Teaching Composition (Fall 08)

Take 20-Style interviews

Ericka Wills interview of William Reger, History professor at ISU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7ckatCaovo

Danielle Duvick interview with Jan Neuleib, English professor at ISU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSgB0-M3XnA

Gretchen Frank, graduate student, self-interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCm4G4tR9dM

Jason Dockter, graduate student, self-interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW32_ilmYpg

Jesse L’argent interview of Jonathan Rosenthal, Languages and Literature Professor at ISU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXJwpUAQtuU

Lisbeth Jorgensen, graduate student, self-interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xL0wY1v6t4

Melody Aronson, graduate student, self-interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVIGkra8xto

Ryan Ehmke interviews Andy Farnsworth, creative writing grad student
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4V8QacsxGw

Scott Sands interviews Bob Broad, English professor at ISU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DpevrfajEI

Stephanie Mader interviews Angela Haas, English professor at ISU
http://smader.wordpress.com/videos/

Steve Halle interviews Kass Fleisher, English professor at ISU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrG9a6Ev18g

If you’re in STV 408 working on videos and need to import an AVI file from the Flip Cameras, do the following if you’re still getting an error message when trying to import into MM:

1. plug the camera into the computer
2. open My Computer
3. open the FlipVideo drive
4. open the DCIM folder to reveal the AVI videos
5. drag whatever AVIs you need to the desktop (or some other location you want)
6. open MovieMaker
7. Goto Tools>Options and choose the Compatability tab
8. click in the check-box for the MPEG4 codec to activate it
9. Click OK in the Tools window to close it
10. Goto File>Import into Collections and browse for your AVI file and click OK
11. Your AVI file should now import into MovieMaker.

Good luck!
cb

This is the question posed by Jesse, who is leading today’s discussion of multimodal pedagogies in my 402 class today. It’s a great question since I *am* a multimodal compositionist (at least that’s an OK term for me today…).

Being a multimodal compositionist means asking students to

• think critically with the technologies (digital and analog) that they use to read and compose
• learn functional, rhetorical, and critical literacies about those technologies
• compose texts that draw on the multiple modes of communication inherent in digital literacies and 21st cecntury learning
• and, as always (but perhaps this is linked specifically to my multimodal pedagogy?), have fun.

As a teacher, teaching multimodal composition means that I have to

• remember that my students often know different (and often more better) technologies than I do
• embrace that I am a learner in the classroom along with them, which often means embracing unexpected learning moments and to go with the flow
• remember the long history of multimodality, keeping in mind that texts have always been and will always be multimodal, and that I have as much in common with my colleagues and students who study 16th c manuscripts or other languages as I do with colleagues who study coding and the next-new thing. Just because it’s sometimes called “new media” doesn’t mean it’s new, and certainly it may not be “better”.
• teach multimodality, regardless of whether students or colleagues think it’s useful because teaching readers to understand the materiality of texts (and, also, the contexts in which those texts are situated) is foundational to understanding rhetoric.