New England Association of Teachers of English

New England Association of Teachers of English

Workshop Proposal for the NEATE Fall Conference, October 20th and 21st, 2017

Literacy for Change

Holiday Inn, Mansfield, Massachusetts (off both I-95 and I-495)

Please return by June 1, 2017

Please type in the form below. Add additional name and address lines for multiple presenters.

Presenter #1 Name: Matthew T. Pifer

Please check your preferred mailing address:

▢Home address: ______

Home/Cell phone ______Personal Email:

▢Work address: Meeting House 222, One College Circle, Bangor, ME 04401______

Work email: ______

Work phone: (207) 941-7897 Fax:

For workshops with more than one presenter, insert additional presenter information here:

Proposed workshop title: Reading the Apocalypse: Using Cormac McCarthy’s The Road to Develop a Multimodal Analysis

Check appropriate audience(s): / Check preferred workshop choice(s): / Check preferred room set-up:
▢ G – general
▢ M – middle/junior high
x H – high school
x C – college / ▢ Friday workshop (90 minutes
▢ Saturday workshop (90 minutes) x I am willing to present either day / o Theatre- style
x Tables

Workshop description (100-word maximum required for program):

In this workshop, I will discuss how we can use Cormac McCathy’s The Road to develop a multimodal analysis. I have found that engaging students in multimodal composition helped them not only interpret McCarthy’s deceptively complicated novel but also allowed them to contextualize more clearly the elements of fiction and construct meaning from a text. Through this process, students reported that they were motivated to read the novel (itself a pleasing outcome) and found interpreting it less “tedious” and “more enjoyable” than traditional methods of close reading. To illustrate this type of analysis, I will provide participants with the tools I used to guide my students through the invention, drafting, and presentation process. As part of this illustration, I will encourage the participants to experience these stages so they can develop a nuanced understanding of both the possibilities and challenges of teaching multimodal composition. At the end of the presentation, I will consider anonymous student models (which I will provide the participants in a packet), presenting the comment the novel makes on the development of society, an interpretation that emerged from a critical reading of my students’ work (which I hope to publish in Leaflet).

Workshop explanation – please provide a detailed rationale for the workshop and anoverview of its content and format, including interactive elements and opportunities for participants to create materials or strategies for their own classrooms:

In this presentation, I will place participants into groups and provide them with a packet of information that will contain the “topic invention worksheet,” “drafting worksheet,” “revision guide,” and student model essays. Participants will work with these documents to develop their own ideas and experience both the possibilities and challenges of teaching multimodal analysis. Once completed, participants will discuss how they might augment these materials to develop their own multimodal teaching materials.

Relevant Book List:

McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. New York: Vintage, 2006.
Self, Cynthia. Multimodal Composition: Resources for Teachers. New Directions in Computers and Composition. New York: Hampton Press, 2007.
Lutkewitte, Claire. Multimodal Composition: A Critical Sourcebook. Boston: Bedford-St. Martin’s Press, 2013.

Biography for each presenter including, but not limited to, position, teaching career, publications, other workshops given, interesting ideas or approaches. Please provide no more than 50 words for each presenter.

Matthew Pifer is an associate professor of English at Husson University in Maine. He has presented at 4Cs, SAMLA, and was the NCTE Maine Higher Education Analysis from 2013-2015. Recently, he is interested in multimodal composition and macroanalysis as ways of developing nuanced literary interpretations.

Please note: Presenters are responsible for providing their own handouts. Handouts and presentation slides should be submitted for publication on the NEATE website. NEATE will attempt to provide digital projectors and screens in each room, but at this time we cannot guarantee that we will have these items in each room. So you should prepare to present your workshop without a digital projector. In any case, you should bring your own laptop with your cables to connect it to a digital projector. The hotel provides Internet access, but videos should be downloaded if possible. Please note any special circumstances or requests here:

Please send proposals and inquiries as well as any titles of books relevant to your presentation (for the conference bookseller’s table) to conference co-chair Dav Cranmer at .

The deadline is June 1, 2017.

