Multimodal Storytelling
This week was the first time I had ever heard the word Zine. You could've asked me what that was, and I would've sworn that it was just a made up word. I'm not sure if that means I am out of touch or just ignorant to the world out there. My main relationship to multimodal composition, would I guess be podcasts? Growing up there was not a huge reliance on the internet, twitter didn't really start up until I was a freshman in high school, Myspace was poppin, but I was always a bit young for that, and Facebook was something I had, but was not on all the time. There were different blogs or bloggers that I found a connection with, and then before long the podcast boom erupted and everybody had one, or maybe more! There are fictional, story based pods, news, sports, pop culture, there is one for every niche or genre one can think of, which is cool, and lets all types of perspectives get a chance to shine (for better and for worse). One of the multimodal composition forms that I personally have never really ventured into, but seems super interesting and maybe the most creative is fan fic. I did not realize how big of a genre and how wide of an audience various types of fan fic were able to reach. But looking back, I think it is a really great way for one to express their creativity and expand the lore of some of their favorite kind of stories. It is the perfect mentor text in a lot of ways. A person who loves something so much knows the characters and what makes them tic more than most, and creating a new and expanded world for more representation and equitable stories, is an amazing thing.
Hey Terrence! I think podcasting is a great form of alternate compositions that can be used and created in class. They are easy to set up and distribute, they also take a ton more work to produce than one might think on first view. The amount of research and writing I did to help a friend with his local beer podcast was significant and way more than anticipated. I also had never thought about fan fiction in this realm but I agree with your sentiment. Half the battle is getting students to get excited about reading and writing and if any of them have strong enough interests to write content dedicated to them, it should be readily encouraged.
ReplyDeleteThe roots of zines in in fanfiction
ReplyDeleteHey Terrence!
ReplyDeleteI just want to say that I really enjoy the vibe and flow of your blogs. When I am reading them sometimes, I feel like I am just listening to you speak haha. I can definitely relate to podcasts being a simple, familiar way to create multimodal compositions. I have made lesson plans in the past trying to push the boundaries of what is considered, and I chose podcasts as they are so simple and accessible--just record your audio! But as time goes on the accessibility to other styles of multimodal composition will likely increase.
Hey Terrence! I wrote about podcasting as an alternate form of digital composition, so I, unsurprisingly, agree with you on that front. Myspace was poppin, or at least my mom's was, but she was single when Myspace was really poppin, so it scares me to think just how poppin hers really was :/. Also, I agree with you that no matter what form of multimodal composition we use it is imperatively important that our students are genuinely engaged with what they are reading and writing.
ReplyDeleteTerrence, thank you for these insightful explorations of storytelling and how it continually reinvents itself with different genres and cultural practices. I especially appreciate your example of podcasting and how it invites a unique, auditory and spoken word style of storytelling.
ReplyDeleteHi Terrence,
ReplyDeleteI'm in the same boat with you that I had never heard of a Zine until this unit. After some initial googling, I discovered that it's actually pronounced like magaZINE and not like vine. Now that you've learned more about zines, do you think that they are an effective tool to use in a classroom setting? I can definitely see myself using zines in my own classroom someday.