VISUAL AID OR VISUAL DISTRACTION?

Multimodality and Classroom Theming as Methods of Immersion

By
Tyana Cullen

AS H195: American Studies Senior Honors Thesis

Chair: Kathleen Moran
Reader: Michael Cohen
University of California, Berkeley
Spring 2019
 DEDICATION

To my family and friends who have always believed in me and pushed me to follow my instincts.
I would not have been able to succeed and finish my time at Cal without your support.

To the professors that allowed me to have the academic backing to follow this path. Thank you
for all of the time and effort you have put in to help me strive. To my advisor, Kathleen Moran,
who has always given me her full support and pushed me to do the Honors Thesis.

To the amazing teachers showcased in this thesis for allowing me to take up space in time in
their classrooms, and have genuinely been excited to see the outcomes of my findings.

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 ABSTRACT

Throughout history, education has been a vital aspect of our society’s progression. There

have been copious new teaching methodologies in hopes to better the ways that we teach

children. In 1987, the VARK Method was created stating that students learn better when taught

in their preferred learning style. This shift pushed for teachers to create more visually stimulating

classrooms. In 2008, new studies proved that a more multimodal style of teaching, which

combined all learning styles, was a better method to promote learning. While the methodology of

teaching has shifted, classroom decor has yet to change.

To look at the classroom space, I touch on the idea of thematization and ageographical

spaces to analyze the productivity of the classroom space. Specifically in terms of how the walls

and decor can detract from the learning, when not created within the rules of thematization.

This paper analyzes how classroom spaces have not developed at the same pace as

teaching methodologies and how this disjunction is ruining the student’s ability to be immersed

into the classroom curriculum. To answer this question I cross-referenced the data from eight

separate classrooms between kindergarten and fifth grade. The 15 fieldnotes showcase the

teachers’ ability to provide multimodal lessons, while the interviews and pictures display their

inability to do the same with the decor in their classrooms. The results exhibited that all of the

teachers successfully provided multimodal lessons, but have yet to alter their classroom spaces to

play a part into the visuality of these lessons. The culmination of unused items on the walls, with

posters that unrelated to the curriculum being taught, and their minimal collaboration with

students broke the theme of their rooms, creating more of a distraction than a scaffolding to help

students learn.

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Introduction

On November 13th, 2018, I was in a kindergarten classroom helping students finish a

writing assignment about what they did over the weekend. Two students raised their hands for

help, so I walked over and kneeled in between their seats. One of the students said that she did

not know how to spell “went.” When I looked over at the other girls’ paper, she was also stuck

on the same word. “It’s on the word wall!” I exclaimed. They sat there looking at me, heads

tilted, eyebrows scrunched together. “Okay, let's go to the wall and we can see how to spell it.”

We walked over the big wall full of the alphabet, with words written underneath them. “Which

letter does “went” start with?” I asked, as they’ve gone over this word multiple times prior. The

girls’ eyes moved around the board, then both looked back at me. I sounded out the word to help

them listen to the letter, and one of the girls pointed to the letter W. I then asked them which

word it was out of the two listed beneath the letter. They pointed to the word “went” then looked

up at me again. “Perfect” I said, as they looked at it again then went back to their seats and began

to write it down.

After this occurrence, I sat in confusion as to why the students did not go up to the wall to

begin with. During the instructions, Ms. J clearly stated that the word was on the word wall and

could help them if they got stuck. When we went to the wall, it seemed as though they did not

know how to find the words they needed. Looking back, I had never really seen Ms. J use the

word wall except to occasionally put words up. The words she mentioned in passing about being

on the wall were never pointed to or referred to after they were put up.

A similar occurrence happened when students were given activity to write what color an

object was. Although there is a huge board in the classroom showcasing different objects of each

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color, and how to write the word, the students were unaware of its presence. Multiple times when

I told students they could refer back to their color board, they looked back at me with a confused

expression. When I walked a few of them up to the board, their eyes widened as they looked

around the poster, then ran back to their seats as soon as they found the color they needed.

These two occurrences made me begin to question to productivity of the classroom decor.

Students were unable to use what was on the walls to help them finish and have a better

understanding of assignments. Especially in regards to the huge wall solely dedicated to words,

students couldn't connect that they could look at it to remember how to spell words they

constantly used.

The discussion about schooling is one that is prevalent in American society. We are

constantly discussing new methods of learning, or discovering new issues with the system. What

I came to realize with the instances above was that, although the way in which we teach students

has shifted, the look of classrooms has barely changed. The physical space in which learning was

being done, has fallen behind in comparison to the actual learning being done.

In 1987 Neil Fleming introduced the VARK method that discussed how students need

different modalities of teaching instruction to perform well. Building on this, new teaching

methods push for a more multimodal style of teaching that encompassed various modalities to be

combined to broaden student’s understanding of topics. One of these styles pushed the need for

visually. This push for visually completely took over the look of the classroom, encouraging

teachers to add more visual images in their rooms. Very recently, studies have been going out

discussing how too much stuff on the walls is damaging to students because it provides too much

stimulus. With this new study, teachers are beginning to lessen the amount of stuff they have up

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on their walls. With this in mind, I question whether or not diminishing the visual stimulus

would be enough to help the students. I have tied in the ideology of thematization to bring forth

the idea that classrooms should not only focus on what to take down, but what they should leave

up. Looking at the functionality of the items on the walls to tie into the theme of their classroom

so that students can use the items as a visual aid rather than a distraction. Additionally, I analyze

it in terms of their new push for multimodality. To continue with the multimodal learning, it

would make sense that the visual images in the classroom be used in a similar way, so they can

help encourage learning and growth.

Through this past year closely observing two kindergarten classrooms, one third grade

classroom, and four 5th grade classrooms, I have taken note of the way the teachers taught and

the way in which visuality is present in each classroom. Throughout the various hours of

observations, I noticed and recorded the way students interacted with the visual components of

the room as well as the how much the visual items were used. With these observation, it came to

my attention that, while the teaching models have shifted, adaptations to the physical

environment are lagging behind.

This being said, this thesis addresses the gap in literature about this topic with the

following framework. First I will be discussing the historical background of the presence of

learning styles in education along with the current studies being done regarding classroom

spaces... This will then be put into conversation with the new ideologies that showcase how

multimodal learning styles help assist student’s ability to learn. This will be used in

communication with the field notes I wrote during my year observing eight classrooms,

showcasing how the teachers are using multimodal teaching styles. I will then showcase how,

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while it is true that most of the teachers teach using a multimodal method, they have yet to adapt

their classroom to be a resource for visuality. To do this, I will use the information gathered from

interviews with students and teachers discussing the classrooms space. Lastly, I will argue that to

have an effective visual classroom, while it should remain uncluttered, it must be thematized so

that it may function as a basis of learning.

Map

There are five complete parts of this essay. Historical Background, Theoretical

Framework, Study Methods, Analysis and Results that encapsulates both the Presence of

Multimodal Teaching and the Productivity of Classroom Themes. This is all summarized and put

into a broader view within the conclusion.

Historical Background

Prior to explaining the presence of learning style in education, one must understand in

which way I am referring to learning styles. While many researchers have aimed to define this

idea, I will be referring to Daniel Willingham’s definition of learning styles as “(a) differential

preferences for processing certain types of information or (b) for processing information in
1
certain ways.” In this sense, I refer how the student learns and responds to lessons rather than

their overall capacity to learn.

