Many Ways to Make Meaning

Many Ways to Make Meaning

Dennis liked stories, but sometimes a page filled only with words made her ideas feel smaller than they really were. During literacy workshop, Mr. Modafferi noticed that Dennis could explain a concept clearly when she pointed, sketched, and talked, even when the written response came slowly. “Maybe,” Mr. Modafferi said, “your thinking needs more than one doorway.”

The next day, the class investigated the same idea in several ways. Students read a short passage, studied an image, listened to audio, and watched a brief visual explanation. Dennis began to notice that each mode contributed something different. Words could explain carefully. Images could show relationships at once. Sound could add emphasis and rhythm.

Mr. Modafferi asked the class to become meaning-makers. In teams, students planned a short explanation for an audience of classmates and families. Dennis’s group built a storyboard. They chose which ideas needed words, which could be shown through drawings, and where a recorded voice might make the message clearer. Every choice had a purpose.

Dennis drew a sequence, wrote a short explanation, and recorded herself describing the key idea. He used a gesture to show change over time. None of the modes replaced the others. Together, they helped Dennis say more precisely what she understood. When classmates asked questions, Dennis revised the words and images so the message would be clearer.

On Friday, the room became a gallery. One group used a collage. Another built a model. Others combined writing, images, audio, and digital media. Students walked from project to project and compared how their classmates represented similar ideas. Dennis realized that there was not one single way to show thoughtful reading.

Mr. Modafferi reminded the class that multimodality was not a shortcut around writing. Careful sentences still mattered. In fact, the class practiced moving back and forth between modes: sketch an idea, discuss it, write it, revise it, then decide whether another mode could strengthen the message. Different tools were useful for different purposes.

Dennis’s final revision began with a question: “Who needs to understand this?” He simplified one picture, strengthened two sentences, and rerecorded a short section. Mr. Modafferi explained that effective communicators do not add technology just because it is available. They choose modes because those modes help an audience understand the message.

By the end of the project, Dennis still read books and wrote paragraphs, but now he also saw literacy in images, sound, movement, layout, and digital design. The class had learned a bigger definition of composing: make thoughtful choices, connect modes, consider the audience, and keep meaning at the center. Dennis’s ideas had not changed. He had simply gained more ways to make them visible.

References Kim, Y., & Belcher, D. (2020). Multimodal composing and traditional essays: Linguistic performance and learner perceptions. RELC Journal, 51(1), 86-100. Oldakowski, T. (2014). A multimodal assignment that enriches literacy learning. InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching, 9, 70-77. Walsh, M. (2006). The textual shift: Examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 29(1), 24-37