To combat the inevitable intellectual fatigue that autobiographical essay assignments often engender and, more importantly, to provide students with an authentic audience and purpose for their writing, the author designed an autobiographical assignment that liberates students from the traditional essay format while empowering them to envision…

Lists 24 writing lesson plans or teaching approaches designed to keep students engaged toward the end of the school year, including list making, ABC stories, fractured fairy tales, cut word stories, "bummer behavior" letter writing, and using children's books as a stimulus. (TB)

Examines the use and various kinds of writing undertaken by people in different professions. Outlines an activity in which students write to famous people and inquire about the kind of writing they do in their everyday lives. Shows how this activity stimulates and inspires students. (HB)

Describes how the author used research booklets to be read by sixth graders, poetry books, and taking part in a city-wide writing competition with her eighth-grade students to combat a general apathy in many students' writing efforts. Suggests the projects spoke to individual interests, helped students find a purpose to write, and improved the…