A new teacher at a workshop shares that she had a difficult time getting students to write about 9/11. This teacher said that some students refused, while others became angry about being asked. Stephen Fried is an adjunct lecturer in English at the College of Staten Island of the City University of New York. In this article, Fried describes how…

An important part of student success in school is the involvement of families. However, the communication between students and families regarding school is often sparse at best and caregivers can feel left out as to what is happening. Friday letters improve communication between students and families and also provide a myriad of instructional…

In this article we propose a five-step sequenced approach to integrative interdisciplinary learning in undergraduate gateway courses. Drawing from the literature of interdisciplinarity, transformative learning theory, and theories of reflective learning, we utilize a sequence of five steps early in our respective undergraduate gateway courses to…

The genre of tall tales is characterized by fictional, often intentionally ridiculous, stories that provide a reason for or origin of a natural phenomenon. Tall tales are often based on characters who are unusually adept or powerful; they are particularly appealing to children who are cognitively capable of understanding the tongue-in-cheek humor…

The teacher of elementary level gifted students discusses successful creative writing activities. Among the reasons for students to learn writing early in the educational program are that written expression complements oral communication, heightens awareness of ordinary experiences, and helps students become more appreciative of language.…

An architecture design studio classroom is a community. The myth of the solitary student is destroyed by the very structure of the classroom: students can use the room at any time, students share their works-in-progress and final products with the class, and the class is a congenial and informal mix of discussion, comments, critiques, and…

Shares results of a predrafting activity for tenth grade composition students centered on the concept of the common good. Asks students to generate questions for an interview with a state representative and his opponent in the November 1988 election in preparation for writing essays. (MG)

Describes a writing assignment which allows students to exercise creativity communicating set facts while utilizing narrative techniques covered in class (sentence variety, dominant impressions, narrative action, detailing, etc.), and in which peers judge how effectively and consistently the information was communicated, illuminating the…

Describes some of the writing stimuli used to help middle school teacher candidates with their own un-learning as they gain more confidence and insight about authentic writing. Encourages teachers to trust the process and muster the courage they will eventually need to model literacy in their own classrooms. (SG)

Explains how to get middle school through college students to write detailed paragraphs with the QUEEN FRANCIS method--an acronym that stands for "Qu"otes, "E"xamples, "E"xperts, "N"ames, "F"acts, "R"easons, "A"necdotes, "N"umbers, "C"oncrete words,…

Describes a writing exercise with the "Oxford English Dictionary" that teaches students about research and attention to detail. Describes how the exercise, which involves the student in a set of serial tasks, makes students comfortable with the OED, teaches them how to extract full details of any word, and teaches students to take…

Discusses the use of student journals in a second-semester university French class. Students write informally in their journals about topics that are of personal interest to them. The instructor then writes comments about the topic and also corrects the vocabulary, grammar, and idiomatic errors of each journal entry. (SED)

Describes how a middle school librarian, initially dismayed at having the major constellations of the northern hemisphere painted on the school library ceiling, gradually found the painting to be a fine resource for mythology and astronomy, and eventually discovered it to be one enormous, fantastic, writing prompt. (SR)

Describes a two-week class activity in which students attempt an extended definition of an abstract word, working collaboratively and using the library's reference material extensively. Notes that students take careful notes on both the information and their search processes, and integrate the information into a mini-research paper detailing their…

Discusses the efforts of a fifth-grade teacher and a visiting poet to rekindle students' sense of poetic passion and pleasure. Describes how the authors introduced students to poems for two voices (using P. Fleischman's "Joyful Noise"). The poetry unit culminated in a project in which students read and performed Fleischman's poems, then wrote and…