Marni J. Binder

Multimodal Literacy Narratives: Weaving the Threads of Young Children's Identity through the Arts

The current study examines how children develop multimodal narratives through the construction of quilt squares and I Am poetry. Creating visual narratives through the use of personal artifacts lays the foundation for this artistic multiple literacy experience. The study focuses on the process and growth that a diverse group of kindergarten children underwent over the course of 9 weeks. How children reveal their identity texts through multimodal engagements reflects the significance of being able to understand, communicate, and think in alternative ways. Such opportunities offer children ways to represent the importance of being in the social world and document their personal narratives in nontraditional forms of literacy. The learning environment must engage children in experiences that empower them to make their thoughts public and to change how they think, view, and situate themselves in the world.

‘I saw the universe and I saw the world’: exploring spiritual literacy with young children in a primary classroom

This paper explores the concept of promoting spiritual literacy as viewed through the eyes of a holistic educator of young children in an inner‐city primary classroom. Similar to discussions of spirituality in education, the idea of spiritual literacy is often elusive and can create discomfort and tensions. Drawing on stories of experience, the complexities of what defines spiritual literacy and how it translates into classroom practice are examined. Three recurring themes emerge: story, relationships and mindful spaces. An alternative perspective of what is significant in creating a learning environment is presented as a milieu that reconceptualises what is important and often missing in the mainstream discourse in child development: the spirituality of the child. It is argued that through spiritual literacy practices, teaching and learning can be transformed and, most significantly, an empowering encounter engages all participants in the learning environment.

Contextual Worlds of Child Art: Experiencing Multiple Literacies through Images

This article draws from a larger study that examines the multiple literacies inherent in childrens drawings. The author discusses a qualitative research project conducted with a split grade one and two classroom in Toronto, Canada. She argues that pictorial images can be read as a form of literacy, where thought is made public through visual narratives. The authors prime focus was to interpret the childrens artwork as communication on a par with other semiotic modes and to explore the images as an important vehicle for teaching and learning.

From the Edges of Lateness

In a conversation a few years ago about our work as academics we discovered that we had both been told at more than one point in our current careers that we had arrived late to the academy. We were puzzled by this concept. What does it mean to arrive late in one’s life? What did we miss? How do we create/live our lives as academics when it appears that we are to understand that we are lacking? What accounts for our late arrival? What do we bring late to the academy? Where is lateness located in the curriculum? Where do those (of us) who arrive late find them(our)selves? What can we learn/teach from/about being late? We explore in this chapter the impact of labels and judgements on (our) identities and how we are continuously exploring, and also determining, the places of our identities in the curriculum.

Spirituality and the Arts: Interwoven Landscapes of Identities and Meaning

This chapter explores the influences of spirituality on the arts and the depth of expression in, through and with the arts. A Canadian perspective frames contextual connections to culture and identity. It is through these artistic spaces of interconnection that affords us new possibilities of being in the world. With what appears to be a commodification of western and Indigenous art in a linear, text-driven society, I also argue for “unsilencing” the discourse around spirituality and the arts in higher education, drawing on what can be learned and acted on in professional practice. As well, I share through personal experience what it means to live spiritually and artistically in the world.

Exploring Mindfulness in Teaching–Learning Scholarship Through a Reflective Conversation

We are three scholars in early childhood studies, child and youth care, and nursing in an urban university in Canada. In this chapter, we offer a conversation about our experiences as we explore the significance of conscious mindful practices within the context of our respective teaching–learning roles within academia. Drawing on a performative framework, this chapter offers a conversation shaped by reflections on our current collaborations in leading workshops on personal–professional well-being of our peers. Significant to the conversation is how, as actors in the classroom and research, we also engage with our students in mindful and creative performance to encourage self-care and well-being. Our reflective dialogue thus serves to inform not only our teaching–learning, but also our research undertakings.

In Conversation with Bob Steele

On May 29, 2013, Sylvia Kind and I spent the afternoon in delightful conversation with Bob Steele. I returned the following day to continue our discussion. Out of these two days, which emerged as part interview, part conversation and part writing, Bob’s articulate voice and passion led us back in time, space and place. We spent time talking, thinking and provoking ideas about children and art. Bob’s history as an artist, art studio professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia, and the birth of the Drawing Network all merged together.