Designing on the page: Composing picturebooks in a Kevin Henkes author study

Abstract

A team of four general education second grade teachers, who work in a neighbourhood state elementary school in a large urban area in the northeast United States, and their staff developer, redesigned their Kevin Henkes Author Study to equally value pictures and design, along with writing. They asked, what narrative understandings do children express by designing on the page? Using a framework of multiliteracies, they showed how they transformed writing workshop into composing workshop to support their emergent bi- and multilingual population. Through content analysis of 80 students’ completed picturebooks and constant comparison of 13 selected students’ retrospective accounts, findings show how students developed a metalanguage of composing for both writing and design craft moves that facilitated and supported their narrative understandings. Their narrative understandings were supported within the sociocultural contexts of our writing communities. Findings show the value of author studies and transforming writing workshop into composing workshop for primary grade writers. Findings have implications for classroom-based research and teaching of composing workshop, particularly for emergent bi- and multilingual populations.

Elementary students' engagement in transduction and creative and critical thinking

“…Aligned with previous research findings that revealed the importance of affording students with opportunities to engage in transduction through talking and/or writing about their multimodal processes and products (Dallacqua, 2018; Kesler et al, 2021; Lim et al, 2022; Mills & Doyle, 2019; Pantaleo, 2015, 2019a, 2019b), the Grade 4 students' semiotic work underscores the multifaceted importance of student engagement in retrospective accounting and/or analysing of their multimodal representations. In the opinion of Kress (2010), “signs made ‘outwardly’ are the best evidence … for understanding the ‘inner’ processes of learning” (p. 183).…”

“…As noted above, the students' transmodal meaning‐making required engagement in medium‐specific analysis (Suhor, 1984) and use of appropriate metalanguage to explicate how their deliberate use of elements of visual art and design and comics conventions fulfilled communicative purposes and addressed assignment criteria. These findings augment previous studies where researchers have reported on how the explicit instruction of appropriate metalanguage informed and enhanced both student interpretation and analysis of multimodal texts, such as picturebooks (e.g., Macken‐Horarik, 2016; Martens et al, 2012/2013; Pantaleo, 2016, 2018a, 2021; Unsworth & Macken‐Horarik, 2015) and graphic novels (e.g., Connors, 2013; Dallacqua, 2018; Pantaleo, 2014, 2018b), and student design and analysis of their own multimodal ensembles (Dallacqua, 2018; Kesler et al, 2021; Lim et al, 2022; Mills & Doyle, 2019; Pantaleo, 2015, 2019b).…”

“…Kesler et al (2021) reported how during a multimodal composing workshop, Grade 2 students' retrospective accounts of their design choices for their picturebooks revealed students' development of a design and writing metalanguage that affected their narrative understanding and compositional decisions. I have also reported findings from studies where students engaged in transduction by using oral and written language to describe and explain their multimodal designing and composing processes and products.…”

“…Mills and Doyle (2019), who explored the artistic representations of Indigenous elementary students, noted how participants' interviews about their paintings "enabled researchers to obtain insight into the children's emic or insider cultural frames of reference … [and provided] clarifications of meanings in their multimodal texts" (p. 525). Kesler et al (2021) reported how during a multimodal composing workshop, Grade 2 students' retrospective accounts of their design choices for their picturebooks revealed students' development of a design and writing metalanguage that affected their narrative understanding and compositional decisions. I have also reported findings from studies where students engaged in transduction by using oral and written language to describe and explain their multimodal designing and composing processes and products.…”

The effect of pictorial story media on critical thinking of grade 4 SDN 1 Pendem

“…In addition, the use of learning media can foster new desires and interests, motivation, and stimulation in learning, and even have a psychological influence on students in learning (Endiawan et al, 2021). Through the Pictorial Media Story, there is a lot of interaction between students and teachers and students and students (Kesler et al, 2021). All students are required to be able to speak in class, so it is not only smart students who often speak.…”