My Interpretation of the Flower

For starters, here's the picture of the flower that we're analyzing:


In this picture, we can see a contrast between the five stalks in full bloom, those that are withering and others which have already withered. The five stalks in bloom are given salience in the picture as they are placed in the center of the whole picture, the withering ones by their sides, while the withered ones are situated at the bottom of the picture, and thus, not given as much prominence.

The denotation of this naturalistic image may just be that of flowers in NIE, but everyone's interpretation and connotation is different due to our individual backgrounds and experiences.

To me, the picture seems metaphoric, as it seems to imply 'Survival of the Fittest', where the strongest survive, and the rest just wither and fall by the side. This is in tune with the competitive nature of the education system, not only in NIE, but all over the world, as only a small number of us will be able to attain excellent grades and graduate at the top of the class, while others have to settle for lower grades, and some may even not be able to graduate and just wither.

The colour of the flowers (white) also seems to signify eliteness, as those who do better in life are generally white-collared workers, who perform semi-professional office, administrative, and sales coordination tasks, thus linking back to the idea of 'Survival of the Fittest'.


This is just my interpretation of the picture, so please feel free to give me your comments:)

Malcom X - Looking up 'Black' in a dictionary

Here's the clip that was shown in our tutorial today, in relation to 'Literacy in Three Metaphors' by Sylvia Scribner, talking about metaphors:

Charlie Chaplin - Modern Times

Here's the Charlie Chaplin video that was mentioned on Pg 11 of the 'A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies' article, representing the "mindless, repetitive unskilled work on the industrial production line":

Replying the questions on 'Pedagogy of Multiliteracies' by New London Group

1. Overall, what is the point that this article attempts to make?

The article aims to introduce and 'sell' the idea of multiliteracies as a pedagogy, also introducing the notion of 'Design' which forms the basis of a metalanguage of multiliteracies, and subsequently, 'Available Designs', 'Designing', and 'The Redesigned' as its main elements; how pedagogy is an integration of four factors: 'Situated Practice', 'Overt Instruction', 'Critical Framing' and 'Transformed Practice', which are influenced by this notion of 'Design', and teachers can incorporate them in their teaching.

2. What aspects of 'multiplicity' does multiliteracies attempt to accommodate?

According to Kalantzis (1997), every single person does not just belong to one single community; instead, he/she belongs to multiple and overlapping communities, regardless of work, interest, affiliation, ethnicity, sexual identity, etc. Thus, multiliteracies attempt to accommodate the differences and similarities between people, whose multiple identities allow them to form relationships with others with similar part-identities.

For example, I am a Singaporean, studying in NIE, taking my degree in Arts, am part of the NIE Bachelor of Arts Club and NTU Contract Bridge Club, am currently staying in Hall 15, and am part of its Contract Bridge, Boggle and Scrabble teams for Inter-Hall. (and this is only a brief introduction) Thus, we can see that I am part of many different social circles and communities, and while some of them intersect (like my coursemates and club mates from the BA Club), and others do not, there are definitely differences in the way I act, or speak within these different communities.

As such, teachers can use the notion of multiliteracies to appeal to their students' diverse identities during their lessons.

3. What do the NLG mean by 'design'?

The NLG has defined 'design' in two ways - 1. structures; and 2. forms of meaning. The process of design involves three elements: 'Available Designs', 'Designing' and 'The Redesigned'. 'Available Designs' refers to the existing resources available, 'Designing' refers to the processes (eg. reading, seeing and listening) made on or with these existing resources, while 'The Redesigned' refers to the final product(s) from the 'Designing' phase.

4. How do you imagine multiliteracies pedagogy, as the NLG describe it, might operate in the contexts in which you have taught (e.g. your practicum experience(s))?

In terms of a language lesson, teachers can make use of the three elements of 'design' to engage their students in a fun and interesting manner. For example, when learning about the Narrative and its structure, the teacher can use the existing stories available (Available Designs) to introduce the text type and teach the students about its structure. The students can then write their own original stories (Designing) keeping in mind what they have learnt, incorporating images and also sound into their stories. They can even create flash animations of their stories, with an e-book being the final product (The Redesigned). There are many software available in the market that helps students to create this e-book more efficiently and effectively.

This is of course, not just limited to e-books, but also e-comics, games, news stories, etc. And many students in schools around Singapore are using such technology, for example, sending in their animations and video clips to Okto, news reports to Channel 8, etc.

Reading 1: A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies

Trying to digest the first reading we were given, but I'm not getting it. Looks like I'll have to read through it a few more times. I guess I'm really unsuitable for modules which are reading-heavy, so I'm glad I decided not to take Critical Discourse, as according to Alen, there is a ton of readings for the course.

I always knew that I'm more of the 'hands-on' type, always doing better in projects and assignments as compared to tests and examinations. It's not that I don't enjoy reading, but academic journals and papers are really very dry, and I often find myself struggling to even read through them once.

But nevertheless, I'll try my best to absorb as much as I can from the first reading, and hopefully, we won't be assigned to many readings...