Decries the way in which British education has reduced or eliminated the animation or essence of narrative. Explores the features that give narrative importance broader and deeper than the purely literary values customarily given it, and provides a rationale for keeping storytelling in the curriculum to enhance students' writing. (HTH)

Compositions of 10 high-knowledge and 10 low-knowledge fourth-grade students taught by either academically-oriented or cognitive developmentally-oriented teachers were analyzed in terms of four types of propositions they contained to assess the relative influence of writers' prior knowledge and teachers' classroom lesson structure on students'…

Examines responses of graduate students preparing to teach English to an invitation to relate something that was remarkable about their new classroom experiences. Considers the power of narrative for expressing emotions and intellectual growth. (HB)

Supports Classroom Publishing (a bookmaking project) as a useful literacy tool which (1) encourages children to develop creative and expressive skills; (2) allows students to write for an audience outside the classroom; (3) makes the sometime tedious writing process more meaningful; and (4) produces a product to be admired by family, teachers and…

Shows how teaching sixth grade ESL students the story grammar of fairy and folktales enabled them to learn to express themselves in their own fiction writing. (FL)

Argues the importance of dictated stories, with the teacher or other adult as scribe, in children's development as writers. Examines one child's literary influences and her literacy development. (MG)

Reflecting the concerns of researchers and practitioners about children's text comprehension, this book defines and provides examples of narrative and expository text and describes research-based strategies for helping children comprehend these two types of text. The book contains the following chapters: (1) "Research on Stories: Implications…

This curriculum guide is designed to aid in the planning and execution of a writing course for verbally gifted elementary school students. The course is designed for students ranging in age from 8-11 years whose verbal reasoning skills are at least 3 years above grade level. The course instructs students in the fundamentals of communication…

Reports a study, using sixth graders' introspective self-reports, to determine the context in which students use knowledge about narrative text structure, how they use this knowledge, and why they do not always employ this knowledge. (RAE)

This guidebook is designed to help teachers think about the important role of assessment in guiding students' narrative writing, with an emphasis on the close connections among curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The assessments that are given as examples stem from a long-term collaboration between the Center for Research on Evaluation,…

Presents reading/writing units based on story grammar techniques and intended for students in grades one through six. (FL)

Discusses nine orthodoxies, including the idea that spelling, grammar, and punctuation are unimportant, that decrease teacher effectiveness. (DF)

This report documents the content and impact of an in-service program designed to enhance elementary school teachers' competence in narrative writing assessment. The program "Writing What You Read" was designed to help teachers and students make substantive assessments of texts. The program, which focused on a portfolio approach, was conducted…

This collection of articles on the nature of discourse and writing instruction include: "Une demarche de psychologie de discours; quelques aspects introductifs" ("An Application of Discourse Psychology; Introductory Thoughts") (Jean-Paul Bronckart); "Les procedes de prise en charge enonciative dans trois genres de texts expositifs" ("The Processes…

To help children better understand and exert control over the use of narrative language, teachers need not only to devote time to children's literature, but also need to emphasize other narrative forms including the mass media and children's own stories (in their talk, writing, drawing, and play). Giving children experience in mass media…