UNIV 112Fall 2016Jackson

Unit 1 Core Assignment #2: Multimodal Composition

Introduction: Many of us assume that important work—college work—should be composed in the form of a traditional paper. The traditional paper is indeed an amazing, powerful form of communication. This is because language is probably the richest and most complex way of communicating ideas that we’ve discovered. Yet a traditional paper is only one form of communication. There are so many ways to express complex, rigorous, and insightful thoughts, feelings, and ideas. One goal for our course is to broaden our sense of what it means to compose significant work.

In Unit 1, we will begin to explore how composition can transcend the written page.1 This means we will practice “multimodality”: we will compose in more than one communication form. That is, multimodality = using more than one mode.

Here is a chart that shows the five modes in multimodality:

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Some examples of these different modes might include: The visual mode (e.g., still or moving images, color) The aural mode (e.g., music, sound effects) The gestural mode (e.g., body movement) The spatial mode (e.g., arrangement of space) The linguistic mode (e.g., words, sentences, paragraphs, etc.).3

Core Assignment #2: For this core assignment, you will create a multimodal composition

1 You will return to multimodal composition in UNIV 200. 2 Arola, Kristin L., Jennifer Sheppard, and Cheryl E. Ball. Writer/Designer: A Guide to Making Multimodal Projects. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014. Print.3 Ball, Cheryl E. “R&R is the New A: Integrating Multimodality into Composition Curricula.” Ceball. Ceball, 2011. Web. 3 Sep. 2015.

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UNIV 112Fall 2016Jacksonthat makes use of at least three modes (the linguistic mode must be the central one). Your composition must use a specific and concrete experience from your own life to present a significant idea that deepens your and our understanding of one of the six group-presentation themes from last week. In addition, you will write a 200- to 300-word curatorial statement of how your multimodal composition relates to the group presentations on the theme you chose.

This Multimodal Composition is due at the beginning of class on Friday 9.30.16. The Curatorial Statement is due on Monday 10.3.16. This Core Assignment accounts for 30% of your Unit 1 Grade.

Schedule:September 19Discuss multimodality and personal narratives.We’ll look at some examples.

HW for next time:Begin planning your Multimodal Composition.

21Additional examples of multimodal compositions.

HW for next time:Complete a draft script for your multimodal composition.

23Draft Script for Multimodal Composition Due.

HW for next time:Work on your composition.

26TBA

HW for next time:Work on your composition.

28TBA

HW for next time:Complete your composition [draft].

30Multimodal Composition Due.

Draft of Multimodal Composition Due.

HW for next time:[Edited to add: Complete your Multimodal Composition.]Write your curatorial statement for your composition and post it to the class rampages site.

October 3Gallery Day: Curatorial Statement Due[Edited to add: MM Composition Due]

HW for next time:Write a reflection on your composition.

Requirements: Your composition must be able to stand on its own. (Unlike your group

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UNIV 112Fall 2016Jackson

presentations, this is not primarily an oral presentation.) Your main points and supports must use at least the linguistic mode. Your composition should be between three and 5 minutes in length. It must include accurate citations (MLA or APA) for any material not your own. Use

Hacker’s A Writer’s Reference for citation guidance.

Tools & Technology: You may use whatever tools or technologies you like in creating your composition. These might include PowerPoint, iMovie or Movie Maker, etc.

Gallery Day: On the due date, we’ll arrange your projects into a small gallery. Each of you must bring your laptop to class that day. Then we will have time to visit and explore everyone’s work.

Final Reflection: The final component for this assignment is a reflection on your work in Unit 1 to be completed after the Unit 1 Project Gallery Day.

Overall Goals for this assignment: To think critically and reflectively about a complex theme. To develop your skills in communicating and developing a main idea. To consider and respond appropriately to the needs and expectations of your

audience. To think carefully about communication in a multimodal format.

Working Your Way In:1. Start by brainstorming experiences from your own life that relate to the six

presentation themes. What personal experiences pop into your head when you think about these themes? Pick one (one theme, one experience).

2. Develop a question that helps you explore your theme and experience. Your question should be an authentic one: you should really want to find an answer to it.

3. You will then want to develop an answer to this question that is true for you. You can think of your answer as your main point, around which you will organize your multimodal composition.

Some More Tips:Focus on one experience: This assignment asks you to explore a relationship between your own life experience and one of the presentation themes. Projects like this do best when they are focused on a particular and concrete part of your experience. Generalizations tend to lead to lazy, vague, and uninteresting work.

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UNIV 112Fall 2016JacksonIdentify a single main idea: Strive to focus your composition on a single, controlling idea (this is like your main point or claim). The composition as a whole should then develop and support that main idea.

Be concrete: The poet Ezra Pound once wrote, “Go in fear of abstractions.”4 Concreteness of detail and information will help you and your audience to engage more rigorously with your theme.

Connect reflection on your experience with description of your experience: Show that the meaning or significance of your experience (concerning your theme) relates logically and clearly to the experience itself.

Consider Just Mercy and our other texts: Consider how the texts we have read and discussed can help you explore your relationship with your theme.

Make your project relevant to your audience: Remember that your composition should deepen not only your understanding of the theme, but ours as well. What is the larger meaning or significance of the relationship between your theme and experience?

Creativity: Be creative! Find interesting and evocative ways to communicate in different modes. (Of course, we’ll grant that one person’s creativity might be another person’s baseline.)

Form and Content: Design your composition so that the form and content reinforce each other.

Personal vs. Private: This assignment is necessarily personal. It asks you to reflect on yourself and your life. However, it does not ask you to share what you consider to be private. Please focus this composition only on parts of your experience you feel comfortable sharing with the class.

4 Pound, Ezra. “A Few Don’ts by an Imagiste.” Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, 2005. Web. 3 Sep. 2015.

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