Presents a writing assignment from a class in general semantics in which students write about a personal application of general semantics. Presents a paper submitted by one student. (SR)

Presents a student assignment which involves interviewing a family member and then drawing images and writing a description of their advice. Includes completed assignments from two students. (SR)

Encourages students to attempt to capture the voice of established poets in parodies. Notes that this close interaction with literature allows the students to gain a deeper appreciation and understanding of literary styles. Presents two student parodies of William Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud." (RS)

Describes an exercise for grade school through high school students that focuses on describing abstract emotions through allegory. Notes that some examples include hate, depression, happiness, and patriotism. Provides examples of student writing from prior trials of this exercise. (PA)

Discusses a form of poetry written for two voices--two side-by-side columns, each read by a different voice. Mentions precedents of this form in art, music, and poetry. Presents examples of fourth grade, high school, and university students' poems written in this form. (RS)

Describes five poetry assignments and presents examples of students' poetry written in response to the assignments. (RS)

Provides an outline for an exercise for junior high and high school students that encourages them to develop a philosophy of life in the form of resolutions, similar to those written by Jonathan Swift, Benjamin Franklin, and Jonathan Edwards. Cites examples of resolutions written by students. (PA)

Mathematics faculty around the United States are using writing assignments in a variety of ways. A mathematics teacher at Alma College, Michigan, has students write mathematical autobiographies, keep a reading logbook, and write letters to other students about the course, letters to instructors about the topics, or about what they do not…

Reviews briefly how imagery is integral to knowing and thinking, and how perception and reason do indeed reside under the same blanket. Details two college writing assignments that require writers to engage in "imaginal processes" in proportion to their verbal process. (SR)

Develops a college-level writing assignment using Adrienne Kennedy's autobiography, a multisectioned list poem. Discusses why the personal list poem is appealing and how lists--a simple but generative form--work well for students. States that students wrote a succession of paragraphs about people in their lives who had influenced them. Gives…

Describes using music with eighth-grade students for generating story ideas to write about. (SR)

Examines the writing assignments and instruction in 30 introductory literature textbooks. Finds three types of writing assignments: the "ever popular" critical paper, the expressive paper, and the literary paper. Presents excerpts of student papers to demonstrate that writing on expressive and literary topics can help students see the…

Argues that any curriculum of peace must have at its core the teaching (not preaching) of empathy. Recommends ecphrastic poetry (poetic response to works of art) as a teaching tool for empathy, and discusses how the author uses one particular poem written in response to a World War II photograph to stimulate student writing response and…

Describes how one teacher of a business writing course uses a car recall notice to address business writing principles of purpose, readers, information, organization, and style in relation to a specific example; and then has students revise it into the type of letter they would like to receive as car owners. Includes two examples of such…

Describes how a weekly focused journal writing assessment (in which students note any use of language they find interesting, puzzling, amusing, or annoying as well as their response to it) enhances composition students' awareness of how language is used and where. Offers several different advantages of such journal writing. (SR)