How can we plan with Multiliteracies in mind?
"Our job is not to produce docile, compliant workers. Students need to develop the capacity to speak up, to negotiate, and to be able to engage critically with the conditions of their working lives”
(New London Group, 1996, p. 67)
If we are looking to give students as many entry points as possible to classroom content, we need to make sure that we are planning effectively for these opportunities. One of the ways to effectively plan, is the theory of Learning by Design.
“The theory of Learning by Design suggests the impetus for deep learning lies in teachers carefully choosing, orchestrating and sequencing activities into a coherent pedagogical design” (Burrows, 2010, p. 293)
Supporting the student though the Knowledge Processes and carefully planned experiences can leave space for respectful consideration and ethical response to students' individual learning and growth.
"The Learning by Design approach does not attempt to prescribe a pedagogical formula, and least of all a rigidly defined framework for documenting learning. Rather, its aim is to clarify the shape and form of pedagogy, its various Knowledge Processes and movements from one knowledge process to another, whatever that pedagogy may be" (Kalantzis & Cope, n.d.). Please check out this planner placemat for ease of planning.
The Knowledge Processes
Experiencing …
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the known – learners reflect on their own familiar experiences, interests and perspectives.
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the new – learners observe or take part in something that is unfamiliar; they are immersed in new situations or contents.
Conceptualizing …
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by naming – learners group things into categories, apply classifying terms, and define these terms.
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with theory – learners make generalisations using concepts, and connect terms in concept maps or theories.
Analyzing …
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functionally – learners analyse logical connections, cause and effect, structure and function.
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critically – learners evaluate their own and other people’s perspectives, interests and motives.
Applying …
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appropriately – learners apply new learning to real world situations and test their validity.
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creatively – learners make an intervention in the world which is innovative and creative, or transfer their learning to a different context
(Kalantzis & Cope, n.d)
What we are essential doing when we are planning in a way like Learning By Design, is taking what we are mandated to teach, and offering space for the diversity of students. Most importantly we are setting up out students as curricular informants, and empowering them to take charge, and connect to their learning across contexts and modes of delivery and expression. “Curricula can constrain or afford the enactment of ethics and children’s rights to be heard and thus to be curricular informants” (Heydon et al, 2017 p. 194). This is again, yielding the foreground of learning to your students.
Witte-Townsend & Hill (2006) seem to drive this understanding home, noting that;
“teachers must not be unduly influenced by those who would have us sacrifice children on
institutional altars that do not provide pedagogical depth" (p. 377)
Learning By Design, and planning that mimic these types of ideals offer teachers and students a way to work within the confines of board or school mandated expectations, while still allowing for still allowing for a a depth of learning that is essential for 21st century capacities for critical learning and navigating.
Using a planner such as the one below can be helpful for planning units or work that are conscious of design and are structured in a way that allows space for individual expression and critical discussion of authentic.
With the goal of offering myriad entry points to the content and conceptual understandings, teachers can plan to support their students in a responsive, respectful and ethical manner.
We need to make the value of what we are teaching explicit, and authentic to students and their continued learning.
View an example of a grade 3/4 persuasive lesson that has been done with this planner, here.