This collection of 10 essays argues that portfolios in the writing classroom are worth exploring and that such exploration opens up new opportunities: new ways to learn to write, to think about teaching writing, to understand students, teachers, and curricula, and to describe and report on what is found. The collection makes this argument by sharing the stories of teachers in various situations: teachers alone, teachers as team members, and teachers concerned with administration as well as learning. Three key points are made: that portfolios should be designed locally by teachers and students; that they require periodic review; and that through such reviews more can be learned about writing and its teaching. The articles and authors are as follows: (1) Introduction: Writing Portfolios--Changes and Challenges (Catharine Lucas); (2) Teacher's Stories: Notes toward a Portfolio Pedagogy (Kathleen Blake Yancey); (3) Increasing Student Autonomy through Portfolios (Sue Ellen Gold); (4) Portfolio Practice in the Middle School: One Teacher's Story (James E. Newkirk); (5) Portfolios: Process for Students and Teachers (Catherine D'Aoust); (6) Looking into Portfolios (Sandra Murphy and Mary Ann Smith); (7) Portfolio Reflections in Middle and Secondary School Classrooms (Roberta Camp); (8) Writing Portfolios in Secondary Schools (David Kneeshaw); (9) Portfolio Practice and Assessment for Collegiate Basic Writers (Irwin Weiser); and (10) Portfolios in the Writing Classroom: A Final Reflection (Kathleen Blake Yancey). A 39-item annotated bibliography of resources on portfolios for teaching and assessment concludes the volume. (SR)