Assignment Documents

Essay #3, Multimodal Interpretation of Literature

Purpose

In this essay, you will use multiple modes, such as the linguistic, visual, and/or aural, to develop an interpretation of literature. The objective is to help you move beyond the “linguistic mode” and utilize other available modes of expression to create effective analyses. Tim Oldakowski describes the aim of this project we will be using as follows: “In education the linguistic is the mode most commonly assessed because it is important for students to write clear, complex pieces to show their understanding of content. However, in worlds outside of classrooms additional modes, such as visual, aural, and digital are often used to convey messages.” In your project, you will be using some of these modes to interpret Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road.

Assignment

You will choose a theme from Cormac McCarthy's The Road, and three literary elements that speak to this theme, such as character, theme, symbol, conflict, motif, plot, etc. For each element, you will describe how the element is portrayed in the text followed by an analysis of that element. In your analysis, you will use multiple modes in your consideration of how that element comments on the theme you have identified. You will do this for each of the three elements you have selected.

Each description and analysis must be 150 words, beginning with a clear claim that you then support with specific details from your project and the novel. However, you are not to simply write these descriptions and analyses, you must instead use a “multimodal” format. Some examples for this “multimodal format can range from a Youtube video or short film that interprets the novel, to “soundtracks to emphasize key plot points, to making scrapbooks for major or minor characters, to making a Twitter account for a character.”

To pull the project together, you will write a one to two-page introduction rationale, justifying your choice of elements and answering the following question: How did thinking multimodally help you interpret the novel? (72).

Audience

The audience will be your classmates and peers at Husson University. At the end of the project, you will display your multimodal analyses for the rest of the class to examine and discuss. We may then select three (or more) projects to present to the University community in a small booklet.

Technology

Some assume that a multimodal analysis must use digital technology. While such an analyses can use these tools, they are not required. You can develop your project in a number of ways that uses collage, drawing, painting, etc. to develop your interpretation.

Evaluation

At the end of this project, you will turn in the following:

1.A multimodal project that examines 3 elements of fiction and what they say about a theme you have selected.

2.A 150 word description for each element you selected, indicating how that element is portrayed in the story and how your multimodal approach analyzes that element in the story.

3.A one to two-page introduction, describing why you selected the elements of fiction you chose, and a discussion of how thinking multimodally helped you communicate your interpretation.

I will evaluate your projects using the following rubric:

1.The analysis of your theme through multiple modes. I will determine how well your project reveals a meaning contained within the novel. This will be communicated in your descriptions and analyses, and in your final reflection on your project. You must use at least two modes, one of which will be linguistic.

2.Effective Writing: I will judge the effectiveness of your writing and the sincerity of you multimodal elements. If the writing is sloppy or the multimodal elements are simply thrown together, your grade will reflect this.

3.I will judge how well you presented your project on the “gallery day.”

4.Interaction with other students. I will determine how well you engaged with other students during class discussions and project workshops.

Drafting the Multimodal Project

Directions: Now that you have your multimodal topic established, you will need to complete your descriptions of these projects as well as the final reflective introduction.

Revision Session: You will complete a revision session ofone other student’s draftonline Friday, April 22. Once you submit your draft, you will be assigned another student’s draft to analyze(you will be assigned someone's draft to review at 1 pm on Friday).Complete the revisionby commenting on the draft you are assigned through Canvas by Sunday evening.

*You will revise these drafts for Monday’s online workshop session.

Contents and evaluation for multimodal projects:

At the end of this project, you will turn in the following:

Multimodal Projects: A multimodal project that examines 3 elements of fiction and what they say about a theme you have selected (you can use one of the other variations for this that we discussed during class if you wish).
Explanations of the Projects: A 150 word description for each element you selected, indicating how that element is portrayed in the story and how your multimodal approach analyzes that element in the story.
Reflective Introduction: A one to two page rationale describing why you selected the elements of fiction you chose, and a discussion of how thinking multimodally helped you communicate your interpretation.

I will evaluate your projects using the following rubric:

The analysis of your theme through multiple modes. I will determine how well your project reveals a meaning contained within the story. This will be communicated in your descriptions and analyses, and in your final reflection on your project. You must use at least two modes, one of which will be linguistic.
Effective Writing: I will judge the effectiveness of your writing and the sincerity of you multimodal elements. If the writing is sloppy or the multimodal elements are simply thrown together, your grade will reflect this.
I will judge how well you presented your project on the “gallery day” through the Canvas discussions.
Interaction with other students. I will determine how well you engage with other students during class discussions and project workshops.

