Describes a three-part exercise used in a first semester freshman composition class, intended to show students the world of details in even the most ordinary, everyday objects by having students write about a plastic coffee mug. (SR)

Describes a writing assignment useful for high school and college students in which students ponder, discuss, and write about collecting, collectors, and the human impulse to collect. Includes some samples of student writing. (SR)

Describes an assignment in which students sharpen their punctuation skills by arranging poems without punctuation in a prose form with appropriate punctuation. Suggests using the poetry of a fictional character from Don Marqui's "archy and mehitabel." (TB)

Describes a writing assignment which allows students to exercise creativity communicating set facts while utilizing narrative techniques covered in class (sentence variety, dominant impressions, narrative action, detailing, etc.), and in which peers judge how effectively and consistently the information was communicated, illuminating the…

Shows how students may play the role of the advice-giving columnist as a means to learning about the fallacies of logic. (TB)

Explains how to get middle school through college students to write detailed paragraphs with the QUEEN FRANCIS method--an acronym that stands for "Qu"otes, "E"xamples, "E"xperts, "N"ames, "F"acts, "R"easons, "A"necdotes, "N"umbers, "C"oncrete words,…

Describes how a 10th-grade English teacher brings a historical event such as World War I to life with words and visuals of the time. Discusses World War I poems as products of that era, and helps students realize they have the stream of language inside themselves by journaling, making a "word bank," and writing poems. (SR)