Teachers of young writers often feel pressure to focus on narrow, tested conventions, forms and processes of writing. These pressures can contribute to instruction that does not consider students' interests, experiences, language or cultures, but rather can further deficit views of students whose backgrounds do not closely align with those making…

The authors detail how one fourth-grade teacher implemented a comics writers' workshop in the weeks that concluded the academic school year. Each phase of the comics writers' workshop is described. Students interpreted and analyzed the words, images, and design features that compose published comics before constructing and publishing their own…

This article examines students' identities in teacher-student interactions during an eight-week comic unit within a fourth-grade literacy classroom. Though researchers have increasingly studied how teachers incorporated graphic novels and comics into the school literacy curriculum, few have documented the social interactions that students'…

The Writer's Workshop is an approach to writing instruction using a workshop model. It is being implemented in kindergarten to fourth-grade in the Houston Independent School District. The Writer's Workshop sought to improve students' writing through teacher preparation by accommodating weaker students in research-based approaches that treat…

The purposes of this study are to (1) understand how elementary school students use writing to reflect their learning and problem solving in mathematics; and (2) to explore how teachers adapt their instructional approaches based upon reflection on students' writing. This qualitative exploratory study spanned six weeks and included 18…

This article illustrates not only how students with special needs grew as writers in an inclusive writing community, but also how a fourth-grade teacher systematically structured the learning environment and tailored her instruction to guide her students to develop as writers as well as to improve their language skills. (Contains 4 figures and a…

CraftPlus[R] is an integrated learning package that consists of a K-8 spiraling, core writing curriculum based on explicit Target Skills instruction; professional books; grade-level Curriculum Guides; sixteen workshop and classroom demonstration DVDs; and a CD with student samples and other classroom support materials. The grade-level Curriculum…