Our initial choice of topic for our Conceptual Literature unit assignment was simply “Chinese Calligraphy.” All of our group members were excited to learn more about the Chinese language and to gain some insight into how a language can physically be made beautiful. We quickly realized, however, that the focus of the unit would have to be expanded in order to be meaningful to the diverse students in our classroom, and so we decided to apply our study of calligraphy to something broader – the study of Chinese poetry. This way, students would be engaging in literary analysis in a more unique and also more cohesive manner, concentrating on poetry’s form (the calligraphy) as well as its meaning (the poetic analysis). As we soon realized, this interplay between formal and symbolic elements is especially prevalent in the Chinese poetic and artistic traditions, because the Chinese language is made up of picture-like symbols, not letters as in so many Western languages. This mingling of artistic genres existing in the Chinese tradition became even clearer to us as we discovered the prevalence of what we call, for apparent lack of an actual English term, Chinese “multimodal art.” These are poems, written in calligraphy, which serve as a kind of caption to a painting. All three artistic elements – the poem, the calligraphy, and the painting – appear on the same tableau, having been created by the same artist, and work together to create the overall tone and meaning of the artwork. The multimodal quality of these images is apparent, and we were excited to bring a study of this kind of art into a unit in which we already knew our teaching needed to occur through a multimodal approach. Therefore, both our subject matter and approach to teaching it is multimodal and will provide ample opportunity for our students to engage with the material in whichever way(s) are best suited to their individual learning style.
Our teaching approach to the unit is indeed multimodal because of all the different activities we’ve included within it. Our first week focuses on an introduction to Chinese culture, both ancient and modern, and also a discussion of China’s relationship to the U.S. in a relaxed classroom atmosphere involving food and music from China for students to sample and photos/maps of the country for students to broaden their worldviews. This week will also include the study of calligraphy, and a Chinese calligrapher will come into the classroom to teach students this traditional art of writing beautifully. Students will practice their calligraphy abilities under the guidance of this expert. The second, third, and fourth week of this unit shift into the study of poetry – we will look at three famous poets of China’s Tang Dynasty and the various influences and philosophies that shape their artwork. This study will also be multimodal, as students will engage with the texts individually and in group and whole-class discussions. They will constantly be asked to apply their knowledge, too, as they will write their own poems and, by using the “new media” setting of a classroom blog, comment on their own work and their classmates’. Finally, as already mentioned, the unit will culminate in an elaborate final project: students will create their own piece of multimodal art, contextualizing the knowledge they’ve gained in the areas of calligraphy, poetry, and the visual arts in general. Students will also explain the rationale behind their final project and identify the previously-discussed influences they’ve used in their work. Through the multi-faceted way we’re approaching the ideas covered in this unit and assessing students’ demonstration of acquired knowledge, we’re confident that the multimodal experiences of these five weeks will be enjoyable and ultimately meaningful to our diverse group of students.
