Are alternative texts making us stupid?

Nicholas Carr’s Is Google Making Us Stupid?  offers many positive and negative aspects caused by the internet for our thinking and learning. In an age where information is easily accessible to, as well as being inundated with more information than previous eras, “the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through  . . . eyes and ears and into [the] mind . . [supplying] the stuff of thought, but also [shaping] the process of thought. (Carr, 2008). Additionally, Nearly overwhelming access to information and many multimodal mediums to receive information means that “we may be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s . . . but it’s a different kind of reading, and beneath it lies a different kind of thinking – perhaps even a new sense of the self” (Carr, 2008).  

However, Carr’s article also suggests that what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away at [the] capacity for concentration and contemplation” (Carr, 2008). There is a need for increased focus in order to read and write, with an increasing Inability to read and absorb longer text. A generation of skimmers and togglers are replacing ‘traditional’ ways of reading. It becomes necessary to “develop a mental circuitry for reading that is very different from the circuitry found in those of us whose written language employs as alphabet . . . we can expect as well that the circuits woven by our use of the Net will be different from those woven by our reading of books and other printed works” (Carr, 2008).

Roxie’s presentation on her experience of Prezi.com to engage with Slumdog Millionaire demonstrates how current technology is shifting to suit the learning styles of 21^st century learners. It allows us to engage with the text differently. Rather than present the intertextuality of the film through a more traditional way of writing, and subsequently a more traditional way of reading/viewing, students can ‘toggle’ their way around the material and present it in such a way that it allows for multiple levels of entry  and exploration. This may encourage students to view learning in a way that more closely aligns with who they are as members of the 21^st century and, ultimately, help them develop 21^st century skills through critical and creative with multimodal texts.

“Are alternative texts making us stupid?” No. But, it is changing the way that we learn, and think, and interact, and communicate, and understand our sense of self. Within the context of 21^st Century Learning, students need to be able to acquire and develop skills that allow them to understand, explore and think critically about alternative texts.  We, as educators, need to provide students with platforms to engage with such texts. The challenge is that many students do not know how or why they ought to engage creatively with these alternative texts. Infusing these texts in curriculum and instruction allows students to develop 21^st century skills through systems that are current and relevant, as well as, explore mediums that they may not be aware of, but may become particularly important in their post-school life.

multimodality and composition of alternative texts

Kathy M. Mills’ Shrek Meet Vygotsky: Rethinking Multimodal Literacy Practices in Schools  discusses the implications and use of multimodal texts with 21^st century learners in the classroom.  Mills paraphrases the New London Group’s (1996) definition of multimodality in that it refers “to the combination of two or more modes of representation – linguistic (written words) visual, audio, gestural and spatial” (Mills, 2010).

There is a presumption that adolescents are proficient at using all forms of multimodal texts. This belief stems largely from the notion that “digital natives” have much accessibility to digital texts and are efficient with particular practices, specifically social networking tools, such as Facebook, texting and IM. Two problems arise from this: that adolescent use of current digital literacies seemingly provide a justification for not using traditional texts because they are out of the range of students’ experiences (Mills, 2010) and that little scaffolding needs to be done to support multimodal skill development as students have experience with maneuvering this text.

Moreover, despite an emphasis on the incorporation of multimodal texts into 21^st century curriculum, instruction, assessment and pedagogy, Mills cites some current arguments that need to be taken into consideration for this incorporation:

• “Not all adolescents today are “digital natives”.
• Adolescents’ engagement in multimodal textual practices is not only about fitting English to the interests of youth. Textual practices that give recognition in the world outside of schools can be created and stimulated.
• Although current research focuses on the multimodal practices of youth in their recreational spaces, this needs t be balances wit scaffolded multimodal practice in school settings” (Mills, 2010).

Building on Vygotsky’s notion of providing learning experiences for students that challenge and extend their thinking and not simply supporting what is within their “comfort zone”, as well as, that the role of the teacher is to assist students with their skill development and comprehension through scaffolded instruction and curriculum, Mills suggests that teachers should begin to infuse their teaching with multimodalities, while still creating an experience with traditional texts for students. Further, teachers need to be aware that they must provide a foundational understanding of the text, regardless of whether it is digital or traditional, for students to acquire the knowledge necessary for them to become proficient and effective learners of the text.

