I plan to teach again one day, and when I do, I want to use the resources provided for us by the Tate Britain. I feel as though the lessons we viewed there were excellent examples of multimodal learning in action. Students who get to interact with their lesson creatively will gain more from it both personally and academically. We wandered the museum and tried to "see" through the eyes of another, tried to imagine which works they'd be drawn to or bored by. We used mirrors to alter our perspectives and points of view. We laid on the floor and felt that the museum wasn't judging us - it was there for us.
In my work in future classrooms, I hope to include elements from each of these activities. More than anything, I want students to be engaged and feel stimulated by a subject. Museums especially can seem stuffy and elitist. For many students, classroom field trips are the only time that they visit some of these cultural sites. Breaking down the barrier of "what you're supposed to do" or "how you're supposed to look" in a museum makes both kids and adults feel as though the museum, the art, and the lesson are all accessible to them.
I particularly liked the Tate Student Resources (linked below). With my own classroom (3rd or 4th grade), I would seek these kinesthetic-based learning practices to make subjects more accessible and more fun. For example, when teaching a literacy lesson or an art lesson, I could use the 'L is for Laugh or Cry' resource. Students will create posters that incorporate persuasive pictures and text. Their first instruction is to make a poster which will make someone laugh - how do you persuade someone to be happy or silly? We'll progress to creating persuasive art that has fewer words and more pictures, and then about a topic that each student feels strongly about. The posters will be displayed around the room for a 'gallery walk' in order to show each student's effort.