Civ III and Multimodal Literacy

Alright, I’ll admit that my view of literacy is very narrow. It’s probably my age, not that that is an excuse, just fact. I am open minded enough to admit that through reading others’ responses to my blog on video games (Civilization III and the Classroom) and through the readings for this class, I’m getting a clearer picture.

I was startled to read in NCTE’s Summary Statement, part of our readings for this week that, “Multiple ways of knowing” (Short & Harste) also include art, music, movement, and drama, which should not be considered curricular luxuries.” That registered with me, more than other articles on this subject did. If I think of literacy as a “way of knowing”, then it can encompass music, art, video games, and comic strips. I can know a variety of things from any of those mediums.

I am beginning to see that people have various talents and express themselves in ways that best display those talents. The understanding of the consumers of those products also varies. If literacy is a way of knowing something, then one can gain literacy by using or producing in any of these mediums. In addition, if we develop our critiquing skills in each medium, we can better understand those who “speak” through those various mediums.

I also read this week that exclusive emphasis on digital literacies is not the answer either. It’s too limiting. Using digital technology all the time just for the sake of using it is counterproductive. This kind of emphasis would limit students’ access to other modes of expression. A better approach is to use the medium that will best express what the producer is trying to convey.

So, for instance, maybe the subject matter of a complex video game is not the only valid reason for it to be in a classroom. I am starting to see the value of role playing as a literacy in itself. Through play, one can try out different personas and work out differences with others who are playing the game. In a game like Civilization, moral and ethical values can be worked out as well as developing decision-making skills. When I think of literacy as “ways of knowing”, my view of being literate opens wide.

Today, in the Chicago Tribune Live! Section (yes, I still read my news in paper form), Christopher Borrelli wrote about a new genre of books, the mash-up. This specific book is called Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. Seth Grahame-Smith also wrote Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, another mash-up. Now, this does not exactly fit into the multi-modal category but it is a mix of genres – biography and vampire stories. And furthermore, this is just the kind of book that I would have dismissed out-of-hand before this class. The obvious value, one of many, I’m sure, is that teens and adults that would not read straight history, might pick up a mash-up simply because it has zombies and vampires in it. I am starting to see, however, the literary value of the mash-up simply because it is one “way of knowing” for the producer and the consumer.