A Multimodal, Integrated Content-Area Literacy Lesson

A goal of the graduate course, Approaches to Literacy Instruction, is to provide candidates with an overview of theories and frameworks in literacy education. Literacy theories introduced include new literacies, critical literacies, literacy and new technologies, multimodality, space/play/literacy, and the sociocultural theory. This framework of research, strategies, and techniques provides a platform for authentic literacy lesson planning in the secondary classroom setting. This presentation will focus on an integrated lesson plan around the book How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology, and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity’s Greatest Adventure (Rocco, 2020), designed while applying a specific literacy framework approach. Rocco’s book has descriptive images, an inviting style of writing, and emphasizes the diversity of people and skills that were necessary to bring technology and people to the moon. This book highlights topics such as women and African Americans working with space exploration/NASA, and the space race between countries. Blending these text characteristics with the multimodality framework enables the learner to make powerful connections. Multimodality is communicating using resources, such as words, sounds, images, and layouts to generate meaning (Larson & Marsh, 2015). Students are encouraged to read culturally responsive materials, write creatively, utilize artifacts, interact with technology, participate in text discussions, and think critically using the targeted vocabulary words and strategies throughout the course of their literacy learning