Digital Storytelling in a Place-Based Composition Course

Although the study of place in the fields of composition and education has a long and compelling history, the concept has taken on increased importance in today's digital landscape. As perceptions of places shift, we're challenged to understand how and which places shape who we are. Due to its potential power to leverage student choice, personal experience, and reflections on identity and to meet the assessment demands of contemporary educational policies, we designed a 10th-grade composition course around the concept of place. In this case study we describe how one high school studentRileyengaged with the concept of place over the course of an academic trimester. Multimodal analyses of Riley's digital story illustrate how she engaged in a 21st century literacy practice that demanded her fluency beyond reading and writing print texts to consider how multiple layers of meaning were recast across linguistic, visual, and aural semiotic modes.