Describes a method for teaching composition which develops students' intellectual and literary skills. (RB)

Describes a writing assignment in which students read only the first two paragraphs of Charles Dickens's novel "A Tale of Two Cities" and then, after some brainstorming and prewriting, write a paragraph or two modeled on those, explaining the confusion and turmoil of the present day. Notes how Dickens's expressions become more familiar…

Describes three assignments the author uses when teaching Chaucer (suitable for college or college prep high school classes) in which students learn what iambic pentameter is by writing two rhyming couplets, a ten-line conversation in rhyming couplets, and a creative project of at least 25 rhyming couplets, all in iambic pentameter. (SR)

Provides an assignment for a business communication or a public speaking course from junior high to college level. States a minimum of three oral presentations are necessary for the assignment encompassing an announcement of the awards competition, the voting process and incentives for winning an award, and the ceremony held on the last day of…

Presents a simple writing assignment, composing an anthology, in which students have some control over their learning and gain confidence, enabling them to approach class discussions with more personal involvement and leading them to find more for themselves in poetry. (RAE)

Describes how generating effective advertising copy affords students practice in aspects of persuasive writing, such as developing a thesis, refuting counter-arguments, and writing in a comparison-contrast mode. Notes that this approach helps students negotiate the problematic shift from expressive to persuasive discourse without losing their…

Describes how the author and her high school English students begin their study of Thoreau's "Walden" by mining the text for quotations to inspire their own writing and discussion on the topic, "How does Thoreau speak to you or how could he speak to someone you know?" (SR)

Provides a sequence of assignments, and the theory upon which they are based, for composition courses that include film. Includes ordering information and an abstract for the film "Silent Snow, Secret Snow," upon which the assignments are based. (TJ)

Recommends a series of reading and writing assignments designed to help students develop style and tone in their writing. (TJ)

Presents a variety of reading, writing, art, and discussion activities to keep students interested in studying "Romeo and Juliet." Describes using the film version of the play as a companion piece to unify the oral reading. (RS)

Presents an initial minicollaboration exercise with which to begin collaborative projects. Notes that students discuss how to respond to a range of comments and concerns of prior students to collaboration, thus shifting learning and discovery to students from the very first step. (SR)

Describes a writing assignment (useful for junior high through college age students) that seeks to improve students' descriptive writing through a set of class writing assignments using visual and concrete objects. Allows students to gain awareness, gain knowledge and discuss it, and ask questions as a body of learners rather than in isolation.…

Describes an assignment in which students read a travelogue excerpt and then must determine specified aspects of the writer's character based on evidence from the text. Notes how this exercise shapes students' awareness of how character influences writing, and how biases and assumptions influence reading. (SR)

Describes a four-step model for teaching the techniques of library research: book report and evaluation, comparison of two articles on the same subject by different authors, comparison of two points of view on four or five articles, and full research project. (TJ)

Describes a writing exercise for middle schoolers to college students that encourages students to become more aware of language, especially word choice and audience in their writing, by writing lipograms (compositions from which all words containing a certain letter are omitted). Notes it can be used as a pre-revision activity, part of a poetry…