learning. So, if a student is a photographer, she could tell a whole story just by stringing together a few pictures. Or if another student plays an instrument or writes poetry, he could record himself playing an original song or reciting an original piece of art. In this way, they are engaging mental processes concerned with writing, reflection, and adaptability.
In my current academic career, I tend to mostly engage with old technologies as English classes consist of the old thesis inspired essay and Math classes consist of the not-so-dynamic duo of pencil to paper and chalk to chalkboard. But, I have had the chance to professionally work with students in CPS schools who use Chromebooks and Google Classroom to produce writing that emphasizes collaboration and exploration of new technology. I am hoping to personally become more acquainted with the ways I continually reproduce images of who I am online through blogging so that I can learn more about the intersection between multi-modality and New Media and how to apply it in the classrooms I will be teaching.
