Whether you’re wandering in the grocery store, working as an instructor for a day camp, or teaching in a classroom, the ability to communicate is crucial and one’s ability to adapt and problem solve is necessary in our digital world.

Facing Multiliteracy & Multimodality Obstacles

If there’s one thing COVID-19 has done to our world, is it has created a universal necessity for the shift to a digital environment, not only for daily communication but for almost every field of the working world.


What have I learned?

I have been camp counsellor for over 3 years now, but the past 2020 summer proved to be one of constant learning, adaptability, and commitment. A day camp being run during a pandemic proved difficult but possible and in the end provided myself and my campers with wonderful experiences. I additionally have learned the importance in communication. While that seems like an obvious answer, it can truly be a complication in classroom settings, and especially in our COVID-19 world, effective communication has become more important than ever. Not only are mouths covered with masks, and verbal communication is impaired, for many, all forms of communication have been digitalized.

What particular concepts or perspectives inform and inspire my teaching?

I think one of the most important skills as an academic educator, is having the ability to understand and identify different types of learners. Not only is every student different, but within each student, their learning tendencies change, strengthen, and weaken constantly. I truly believe that in order to create the most affective classroom, a teacher must incorporate a variety of learning styles, methods, and platforms to keep students engaged and informed. Not only are we learning how they learn, but they as well, are discovering themselves as students. Therefore providing them with different resources and helping them engage digitally, will help to better their learning experience in class and on their own. Especially in our current and the post-COVID world, equipping students with knowledge for the digital world is now more important than ever.

“In an increasingly technological world, students need to be experienced and skilled not only in reading (consuming) texts employing multiple modalities, but also in composing in multiple modalities, if they hope to communicate successfully within the digital communication networks that characterize workplaces, schools, civic life, and span traditional cultural, national, and geopolitical borders.” 

Takayoshi & Selfe

In reference to Chapter 1, Thinking about Multimodality by Pamela Takayoshi and Cynthia L. Selfe, I think the first concept of preparing students for a modern digital world is one of the biggest “to-dos” of the times. A student could be top of the class and incredibly qualified, but without the ability communicate it affectively on a digital platform, they will be disconnected from the new working and social world. In order to prepare our students for real-world practices, we must allow them to use digital technologies to their fullest capabilities and inform them on how to problem-solve technical difficulties.

How can I connect the theory in the classroom and professional practice based on my practical experiences?

“Another challenge is that teachers in general are primarily white, middle class, and educated, and the majority of the struggling readers they come into contact with are ethnically and racially diverse or from working class and economically disadvantaged families.” 

Christianna L. Alger

In contrast to traditional classroom teaching, my experience at a day camp through the City of Windsor brought forth obstacles that I have never reached before. In a COVID-19 world, the day camp was set up like a classroom dupe, yet things ran a lot differently. Unable to go near the children, I was not able to guide them with explicit detail, or assist them in physical activities. Not only was this a prominent learning experience for myself as I had to adapt with new techniques and strategies to communicate, these young students, aged 4-5, had to additionally learn a new sense of independence.

One struggle I faced, was with a camper that spoke 3 different languages at home, and one of them was rarely English. Not only could she not see my mouth while I spoke and struggled to hear me in regard to volume, the language barrier proved very difficult to communicate. Because of this, she was often off-task and being disruptive. Noticing this, I was determined to find a way to communicate effectively with her and get her on track. To start this mission, I had written out the alphabet and picture-to-word associations, and hung them up all over the class-room. This allowed for her to reference these posters when doing writing activities. Most importantly, we found an application on our class-room IPAD, which audibly read aloud common words when a button with the matching picture was pressed (I.e. Washroom, Lunch, Water, Question), this not only helped the camper and I communicate safely, but it also allowed for her to learn some commonly used words in the classroom setting.

One last fun system that kept the children motivated, was our sticker system, while this is a fairly basic form of communication, to reward good behaviour, it made our days exciting. Our sticker chart prominently allowed positive reinforcement for team-work and participation, as well. Without directly saying so, this communicated with them a welcoming and positive environment, because who doesn’t love a sticker with Ana and Elsa on it! With young kids, some of whom have never been in a class-room setting, getting them involved and comfortable in a COVID-19 safe way, was a main goal for collaborative and engaged learning. It also made for a fun end of the week surprise!

How can I use this new knowledge to diagnose and solve the problems in my previous practicum?

I believe the biggest thing I’ve learned through these class lessons and my day-camp practical experience, is not to give up when miscommunication occurs. It is truly one of the most frustrating things when people don’t understand you, but what is important to keep in mind, is it is equally as frustrating to be the one that does not understand. In the future, I will allow myself to take a step back, and reassess the basics of communication when teaching in the classroom. Whether it is using an application on a mobile device, taping up spelling and grammar tips on the walls of the classroom, or simply listening a little closer, I will ensure that students feel heard, have resources to turn to, and feel comfortable enough to reach out when they are confused.