Foot: Firestone Assignment

After spending time tutoring at Firestone, I think there are ways to incorporate multi-modalities into test preparation. I think it would have been very hard for the tutors to incorporate multi-modalities while working with the students, but I do think teachers can include multi-modality test preparation practices in their classrooms. I don’t think you can teach multi-modality test-taking strategies. I think the best way to incorporate multi-modalities would be to use it in your everyday lessons. I don’t think teachers should teach to the test so they wouldn’t use multi-modalities just for test preparation. If you use multi-modalities to teach, improve, or clarify a subject, then that is when multi-modal practices work at their best. As for preparing the students to take standardized tests, I do think there are a few ways that you can incorporate multi-modal test preparation. One way would be to have an iPad present with you when you’re tutoring. I know when I was working with my student through the OGT test packet we came across some questions that I couldn’t explain the answer to. I am not very good with science and I couldn’t really tell her why an answer was correct or incorrect. An iPad would have been great to have with me because I could have easily looked up information on the iPad while she was sitting beside me. Another multi-modal literacy that I could have used while tutoring my student would be a cell phone. I actually do have a cell phone, but I don’t receive the internet on my phone so I couldn’t look up the answers to some of her questions. I also was a little uncomfortable using my phone at Firestone because I know they have a strict policy against the use of cell phones.

If I had my own classroom, I do think that using cell phones could be a challenge. Even though the use of my cell phone would be for educational purposes, I do know some schools have policies stating that neither teachers nor students can use cell phones during school. When I have my own classroom, and if I can afford it, I would love to have an iPad to work with students in my classroom. I think it would be great to have an iPad in the classroom. I would be able to move around the room to work individually with students. If one particular student has a question, I can work with that student at his or her desk and still have a computer with me. I think it would also benefit me as a teacher because I wouldn’t have to carry around a huge book in the class. I could use the iPad to show students texts or comments on certain passages. I wouldn’t have to call students up to my desk to show them a grade or something on my computer because I would be able to go to the student.

I think students would be more interested in test preparation with the use of multi-modal literacies. When students get to use something new, it often perks their interest in the subject. It is very hard to get students interested in test preparation, so the use of multi-modal literacies would definitely be a benefit. I think there is a lot of tension between the expanding definition of literacy and standardized test preparation. Standardized tests are very formal and rigid. They don’t incorporate new literacies in the test. The test cannot incorporate new literacies because students can only take the test using pencil and paper. I think teachers are trying to use new literacies in their classrooms, but it makes it hard when students are going to be tested over subjects that don’t include new literacies. Literacy is expanding, but standardized testing has remained the same. I think that is what is causing the tension in the school system.

While I was at Firestone last semester, I did see some teachers incorporating multi-modal literacies into their classrooms. I predominately saw that in English classrooms. I observed a teacher playing a song on her mp3 player on her cell phone to demonstrate to her students the importance of beat in poetry. I also saw the same teacher play music videos and then she asked the students to identify archetype and theme from the videos. I really enjoyed observing this class because I liked the way the teacher used multi-modal literacies within her classroom. I think that is the best way you can teach your students for taking tests. I don’t think it would really help to just incorporate multi-modality into test preparation. It needs to be incorporated throughout an entire year for students to benefit from it.

I don’t see standardized test preparation easily merging with multi-modal literacies. One of the reasons I don’t see it merging easily is because the use of multi-modalities can cost money. Many schools are short on funds so I think a lot of schools would shy away from something that is going to be an added expense. I also think a lot of teachers are going to shy away from using multi-modal literacies with test preparation because there isn’t any use of multi-modalities in standardized tests. I know when I had to take the OGTs, my teachers prepared my class for the test by simulating what the test was going to be like. We constantly went over questions that had been on previous OGTs and we had to complete practice OGT test packets. My teachers wouldn’t let us use any multi-modal literacies because they said we wouldn’t be able to use them on the test. They didn’t want us to become accustomed to using something that we weren’t going to be able to use on the test. I think a lot of teachers would share similar sentiments. I think another problem would be that students wouldn’t always have access to the multi-modal literacies. Most students now have the internet, but not all students. I think as teachers, we need to remember that not all students have the same access to materials.