Making Meaning

Making Meaning is a synthesis of theory, research, and practice that explicitly presents art as a meaning making process.

This book provokes readers to examine their current understandings of language, literacy and learning through the lens of the various arts-based perspectives offered in this volume; provides a starting point for constructing broader, multimodal views of what it might mean to “make meaning”; and underscores why understanding arts-based learning as a meaning-making process is especially critical to early childhood education in the face of narrowly-focused, test-driven curricular reforms. Each contributor integrates this theory and research with stories of how passionate teachers, teacher-educators, and pre-service teachers, along with administrators, artists, and professionals from a variety of fields have transcended disciplinary boundaries to engage the arts as a meaning-making process for young children and for themselves.

• Arts Education
• Arts and Technology
• Classroom Environment
• Curriculum
• Difference in the Classroom
• Drawing to Learn
• Early Childhood Education
• English Language Learning
• Learning through Drama
• Literacy and Drawings
• Multiliteracies Curriculum
• Multiple Modes of C
• Studio Thinking
• Ways of Knowing
• communication
• learning and instruction

 “As contributors to Narey’s edited collection (2009) seem to imply, literacy is defined as a “person’s ability to make/interpret meaningful signs in a particular representational modality (e.g., print, image, film, etc.)” (p. 2). Yet, as these authors (Narey, 2009) seem to imply, our schools and education systems remain verbocentric, even in early childhood, despite our predisposition for meaning making in multiple modalities in today’s global world. Narey’s book is foundational for teaching through multiple modalities. Readers can dive into any of the aforementioned texts to opportunities for opening up spaces that invite your students to critique, design, and engage in multi- modal experiences.”

 “As a professional resource for early childhood educators, Narey’s book offers educational theory supporting multimodal teaching and educational settings. Readers will be stimulated by detailed descriptions of arts-infused curriculum and inspiring descriptions of technologyused to extend learning. It is a valuable reference for anyone interested in learning more about multimodal learning.”

Excerped from:

Professional Book Reviews: Critique! Design! Engage! Opening New Spaces for Multimodal Experiences, Deidre Clary, Amy Johnson Lachuk, Andrew M. Corley, and Lucy Spence. Language Arts, Volume 89 - Number 2, November 2011.

Copyright 2011 by the National Council of Teachers of English. Used with permission.

• East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, USA

  Marilyn Narey

As a teacher and teacher-educator, Marilyn J. Narey has extensive experience in both art education and early childhood education. During her tenure as a K-12 public school art teacher and department chair in southwestern Pennsylvania, she received multiple grants and recognition for her innovative child-centered curricular projects and partnerships. Her work in the private sector focused upon developing a successful pre-K through primary program that featured arts-based learning. Currently she is a professor of Early Childhood and Elementary Education at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. Driven by a vision of quality early childhood education that transcends disciplinary boundaries, Dr. Narey has received National and state awards for teaching excellence for her work in general education, as well as art education. Her research and publication interests include teacher quality, reflective practice, creativity, curriculum design, literacy, and instructional technology and she has presented nationally and internationally on these topics.

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