Full of Shipka

Before I begin, I just want to say that Shipka’s article took me by surprise. Much of it was hard for me to understand and process, so I’m gonna use this blog to try to work through my ideas about what she is trying to say.

I’ve read some of your guys’ blog posts, and I’m glad to see some of you are in the same boat as I am. Here I am, about to graduate with my Masters… and the thought of having to express my ideas through some other format than an essay is terrifying. Throughout the countless years of school, I have never been exposed to this kind of framework. Letting students decide how and what to say??? is this real life?? Most of my education was spent trying to perfectly align my essay with the strict prompts provided by teachers. If the prompt wasn’t followed exactly, points were docked off. I don’t think I remember a single instance throughout all of my education where I was given the opportunity to use whatever materials and modes I wanted. The guidelines on an assignment were given to me, and like I was trained, I followed the rules accordingly in order to not miss points. For these reasons, the idea of multi-modality is a little intimidating and scary…but also exciting. I feel like this class has opened my eyes to so many different ways to look and think about teaching, and this is another example of something that will influence my teaching career one day.

The funny thing is, at first when Kim told us that we were going to be making our own multi-modal project, I was stoked! Once doing a little bit of brainstorming and beginning to work on the assignment, I was stuck. What do I do? What should I use? Do I really have this much freedom? Is this a bad choice? I’m so brainwashed! Immediately my brain started thinking if only I could use a powerpoint… This makes me sick! I think that this is the underlying message of what Shipka’s whole article is about. Why are things like this?

Here I am. 23 years old. Almost 19 years of education. And I freeze up when given the opportunity to choose how I was to present my ideas. This makes me really sad. Although unknowingly, I have gone throughout my entire academic career without this kind of freedom. And I know I’m not the only one. My peers and I have been part of an education system that focuses solely on writing in the form of a composition. We have been so trained to express our ideas in the structured, outlined, five-paragraph essay, that I feel lost when given freedom to choose a different format.

What if we changed how things were done? What is instead of telling students how they should form and express their ideas, they were given the freedom to do whatever they wanted? In her article, Shipka talks about the changes that would happen if students were given opportunities like this. She says, ” The task-based multimodal framework offered here represents, I suggest, one way of responding to Yancey’s call. It highlights what students might accomplish when they are provided with opportunities: (1) to set their own goals for the work they engage in in the course; (2) to draw upon a wider range of communicative resources than courses have typically allowed; (3) to speak to the ways the various choices they have made serve, alter, or complicate those goals; and (4) to attend to the various ways in which communicative texts and events shape, and take shape from, the contexts and media in which they are produced and received.”

I completely agree with this quote. If I were given more multi-modal opportunities in my early education, maybe my ways of thinking and creativity would be different. I’d be able to use a wider range of materials and resources, explain how they have helped or hindered the message I am trying to get across, and be more skilled in interacting with various contexts and media.

Like I said before, this whole Shipka s#!^ is really intimidating and overwhelming to me. So I hope I was able to kinda work through my ideas as I wrote.