Multimodal Examples

Further considering the benefits of presenting multiple perspectives in the classroom, as suggested by Berthoff, I decided to contact a few of my colleagues to see how multimodal teaching has affected their classrooms.

Hillary Hudson
1st Grade Teacher
A.L. Lott Elementary
Knoxville, TN

In a recent phone conversation, Mrs. Hudson described to me how she uses multimodality to help teach her students about money and specific currency. She metioned how musical and PowerPoint presentations work as great supplements to her lesson plans and specifically referenced one song that she uses to help teach her students about quarters:

The biggest silver coin

Is the quarter, the quarter

The biggest silver coin

Is the quarter, the quarter

On the front is George Washington,

The back has an eagle, a really big one

And the quarter is worth 25 cents, oh yeah!

By exposing the students to these various modes of learning, Mrs. Hudson engages the children's minds and creates a foundation for more advanced learning.



John Etheridge
Instructor of English
Central Carolina Technical College
Sumter, South Carolina

In discussing the benefits of multimodal teaching with Mr. Etheridge, he recently provided me with one example of a multimodal lesson plan that he uses. For this particular lesson, Mr. Etheridge discusses several operas by Richard Wagner and then uses various video clips to showcase varying interpretations of Wagner's work. Afterward, Mr. Etheridge completes the lesson plan by asking the students to write a descriptive essay based on the video clips.

In showing these varying presentations, Mr. Etheridge helps the students apply their abstract understanding of multiple perspectives. His lecture forms a context for his students' study. His use of video clips adds another perspective to the students' understanding and helps them to visualize the discussed material. And finally, the descriptive essay assignment allows the students an opportunity to demonstrate their own generalized perspective by conveying their complete understanding of the material/lesson.


As we see in these real-world examples of multimodality in the classroom, diverse media can work as valuable supplements to more traditional lecturing.