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)

Writing well means communicating successfully. To communicate successfully the message must be accurate, brief, and clear. The basic components of clarity are sentence length, story length, and vocabulary. Creative devices and descriptive writing are discussed. (MLW)

Describes a writing assignment (useful for junior high through college age students) that seeks to improve students' descriptive writing through a set of class writing assignments using visual and concrete objects. Allows students to gain awareness, gain knowledge and discuss it, and ask questions as a body of learners rather than in isolation.…

This document proposes and presents a new concept in music notation. Consisting of three separately-bound parts, the first part presents the rationale for the new musical notation in the form of a dialogue between two people who discuss what the ideal musical notation would be: the subject of unmetered durations and articulations, the…

Examines common curricular needs in written language instruction, and the advantages of using micorocmputers to teach descriptive writing. An example of an interactive computer-assisted instructional model for writing is discussed. Fourteen references are listed. (MER)

The importance of student teachers keeping a daily log describing how the day went is stressed. Toward the end of student teaching, a personal benefits paper is written on the benefits given to and received from pupils during student teaching. Examples of logs and papers are given. (MT)

Presents five short teaching tips written by five different authors on the following topics: newspapers, writing exercises for aspiring elementary school teachers, telephone directory as research tool, structured essay assignments, and teaching description with Raymond Carver's "Cathedral." (TB)

Describes a class writing exercise for high school and college English classes (which functions well early in the first semester), which emphasizes a basic idea (that close inspection of a subject will reveal that there is a lot to say about it) by having students describe in detail a person's face, first as a class and then individually. (SR)

The School of Education at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee has refined its method of granting college credit for community experience. Prior Professional Educational Experience (PPEE) credits are granted for knowledge in competency areas offered by the department. The program has given students a sense of accomplishment about learning…

Teachers participating in the Teacher Center-United Kingdom Exchange Program at New Mexico State University were required to keep a journal throughout the entire exchange year. The objective of the exercise was to improve writing and reduce writing anxiety among the teachers, and to influence them to implement journal writing in their public…

Describes the use of student journals in a liberal arts chemistry class taken as part of the general education requirements by nonscience majors. Discusses the structure, grading, process, and benefits of the journal and its use in the course. (CW)

When students write in response to literature, they make reading a creative act. Recording their personal reaction to a poem or an excerpt from a larger work, students become aware of the complex web of past experiences, associations and ideas triggering their responses; they learn to interact more fully, more consciously, with the text. Besides…

Reflecting the view that a single formula for revolutionizing the teaching of writing is unavailable, this publication of the New York State English Council presents a series of articles dealing with various topics in the teaching of composition in high school and college settings. Subjects discussed include the following: the use of fables in the…

This paper describes a year-long, college senior composition course based on nature writing and open to students from all content areas. Nature writing is defined as writing about nature with the specific requirement that the writer must remain true to the objective facts of nature while at the same time presenting the human response to, and the…

An introductory two-semester education course for preservice elementary school teachers addresses in the first semester the topics of childhood, and how the family and society relate to teaching. In the second semester topics include children in the classroom, teaching philosophies, and professional issues. Student writing is used as a feedback…