"Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." tells of King's childhood determination to use "big words" through biographical information and quotations. In this lesson, students in grades 3 to 5 explore information on Dr. King to think about his "big" words, then they write about their own…

Suggests two techniques to help students look carefully at language. The first involves students in reacting favorably, unfavorably, or neutrally to a list of words and then discussing the list; in the second, students create a brand name and an advertising campaign for green beans. (TJ)

Explores the use of metaphor and personification in the "classics" of scientific and technical writing, and the current resistance to creativity in scientific writing. Suggests familiarizing students with the role of metaphor in scientific creativity. (HTH)

Discusses the heuristic role of yes-no questions in college composition and provides two such methods for brainstorming and focusing. Presents a binary graph device ("Matrix") that correlates subjects and concerns to generate yes-no questions. Also presents a flow-chart model structuring information in the question-evidence-resolution pattern. (JG)

Describes a lesson designed to lead students to explore the language structure of the language rather than merely memorize grammatical rules. (FL)

Suggests an exercise to help students stop using incorrect word forms, which involves students in choosing a word, defining it, using it correctly in a sentence, and finding five other words using the original word as a root. (TJ)

The language journal can be an effective aid for teaching students to be aware of and sensitive to language. Students write down any observations that interest them about the language they hear or read in everyday life, together with their speculations on the causes of such language. The journal is devoted specifically to language because an…

Uses Grimm's fairy tales to teach students how to read critically for appropriate quotations and proper stylistics for including them in writing. (HTH)

Presents a series of exercises designed to provide freshman composition students with a base for analyzing works rhetorically, to point out how language can be used persuasively, and to illustrate how satire functions. (FL)

A technique for helping English-as-a-Second-Language students learn to write accurate paraphrases and summaries, free from personal interpretation, is described. Students first read, in pairs, a paragraph that has a main idea and requires some inferential thinking, especially about the tone and/or purpose. After a specific period of time, students…

Noting that the writer's journal is both a memory bank for observations and a nonthreatening means of exploring language, this guide offers individual classroom strategies for making the journal a valuable writing instruction tool. Following an introduction, the guide is divided into sections as follows: (1) philosophy of journals in the…

Describes how a teacher with little background in science helped her students write puppet plays as part of their learning about the science of rainbows. (FL)

Notes that poetry writing can be a natural and interesting part of the language arts curriculum. Offers an approach to teaching poetry to intermediate grade students that leads them to accept and like poetry. (FL)

Explains how speech-act theory can be applied to written business communication through an emphasis on elements that are often neglected: intention, context, and language usage. Shows how the knowledge of speech-act theory can improve business communication teaching. (PD)

There are two types of literacy: mechanical literacy and critical literacy. Those who teach mechanical literacy use language to oppress, while those who teach critical literacy use language to liberate. The mechanical view of literacy oppresses because it encourages passivity and acceptance of authority, places a disproportionate emphasis on…