The aim of this study is to develop a valid and reliable Likert-type attitude scale for toward story writing for third- and fourth-grade primary school students. 354 children from three different schools in the Eregli district of Zonguldak province, Turkey constituted the sample of this research. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory…

The author discusses the importance of listening to children and engaging them in dialogue about their learning. She does not accept that assessment should entail labelling children and believes such practices encourage a culture of fixed "ability" thinking. Through examples of specific children, the author illustrates the importance of…

Metaphor-making is a universal human endeavor that manifests across cultures in various ways. Analyzing metaphors enables educators to gain a greater understanding of many social and cultural issues. Teaching children to write through metaphor based upon their emotional landscapes can reveal much of their inner worlds. Such texts can have a…

The three children who are the focus of this paper emerged from analysis of KS2 (Key Stage 2, ages 7 to 11 years) writing during the Kirklees Writing Project. This involved a group of six KS2 teachers bringing samples of students' work to evaluation meetings in which key factors of a particular genre were identified and differences in children's…

One of the techniques a teacher uses to enable her students to write poems is to use a story as a springboard. Her students read the story of "The Emperor and the Kite" (Yolen, 1991), which tells about Djeow Sew, the daughter of an ancient Chinese emperor. After students engaged in brainstorming the story, they drew Djeow Sew at the…

Most teachers would agree that children should undertake a wide range of types of non-fiction writing, but there are many questions about how this aim should be achieved and about how teachers can help children learn about the various structural demands of particular writing forms. "Writing frames" are one strategy which can help…

This study analyzed 131 computer-generated graphics for evidence of emergent writing. Four preschool children created the drawings on a color and a black-and-white computer during eight weekly 1.5 hour sessions. Audio and videotapes were obtained to review procedures, language, and emergent literacy intent. Drawings were categorized independently…

Girls and boys write differently. Girls like to write about subjects close to home: self, friends, parents, teachers. Boys write about activities in the community beyond the home: technology, sports, policemen, firemen, war. Boys not only write about vigorous engagement but demonstrate it in the classroom where they tend to dominate while girls…

For a project, a university researcher and a group of education graduate students in literacy and language education at Purdue University exchanged e-mail with 32 third graders in two classes at a northern California elementary school. The overall aim of the project was to build the children's literacy and communication skills by involving them in…

A study analyzed children's compositions from grades 1-4 in Slovenian schools. Children described real places within the framework of an experientially provable world, which is empirically available to them within the limits of their abilities and possibilities. Irreal places were described inventively without the support of experience, although…

Grammar, historically, has been taught in a manner that leaves young learners wondering why they need to learn it. The problem has been partly that teachers have not been provided the insights needed to move the teaching of language conventions and grammar from the position of "textbook exercise" to that of "tools of the trade"…

Grounded in a communication theory that assumes that the form of communication affects the content of the knowledge that a teacher conveys to his or her students, a study attempted to determine how violence is treated in the classroom. The site for the study was Darbin Elementary School, in a suburb of San Francisco. The method was observation,…

This paper grew out of the collaborative relationship that emerged from in-class modeling of student-centered writing approaches as participating teachers and a consultant/researcher began to explore ways to increase the length of fourth-grade writing. The paper reports on a small study in fourth-grade writing aimed at increasing the length of…

This paper focuses on the writing process and young children, suggesting prewriting activities and discussing writing, revising, and publishing in the classroom. The paper also enumerates what children like, such as interesting topics, self-selection, listening to stories, reading their writing to peers or younger children, and special formats for…

Family Message journals, notebooks in which first-graders write a message to their families and receive a family reply each day, provide a fertile context for instruction and practice in writing for real-world functions and authentic audiences. Observation of classroom instruction, qualitative analysis of case-study children's and families'…