This dissertation contributes to the growing body of scholarship in rhetoric and composition responding to calls for explicitly anti-racist teaching and research practices. Titular examples of the field's widespread commitment to this work include official "Position Statements" by our flagship professional organizations, like the…

The instruction of classical sociological theory at Lehman College of the City University of New York (CUNY) underwent significant transformation to make it more activity-based and better aligned with departmental learning goals. The article focuses on the effectiveness of an "edited book" project that came of this endeavor, where…

With artificial intelligence (AI) now producing human-quality text in seconds via natural language generation, urgent questions arise about the nature and purpose of the teaching of writing in English. Humans have already been co-composing with digital tools for decades, in the form of spelling and grammar checkers built into word processing…

This essay explores what the development of writing might look like and how it might take shape in a secondary English classroom. The study problematises current definitions of progress. In direct opposition to standards-driven models, I propose an alternative way of thinking about the development of writers through a series of narrative accounts…

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…

This article presents an activity in which students use narrative theory as a conceptual canvas for understanding resumes as autobiographical performances shaped by social and material forces. By asking students to story their lives in both conventional and creative resumes, this assignment invites students to produce autobiographical discourse…

Presents five activities: (1) transforming--requires that a student put aside a first draft and create a new piece on the same subject in a different genre; (2) meaningless words--encourages deleting unnecessary words; (3) group work; (4) definitions quiz; and (5) audience, synthesis, and the thematic analysis--considering these three when writing…

Describes an exercise for grade school through high school students that focuses on describing abstract emotions through allegory. Notes that some examples include hate, depression, happiness, and patriotism. Provides examples of student writing from prior trials of this exercise. (PA)

Describes an assignment in which students interview businesses to learn about the kinds of writing done in that business and then assess the rhetorical context of such writing. (SR)

Pupils should participate in numerous forms and kinds of writing activities involving poetry and should hear, read, and write different forms and kinds of prose. Types of poetry that pupils can write include couplets, triplets, quatrains, limericks, free verse, haiku, and diamante. The ingredients that all types of poetry might have include…

Describes how students wrestled with an assignment that asked them to name their heroes or heroines, compare them to "Beowulf," and defend their choices in writing and class discussion. Tells how students gained insight into their community and the ways in which people make it better. (MG)

Describes how the author used sequenced assignments (and a range of other strategies) to engage students in genuine inquiry; to remove as much of the fear as possible from the research process; and to put the emphasis on process, not on product. (SR)

Presents a class activity which uses laminated pictures from art calendars, museums, and other sources as a stimulus for writing. (SR)

Examines the use and various kinds of writing undertaken by people in different professions. Outlines an activity in which students write to famous people and inquire about the kind of writing they do in their everyday lives. Shows how this activity stimulates and inspires students. (HB)

A six-activity inquiry lesson (constructed to follow the "social inquiry" teaching model) provided students in two 11th-grade English classes with practice in theory building through data gathering and writing activities. Social inquiry has six instructional stages: students (1) are presented with a puzzling situation; (2) in small…