1
​Willingham,
Daniel T., Elizabeth M. Hughes, and David G. Dobolyi. 2015. “The Scientific
Status of Learning Styles Theories.” ​Teaching of Psychology​ 42 (3): 266–71.

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 The focus on learning styles in schooling has been growing in prominence within the past

30 years. In 1987, Neil Fleming created a new VARK model, expanded upon by other

Neurolinguistic programing models that separates different ways of knowledge retention. These

methods include, the Dunn and Dunn Method developed during the 1970’s that showcased that

stimuli, like that of environmental, emotional, sociological, physiological, psychological, affects

students and their learnings. Other methods similar to these include, the most similar to that of

Fleming’s, Walter Burke Barbe’s VAK Model (1979), the Peter Honey and Alam Mumford

Model (1982), and the David Kolb Model (1984). With the background of these models, Fleming

created the VARK model.

2
The VARK model is an acronym for Visual, Aural, Read/write and Kinesthetic learners.

Fleming created the VARK method “as a starting place for a conversation among teachers and

learners about learning. It can also be a catalyst for staff development - thinking about strategies

for teaching different groups of learners can lead to more, and appropriate, variety of learning
2
and teaching.” He figured that since having preferences is part of being human, the

educational environments should also adapt to provide different ways to teach and learn. With

this idea, he entered classroom spaces and interviewed students by asking them in what ways

they liked learning. With these interviews, he culminated their answers into four different

categories. “What was new in my work was a second 'visual' modality for read/write learners.

From what I read and observed, it seemed obvious that some students had a distinct preference

for the written word whilst others preferred symbolic information as in maps, diagrams, and

2
​Fleming,
N., and Baume, D. (2006) Learning Styles Again: VARKing up the right tree!,
Educational Developments, SEDA Ltd, Issue 7.4, Nov. 2006, p4-7.

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 2
charts.” This new idea that students have one specific learning style took off and was

implemented and ingrained in educational systems throughout America. Teachers were

encouraged to figure out what learning style each student had and to adapt their classrooms and

worksheets to cater to the needs of the students.

One can see the powerful effect this study had in the educational sphere by looking at

NGrams that follow the presence of words in our society as well as looking through historical

images of classrooms during this period. In an NGram, “visual learning”, “auditory learners”,

“kinesthetic learners”, and “written learner” all shot up after 1987 when Fleming released his

VARK Method.

While this model had been deeply regimented and praised in schools, it has been pushed

back against by many psychologist that study the method of learning. Since 1987 when the

VARK model was created, to now, various researches have gone back to evaluate the

productivity of the model and if it truly helps student. In 2008, four researchers in the

psychology of learning, Hal Pashler, Mark McDaniel, Doug Rohrer, and Robert Bjork, reviewed

the study that aimed to prove that students perform better when taught in their preferred learning

style. In their report published in ​Psychological Science in the Public Interest, t​ he four

researchers concluded “that the literature fails to provide adequate support for applying

learning-style assessments in school settings. Moreover, several studies that used appropriate
3
research designs found evidence that contradicted the learning-styles hypothesis.” With their

research, they concluded that if students truly learned better with one style of teaching, the

outcome in their knowledge would greatly differ if set groups were to be taught in their specific

3
​Harold
Pashler, Mark McDaniel, Doug Rohrer, and Robert Bjork. 2008. “Learning Styles:
Concepts and Evidence.” Psychological Science in the Public Interest 9 (3): 105.

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learning styles. When tested, “in general, the results, which the researchers replicated, showed no

tendency for better performance for those who received help screens matched to their

preferences.” 3 In other words, there was no concrete evidence that teaching a students in

specific modes of learning actually enhances their comprehension.

In addition, three other researchers, Beth A. Rogowsky, Paula Tallal, and Barbara M.

Calhoun reviewed this report and further added on evidence and research of the notion of

singular learning styles. They aimed “to assess the extent to which an individual’s learning style

preference (auditory, visual word) was consistent with his or her learning aptitude for verbal
4
comprehension (listening, reading).” Within their findings they also concluded that there were

no significant results showcasing that a student who is an auditory learner had a higher listening

comprehension than their counterparts. “Instead, participants classified with a preferred visual

word learning style outperformed those classified as having a preferred auditory learning style on

both the listening and reading comprehension aptitude tests. These results show that learning
4
style preference and aptitude are not comparable constructs.”

Daniel Willingham, a psychologist focusing in education at the University of Virginia

states that “Learning styles theories make two straightforward predictions. First, a learning style

is proposed to be a consistent attribute of an individual, thus, a person’s learning style should be

constant across situations. Consequently, someone considered an auditory learner would learn

best through auditory processes regardless of the subject matter or setting. Second, cognitive

function should be more effective when it is consistent with a person’s preferred style; thus, the

4
​Rogowsky, Beth A., Barbara M. Calhoun, and Paula Tallal. 2015. “Matching Learning Style to
Instructional Method: Effects on Comprehension.” ​Journal of Educational Psychology​ 107 (1):
64–78.

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visual learner should remember better with visual materials than with other Materials.” 1 Using

his own testing and with the research shown above, one can see how the concept of singular

learning styles fails.

The outcome of these studies showcase that using all learning strategies better assists

students to get in their zone of proximal development, rather than focusing on a students

preferred style. The same time in which the report published in ​Psychological Science in the

Public Interest ​was created, ​Introducing Multimodality​ was published by Carey Jewitt, Jeff

Bezemer, and Kay O’Halloran discussing this idea of the collectivity of learning styles. His

theory of multimodality directly ties into the new wave of going about learning styles that truly

helps students excel.

The significance of this history is the effect that is has had in our educational system

today. While there has been some shifts in the methodology of teaching, the effects of the

learning styles has affected more than just teaching styles. As showcased above, the concept of

learning styles shot up in NGrams during 1987, but so did the concepts of “classroom theme”

and “classroom decor.” This clearly showcases how Fleming's VARK Method was the catalyst

for visuality and the decoration of spaces to be implemented into the classroom. Looking at the

present day, one can still see the effects of this push in the classroom. The high- stimulus

thematized and over decorated classrooms are all over America today.

Recently, studies have been done looking at how too much “stuff” on the walls can be

distracting for students. In a study done in 2014 at Carnegie Mellon University, psychologist

Anna V. Fisher, Karrie E. Godwin and Howard Seltman proved that students are more distracted

and get less work done in a highly decorated classroom than in a classroom with sparse

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 5
decorations. While this study acknowledges that the walls can be distracting, it does not give

any idea of on what times of visual images should be left up to promote focus and how teachers

can use what is up to promote learning.

The only study that begins to touch on the practically of the visual images in classrooms

was that done by Cedric Cullingford. He pushes back on the idea that students automatically

learn everything that is shown to them, similar to the idea that students need various types of

teaching methods to truly make sense of information. Building on this, he states that “children

pay scant attention to wall displays. Far from scanning the classroom for information, children
6
ignore the written message, the summaries and the facts that have been so carefully mounted.”

This showcases that without relating the walls to the classroom, they will be no use for students

to learn from. For students to be able to make sense of the information on the walls, it must be

explained and made sense of in relation to classroom lessons.

The history of learning styles showcases the effects it has had on the visuality of the

classroom space. With more studies, it has been proven that individualized learning styles do not

work solely on their own. This has sparked a movement to shift the way in which teachers teach.

