States essential principles in the teaching of writing, prepared by the Commission on Composition of the National Council of Teachers of English. (HTH)

Discusses the potential of word processors for allowing students to generate and manipulate language while writing, and its superiority over the widespread use of computer programed packages and drills for teaching writing. (HTH)

Describes some of the ways in which students can be organized for reading and writing instruction. Suggests that educators must first identify the key components of literacy, then clarify a view of instruction and learning. Argues that recent literacy research has analyzed processes and texts but has overlooked the larger literacy contexts. (SG)

Suggests that children must be allowed their voices through writing. Discusses how four eighth-grade students turned life experiences into meaningful writing for the classroom. (RS)

Brief essays discuss (1) a teacher's discovery of the difficulty of the writing process, (2) various methods of writing instruction that are still only a part of the whole, (3) the difference between children's writing at home and at school, (4) a method for teaching poetry, and (5) a fifth-grade book writing project for first-grade students. (HTH)

Describes an interactive inservice program designed to show teachers that children are capable of writing long pieces of discourse with appropriate conventions if motivated through instruction or internal interest. Suggests that writing should be filled with multiple opportunities for discovery and play. (RS)

Focuses on the nature of elementary school classrooms as social contexts for literacy, particularly for writing. Explores the nature of the classroom as the context for literacy, how children come to understand such classroom contexts, and what defines a beneficial context for literacy growth. (HTH)

Describes observations of how fourth-grade teacher Donna Carrara integrates literature into her writing program at the Montclair (New Jersey) Kimberly Academy. (HTH)

Asserts that the teacher's big desk serves as a metaphor for how teacher and students relate in a classroom. Observes that moving the teacher's desk from the center of the room to the periphery produces positive results with respect to children's literacy, language, and attitudes. (PRA)

Describes a longitudinal study of first-grade students' progress in learning punctuation. Examines the classroom as a writing environment, then presents a picture of the children's progress in learning to use apostrophes, quotation marks, and periods, drawing several implications for teaching. (HTH)

Suggests that personal writing poses both opportunities and risks in writing classrooms. Discusses the experiences of two children in a fifth/sixth-grade writing process classroom. Notes that benefits of personal writing are opportunities for authenticity, finding voice, and a therapeutic value; whereas risks include coercion of students who are…

Explores how issues of power and identity are embedded within the cultures of a first-grade writing classroom. Explores the ways in which children's instructional stances--their responses to the ways they are positioned as writers in the classroom--affect their literacy learning. Presents the theoretical and research contexts in which educator's…

Describes how a teacher and students deal with the death of a classmate through sharing aloud her written compositions. (MM)

Presents samples of talk in peer writing conferences in an urban fourth grade class. Points out that talk in peer writing conferences fosters an exchange of ideas between students; is crucial for helping students revise first drafts; leads to greater sense of community in the classroom; and creates a classroom environment in which students'…

Describes how "critical incidents" that occur in the classroom can help teachers address their preconceived notions about learning and teaching, about knowledge, and about what counts as legitimate reading and writing. (HTH)