Writing educators have long sought to disrupt academic convention. However, we currently know little about students' affective experiences when they are asked to compose differently. This article explores the results of a research study to illuminate the feelings and attitudes students experience when convention is disrupted and offers pedagogical…

This article is a pragmatic, classroom-focused conversation about the teaching of writing among three teachers living in the United States and China, separated by many thousands of miles and many centuries of tradition and culture. Our focus here is on classroom concerns: actual student writing, assignment design, and assessment. We seek to…

Examines questions concerning the assignment of autobiographical essays. Discusses the links between gender and genre. Argues that writing teachers should reexamine their assumptions about "good" autobiographical writing and acknowledge the links between gender and genre. (MG)