Tinker Tale 1

​
 I am a member of the Deep Play Group which includes Randi Ginyard, Angela Barrett, Jaselyn Galuez Cruz and Rashid Smith.
The GOAL of our group is learning about multimodalities as a means to provide access. Access will increase student-choice in the classroom and in the learning process. Students will have the opportunity to compose, create and demonstrate their understanding of new concepts using multimodalities. Providing access to multimodal studying, learning and assessment will increase students’ agency or interest. In addition, it will motivate them and give them a sense of ownership for their learning. My general goal is to extend the use of multimodalities in teaching mathematics, especially in assessment.
While reading and watching videos about multimodalities I learned some key terms and ideas. Multimodal means many modes. Modes are resources that we can give meaning with. Examples include gestures, speech, writing, images, sounds, signs, etc. Different modes are specialized for different purposes so we need to be very careful to choose appropriate modes. Since we use multimodalities to represent meaning and knowledge in our communication, we have to consider many aspects of our audience like age, culture, preferences, prior knowledge, etc. Multimodalities are very dynamic concepts that are shaped by society and, in turn, our societies are shaped by different modes.
Since multimodalities are the expanded tools for knowledge representation, I would like to read, explore and apply multimodal approaches in my classroom. Teaching and learning in multiple ways is directly related to learners’ multiple intelligences and Bloom’s Taxonomy. Studying the topic of multimodalities will improve my knowledge in pedagogy, application of technology, trans-disciplinary approaches and educational psychology. I will concentrate on the use of a multimodal approach in teaching mathematics.