This essay describes Louisiana State University's search for an alternative to available placement protocols. Under the leadership of Les Perelman at MIT, LSU collaborated with four universities to develop iMOAT, a program for administering online assessments of student writing. This essay focuses on LSU's On-line Challenge, which developed from…

A critical/creative paradigm in contemporary English carries with it an imperative that students should be given opportunities for deep engagement with texts relevant to what matters in their everyday lives. In this paper, I argue that the materiality of everyday life includes the physical and geographic places where we live. When students live in…

Reviews the arguments for and against teaching the traditional five-paragraph essay model. Describes a teaching approach in which students critically examine these arguments while learning the principle features of the five-paragraph essay. (SR)

Argues the need for additional experience in language for social action in contexts where English teachers can provide scaffolding, monitoring and intervention. Concludes that students must have experiences in real writing contexts that lead them to face the linguistic and other demands which will enable them to develop the competencies they need.…

Argues that through poetry students can give voices to people whose voices usually do not find their ways into their classrooms or textbooks. Discusses poetry and literature, poetry in history, and personalizing poetry. (RS)

Reviews and critiques a new writing textbook by LaRene Despain: "Writing: A Workshop Approach." Considers especially the types of writing assignments advocated and the kinds of skills needed for researched argumentative essays. (HB)

Describes a collaborative writing assignment devised for a first-year composition class. Outlines how the assignment was undertaken and carried out by the students. Provides background on the theoretical literature concerning collaborative writing. (HB)

When a class of lethargic college students showed no enthusiasm for their reading assignments in English class, one instructor turned to drama. She assigned a collaborative script, and the students' enthusiasm and motivation relegated her to a "pleasant oblivion." She thought that the novelty of the play genre might enliven the class,…

Describes how one English teacher developed an approach to teaching writing that was based on asking students to write memoirs or personal narratives. Presents an amalgam of letters written to a newspaper and to three co-authors of an article published in "The Chronicle of Higher Education" regarding the use of personal writing in freshman…

Describes how one English teacher stumbled on the idea of having student peer groups write scripts. Outlines a variety of ways that script writing assignments can be made. Advocates having such scripts created by student collaborative groups. (HB)

An English teacher believes that it is necessary for students to know how and why censorship operates in school libraries and classrooms to help them have the tools to speak for themselves. Free-choice reading, mock trails, and writing assignments are used to teach students about the censorship of books that are used in the schools.

Defines the term "cultural model" as the set of assumptions a particular group has, or the kinds of goals a group strives for, or the attitudes that shape how one cultural group reacts to another group. Shows how cultural models shape student responses to Richard Pick's short story "I Go Along." Suggests writing assignments that reflect on…

Describes how one English teacher used a method of teaching letter writing to foster students' communication and thinking skills. Outlines a method which involves students dually as both consumer complainant and company representative responding to the complaints. Claims that such a process enhances student learning. (HB)

Describes one teacher's methods for introducing to secondary English students the concepts of Classicism and Romanticism in relation to pictures of gardens, architecture, music, and literary works. Outlines how the unit leads to a writing assignment based on collected responses over time. (HB)

Discusses one high school senior's fictional rendition of her family's experiences of immigration and the American myth. Describes how stories such as this one can be moving and powerful, and thus constitute a sort of "fictional dream" into which readers enter and are thereby changed. (HB)