Writing is a critical skill that is considered important for employment, further education, civic participation, health, and personal fulfillment. For example, a substantial percent of nearly all jobs that non-college graduates possess require some type of writing. Workers are increasingly required to use their writing skills for memos, reports,…

This article is an expanded version of my presentation to Division 15 (Educational Psychology) of the American Psychological Association for the Career Achievement Award for Distinguished Psychological Contributions to Education in 2019. It provides an overview of research conducted by colleagues and I that examined the following four topics: (a)…

Students need inspiration to write. Assigning is not teaching. In order to inspire students to write fiction worth reading, teachers must take them through the process of writing. Physical objects inspire good writing with depth. In this article, the reader will be taken through the process of inspiring young writers through the use of boxes.…

Academically underprepared postsecondary students make up a large proportion of college campuses. Recent estimates indicate that up to 70 percent of incoming students at two-year community colleges and up to 40 percent of incoming students at four-year colleges enroll in developmental courses. There has been some criticism of the effectiveness of…

The ability to write clearly and correctly is essential for students both in college and as they enter the workforce. One challenge we find in coaching student writing is that students shy away from engaging fully with writing as a process, especially with revising their drafts. It is important across Business courses, not just in Business…

Since high school students are failing to master writing proficiency, developmental writing programs at the college level have become increasingly necessary. This article explains the lack of readiness with which students are entering college and the workplace, examines the reasons students are having trouble writing, and describes elements of…

This paper focuses on a pedagogical and instructional approach to engaging students in the classroom with the specific activity of a writing prompt, which utilizes a short video about current events and trends coupled with writing and discussion. This strategy allows active student learning in which the students engage, develop critical thinking…

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Practice Guide, "Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers," offers educators four specific, evidence-based recommendations that address the challenge of teaching writing in elementary school. This summary focuses on the fourth of the four recommendations: Create an engaged community…

McCarry, a first grade teacher, formed a voluntary writing group, Writers' Lunch Club, that met the developmental and individual needs of children and inspired enthusiasm and writing success. In the article, she explains the guidelines, compares the club's writing strategies with those in the classroom, and lists tips and benefits.

This newsletter of best practices in implementing the High Schools That Work (HSTW), Making Middle Grades Work (MMGW) and Technology Centers That Work (TCTW) school improvement models is based on presentations at the 27th Annual HSTW Staff Development Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the summer of 2013. The newsletter is divided up into…

A case study on the teaching of writing, this paper discusses what motivates students in a freshman writing course to complete increasingly difficult writing assignments. The study provides a glimpse into how one class of freshman students developed positive expectations for writing a paper about a difficult poem by helping each other map…

Discusses the usefulness to second language learning of an activity in which students assume a pen name and write letters under that name in the language studied in order to motivate their interest in the language and accelerate their mastery of it. (CK)

Describes one student's writing project and how it develops in a writing program. Notes that his story focuses on the Holocaust and was inspired by reading over 15 books on the topic. (SG)

In this article, the author, a teacher at Gould School in North Caldwell, New Jersey, describes the five writing rules she employs in her classroom that can help make writing a priority for both students and teachers: (1) Put it in the plan book; (2) Write first, solve problems later; (3) Write with the students; (4) Write like the students; and…

In 1987, a Dallas (Texas) elementary school principal developed a Writing to Read to the Principal program to motivate students' mastery of reading and writing in a school where over 80 percent of the students are economically disadvantaged. The program has strengthened the bond among students, parents, teachers, and the principal. Includes six…