Unit 6 Reflection

 

In our last unit, we talked about digital composition. This is the use of digital tools to create a multimodal final product. I can’t say that I’m the biggest fan of this. I avoid Canva at all costs because I’m so bad at using technology to design things. In general, I much prefer paper-based handouts and assignments over technology-based ones. If I have a paper version of it to lay in the middle of my desk, it serves as a physical reminder for me to do an assignment. Without something being in my way, I will forget about it. I even have to keep my room key in the middle of the floor by the door, so I remember to take it with me, or I’ll leave without it. I also hate switching tabs to reference something when I’m typing because by the time I’m back in the tab that I’m typing in, I forget what I was supposed to write. I’d much rather have a physical version to reference. It saves me time and the headache of squinting at my screen. In the reading, “Use of Multimodal/Digital Tools for Responding to and Creating Multimodal Digital Texts,” the author talks about how digital composition opens up doors for new ways of consuming and producing texts. As much as I haven’t liked the tools that I’ve used, I was interested in the opening example where a Latino student showed how he was socioeconomically disadvantaged by taking pictures of himself and the world around him in response to “A Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman. I thought this was a powerful way to express the main point, given that a picture is worth a thousand words. I also liked how on page 111, when scoring the students’ digitally composed works, the teachers did not grade on the performance or execution, rather based on a set of criteria. Not only is this a more valid way of grading, but the focus is on the process rather than the outcome. It is more of a learning process than a performance-based task.

            For my attachment for this blog post, I’ve decided to include my research project video, which I composed digitally. It was an absolute nightmare to record because I am terrible with technology and Kaltura Capture is a terrible, TERRIBLE software to use. I do NOT recommend it. However, I did my research on using dance in the classroom and decided to include a dance based on a novel, The Song of Achilles, as an example which I thought was a nice touch. I added narration to include a possible analysis and that part of it was very fun. I loved looking at the dance closely to dissect it. The process of digitally composing was a bit difficult, but I’m decently happy with the final product.