Multimodality is recognized as a useful pedagogical tool, but it is often difficult to apply in real-life curricula. Further, expectations on educators and various campus units are increasingly complex and require nimble and innovative partnerships. In this article, Christina, a first-year composition instructor, and Lucie, the university's…

Aaron Kashtan taught three sections of ENGL 1102, the second course in a mandatory first-year writing sequence with a heavy multimodal focus, during his first semester as a Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Literature, Media and Communication at Georgia Tech. The specific subject matter for these sections was handwriting…

In this article, the author discusses a graphic narrative or comic book writing assignment in greater detail to demonstrate the pedagogical benefits of teaching comics in the writing classroom. She argues that by assigning students a comic book project, writing instructors can promote competence in academic discourse by helping students learn and…

This article focuses on writing instruction and seeks to: (1) define the expectations of first-year composition (FYC) programs; (2) consider the factors shaping high school writing instruction; and (3) explore the gap between the goals of each. The authors have interviewed secondary writing teachers and college first-year composition instructors…

Freshman composition instructors are challenged to teach students to write, a practice which is easier if they are motivated and interested. This is particularly important for students coming from a lower socioeconomic status (SES) because there are multiple obstacles that must be overcome (Greene and Forster). A real world writing situation with…

High school teacher J. Arias employs a research method from anthropology to motivate students to research and write. Learning to use the methods and perspectives of ethnography, students become critical viewers and thinkers, able to connect the themes of literary works to their lives and to critique the variety of texts that surround them. Arias…

In this article, the authors examine the role revision memos played in composition classrooms. Both authors used the memos to help students reflect on their writing and continue revising. The memos also served as guides for the instructors as they responded to their students' writing. The memos were a reminder that the instructors needed to focus…

The author values peer feedback in her freshman composition class, largely because it helps students to develop confidence and ability in analyzing various texts, including, of course, their own. Like most instructors who use peer review, the author recognizes that although she is capable of, and quite comfortable with, offering students detailed…

In "Active Reading," Mark Panek details the dialogic model for discussing reading assignments in introductory composition courses he developed while teaching at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. He then argues for the model's appropriateness and effectiveness for diverse student populations, situating his discussion in the conversation of…

A process-oriented freshman composition instructor who stresses invention, drafting, and revision can simultaneously integrate a form of grammatical instruction. Various methods and strategies, both from experience and research on grammar from the classical to the contemporary era, suggest such a creative integration. First, the teaching of…

Freshman composition students were given six assignments designed to help them examine, analyze, and put their memories into context so that the students could use their memories to begin exploring and creating their own "truths" through language. Two essential types of memory were identified: (1) natural memory, memorizing word for word, which…

The way in which the English Department of the University of South Alabama handled the large influx of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students in its freshman writing program is described. The university developed classes especially for ESL students with the assistance of the department's ESL specialist. (13 references) (LB)

A field of study sequence designed at the University of Iowa to introduce the research paper to freshman rhetoric students encourages them to view themselves as interpretive anthropologists entering a strange culture and exploring their declared majors or areas of special interest. Each student is responsible for (1) writing an essay in response…

In a required class on literature and composition at Eastern Illinois University, students learn about the short story by writing one of their own. Their stories then become the context for an introduction to literary terminology such as point of view, setting, and use of dialogue versus narration. Having just written their own stories, students…

The shift from limited-capacity personal computers to powerful workstation technology offers an environment for writing instruction that allows networking, simultaneous performance of many tasks, and tools for designing custom lessons and individual applications. At Allegheny College (Pennsylvania), a first-year writing course is supported…