But, looking at the research done above, this same intent to continue to alter methods has not

followed suit in classroom design. There needs to be more studies that discuss how teachers

should alter their rooms in a context framework to offer more support for students.

5
Fisher, Anna V., Karrie E. Godwin, and Howard Seltman. "Disruptive Decorations." Carnegie
Mellon University.
https://www.cmu.edu/homepage/society/2014/spring/disruptive-decorations.shtml.
6
​Cullingford, Cedric. 1978. “Wall Displays-Children’s Reactions.” ​Education 3-13​ 6 (2): 12.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=75572735&site=eds-live.

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Theoretical Framework

To look at the presence of more multimodal teaching styles in the classrooms, I will be

cross referencing all of the ethnographic fieldnotes done within each classroom visit to see how

and if teachers are using multimodality in their lessons. To showcase how students positively

interact with multimodality, I will be using the theoretical frameworks presented by ​Vygotsky,

Palinscar in conjunction with Ladson Billings, and Jewitt. These four readings touch base on the

ideologies of the zone of proximal development, collaboration and culturally relevant pedagogy,

as well as the importance of multimodality in the classroom. With these readings, I will

showcase how the teachers are currently using multimodality in their classrooms.

Jewitt’s piece, ​Multimodality and Literacy in Classrooms​ specifically discusses the

importance of multimodality in the educational system. “Multimodality attends to meaning as it

is made through the situated configurations across image, gesture, gaze, body posture, sound,

writing, music, speech, and so on. From a multimodal perspective, image, action, and so forth are
7
referred to as modes, as organized sets of semiotic resources for meaning making.” By this, he

argues that “multimodal pedagogy enables the assertion of student identity, cultural practices,

and community to enter the school context in ways that are significant for literacy and teaching.”
7
The work in which students are engaging in needs to be multimodal and innovative so that

students have every ability to connect with it in the first place.

Vygotsky’s piece, ​Mind and Society ​touches on the mental development of students. He

discusses the idea that, although students may be the same age chronologically, mentally their

7
Jewitt, C. (2008). Multimodality and literacy in school classrooms. ​Review​ ​of​ ​Research​ ​in
Education, 32​(1), 241-267.

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levels will be different. Teaching many different levels of academic achievement in the

classroom can be a difficult task, especially when students need different types of interactions

with the work to be successful. He brings up the idea that people ​learn with the assistance of

someone else who can help them do things we can’t yet do on our own. He brings up two

different levels of development, Actual Development and Proximal Development.​ “​ The distance

between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the

level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in
8
collaboration with more capable peers.” The Zone of Proximal Development refers to the

information students have yet to master and analyze how they are able to go through this zone to

grow intellectually. In this sense, the Zone of Proximal development can be reached when the

students are surrounded by people or information that better helps them understand. In this sense,

we can look at how visual components on the walls of the classroom can offer this scaffolding to

help them get into their zone.

Additionally, Palinscar’s piece on ​Collaborative Approaches to Reading Comprehension

adds on to this discussion by focusing more on the method of instruction given to children. He

brings up the idea of reciprocal teaching which points to “engag[ing] teachers and students in a
9
dialogue, the purpose of which is to jointly construct the meaning of the text[s].” It builds off of

Vygotsky's idea on guidance learning as the “key to developmental change. Dialogue is a critical

8
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Interaction between learning and development & The prehistory of
written language. In M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman (Eds.), ​Mind​ ​in
Society​ (79-91). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press​.
9
​Palinscar, A.S. (2003). Collaborative approaches to comprehension instruction. In Anne P.
Sweet & Catherine E. Snow (Eds.), ​Rethinking​ ​Reading Comprehension​ (pp. 99-114). New
York: Guilford Press.

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element of socially mediated instructions inasmuch as it is the means by which experts provide
9
and adjust support to novice learners.”

With the findings above, I will be able to see if the classrooms I have been a part of have

transformed their teaching methods to a more multimodal method. With this information, I will

use it to showcase how, while the teachers have altered their teaching, they have failed to

transform their classroom spaces to a new style that better suits the needs of their students.

​To examine the visuality of the classroom, I will be referring to the copious visual

images and fieldnotes that I have taken specifically regarding the walls of each classroom. To

address the productivity of the space, I touching on the theoretical ideas of Gottdiener, Sorkin, as

well as Young in communication with those mentioned above. These readings offer a basis to

understand the situation of classrooms, the idea of thematization, and the ideology of an

a-geographical space. With this information, I will be able to see how each aspect of the walls

either help play into the theme or distract from it.

By referring to the classroom as a themed location, I am addressing the idea that

classrooms are a space that are separate from the world around them. A themed location refers to

a place that offers something more than the site itself by its usage of images, motifs, and

symbols. This being a said, through the usage of images, motifs, and symbols, locations are

veiled to transform into somewhere else. Sorkin's idea of an ageographical space allows for one

to understand the place or space that is generic and not real, but created and made sense of by the
10
things around it. It is a themed space because it can be recognized and labeled as one due to the

way it looks and the stuff that goes in it.

10
​Sorkin, “See You in Disneyland,” from Sorkin, ed., 205-232.

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 For this essay, a theme will be characterized as an otherness that thinly veils the usual

acts of life. These themes use signs, in various forms of spoken or written word, drawn figures,
11
or material objects to become “something that stands for something else.” In this sense,

classroom walls should have a general theme that ties the visual aspects to what is being taught

and learned in the classroom.

McCracken furthers this idea by discussing the Diderot effect. In a broad sense, it is the
12
idea that items, when grouped together, can get meaning from one another. In regards to

themes, the Diderot effect makes it so that all of these symbols can have a common

communication to exemplify something else. In themed classrooms, everything on the walls

must relate and create meaning from one another to be able to immerse students into the

curriculum. The walls must play into Palinscar’s idea of collaborative approaches to reading

comprehension by having the walls be able to jointly construct meaning with the information and

lessons being taught in the classroom. The walls and theme must be relatable to the class or else

the collectivity of learning will not work. Additionally, if the walls are not relatable, they will

become more of a distraction to the students rather than helping them be immersed into their

learning.

As a whole, themes, and the act of theming “is ultimately about impacting human
13
experience through immersion into a narrative.” In this way, thematizing is important because

11
​Gottdiener, Mark. The Theming of America​:​ ch. 1.
12
​McCracken, Grant.“Diderot Unities and the Diderot Effect,” ​Culture and Consumption,​
118-129.
13
​Lonsway, Brian. ,​ “​Complicated Agency,” Lukas, ed., A Reader in Themed and Immersive
Spaces, Lukas, ed., ​A Reader in Themed and Immersive Spaces, 2​ 39-248

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it allows for students to make meaning from their surroundings and be able to use the classroom

as a visual aid rather than a visual distraction.

Study Methods

All of the interactions, discussions, and information from kindergarten classrooms is

based off of my 24 weeks volunteering as a mentor at Jefferson Elementary School. Jefferson

Elementary school in a public k-5th school located in North/West Berkeley built in 1906 and has

continually been modernized since then. The surrounding neighborhood is distinctly more

affluent than average. Class sizes are lower than the average in district, state, and country

schools. The demographics of the school, as presented by the Education Data Partnership site,

states that 32% of students receive free or reduced meals. With this, they state that 9%, 38/408

students, are defined as English Language Learners with Spanish being the most prominent
14
primary language. This all being said, the makeup of the school is disproportionally white and

made up of students whose primary language is English. Additionally, most of the families

present are middle to upper class and have more resources.

