Image-Making Within The Writing Process®
Image-Making Within The Writing Process® is an innovative evidence-based approach to teaching writing that uses collage made from hand-painted textured papers to construct meaning. Students begin by creating their own portfolios of colorful, hand-painted papers as they explore a variety of simple art techniques. These textured papers become the raw materials for constructing captivating collage images. As students give shape to their ideas through cutting and pasting, they are able to rehearse, draft, and revise their stories long before setting pencil to paper.
Engaged in Artists/Writers Workshop and supported by the study of quality picture books, students build a sequence of collage images to tell their story. As they orally rehearse their storyline, rich descriptive language is literally at their fingertips. Specially designed brainstorming sheets help students paint pictures with their words.
This hands-on, multimodal process has been proven particularly effective for English Learners and others who struggle with traditional, straight verbal approaches to writing.
Writing used to be hard for me, but now it’s easy. All I have to do is look at each picture and describe some things I see. Now writing is my favorite part of school. – David, grade 2
Making my collages gave me more ideas for my story. Then I just looked at each of my pictures and wrote what came to mind. As I kept writing, the words just flowed together to make unique descriptions. – Amanda, grade 5
Students experience great pride and sense of accomplishment when they receive their published books. They are eager to practice reading them with fluency so they can share their stories with their friends and family.
