A 10th Grader's Digital Composing: Isn't it Time to Talk Back to CCSS?

Scott McLeod  (@mcleod) tweeted this:

I watched Sarah Almeda, a tenth grade high school student's presentation about creativity and learning. She animates her talk by drawing, using a graphics tablet, bamboo pad (by Waycom),  and  iMovie. I really appreciated her discussion, how she combines talk with the visuals, and how the visuals emerge as pages in her notebook are turned.  

Form extends content.


Two quick observations: 

1. Sarah's work helps us to reimagine what composing can be.  Our school-based marriage to the written word (usually stuck on paper & shared with THE TEACER) needs to give way to multimodal expressions that can be shared outside known audiences.  Multimodal composing should not be relegated solely to the tech or media departments, but rather needs to be embraced school-wide across elementary, middle and secondary levels of school. 
2. Sarah's composing also should help us nudge the rather Puritanical interpretation of composing that the CCSS insists upon.  We need to be vocal about our disapproval with the linear rendering of composing that CCSS advocates. Perhaps, it could be considered adequate if it was 1950.  It's not and Sarah helps to remind us of that important fact.  Here's NCTE's position statement on multimodal composing.

Sarah's closing comments about schools (no to ranking and grades) made me hopeful. 

I invite you to watch and thanks Scott for the link:)