On the school’s website, they have a whole page describing why their school is more

distinguished and different from the rest. In addition from being named a “California

Distinguished School” for their excellence in raising achievement for all of our students they

were also awarded the Title One Award for Academic Achievement in 2011. Jefferson’s school

motto, “Working together makes learning better!” attempts to continue to distinguish them from

the rest. Their bi-monthly morning assemblies full of dancing and singing allows them to come

“Jefferson Elementary.” Ed-Data.

14

www.ed-data.org/school/Alameda/Berkeley-Unified/Jefferson-Elementary.

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together as a community. Their school chant “Our School ROCKS” which stands for Respect,

Open Hearts and Minds, Courage and Kindness, sheds light into their goal to acknowledge every

student for their individual uniqueness. The school as a whole aims to “recognize personal
15
culture and learning styles and foster creativity and academic success.”

Additionally, I spent two weeks as a Teacher’s assistant volunteering in one third grade,

and four fifth grade classroom at Lakeside Farms Elementary School. Lakeside Elementary is a

public k-5th school located in the Greater San Diego County built in 1957 and has had little

reconstruction since its opening. The surrounding area is rural and full of farms and horse

ranches. Class sizes are similar in average to the district, state, and county. The demographics of

the school, as presented by the Education Data Partnership site, states that 46% of the students

receive free or reduced meals. With this, they state that 9%, 33/670 students, are defined as
16
English Language Learners with Spanish being the most prominent primary language. In this

regard, the makeup of the school directly reflects the area in which it is located. Only recently

did a Navy base enter the area, opening up the school for a more ethnically diverse student body.

In comparison to the website of Jefferson Elementary, it is very simple and has little

writing about their school. Their mission statement reads: “The Lakeside Farms staff will

provide an enjoyable place for all students to achieve a comprehensive curriculum integrating

ARTS, HUMANITIES and The SCIENCES. All staff will take responsibility for students'

15
“Jefferson Elementary.” Berkeley Public Schools.
www.berkeleyschools.net/schools/elementary-schools/jefferson-elementary/.
16
​"Lakeside Farms Elementary." Ed-Data.
http://www.ed-data.org/school/San-Diego/Lakeside-Union-Elementary/Lakeside-Farms-Element
ary.

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 17
academic, emotional, physical, and social success.” The only other specialty clubs and

activities showcased on the website was a math 24 club ran by one of the fifth grade teachers,

and a theater club that was held at the adjacent middle school. The pictures on the website show

the different field trips the students went to, as well as 1st grade 4th grade reading buddies

program at the school. The school aims to push all students “to move beyond [them], each
17
prepared to earn a living, cultivate a dream, and make a difference...”

For the duration of my 24 weeks at Jefferson Elementary and week at Lakeside Farms

Elementary, I wrote a total of 15 ethnographic fieldnotes. These fieldnotes described my general

observations throughout the day, a focused observation further detailing a specific influential

instance that happened, and, lastly, an overall reflection in which I could reflect on the day as a

whole and connect the observations with the theories and background introduced above. The

fieldnotes specifically focus on the method of instructions given by the teachers and the students

interact with their surroundings and the worksheets they are assigned.

Throughout this study, in addition to writing fieldnotes, I performed individual interviews

with each teacher whom I wrote fieldnotes about. Prior to interviewing them, I took pictures of

their classrooms, noted the visual items on the walls and the furniture present it the room. Once

completed, I asked each of the teachers the same questions, while taking notes of their answers. I

questioned them about the concept of learning styles and how they believed they implemented

this model into their classroom. In addition, I asked them to discuss which visual pictures, charts,

graphs, etc. that were present in their classroom they constantly use and which ones they never

17
"Mission Statement." Lakeside Farms Elementary. June 8, 2015.
https://www.lsusd.net/site/Default.aspx?PageID=1306.

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used.

Analysis and Results

Presence of Multimodal Teaching

Looking through the fieldnotes, and the interviews with the teachers, it was easy to see

that they understood the positive impact of multimodal teaching in comparison to focusing on

student’s individual learning styles. All of the teachers brought up a way in which they aim to

keep students engaged while teaching through different teaching/ learning methods. The

presence of multimodal learning in the classrooms is presented below through excerpts from my

fieldnotes.

While going through the data, it came to my attention that it would be difficult to group

all of the data together as the methodology for teaching changes per grade. Additionally, as grade

levels increase, they begin to move classrooms and have specialized classes and curriculums for

different teachers. I acknowledge that within different grades, students and teachers change the

way in which they teach. For example, for kindergarten students, there is a lot more play and

activities to guide them into the learning realm in comparison to 5th grade students. While

discussing the idea of learning styles with Ms. J, she stated that “kindergarten has to be a lot

more visual and fun because the kids don’t know how to do school yet.” Additionally, when

discussing one of her younger students whom is usually disturbing the classroom, she stated that

“He’s only 5, so he’s young and hasn’t learned as much control and how to act within a

classroom as his counterparts.” This being said, I understand that the level of engagement needed

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for different age ranges differ. Due to this, I will just be looking at the way in which they

perform multimodality in the classroom, rather than how much or how little they do with each

lesson in comparison with each grade.

Four prime examples of the presence of multimodality is during lessons in Ms. J’s

kindergarten class, Ms. R’s third grade class, Ms. C’s fifth grade math class, and Ms. M’s fifth

grade science class.

Ms. J:​ On ​November 13th, students were given a writing and drawing activity worksheet.

“Over _ _ _ weekend” was already written, while the second line remained blank. “Over blank

weekend” Ms. Jackie said out loud. “You will need to fill out the blank word with what?”

Multiple kids shouted “the!” “Good, so it will say ‘Over the weekend.” Ms. Jackie said they

would need to include the word ‘to’ into their response and asked students to share examples.

Multiple students talked. Prior to starting on their final worksheet, students were asked to write

the word “to” in the air, then write the word ‘to’ on a sticky note and put in on the board to make

sure they knew how to spell it. They were then dismissed to their desks to begin.

This activity allowed for the visual image of the sheet and lesson to be displayed as an

example, was verbally discussed and talked through, got the students kinesthetically engaged by

getting their bodies to spell out the word, and ultimately had them write their words on paper.

The combination of all four learning styles allowed for students to quickly start working without

many follow up questions. As I walked around, the only questions I was asked was how to spell

certain words, and whether or not their sentences were good.

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 This approach to teaching allowed for students to be fully engaged and participate in the

activity. The visuality of the sheet, as well as the copious auditory explanations and engagement

on the activity allowed for them to stay engaged. Additionally, having them write the word prior

to being dismissed allowed for them to practice and kinesthetically be involved.

In terms of Jewitt, the meaning of the lesson and what to do to complete the assignment

was made sense of with the overlapping of different modes of instruction. Additionally,

Vygotsky's idea of the Zone of Proximal Development is prominent within this circumstance.

The positive instructions gave the students the assistance they needed to get into their Zone of

Proximal Development. The instruction, along with their ability to collaborate with one another

that helped them have the scaffolding necessary to work effectively.

