This article describes 10 recommendations for creativity, higher-order thinking, and meaningful learning activities that can be used to guide teachers in constructing an engaging AP course: (1) Be on the committee that decides how students will be selected for AP; (2) Maximize time and connections through blocks of time with an English colleague;…

Relates a two-part writing assignment for the study of poetry, in which students are assigned to write a critique in response to a particular question and are then asked to give a personal response. (TJ)

A teacher describes a creative writing assignment in which students wrote their own obituaries. (SP)

This article reports on a challenging and effective assignment on thinking in a discipline that the author gave during fall 2006 in his sophomore-level "Critical Reading, Thinking, and Writing" (CRTW) course at Winthrop University. Required of all students, the course follows Writing 101: Composition; and a multi-disciplinary course…

An important factor the technical writer must keep in mind is the makeup of the intended audience. Students should be encouraged to identify as many specific characteristics as possible about an intended audience. It is also important that students comprehend the relationship between audience and use of stylistic elements. By also being sensitive…

The article discusses and describes a program for English teachers that will enable them to give more interesting and creative assignments to their students. (Author/LF)

The material reviewed in the 37 articles and papers listed here suggests that responsibility for establishing and maintaining standards for writing among college students is a college-wide burden. The articles are of two kinds: some deal directly with the questions of interdepartmental responsibility for teaching writing; others touch on the…

The focus in this issue of the Illinois English Bulletin is on student writing in the high school and college years. The lead article reports on a University of Illinois committee on the use of English, which reviewed both the writing abilities of incoming freshmen and the provisions for further instruction in writing throughout the undergraduate…

A developmental English program for a liberal arts college should be individualized and intellectually challenging to students entering a four-year baccalaureate program. Such a program must emphasize motivation, flexibility, and a well-conceived progression for acquiring skills. It should view writing as a holistic process and should use such…

Rhetoric, the persuasive use of language to influence public thought and action, is experienced in advertising, and advertising can be used as a medium for teaching rhetoric. Advertising demonstrates both admirable and creative use of English and despicable corruption of both language and thought. Both aspects can be employed in teaching…

Focuses on the writing instruction which the 1977 NCTE Achievement Award- winning students had received, concluding that writing frequency, type of assigned writing topics, and class size affect writing instruction and that successful writers are dedicated readers. (DD)

Faculty at Wichita State University have developed a research assignment that involves freshman composition students in researching the events that occurred on the day they were born. This paper presents the research outline--an overview of the tasks involved in writing the research papers--that was developed for the assignment. It then discusses…