Professional Development Module

Multimodal Theory: Don’t Play the Butter Notes

This Interactive Educator Learning Module will help you develop a lens for understanding the interconnectedness of content, community, learner, and teacher.

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Multimodal Design

This course is the first of a three-course program for a microcredential in Multimodal Design.

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Introduction

This course is the second of a three-course program for a microcredential.

I. Theorizing Other Ways of Knowing
II. Multimodal Theory: Don’t Play the Butter Notes
III. Creating Multimodal Texts: Production Stages

Supporting the Success of All Students: Schwab’s Commonplaces helps you, the teacher, recognize that you are a part of the process of learning and teaching, informed by your knowledge, competency, and biases; recognizing that your students are not extensions of you, but cultural beings like you, will help you lay the groundwork for academic achievement of all of your students.

Building Cultural Competency: Understanding Schwab’s Commonplaces will help you see the ways in which contexts, communities, and identities (the milieu) play into what happens in the classroom, motivating a process of further inquiry by you, the teacher, into the cultural ways and lives of your students, and to help you make decisions about materials and curriculum. (Part Two)

Raising Critical Consciousness: Schwab’s commonplaces draws attention to the fact that aspects of the educational system weighs heavier than others, that standards and test scores outweigh individual students, their cultures, and their communities, necessitating an intentional effort to break down these systems.

Learning Outcomes

After completing the modules, you will be able to:

Understand that it is common human behavior to group people we encounter across difference into categories, however, sometimes these categories become “single stories” that provide an incomplete and simplistic understanding of the identities of others.
Develop a working definition of “otherness.”
Recognize how single stories can lead to rendering others invisible.
Assess the use of the “multiple stories” in a teaching situation.
Understand what ways do “single stories” impact our own identities, and determine how we socially construct narratives around others

Module Topics Include

Supporting the Success of All Students
Building Cultural Competency
Raising Critical Consciousness

Trajectory

Actualized

Focuses on the concrete and material situations by incorporating advocacy and action as an outcome. Recognizes and affirms the assets of cultural beings, and approaches teaching and learning as a historical and intersectional activity. May experience major discomfort and strives to work with productive tensions.

Throughlines

Empowering Families and Communities

Families and community members are key stakeholders in determining the ways materials and resources are accessible, equitable, and inclusive for all students.

Intentional Use of Technology

Technology is used in a purposeful manner that is informed by context and is oriented towards building equitable and inclusive learning environments.

Standards

Social Justice

Action 20 - Students will plan and carry out collective action against bias and injustice in the world and will evaluate what strategies are most effective.

Justice 12 - Students will recognize unfairness on the individual level (e.g., biased speech) and injustice at the institutional or systemic level (e.g., discrimination).

ISTE NETS

Empowered Learner 1c - Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.

Digital Citizen 2c - Students demonstrate an understanding of and respect for the rights and obligations of using and sharing intellectual property.

Computational Thinker 5a - Students formulate problem definitions suited for technology-assisted methods such as data analysis, abstract models and algorithmic thinking in exploring and finding solutions.