Ms. R​: On March 29th, Ms. R began a new lesson by stating that they would be adding a

new poem to their pocket poem. “We will need new words to use in the poem that are specific to

spring” she said. She told the students to get in their table groups and come up with a list of

words, but to be quiet so the other groups don’t hear them. ​Students looked up and around the

room to find words, specifically at the “Spring Time” wall in the room as well as outside. After

time was up, Ms. R began to ask each table for words as she wrote them down on the whiteboard

to compile a big list. After all of the words were written, she asked the students to sit on carpet to

watch a YouTube video about acrostic poems.

The video was animated and explained what an acrostic poem was. It showcased various

completed examples with pictures next to each word. Ms. R stopped the video on one example

titled “winter” and asked the students what they noticed. Students talked about how first bolded

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letters spelled winter vertically on the page. They discussed how the drawings were of snow and

the cold. “If you had to guess, what do you think you are going to be writing your next poem

about?” All of the students answered spring. She asked the students what order the letters would

be in on the side. They all spelled out S-P-R-I-N-G together.

She asked a few students what they could write for the letter S, while putting the big list

of words that they had created earlier back on the board. Students answer with topics like

“sunny” and “so many flowers.” Ms. R then released them to write their acrostic poem on a piece

of paper.

Ms. R had all of the students talking and engaging in the creation of words, while

providing a visual showcase of the words they had compiled. Additionally, she provided a video

that visually aided the students in learning about the poem, while auditory explaining how to do

it. She used multimodality, in terms of actual media sources, along with teaching to better

explain and show the students what they would be doing.

In conjunction with Jewitt’s theories on multimodality, Ms. R also played into Palinscar’s

ideologies of the collaborative approaches to learning. The culmination of words that described

spring was made through the engagement of students to create and greater meaning of the topic.

With this approach, the students were able to understand the concept of spring, and physically

engage with the words so that when they were asked to use them, they already had gone through

the process of meaning making.

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 Ms. C: On March 25th, the students were asked to bring out either their papers or IPad

that had their word banks for their Haikus. While they did this, Ms. C brought out a Nature

Haiku book created by last year’s students. She opened it to a random poem and read it out loud

while projecting the book onto the smartboard. Ms. C flipped to another page and read it out loud

while accentuating each syllable. “Remember that the order is 5-7-5. So when you write yours

out in a sec you need to make sure you follow that order.” She read the same poem one more

time, slightly nodding her head per syllable as she spoke. She told the class that they had about

15 minutes to start making their own using and building off of the words they had already

thought of. Students then moved around to sit with other people or sit at separate tables. “You

can also use clapping to help you figure out how many syllables you have” Ms. C stated. Some

students started to audibly clap, while others looked down at their paper or talked with their

classmates. “Does this work?” was said amongst many students as their peers helped them count

it out. As I walked around, various students were completing their first stanza.

When I discussed Ms. C’s stance on multimodal teaching, she stated that she tries to offer

the kids a lot of modes to work with. ​“I try to be really visual because I like learning that way. I

think it’s better for them to see everything. I have a few students who don’t look at me when I

talk so I make sure to say everything out loud or else they are lost” ​With the auditory cues on

how to write their stanzas, as well as the visual representation of a completed poem, the students

were able to quickly grasp onto the topic. With the already written words that they had created,

they were able to actualize the assignment and use what they already had to proceed easily.

Ms. C out rightly acknowledged that her students learned and engaged differently, and

they she attempted to create an environment that culminated methods of instruction to engage

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everyone like Jewitt discusses. The students were able to grasp what they needed from the lesson

to begin the activity.

Ms. M:​ On March 27th, when I entered the classroom, Ms. M had a scholastic news

projected on the smartboard. The image was of the world map, and had various labels showing

the different tectonic plates. She circled the large area in the middle and crosshatched the area.

“What is the name of the plate I just dashed through?” A bunch of hands raised up as she called

on one to answer “It’s the Pacific Plate.” “Perfect” she said. She began to ask the next question

about the location of the Nazca Plate. She asked for a student to go up and point to it, then she

colored it in with highlighter as her students copied her paper.

“Okay let’s look at the pacific plate. I’m going to erase these lines now that we know

where it is. It just visually helped me see it, so I wanted to let you see it too. So, the Nazca plate

is to the what of the Pacific plate?” Students yelled out various answers. She went back and

talked about how they would be using the compass to orientate it. She put her hand above the

Pacific Plate, then moved her opposite hand to the Nazca plate and asked again. All of the

students yelled out “East” and wrote the answer on their own sheets. “​Okay, also, where is it in

relation to the Antarctic plate?” “North East” Is said in between shouts. She shook her head yes

and wrote down the answer on her sheet. She told the students to answer the last question

regarding plate location on their own. “I have given you various examples on how to find it and

visualize it so use them” All of the students quickly finished their page and packed their

scholastic news in their bags.

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 The combination of the visual image on the board, the kinesthetic motions of outlining,

filling in, and pointing to the locations allowed for students to interact with the sheet. The

auditory question and response helped keep them active, and the read/writing of the question and

answers allowed them to put knowledge into word. Because they applied all of these learning

styles into the lesson, all of the students were able to stay engaged and all students finished the

assignment.

With Jewitt’s ideology, the culmination of modalities allowed for students to have a

better perspective on the topic they were discussing. With the use of images and physically

displaying where plates were in relation to one another, students were able to have a better

perspective to analyze the data. They were able to make greater meaning and have greater

understanding of the map by using the different methods of learning taught by Ms. M.

What was interesting was going into Ms. A’s classroom. Throughout the interview I had

with her, she constantly explained that she was very multimodal and knew how much

multimodality helped her students. While sitting in in her class, it came to my attention that

while she aimed to be multimodal, there were aspects in the way for allowing this to fully help

students. This can be showcased through a lesson that she taught on March 25th.

Ms. A​: Ms. A started off the lesson by telling the students to open their history books to

page 338 to discuss ​“Battle of Lexington and Concord.” She then spent 30 minutes asking

clarifying questions to the students about the battle. During this time, most of the students were

looking down at their books, flipping over random pages, or looking out into space. The only

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regular students who raised their hands were the male students that were closer to the front of the

classroom.

After these thirty minutes, she asked a few students to read the single page in which they

opened their history books to that gave a brief overview of the war. As the students read, Ms. A

loudly shuffled through the room calling on people to grab their workbooks from her hand.

Students kept looking up at her, or talking with their neighbors as folders were being passed back

not following along with the reading. Additionally, most students weren’t on the correct page.

“Okay, in your book you are going to write a paragraph about the war then you are going

to draw what stood out to you most about it in the box” She then proceeded to give five

examples of things they could draw while pointing to other examples in the classroom. “But

before you draw, you have to write.” The students picked up their pencils, but only three students

began to write. Some looked down at the open page in their book, while others started talking to

one another. Ms. A said that she didn’t see a lot of people writing, to which students said they

didn’t know what to write. She responded with “write what you remember” and gave no other

guiding questions. Only three out of 25 students finished the assignment.

Because the beginning of the lesson only allowed for those who already knew the

information to be involved, it did not allow for students to be engaged. Additionally, when the

students were asked to read and listen, it was interrupted by the movement and other talking in

the room. Lastly, Ms. A solely focused on the visual aspect of the assignment while expecting

the students to know what to write since they had just “read” the textbook. Due to all of this,

while the assignment did have auditory, visual, and read/ write aspects, only a few students were

actually able to stay focused on the information being presented.

