The majority of the teaching cases analyzed for this research have become published cases in Richards, Janet C., and Gipe, Joan P. (2000). Elementary Literacy Lessons: Cases and Commentaries From the Field. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. In addition, the multiple literacy cases will be published, also by Lawrence Erlbaum, in an upcoming text by Janet C. Richards entitled Teaching for Multiple Literacies: K-8 Cases and Commentaries. A couple of examples follow.

For our drama presentation we combined all three of our kindergarten groups together. The song we chose to include in our play had repetitive lyrics and a little dance that we thought would be easy for our kindergarten students to learn. We practiced that song and the dance day after day, for thirty minutes at each session. We even did some guided imagery sessions. But, each time we practiced, our management problems got worse. "I want to be in the front of the bus," Patrice would always yell. Tyrone always complained, "He pushed me." Other children ran up and down the stage and some even jumped off the edge of the stage to the floor below.

It went on and on like that until finally we decided that whoever spoke or acted out of turn would be put out of the group. We actually ended up with only 12 children by the last practice. Of course when it was the day of our presentation we relented and let all of the children participate. I know we didn't do a good job as preservice teachers and co-producers of a play. A dancing teacher told me that rehearsals should never be longer than fifteen minutes or young children lose interest. Maybe that's one reason that we couldn't keep order. But, lurking in my mind is another reason for our dilemma. I think we didn't take charge of our large group. I am also wondering if young students should even have to practice such formal dramatic productions.

This teaching case looks at creating books with my fifth graders at Twenty-eighth Street Elementary School. I thought that making books with fifth-graders would be very easy to do. "Wrong!", I say.

When modeling my own creative book, my group of fifth graders seemed eager and seemed to enjoy my book. But when I said, "It is time for us to start our creative books; you are going to make up your own stories and then do your illustrations or drawings to go with your books." Eddie said, "I can't write a story or draw." Starr says, "I don't know what to write". The other two expressed the same reservations. Now we had done the "Find the Features and Connect Them" at least a couple of times for this purpose.

So I explained, "You know what a good story has to have." "It must have characters, settings, problems, and solutions", I said. I also gave them two options, "You may write your story based on something or someone that you know or you may invent the entire story from your imagination".

A.J. said, "I can't think of anything to write about". Gail said, "I don't really want to write a story".

I told everyone, "Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and relax". "Now clear your minds and then think about being an author and see if anything comes to mind." "When you open your eyes , see if you can start filling out your clouds for your story", I said.

We got started and I went around the table trying to help each student develop their story. However, I was not sure how mach input I should add.

We finally got the majority of the writing down the story and we were ready to move on to creating our illustrations. To myself, I said, "This part should be a breeze and we will be able to move right through this part of our books". Once again, "Wrong!" They were so concerned with each drawing being perfect that they grumbled, "I can't draw." "This looks terrible." "What do I draw?", and on and on we went again.

Once again I explained, "This is just for us". "This is supposed to be fun." "Please don't make this into a bigger deal that it is", I explained. "We are not professional artists." "We don't need to be; just do the best that you can", I said.

I go around the table saying, "That looks great". "That sure is pretty!", I exclaim. Their drawings are fine; they just don't think so.

If I were doing this in my own classroom, I would do the "Find the Features and Connect Them" strategy with the students quite a while before beginning the creative book making.

Once I was ready to introduce the creative book making, I would model my own book first, again. But then I think that I would make this project into a center. This way they can work at their own pace and there would not be a lot of pressure to get finished. There would still be a deadline, but it would be long enough for everyone to have plenty of time to complete the project.

I would be happy to hear any suggestions that you may have that would make this a better experience for everyone. I don't mean for it to sound as if this experience is a complete disaster, it is not. I feel that this is a fun and good experience for the students. It shows them the process of putting a good book together. It also shows them that creating a good story takes putting in the time and hard work to come up with a completed product. Everyone must go through the process to have better understanding. After completing this project, all the students should have a greater appreciation for the authors of the books that they read.

I am thinking and perhaps hoping that most of the problems that I have encountered stem more from the short time period that we have to work with our students than anything else. However, I will continue to think and reflect on how I can make this experience better for everyone. Looking at my procedure is one place to start.

The biggest problem that I have no idea how to solve is that the students want to trace their pictures or want to spend so much time working on them in order for the drawings to be perfect. How do you get students to understand that art is your own and everyone's art is unique and brilliant; and most importantly should not be compared with anyone else's to determine its worth?