In a novel study, scaffolding the types of text and the student’s learning of these texts will provide students will a deeper understanding of the subject matter and themes of a novel. For example, using technologies, such as Wikispaces, in conjunction with a novel study allows students to work collaboratively to think critically and discuss the text. Students would use the discussion function to communicate with their peers. However, to ensure that the curriculum is infused with multimodal practices, use of the Wikispaces should not be done in isolation; other multimodal text will lend itself to deepening students’ understanding and experience. For example, oral discussion practices, such as Socratic Seminars and Fishbowl discussions, as well as video lesson sequences provide students with auditory and visual multimodal components to align with the digital text and the novel. This not only will engage students on many levels, but will allow those students with different learning practices to engage with the text in mediums that are conducive to their own learning.

Susan M Miller’s English Teacher Learning for New Times contends that not only is the use of multimodal texts essential to learning practices, but that students’ ways of knowing involve collaborative and creative interaction and inquiry rather than simply receivers of information. “This is an age of multimedia authoring where competency with written words is still vital, but is no longer all that is needed to participate meaningfully in the many spheres of life. Adolescents need facility with an array of multimodal and digital literacies for different social purposes: critical inquiry, creativity and communication” (Mills, 2010). Teachers ought to provide students will platforms that will allow them to develop and master 21^st century skills using multimodal text as both content and context for learning.

The Reading Experience

The art of reading is both a conscious and unconscious experience shaped by our own needs -- immediate and long term. Moreover, it is an experience that is built upon our history of reading, whether by choice or not.

On the third page of The Last Page, there is a single line: “I am not alone”. The power and act of the written word both validates and challenges our own thinking. We learn about writing and the thinking behind the words by engaging with pieces of text. We are not alone because we begin to experience what and how people view elements of our world, what is directly and indirectly considered important and gain a better understanding of the content and context of the texts.

Scattered throughout my house are numerous books: some partially read, others read numerous time, others collecting dust on a bookshelf and some I’ve never that I’ve never cracked the spine. Many of the books I turn to because, consciously or unconsciously, I am drawn to them. I seek an experience that I hope that the books will allow me to have. Manguel’s (1996) The last page cites that “what the book told  . . . , however fantastical, was true at the time of  . . .  reading.” Reading helps us gain an understanding of who we were, or are, or hope to become by allowing us to share in the experiences that the texts offer.

I spent the last summer travelling through England, Scotland, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. It was not the first time I had travelled across a large terrain and made sure I was prepared. I often view my experience of these journeys as an opportunity to get to know myself.

Arriving at Heathrow airport, my family was aghast with how I struggle with my suitcase up and down the underground stairs – “why did you pack so many books?” they mutter as I muster the strength to keep up to them and their lighter luggage. On this trip I had packed fifteen books. Before travelling I had selected books purposefully, not sure the order I would read them or where in my journey I would be when I did. The Buenos Aires Social Club, Into the Wild, The Five People you Meet in Heaven, The Last Lecture, The Tao of Piglet, The New Buddhism . . . the list goes on. During the summer months, away from dense academic readings, I read books that make me feel grounded; I want to understand who I am and who I hope to be. Reading books about other people’s struggles, fictional or otherwise, allows me to come to grips with my own life and see the choices that I have, or should, make in a different light. I do not know what I hope to gain from the books before I read them, but I am confident from the outset that I will have a deeper understanding of something by the end of this reading journey.

After many years of travelling and countless more years of tailoring my reading preferences, I am becoming more aligned with the books I want to read. But still, like anything I have read, I am drawn to readings because of a need that I seek at that time; whether I am aware of what that need is or not. I think that a lot of reader’s history is about this need: comfort with a particular author or subject or new experiences with others. Sometimes the need is determined from our own intrinsic motivation or is granted to us from another source.

Having taught English for half a dozen years now, I am careful with the novels I choose to teach. For my own needs and those of my students I find that I vary the reading content of my English courses each semester and often with each class. Each group of students is different: some want to experience the classics, others want something new, while others do not know what they want for their own reading experience.

 I want to teach students books that they can connect with. I want them to view literature as not simply a hoop, but as an opportunity. I hope to help them create their own reading history that will allow them to be life-long readers. Further, as an educator I must keep in mind that, as Birkerts’ (1994) article The Guttenberg Elegies states: “a change is upon us – nothing could be clearer. The printed word is part of a vestigial order that we are moving away from – by choice and societal compulsion . . . This shift is happening throughout our culture, away from the patterns and habits of the printed page and toward a new world distinguished by its reliance on electronic communication.”

I know what I read when I was in high school and sometimes that connection allows me to teach the same novels and, hopefully, give students the same experience. But other students want something that is more relevant to their generation. Born Digital Natives view literature in different light then previous generations. As educators we cannot expect that they want to acquire information the same as previous generations because they do not acquire information the same as previous generations. The texts we select to teach to this generation must be purposeful to a changing culture, but one that still allows them to experience their own reading journey.