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 There was too much extra stimulus happening within the lesson to allow for students to

get into their zone of proximal development. The scaffolding Vygotsky touches on is not strong

enough to support the learning for the students. They were not given the ability to collaboratively

work with one another, and were not given enough support from Ms. A, so they were not able to

complete the assignment.

As one can see, most of the teachers effectively used various different ways to integrate

multimodality in their lessons. Most teachers had students actively get engaged in writing by

using their bodies to spell out words, or having them get into groups and work with one another

to create lists of words. Additionally, the teachers used different visual images or clues to help

the students see what they would be discussing, or be able to gain inspiration from past projects.

Additionally, every teacher used auditory instructions and methods to explain lessons with the

actions showcased above. At the end, all of the students used their reading and writing skills to

finalize their knowledge on their worksheets, projects, or drawings.

Now that I have showcased that these teachers have adopted an innovative teaching style

of multimodality, I will be looking to see if they use the visuality in the classrooms in a similar

method.

Productivity of Classroom Themes

The analysis that follows is looking less at the lessons the teachers were performing, and

more at the space they were teaching in and how they used it as a resource for multimodality. In

this, I aim to showcase that, although most teachers were providing solid multimodal lessons,

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their classrooms had yet to be involved in the same ideology. With the ideology of multimodality

in communication with the frameworks of thematization, to function properly, the items must be

discussed in relation to what is being learned in the class, and must be made sense of with the

knowledge and understanding of the students. This being said, the rooms will be analyzed in

three different methods. 1. Whether they used/ referred to the items on their walls in conjunction

with the lessons being taught. 2. Whether the items on the walls fit in with the theme of the

room, specifically with the class subject. 3. If they were discussed or created collaboratively with

the students. Additionally, I have added another section to allow for other findings that have

disrupted the theme that does not allow for the functionality to come through overall.

To describe how the visuality of the classrooms plays a part in the productivity of the

rooms, I will be referring to the classroom as a themed environment. By themed location I refer

to the idea the items inside the classroom should work together to create a broader meaning. In

this sense, if the room in which these lessons are being taught does not play into the same theme,

they won’t be as productive and, in turn, distract from the lesson.

While analyzing all eight classrooms, it came to my attention that many teachers have

forgotten what they have on their walls. Specifically when talking to the kindergarten teachers,

they were scared to have pictures taken of their walls because they knew how cluttered they were

and didn’t exactly remember what was still up. When talking to the third grade teacher, she

inherently discussed how she had stuff on a wall but knew that her students never looked at it.

Lastly, in regards to the fifth grade teachers, a lot of the stuff on the walls were from subjects

that they were no longer required to teach but remained posted.

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 Coming from the interviews in which they described the drive they had to transform their

learning space to be more multimodal and transform education, I found it interesting that they

had not given as much attention to the space in which learning was being done.

1. Whether they used/ referred to the items on their walls in conjunction with the lessons being

taught.

Looking at the classroom as a visual form of multimodality, it is important that the visual

images that are being discussed and used in conjunction with the lessons being taught. In

Vygotsky’s theories, he states that students need support to be able to get into a developmental

state in which they are able to perform tasks on their own. To get to this state, he points to a

method of teaching that is better described by Paliscar in terms of reciprocal teaching.

Palinscar’s idea of reciprocal teaching states that, the best way for students to truly learn and be

able to understand knowledge is by constructing the understanding of the information

collaboratively. This being said, the posters on the wall are not able to stand on their own. They

must have support through the teaching, referencing, and the collaboration of information to

make sense of them. This is also discussed within the research done by ​Cullingford that proved

that students don’t automatically learn from what is presented in front of them. It must be made

sense of with other teaching.

Within analyzing the walls, and in interviews, a few teachers assumed that the students

would gain knowledge from posters without them needing to be discussed.

For example, in both Ms. J and Ms. W’s kindergarten classrooms, they discussed the

number chart they had in the room. This chart has ten rows and ten columns with the numbers

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counting from 1-100. Ms. J said that “​even though they might not know it, the number chart

helps because it’s in 10’s and as they go into 1st grade that's how they learn to count so it just

helps them get familiar with it.” This small chart is tucked away in the corner of the classroom

surrounded by plentiful other posters. The only time it was referred to was when the school

celebrated the 100th day of school, in which Ms. J and Ms. W pointed out that the chart was full

to the number 100. Throughout my time in the classroom, this was the only 5 minute

conversation in which the chart had a purpose in the room.

The effect of the Ms. J and Ms. W not utilizing the chart is the countless missed

opportunities for learning. Every time I asked students to count to a certain number, they never

looked up at or referred to the chart. When doing a counting activity in Ms. J’s class, she never

used the numbers to help them visualize what number should be next, she solely just said the

number out loud. Throughout my time in Ms. J’s class I have seen an immense struggle in

counting for a lot of students, even when they try to use their fingers. It is interesting that a

prominent resource for students that could help them better visualize numbers isn’t being

discussed more often. In this sense, using the theory stated by Palinscar, the comprehension of

the number chart is low because it has not been explained or used in context of the class.

Specifically in conversation with Ms. J’s comment about how they will inherently learn the

content, the reality is that the students will not have the scaffolding to understand how to use it.

The students will not know how to engage with it to be able to assist them in learning their

numbers.

Additionally, ​in Ms. J and Ms. W’s class, they both stated that they never used a poster

named “The 12 Tools- Tools for Learning, Tools for Life.” This poster showcases tips on how

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students can release anxiety, have manners, have patience, and how to listen properly. They both

mentioned that they discuss some of those strategies in class, but never pointed out the poster.

“It’s just kinda there” said Ms. J.

Working within Ms. J’s classroom, there were copious times in which she was not able to

get the students to listen or to give one another personal space. Last semester, these negative

behaviors led them to have a behavior chart in which their name would be moved up and down

on the colors depending on how they were acting. During this time, Ms. J did not explain what

she was looking for in the students, or what tools they could use to stay in a good behavior spot.

The huge poster at the front of the classroom would have been a great method to explain what a

great listener and a proper amount of personal space would look like, and how to get there.

Without explaining it, the poster was just left there as an extra paper cluttering the wall and not

helping the students develop.

Another example of not using the visual images in one’s classroom was while analyzing

Ms. A’s classroom. As discussed above, she had some difficulty truly embedding multimodality

into her classroom, although she discussed how she made sure to teach in said model. During her

interview, she stated that the painting posted in the top right corner of the room of ​Washington

Reviewing the Troops​ was constantly referred to and was pointed to when the students sung

Yankee Doodle. She stated that all of the students knew what it was and why it was important.

When I asked the students about the painting, they said they didn’t really remember what it was

and understood that it was tied to American History but didn’t understand what part. They stated

that she only minimally explained it once, then kept somewhat referring to it but never gave

them the full explanation. What is unique about this instance is what the Ms. A stated that the

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lesson was integrated with the painting, but the students on the other hand felt as though they

didn't have enough information to make meaning of it.

This directly goes back to the way in which Ms. A believed the way she explained her

lesson allowed for students to get a full understanding of the Battle of Lexington and Concord,

when in reality the students were not able to be immersed into the history enough to understand

it. In terms of Palinscar’s point on instruction to create meaning, the instruction Ms. A gave to

the students about the painting had to be guided and built upon to harness the power to truly

teach the students. Pointing to a painting a few times does not inherently mean the students will

better understand the history and place it has in the room. It must be fully explained in context

with the history they were already learning.

