A classroom community doesn't just show up on the first day of school along with the glue sticks and boxes of Kleenex. It requires careful thought and planning. It requires a strategy. For one teacher, community-building conversations--inspired by Nike's "Find Your Greatness" ad campaign--helped set the tone for the new school year.

When literacy specialist Jennifer Allen agreed to meet weekly with five boys who wanted to share their out-of-school writing with her, the weekly all-boys lunch-time writing group was born at Albert S. Hall elementary school in Waterville, Maine. She had intended to run the group as a writers' workshop and teach mini-lessons. But from the…