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It's Monday morning, first period, in my sixth grade classroom. On Friday, students had an assessment to conclude the short story unit we have been covering for the last months. Of course, as any typical teenager would ask, Now what?
"Good morning, today we are starting a mini unit using postmodern picturebooks."
"What?" asked one inquisitive student.
"What the heck is a post... picturebook?" another replied.
"My little sister is using picturebooks in her class. But she's in first grade. YES! I bet this will be easy!" another said, turning to smile to a person next to her.
I then posted the following questions on the board. The students were immediately interested. Some students' comments included:
"What is a critical stance?"
"What is postmodern? I've never heard that word before."
"What does metalinguistic mean? Is that a power that comic book characters have?"
I could tell this was going to be a lot to tackle. But the students were already engaged, motivated and at least talking about the goals. I figured discussion was a great first start.
Background
This teacher research project, based on the professional literature and frameworks of Frank Serafini (2014) and Bette Goldstone (2004), examines the impact of an instructional unit on postmodern picturebooks as multimodal ensembles. Serafini (2008; 2012) characterizes picture books as traditional printbased texts that contain visual images and design elements, and as one of the types of multimodal texts that students encounter in schools. He argues that studying the form and content of picturebooks can help children transition into other kinds of multimodal texts that they must negotiate in their everyday lives. After researching and studying Serafini's research and methods, I decided to use picturebooks with my middle school classroom to help increase student engagement, comprehension and knowledge of visual literacy. In
the introduction to their edited book Literacies, the Arts and Multiple Modalities, Sanders and Albers (2010) make a cogent argument as to why it is necessary to address research and classroom practice focusing on the analysis and interpretation of multimodal texts. They They enumerate the multiple ways in which a literate person in the 21st century negotiates multiple modalities and they contend that teachers and researchers must be proficient themselves as they "reconceptualize and re-envision what...