This issue with this instance is that, there was no collaborative approach to learning that

allowed for the students to truly engage and make the connections between the historical

background of the painting and the painting itself. Palinscar touches on the idea that making

meaning of texts and information is an ongoing process. 9​ ​This being said, Ms. A’s methodology

of teaching must continuously refer to the painting on the wall so the students can have a better

grounding to continuously grow in their knowledge. As is, the paining is just a small symbol of

some aspect of American History.

Multimodally, the teachers are falling short in their ability to connect the stuff on the wall

with the lessons in the classrooms. In one aspect some teachers do not even refer to the items on

the wall or know that they are present in the space. Because of this, they are not able to be used

or referred to, even when they could be very useful tools for the students. Especially looking at

how these teachers’ lessons were specifically made sure to fully explain images and the purpose

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of assignments, this mentality has greatly shifted. Instead of fully explaining information so

students can make sense of it, they have now assumed that students will be able to make sense of

it on their own. The items are not referred to, and therefore only serve as an object rather than a

learning tool

2. Whether the items on the walls fit in with the theme of the room, specifically with the class

subject.

As Gottinger and McCracken state, to have a functional space and theme, everything that

is visually present must fit in with the concepts being discussed. When items work

collaboratively, they are able to create meaning from one another. While reviewing the rooms,

the presence of random posters and unused items on the walls broke the flow of functionality.

When the wall art did not mesh with the rest of the classroom lesson, specifically with what was

being taught, the art was not able to make meaning from one another and develop a cohesive

theme. Below are a few of the examples of the way in which teachers broke the theme of their

classrooms by having unused items on their walls.

In Ms. W’s class, she continuously focused on her students’ ability to use words and

used her Word Wall tremendously throughout the day. The Word Wall is a joint collection of

words that the students have learned throughout the year. Every time a word is added, students

are required to make sense of it by using it in their own writing assignments. Additionally, in the

room she had copious papers hanging from a line with a minimum of 50 words per page. Since I

had never seen her use the pages within her lessons, I was curious to how she believed they tied

in with the classroom. When asked about them, she said that they’re rarely used, but they stay

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there just in case students want to look at word options. They were written and created by her,

and slightly discussed, but more used as a space filler. Additionally, the students never used

them, and only rarely asked Ms. W for other words to use that were not on their word wall.

These two different sources for word knowledge were created very differently. In one

sense, the Word Wall was created and made sense of with Palinscars ideology of a collaborative

approach to learning. In opposition, the Word Sheets were made and written by Ms. W and not

really discussed with the class. They are rarely ever referred to and just hang in the back section

of the classroom. Because of this, the objects are not able to make meaning from one another

because they have not been put into conversation with one another. The method in which the

Word Sheets were referred to, do not make them pertinent or highly relatable to the instruction

being done in the course. This being said, the sheets break the continuity of the theme and in turn

become a distraction away from the core of learning.

In Ms. R’s classroom, her room decor was constantly changing to help relate it to the

curriculum and season they are currently working with. Although she was one of the teachers

most aware and conscious of her classroom decor, she mentioned that a whole board labeled

“Focusing On” in the corner of the room was never utilized by the students. She is aware that the

students do not use the board because spelling words and math answers are constantly up there,

but the students have never looked over to find the answers clearly presented.

She created the board in hopes to highlight what the class was currently focusing on in

each subject they were learning. For the writing section, it contained different spelling words that

they were currently working on and found in their readings. The math section was similar and

had examples of the problems they were working on. Although the information in each section

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did change, Ms. R does not update the students on the changes. When they changed topics, Ms.

R did not showcase that this information could be found on the board. In comparison to the other

board in her classes, this one was not receiving the same attention as the rest. This being said,

although the information could truly help students create a better understanding of their current

learning goals, the scaffolding to use it as a reference is not present.

Analysing this instance, in terms of theming as Gottdiener describes it, Ms. R does theme

her classroom so that it all relates to the information present in the lessons. What breaks the

theme is that it is not used collaboratively with the knowledge being taught in the room. Students

do not know how to jointly construct meaning with the information. As discussed above,

students do not make sense of information if it is solely displayed on walls. Students can not

automatically get a grasp on the foundation on their learning without this information being

referred to.

Ms. R does relate this board to the theme. It is constantly being altered and re-created to

mesh with the curriculum being present. The way in which it breaks its theme is through its

inability to help students engage with the information.

In Ms. C’s as well as Ms. M’s classroom, they both had posters of subjects or items that

they no longer taught. For example, both of their classrooms she still had a cursive alphabet in

the top section of the front of their rooms, even though cursive had not been part of the

curriculum for the past 3 years. When asked if it is ever used, they both shrugged their shoulders

and said sparingly and only in specific occurrences. Ms. M stated that sometimes her ELL

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students will have questions about certain letters and she will point to the chart, but that was the

majority of the interaction with the alphabet.

Additionally, Ms. C and Ms. M both had different assigned walls specifically for a lesson

on Figurative Language and Parts of Speech, a curriculum they no longer taught. In Ms. C’s

classroom, she had princess themed laminated sheets that had examples of each figurative

language. In Ms. M’s class, she had a few large posters that focused on different parts of speech

like verbs, adjectives, etc. When I asked them about the use of the posters in their classrooms,

they both had similar responses. Ms. C pointed towards their use in the classroom as more

aesthetically oriented and how she enjoyed the princess characters on the sheets. Ms. M stated

that she would occasionally refer to them, but they haven’t been in her curriculum for three

years.

In a space in which maintain student’s focus on the curriculum at hand is the goal, it is

interesting that both teachers opted to continue presenting information that did not pertain to

their classroom lessons. For classrooms, as themed environments, the items on the walls must

create meaning from one another and help increase focus on classroom curriculum. This being

said, all of the information being displayed must be relatable to the classroom that it is being

presented in. Having posters on the walls that do not pertain to the course work breaks the theme

of the room and distracts away from the other knowledge being presented.

This same instance was also showcased multiple other times within Ms. C’s classroom.

One of these images that did not fit in with the theme of the classroom was a PEMDAS chart that

was no longer included in the 5th grade curriculum. She stated that some students have noticed it

and asked her about it, but she rarely explained the order of operations since it is not part of the

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class. For a chart that is so text heavy and has a very specific functionality in the classroom, it is

interesting how it had yet to be taken down since it was no longer discussed.

Additionally there were two other charts in her room that discussed the “Rules of the

class” and a “Guide to Problem Solving” in which she said she very rarely discussed. When

asked about the rules of the class and problem solving posters, she said that sometimes she goes

over them briefly at the beginning of the year, but they were just too hard to get off the wall so

they have stayed. Ms. C continuously broke the coherency of her room by having so many

additional items on the walls that do not specifically pertain to the class and the curriculum.

Looking through the lens of an ageographical space, the students are not able to make

sense of the space because not all of the posters and visual stimulus in the class pertain to what

they are learning. In terms of the Diderot effect, the information on the walls does not mesh with

what is being taught in the classroom. These two realms of teaching and learning in

communication with the space in which it is happening do not align. While there are some

powerful items posted on the walls, the ones that do not align with the curriculum become a

distraction, and, in turn, break the cohesiveness of the room.

