Semiotic Toolkits-R-Us

I like how Seigel lays out where research might go in light of the "regressive" times in which we live and practice and that imight actually help "address pedagogical issues that we currently face" (65). I would hope that most research in literacy education might do the same, if not primarily then secondarily. Ann Haas Dyson's work seen in overview, is impressive. She thinks both broadly and deeply. Seigle gives Dyson props as she legitimates the playful literacy work of childhood -- to learn to appropirate and negotiate symbol use. The "Ira Sleeps Over" story is a great example of this. Very interesting, too, how once educators start to pedagogically situate multimodal literacy into practice -- the kids who'd been lableled, or marginalized are the ones who show remarkable progress -- with these expanded meanings of literacy (71) -- multimodal trasformation as social justice (73). Her 4 Big Questions (74) are helpful to me in chunking how I think about this expanding universe, and in my dissertation topic quest, particularly, "How are teachers making space for multiple sign systems in regressive times?"