Revisiting the writing assignments that the author has given to his sophomores and juniors over the past four years, he can identify patterns that have complicated their writing development. This article explores how Aristotle's enthymeme can serve as an effective prewriting tool for literary analysis in the high school classroom. By foregrounding…

Thomas Nunnally equates five-paragraph format essays with square cucumbers found at farmer's markets: they have an established structure but no argument. The real square cucumbers are students who need a formula to write competently. By providing students with a real audience, a teacher can show that he or she takes students' desires -- and…

The author, who teaches the English Methods class in the credential program, knew from entries in students' Writer's Reader's Notebooks (Rief) that they were struggling with the articles assigned about a five-paragraph essay. Following a discussion of form-first instruction and CCSS assessments, this article provides concrete suggestions for…

Like sports, school is a type of performance, and the process of learning and demonstrating knowledge requires mental skills that parallel those of an athlete, such as focus, analysis, memory, and confidence. Marisa Sandoval Lamb, an English teacher and competitive runner explains the parallels that exist between academic and athletic performance…

Place-based writing affords students an opportunity to write meaningfully about themselves, grounded in a place that they know. Place-based writing is versatile and can be additive--taking just a week or two within a semester of different projects--or transformative, if positioned as the theme for an entire course. If students can learn to write…

Structured opportunities for reflective writing allow students to polish their writings and to reflect actively on their written creations, while encouraging clearer and more honest writing products. In addition, the use of reflective writing can transform students as they begin to incorporate metacognition, or thinking about their thinking, into…

On April 25, 2008, students on college and public school campuses collectively committed to a vow of silence commemorating an event known as the National Day of Silence. This student-generated, nationwide action theatrically "speaks out" in solidarity with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people who for one reason or another fear…

In this article, the authors focus on the decision-making process that goes into professional writing and ways to emphasize ethical decision-making in writing classrooms. Professional writing has at its core an emphasis on action and audience. Certainly teachers want their students to write effectively--to serve their clients, organizations, and…

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…

The wiki is an excellent tool for student collaboration and teacher assessment. Students' comfort with online social networking makes the wiki a perfect forum for students to coauthor works and to respond to each other's writing. In this article, the author discusses how to use a wiki to promote discussion and aid students with writing. He tested…

Presents a conception of writing assignments as a navigation through five writing "events" that students experience through individually imposed writing tasks. Describes the five events within each assignment. Concludes with positive student evaluations. (HB)

Describes a writing assignment that uses metaphors to encourage students to rethink their assumptions about writing and about themselves as writers. Discusses metaphors of process and speed, fear and courage, control, silence, and metaphors as invitations. (PRA)

Suggests that students can improve their writing by being instructed on how to write badly. Applies the criteria of testability, tunnel-vision, excessive vagueness, flying in the face of established fact, and hazy authority to tabloid newspaper stories. Discusses how students can write their own "rotten" tabloid stories by taking these…

Provides a writing assignment that introduces the use of an invention heuristic to students of middle school age. Illustrates the use of the assignment with the prewriting and in-class essay of a nine-year-old student. (RL)

Describes a system to evaluate writing in which students use extensive marginal notes to comment on their own writing processes. Provides sample notes from a variety of student papers to illustrate the effectiveness of this system in increasing student knowledge and involvement. (KEH)