ABSTRACT
This chapter provides how the Innovator’s Workshop classroom environment embraces the pedagogy of multiliteracies to promote a culture of creativity, innovation, and flexibility, and regards all forms of representation as a dynamic process of meaning making. Mr. Toulouse and Ms. Bienville presented several design challenges to the kindergarten through second grade children which included making throws, making throw catchers, making floats, masks, and ultimately designing Bricolage Academy’s very own Mardi Gras parade. Mr. Toulouse presented the second grade children with a very special Mardi Gras design problem, something that had never been done before. The historical and social ideas that the Krewes, coconuts, and parades represent demonstrate that the activities were more than just decorating. The children were making meaning by recombining their ideas, noticings, and knowledge of the history and culture of Mardi Gras into their own re-design which serves as source material for the construction of their identity as a member of the larger community.
