Drawing upon the framework of culturally responsive and trauma-informed pedagogies, this research project will explore how diverse fourth grade students from a variety of linguistic and cultural backgrounds and with wide range of English Language proficiency negotiate the writing process through print-based and visual forms of literacy. The purpose of the study is to explore the effects of visualization strategy on written personal narratives of diverse fourth graders in a school setting. The school teacher will receive professional development in integrating culturally responsive and trauma-informed pedagogies to teach visualization strategies to fourth graders. We hypothesized that by teaching students to interpret visual information and visual simulations and engaging the students in creating a visual symbol representing a life experience, a cultural value, or an emotion/feeling, we would enable students to generate personal narratives rich in detail.
