Describes a two-part approach to teaching the student research paper that encourages students to make a science of developing research gathering techniques and an art of blending the gathered materials with a perspective that will make the paper more than just a summary of facts. The approach uses biography as a model for research. (HTH)

Explains how students can learn to write reports based on encyclopedia information without resorting to copying or becoming bored. (FL)

Argues that the perennial problem of boring student writing is solved when assignments provide writers with target readers, enabling students to find their appropriate voice. Discusses a sample assignment in which students explain how to do something they do well to readers who don't know how to do it. (JG)

Presents a simple classroom exercise that transforms a remote future need for grammatical competence into a more practical, immediate, and useful skill. (HTH)

Outlines the procedures used in a writing course, in which students write summaries of selected articles or editorials from magazines or newspapers. Discusses the instructional, cognitive, and affective advantages and implications of the approach. (DMM)

Describes writing exercises in which students transform a simple text into their own original, more complex production. (EKN)

Suggests several short, manageable activities for teaching writing, such as writing cereal box copy, characterizations, test items, and obituaries. (JL)

Describes the "Chinese Menu System" of student instructional units based on the ideas of James R. Moffet being used by teachers in the Columbus, Georgia, area in which students select learning activities from categories constructed around a single topic. (JL)

Explains how student-constructed "aliens" were used to generate writing and to encourage the development of writing skills. (JL)

Describes a poetry writing assignment that teaches students the importance of place and objects in expressing emotions about a childhood memory. (RL)

Presents seven writing lessons for elementary students: choosing effective words; writing similes; writing paragraphs; writing descriptions; letter writing; comparing and contrasting; and understanding point of view. Some of the lessons have unusual themes, such as pizza, pickles, and hoboes. (SJL)

Describes a practical freshman composition writing assignment in which students composed career profiles of notable alumni, which were subsequently used by the college career planning and placement office. A sample letter and profile are included. (HTH)

Presents ideas on writing instruction for teachers of mathematics, physics, accounting, biology, and social studies. Contains guidelines for designing writing assignments in various content areas. (EL)

Coaching is the central activity in the "game" of teaching, and it is an activity that can have a lifetime effect on language learners. This book presents a "coaching approach" to instruction in written language--an approach that is eclectic, pragmatic, synthetic. The approach in the book centers on finding balance--ways of…

Because children are experts in at least one subject--themselves--their best written work is usually autobiographical. This article suggests various specific autobiographical writing assignments teachers might want to use with their students. (JMK)