Mulitmodal Learning and Readability

Multimodal Learning and Readability     

                In twenty-first century America, students are overstimulated all day long with visuals and sounds coming at them from all directions and access to information (perhaps incorrect information) at the touch of a button. That is, all day except for when they are in school. Traditional textbooks play an important role in the classroom, but using any textbook alone for a class is limiting for the students and unreasonable in a technology centered world. Textbooks should be supplemented by many different sources and with the vast amounts of information available at any time, it is not difficult to do. This is not to say that web sources should be the only type of other sources used to supplement the book. Web sources, journals, newspapers and, especially, trade books should all be used in conjunction with the text book to not only teach the basic concepts, but to teach students how those concepts are applicable in their lives. In addition to reading to enhance understanding, the auditory sense should be involved. Read alouds and read alongs can help teachers to build interest and demonstrate how the text should be read. Richardson, Morgan and Fleener (2012, p. 140) state that Read alouds are occasionally a better choice than read alongs because, “the teacher can stimulate interest and observe how much attention is given to the excerpt (Richardson et. al, 2012, p. 140).” This seems a little bit backwards to me. It seems that  when using read alongs, the teacher would be better able to gauge interest as her attention would not be entirely on reading, but she could walk around as students read in groups. Additionally, with students reading in small groups, students would be able to help each other out with tricky words or syntax. I understand why read alouds are good, but I just don’t necessarily see them being better. Is there any other reasoning I’m missing here?

                As we decide what sources to use to supplement content in the classroom, readability becomes  important. Several different methods were referenced to use to determine readability. I liked the rule of thumb listed for students to evaluate their own reading. For younger students, they would open a book to the middle and read a page put a finger down on the table for every word they do not know. If they get 5 or more, it is likely that the book may be too advanced. For teachers to determine readability the Lexile, Fry and SMOG framework are all presented.  We see some indicators of when they might be used and some of their merits. What I do not understand is how they are implemented in schools. Are these just formulas for teachers to use? I get the impression that is not the case because the text, while introducing the Lexile framework, reads: “In recent years, many school systems have adopted the use of the Lexile framework (Richardson et. al, 2012, p. 153.” Does the school system direct teachers to use one framework or another when choosing reading material. How exactly does the school system adopt this framework?