This article explores one context in which language arts instruction can be enhanced through digital technologies. It describes how preservice elementary education teachers first investigated aspects of visual literacy and then engaged in digital and traditional multimodal forms of response to historical nonfiction literature. They read,…

The articles collected in this issue are devoted to the topic of film in the English and language arts classroom. Titles include "Film Study: Some Problems and Approaches" (Judd Chesler), "The New Basic Skill: Film" (Harold M. Foster), "Caveat Viewer: Developing Viewing Perceptions" (Edward S. Dermon), "Shreds and Patches: Improvised Textbook"…

As a co-author of the GEAR-UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) grant proposal to the Department of Education in 1999, the primary author (Kohl) of this paper is in her third year of working at Franklin Middle School, which largely serves at-risk minority students through the University of South Florida (USF),…

Following a discussion of the similarities and differences among the various communications media, the two main sections of this monograph describe ways to teach the skills of viewing and to study the moving image. The assumption is that television and film have unique characteristics that differentiate them from speech and books, requiring…

If a student reaches high school and cannot read, the only route to success may lie in a media-oriented curriculum. In line with this philosophy, this report describes an experimental media-based curriculum developed to capitalize on the students' ability to grasp the visual image in situations where they cannot grasp the written image. The…

Discusses a five-year study of an integrated curriculum model in which a science/reading strategy replaced traditional reading/writing instruction. How instructors exploited the links between print and visual literacy with video, television programming, and other media is detailed. A related project that helps K-12 teachers develop graphics and…

This yearbook describes the program undertaken by the Montebello, California Unified School District to assist children's development in the area of language arts by giving them the opportunity to use cameras to record their visual experience and by then using the resulting pictures, slides and films as the basis of language arts experiences. It…

This document highlights the findings of a committee formed by The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) to assess the status of film at all levels in American education. The introduction by the editor, William Costanzo, stresses that film is best understood in relation to the language arts--not as a "visual aid" but as an…