Nurturing young writers: Creating multimodal texts from the beginning

Children start school as experienced meaning makers, and creative thinkers with vivid imaginations. One of their biggest challenges upon entering school is learning how to write. Their teachers are faced with an equally enormous challenge – teaching these children how to write using the English alphabetic system and written language conventions, without dampening their creativity or devaluing the meaning making systems they brought with them to school. How teachers respond to children’s early attempts at meaning making and what they value helps to form children’s attitudes towards writing and determine the paths their learning journeys follow. A range of issues for supporting children’s creation of multimodal texts, from the very first days at school, will be discussed and suggestions for ways forward presented.