Teachers consistently grapple with how to make writing fun and engaging. While long-form writing has its value, research shows that balancing genre-based units with frequent, on-demand writing tasks to help children communicate effectively and reflect on their learning might be the key to success. "My Kids Can't Write" provides…

Writing is the highest form of thinking, as evidenced by neuroimaging that shows how more neural networks are activated simultaneously during writing than during any other cognitive activity. This book will help teachers understand how the brain learns to write by unveiling 15 stages of thinking that underpin the writing process, along with…

This edited volume brings together large-scale research as well as case studies from a range of geographical contexts and represents a variety of educational settings involving second language learners and users. Its aim is to explore the interrelated issues of psychology and technology use in second language learning settings as well as in more…

Aimed both at readers interested in cognition and/or writing and at instructional psychologists, this book explores the notion that various writing strategies involve different kinds of thinking, which ultimately affect the written product. The first part presents concepts central to the writing process, including two models of this process, an…

Written by teachers, the chapters in this book show how writing fosters learning in math, science, English, social studies, foreign language, philosophy, psychology, and art. Following an introduction by Anne Ruggles Gere, the first chapter, "Writing to Learn: The Nurse Log Classroom," by Steve Pearse, presents a comprehensive overview…

Taking a cautious view of research into the workings of the brain, this booklet suggests that such research has merely given validity to a truth good teachers have always known: all people have two ways of thinking, a linear, logical way, and a spatial, intuitive way. It also suggests that faced with cries for "basics" in education, it…

As a result of a program of research about cognitive processes involved in learning to read and write among 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-year old-children, this book attempts to get teacher-researchers to think through the implications of recent insights into literacy and literacy learning. The first section examines instructional assumptions; proposes a new…

Intended for researchers, teachers, local and national policy makers, and others interested in writing, this volume explores the processes and development of writing, particularly in the context of writing instruction. Following a preface, the introduction discusses various perspectives on the activity of writing, such as writing as a cognitive…

This book assists teachers to understand why basing instructional practices on cognitive theories of instruction can better prepare students to become strategic learners. The volume synthesizes and distills findings from current research and identifies instructional components that enable teachers to implement strategy instruction in the basic…

Intended to show teachers how their approaches to the teaching of writing reflect a particular area of research and to show researchers how the intuitions of teachers reflect research findings, the articles in this book are classified according to three approaches to writing: processing, distancing, and modeling. After an introductory essay that…

Working from both literary and composition theory, this book argues that American composition theory and pedagogy of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is founded on the Platonic view that invention is a solitary act in which the individual, drawing upon innate knowledge and mental structures, searches for the truth, using introspective self…

Prepared by writing center directors, the articles in this book examine the pedagogical theories of tutorial services and relate them to actual center practices. The 19 articles are arranged into three categories: writing center theory, writing center administration, and special concerns. Specific topics discussed in the articles include the…

Most restructuring efforts focus on changing the "how" of education. The articles in this book argue that redesign of the curriculum--the "what" of education--should be the main component of school revisioning. The book proposes a new framework for learning communities that views life as an intellectual and personal quest for knowledge and…

This book describes the processing styles inherent in dyslexia and dysgraphia for teacher identification of such students and provides strategies and compensations for students with these disabilities. Strategies for dyslexia and dysgraphia are combined in this book because both of these processing differences are language-based and represent a…

Prepared by educators, theoreticians, and researchers, the papers in this collection address the connections and interdependencies between writing and cognition. The 24 papers deal with the following topics: (1) rhetoric and romanticism; (2) cognitive immaturity and remedial college writers; (3) current brain research and the composing process;…