3. If they were discussed or created collaboratively with the students.

Within my interviews with students, specifically the 5th grade students, I asked them

which 3rd grade and 5th grade classroom they liked the best and why. For third grade, various

students who were in Ms. R’s class said that they liked how the classroom changed when they

changed subjects and that they learned a lot that year. In opposition, the students who did not

have Ms. R’s class were indifferent and pointed out a few paintings that were on the wall and

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stuffed animals they liked. When I examined why students who were in Ms. R’s room

remembered more of how the room pertained to their learning, I realized it was due to the way

the walls were created with the knowledge in which they were learning.

Upon examination, all of the information being displayed in Ms. R’s room directly

related to what they were discussing or just showcased the student’s artwork. For example, Ms.

R had a board labeled Spring that had flowers, bunnies, etc. along the side. Within this board sat

hand drawn flowers by the students with small poems inside. The lessons that I was present for

were specifically working on different types of poems and the spring.

During the lesson about the new Spring Acrostic Poem, various students looked at the

board and wrote words down regarding what they saw. When I asked Ms. R about the board, she

said that she always kept it up to date with the season, since most of their lessons revolved

around what was happening during that time in the year. This being said, the students had the

understanding that the board could situate them in time and place, and could be a reference to

what they were currently working on. In terms of reciprocal teaching, Ms. R provided the

heading, and the students created work that engaged with the heading to create a deeper meaning

of what was being taught. They worked with the board, created their own meaning of what it

meant, and in turn were able to post what they had learned onto the wall to look back on later.

In conjunction with asking about 3rd grade classrooms, I asked which fifth grade

classroom was their favorite and was met with mixed results. While many students said Ms. M’s

and Ms. C’s classrooms, a majority of the reasoning revolved around their ability to sit in other

areas of the room, and sitting near a paper tree that was created in both of their classrooms. In

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terms of the classroom in which they felt the most connected to, most students stated that they

liked Ms. E’s classroom the most.

When I took a closer look at her room, and why this might be, I realized that her

classroom was the only room in which mostly everything put on the walls was created and made

with the students similarly to that of Ms. R’s.

For example, a poster on “Text Structure” for non-fiction books was hand written on the

left wall. When I asked her about it, she said they her and the class wrote it together. The

students had their own copy in their notebooks that they can reference at all times, and that she

left up the pretty version just in case students wanted to quickly reference it while they read.

Additionally, there was a poster named “Genre” right next to it that was also handwritten. She

said that they had done a similar activity with that poster, since they were beginning to read

different types of books and the students had to know what genres were present. This allowed for

them to go through the information being taught, and they could collaborate to make their own

definitions of the knowledge being produced.

The fact that students felt more connected to the classrooms in which the information on

the walls was produced with their own understanding and assistance ties into Palinscar’s and

Vygotsky’s theories that allowing students to construct their own meaning of knowledge allows

for greater developmental advancement. It is not a coincidence that the only two classrooms in

which I saw teachers collaborating with their students to create meaning of the items on the walls

are the classes students felt the most engaged in. Engaging in this type of knowledge creation

showcases the draw towards a more multimodal approach to classroom design.

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 While I focus on the importance of the items on the walls, I do acknowledge that the

studies done regarding the amount of stuff present in the classroom itself is important. In Ms. A’s

class, I noticed that a lot of the visual images in her room directly related to the course and the

instruction being given, but there was so much clutter in front of the information that it wasn’t

impactful. Plastic boxes full of old papers, textbooks, and worksheets lined every surface. All of

this stuff was piled in front of meaningful documents that the Ms. A pointed out as being referred

to constantly throughout class. Students said that this was the most uncomfortable classroom that

they had because it felt “stuffy” and cluttered. Students said that they often times found

themselves looking out the window, or being distracted by the stuff in the room when Ms. A

lectured. While this may also touch on issues with teaching styles, it showcases that

environments do play a huge part in the comfort a student feels in the classroom.

This was also present in Ms. E’s classroom as they discussed how the copious amounts of

black and white patterned backgrounds with pink accents dominated the walls. Although the

information present helped them learn, the ongoing color scheme was a lot to take in.

Additionally, every single wall was covered in quotes, messages, pictures, etc. which seemed to

dull the prominence of the posters that had been created.

Overall, with the three levels of analysis presented above regarding the visuality of the

classrooms, one can see how practically all of the classrooms have not developed and shifted

with the new models of teaching. To be able to design a productive classroom, teachers must

adapt and take in the idea of thematization in a multimodal framework. This allows for students

to understand the knowledge being shared on the walls because it is created through reciprocal

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teaching. This, in turn, allows for the items to be a form of scaffolding to support their learning.

This permits students to use the walls as an aspect of visual learning and combine that with

lessons being taught in the classroom. Lastly, making sure that everything in the classroom plays

a part into the theme of the room allows for the visual images to create a Diderot effect and allow

for more knowledge to be created. Students will be able to immersed into the subject and truly

gain a deeper understanding of the information being presented.

Conclusion

The inspiration for this thesis was built upon an essay that I wrote about in my course

about American Themescapes. This essay looked at the impact of highly thematized learning

environments, ex. Under The Sea or Western, on students. With this essay, I looked at how

overly stimulated walls can distract and offer a negative escape from reality for students. In turn,

I argued that classrooms must be dethematized so that students would be able to truly understand

what they were learning and not be bombarded with copious images every time they stepped into

the classroom. Additionally, I pushed for de-thematization so that students would be able to be

more present in the real world rather than a make-believe world. This would better allow them to

take in the information being given to them so they can begin to form their own ideologies about

knowledge.

When I re-examined this idea, I realized that thematization in moderation could actually

have the ability to assist the educational system. The draw of themed environments allows for

people to immerse into spaces. Taking this concept into the educational realm, thematization

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could have the ability to better keep students engaged and further their knowledge on the topics

being taught.

The importance of this study is in regards to the continuous discussion regarding how to

better the educational system. Although classrooms may seem like a small part of the issue, it is

the place in which learning is meant to happen. If the space is not conducive to learning, how do

we expect students to be able to perform to their best capabilities? Although we look at teaching

methods and alter them as time continues, the other aspects of education seem to remain the

same. To proceed to strengthen our educational system, we must look at all aspects of how

students learn and collectively raise the effectivity of each realm.

There is a large history of educational inequality in America. We tend to blame students

for their own failures, when in reality, the system is usually to blame. Solely telling teachers to

take down a certain percentage of decorations off the walls does not fix the type of learning that

is being done with what stays up. For example, in regards to the assumption by teachers that

students will automatically learn what is on the walls, it puts all of the pressure on the students to

teach themselves rather than having the teachers develop a learning environment. The

importance of this study is to dive deeper into the idea that classrooms are important spaces for

learning and can offer support for student learning when use correctly. There are numerous

statistics showcasing that students perform better in environments that continue to push them and

offer support. The classroom can be an amazing resource to be able to successfully offer support

if created effectively.

With my goal to go back into the educational system, I hope to use the knowledge I have

received to better the system. Acknowledging the issues within the system, and analyzing these

Cullen 42
classrooms has allowed me to start thinking about how I will choose to teach and how I can

assist other teachers that I will be surrounded by. With the results found within my research, I

hope to not only help those around me but add more data into the collective to continue to better

the system.

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