Explanations

List the Theme or Themes you will use:

List the Elements of Fiction you will use:

Directions: use the tool below to help you draft and revise your explanations.

#1. Include the project or a picture of it

Topic Sentence (should function as the thesis for your explanation. This should contain a claim indicating how the multimodal project, representing an element of fiction, tells us something compelling about the theme):

#2. Include the project or a picture of it

#3. Include the project or a picture of it

Reflection: A one to two page reflection, describing why you selected the elements of fiction you chose, and a discussion of how thinking multimodally helped you communicate your interpretation effectively.

Outline

Introduction: Why you selected what you did, ending with your thesis that indicates how this way of thinking helped you interpret the story or stories (depending on the approach you used).

Body: Support your thesis with specific examples from your projects.

Conclusion: Final thoughts, lessons you have learned in this project.

Note: Place this introduction at the beginning of your multimodal packet.

M. Pifer

EH200

20 December 2018

The Road or something like it

Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” is a dystopian novel about a boy and his father surviving in every sense of the word. By examining “The Road” through multiple media such as poems and stand-alone pictures I was able to better understand its characters and see the novel as more than just dark and depressing. The poem “Don’t Quit” by Edgar A. Guest allowed me to see the father in a different perspective. At first I felt that the father was delusional but in reality, he is strong. He knows that the life he and the boy lead is a dangerous one, but he is the driving force behind them. I believe “Don’t Quit” does a great job depicting what could be an internal conversation the father has with himself. In this conversation, the father tells himself that despite the circumstances he and the boy must go on, that they cannot quit.

By creating a gun made of flowers to represent the gun the father and son carry I was able to see the softer side of this cold dark world they live in. It allowed me to look past the initial thought process of what the gun was for. Looking at the gun as more of a symbol and less of a tool, it allowed me to see that it truly had a much greater purpose than just protection. It was the father and son’s day to day security and a means for them to not only protect themselves, but also allowed them to survive without hurting others.

Lastly, through the examination of a picture I could see the relationship between the father and son more clearly. Throughout “The Road” we can clearly see that the boy depends heavily on his father, but really the father depends just as much on the boy. They help each other, and their relationship is much like that of yin and yang, two pieces that balance each other out.

This project as a whole has given me a better understanding of the novel. It made me take a deeper look at the true meaning and purpose of some of the “everyday” items they father and boy used. It also gave me a new perspective in which to understand the characters a little better.

When Things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and debts are high,
And you want to Smile but have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won if he'd stuck it out,
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You might succeed with another blow.
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might captured the victor's cup.
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown,
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.

This poem is a very good representation of the father in “The Road” and his unwavering hope for the future “He knew he was placing hopes where he’d no reason to. He hoped it would be brighter where for all he knew the world grew darker daily (228 McCarthy)”. The father knows that his hope is a choice but it is also what keeps him and his son going. Throughout the text the father and son are constantly met with not only environmental difficulties, but they also struggle against hunger and against their fellow man. This specific section of the poem” When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest, if you must, but don't you quit” (Don’t Quit) speaks to the fathers’ perseverance. He is the one constantly reminding the boy that they must go on no matter how hard the road may be. “We can’t wait. We’re almost out of food. We have to keep going” (McCarthy 220). The father understands that the life him and the boy live is an exceptionally difficult one,” So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit” (Don’t Quit) but each day he chooses to keep going. The beauty of the father is not just that he doesn’t quit but that he keeps pushing for something better despite his circumstances.

Flower Gun

Through-out “The Road” the father carries a gun with him, at the start of the book the gun is equipped with two bullets presumably one for the father and one for the son if the time ever comes where active euthanasia is better choice than what lies ahead. But the gun isn’t just a means to harm their fellow man; it affords them the choice to be “the good guys”. The gun made of flowers symbolizes the son and father’s reluctance to use the gun they carry and its less obvious attributes. Though they take the gun with them everywhere it is not because they wish to use it. The father and son use the gun more as a security blanket and a means for peace of mind than as a device by which to inflict pain.