With dialogic writing assessment, teachers can scaffold students' writing processes in ways that are flexible and responsive to students' individual needs. Examples of teachers using this conference-based method of classroom writing assessment illustrate how to practice assessment that is dynamic and relational rather than static and standardized,…

With over 70% of fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students in the United States scoring below proficiency levels in writing (NCES, 2009), teachers must provide early and effective writing intervention to accelerate students' writing skills to meet grade-level standards. In this paper, we provide teachers with a theoretical framework to…

This article examines relationships in the writing process and offers some strategies to address student needs on both the cognitive and affective domains.

As an educator, according to the author, the most important objective is to know what they want students to take away with them after the unit ends, the enduring understandings that will stay with them long after they leave the classroom. The author states they wanted their students to understand that writing is a journey, one that starts with the…

U.S. adolescents' prior technology experiences and exposure to digital genres vary, but they will often write digital texts as they enter college and adulthood. We explored middle school students' digital writing instructional experience in the context of a university-based summer digital writing camp. The sixth- through eighth-grade adolescents…

This article outlines a rational for responsive, differentiated writing instruction that targets students' identified needs with respect to various dimensions of the writing process. Discussed is a cycle that requires ongoing assessment, instructional decision-making, responsive, differentiated instruction, guided practice, and assessment.…

The key to establishing a defense against plagiarism is understanding the reasons that students engage in the process in the first place. Many students enter new grade levels academically unprepared for new challenges. When students encounter gaps between knowledge and the expectations of the classroom, some engage in unethical practices to propel…

A New Jersey school district decided that, if students were to become good writers, they need a reason to want to write everyday. Reasons developed by teachers included: (1) writing to pen pals; (2) preparing booklets on class activities and interests; (3) developing a newspaper and dictionary; and (4) writing their own books of poetry, short…

Writing expressive essays is especially difficult for many students with learning and behavior difficulties. They struggle not only with basic writing skills such as spelling, sentence formation, capitalization, and handwriting, but also with the cognitive processes of writing such as planning, organizing, and writing (Schumaker & Deshler, 2003).…

Grammar, historically, has been taught in a manner that leaves young learners wondering why they need to learn it. The problem has been partly that teachers have not been provided the insights needed to move the teaching of language conventions and grammar from the position of "textbook exercise" to that of "tools of the trade"…

Describes writing a novel about the "expectancy-loss" burden of a special needs student and the "teratophobia" of ordinary people. Discusses examples in literature, such as Charles Dickens's character Tiny Tim. Explores special needs student's way of awkwardly examining his life, as well as the trials of an author trying to…

Two important schools of thought in the teaching of writing are those of the "writing workshop" and "critical pedagogy." Both encourage expression on the part of the student, but while writing workshop advocates assume that the student writes from a stable, unitary, autonomous self, the critical pedagogy advocates do not.…

Students who visit writing labs are often inexperienced writers who need help and even prescriptive teaching. Although some compositionists are leery of including prescriptive help among possible teaching strategies, the writing lab tutor's position as advisor rather than judge helps students accept the suggestions as the options they are. As…

Writing--and lots of it in all genres--is at the heart of the language arts curriculum and the skills of critical thinking that students need to develop to become prepared consumers and citizens. In this article, the author reflects on her growth as a writer and teacher, and offers an overview of what people know about writing, what they need to…

A year-long departmental evaluation at one college English department revealed that most sections of both pre-college English and regular English 101 emphasized form over content, structure over ideas, surface features over global, and this, at the expense of meaningful intellectual growth. When freshmen are plied with basic grammar books and with…