Offers a writing exercise, based on a comic-strip theme, that teachers can use to relieve tensions between them and their students while developing students' expressive writing skills. (RL)

Describes a teaching game for bibliographic formatting that emphasizes the importance of noting author, title, and publication information precisely while using accurate formatting and punctuation. (HTH)

Lists several classroom writing activities, including writing in sand, using letters cut from magazines and newspapers, and baking letter cookies. (HTH)

Suggests using poetry's short short forms for a methodical and rapid series of writing assignments that emphasize both careful writing at the sentence level and overall planning and respect for form. (HTH)

Describes a writing exercise in law enforcement report writing--writing a report based on a crime photograph--and discusses 10 writing problems revealed by this exercise. (RL)

An approach to persuasive writing is presented for English-as-a-Second-Language classrooms. Activities include discussion to activate past experience, connecting experience to purpose, constructing the argument, extending the argument, supporting the argument, and examining and evaluating alternatives. (12 references) (LB)

Describes a method whereby students of French apply small increments of grammar and vocabulary immediately in daily 15-minute writing sessions in which they write brief, structurally sound compositions and focus on language use rather than on translation of ideas from English to French. (MSE)

Discusses methods to lend more realism to the technical writing classroom: (1) role playing, in which a report is written for someone other than the teacher; (2) presenting proposals orally at a party; (3) presenting a problem for students to solve through research; and (4) creating an advertising poster on a topic students know little about to…

Gives reasons for using writing projects rather than writing assignments. Offers the group project of writing pamphlets as an example of students applying knowledge from outside the classroom in developing writing and communication skills. (RL)

Creative drama can be used productively in the classroom by allowing students to dream and to put these ideas down on paper. Guided imagery is a way of accomplishing this. Guided imagery is when the creative drama teacher guides students on a journey through the imagination. It can be used as a prereading and prewriting exercise. Listening and…

Suggests student writing exercises before, during, and after reading Shakespeare's Henry IV. Cites specific passages, followed by discussion and writing questions centered on the conflict between Henry IV and his son, a "generation gap" theme to which students can easily relate. (HTH)

Discusses the benefits of having regular sessions in student journal writing. (RL)

Presents an assignment that helps technical writing students develop skills in preparing literature reviews. (RL)

Describes writing exercises that release students' imaginative powers and help their news writing become fresher and more descriptive. (RL)

A productive language exercise that uses the computer and a variation on the cloze procedure by deleting every third word and requiring the student to insert a grammatically and thematically acceptable term is described. (MSE)