Claims personal narrative essays, although controversial, touch a unique chord in listeners and in readers. Suggest incorporating critical thinking and modeling by the instructor into personal narrative essay assignments. (NH)

In this article, the author examines students response to a class assignment on diversity issues. Her analysis revealed that students were at different levels in terms of understanding of diversity issues--and that students often may experience what she calls a "metastable state" in learning about diversity. Thus, in examining diversity…

Describes an intermediate college writing class that uses Paulo Freire's essay "The Banking Concept of Education" as its philosophical foundation to encourage students and teachers to engage in critical thought, critical writing, and critical action. Describes several assignments that evolved from the essay, and its implications. Shows…

Presents brief guidelines for developing writing assignments based on the author's description (a politicized representation) of postmodern cultural studies. Discusses a composition assignment in which students critique the formal and the hidden curriculum of a class they have taken in the recent past, and in which they also become writing members…

Discusses the teachable qualities of Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice." Examines the vigorous diction, plausible characterization, and comic vision that make the novel so effective in stimulating students' thought. (SR)

Argues that connecting classroom practice to writing center tutorials prepares students to generate dialogic and democratic tutorials. Describes a liberatory writing center (rather than a skill-and-drill site of remediation). Describes classroom practices that help students develop critical approaches to the power arrangements they encounter both…

Describes a workshop used with classes doing Web research for their English papers in a computer lab. Shows how this is a good opportunity for students to learn to find, evaluate, and save Web sources, how to read critically and annotate the sources, and how to weave them into working drafts and avoid plagiarism. (SR)