Intended to promote insights into the composing process as a way of communicating with words, this book proposes ways to increase language sensitivity through a three-stage communication program: evoking visions through speech, fashioning revisions in writing, and sharing visions by reading. The first two chapters explain the stages of the program and offer suggestions for recognizing creativity in students' writing and for organizing time, space, and materials for inclass composition. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 provide a detailed look at the first stage in the program and offer suggestions for starting the composing process, using students' experiences to motivate their speaking and writing, and speaking and writing to shape students' experiences. Chapters 6 through 10 deal with the second stage of the communication program and offer suggestions for moving students from feeling to language and from language to invented form, for introducing different kinds of poetry and prose forms, and for criticizing students' work effectively. Chapter 11 details the third stage of the program and contains ideas for sharing student work with a variety of audiences. Appendixes contain discussions of the nature of composition, the value of composition, and ways to overcome blocks to communication and composition. (FL)