Utilizing a New Literacies Studies framework, this article presents critical lessons in film production from a multiple site case study. Examples of children's classroom experiences demonstrate how filmmaking and play come together in a process of storying--a collaborative and multimodal approach to text composition. Students in both preschool and…

Describes how professional writers from Bell Northern Research, enrolled in a professional writing program, designed a quick reference guide for in-house use, and then provided a theoretical framework to ground and explain their visual design choices. Offers the instructor's theoretical reflections on how visual design can motivate readers to read…

Describes the use of an electronic bulletin board in a first-year composition class. Explores power relationships and issues of gender, conflict, and authority while focusing on one young man's role on the bulletin board. (SR)

Poetry is a powerful avenue through which students can learn to express their voices and to "write like people." In the special needs classroom, where students traditionally have had difficulty with narrative structure, and therefore have gone unheard, developing voice through poetry becomes especially crucial. Samples of students'…

Documents a seven-year-old child's early activities as a writer from the perspective of (1) intentionality, (2) conditions and production, (3) learning strategies, (4) composing patterns in other semiotic activities, (5) availability, and (6) literacy community, and attempts to analyze those activities through narrative, explication and argument.…

Presents a case study of poetry writing in a fifth grade classroom. Shows not only how writing and reading come together but also how children come together with each other and with published poets. (RS)

Describes an inventive way of promoting children's literacy learning: having them design picture books, including in the process, aspects more typically associated with illustrators, book designers, and art directors. Describes one child's creation of three different books. (SR)

A unit used in an Australian school to teach English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students how to write a discussion is described. The 3-week unit was planned and implemented jointly by an ESL resource teacher, class teacher, and teacher librarian. The class was divided into three heterogeneous groups, two of which were observed for this study and…