Presents an exercise in descriptive writing that shows how to take a subjective statement and support or deny it using a common body of factual observations. (PA)

Describes a three-part exercise used in a first semester freshman composition class, intended to show students the world of details in even the most ordinary, everyday objects by having students write about a plastic coffee mug. (SR)

Claims that holistic scoring offers significant advantages over conventional grading systems for: (1) placing students in extra help or enrichment classes; (2) evaluating incoming or transfer students; (3) regrouping existing classroom situations; and (4) providing an expedient measure of writing achievement. (RAE)

Describes how the author, in his second semester freshman composition class devoted to teaching research skills, teaches students the subtleties of what to paraphrase and what to quote directly. (SR)

Describes how a short exercise in designing greeting cards for a "Teacher Appreciation Day" helps student identify and analyze the four components of rhetoric--purpose, content, persona, and audience. Includes samples of students' greeting card messages. (MM)

Describes ways in which freshman composition classes can be made more interesting, such as the use of cliche analysis. Defines cliche, and provides some appropriate examples for classroom use. (PA)

Describes an exercise designed to help student writers expand beyond writer-based prose by having them write for a particular magazine or newspaper audience. (MM)

Describes an assignment used at the beginning of a unit on poetry in which students analyze rhyme scheme, meter, feet per line, lyric quality, and theme of the lyrics to a favorite song. Notes that after this students may move more easily into analyzing poems. (SR)

Describes a writing assignment in which students think about how their families celebrate their own cultures through special meals or a certain dish, find out how this dish became part of their rituals, write a brief summary of the history of the dish, and write up the recipe itself. (SR)

Advocates using debate with F.R. Stockton's "The Lady, or the Tiger" to sharpen critical skills in literary interpretation. Poses a series of questions at five-minute intervals and sets up an affirmative and a negative side on which students debate the next day. Suggests also debating on literary values, an author's intentions, etc. (PA)

Provides eight sequential, process-oriented writing assignments: (1) diagnostic essay, (2) personal account, (3) ghost writing, (4) summary, (5) developing a thesis, (6) exploratory essay, (7) proposal, and (8) final paper. (HTH)

Outlines a writing assignment for first-year composition students in which they choose a popular song and explicate its meaning both through prose and in a classroom presentation. Explains how to prepare students for public speaking regarding their essays. Discusses problems and argues for the assignment's usefulness. (HB)

Describes how the teacher of a Composition II class (a second-semester composition class with the emphasis in research writing and bibliography) had the students, through their research, generate the readings for themselves. Describes how class discussion, writing fluency and clarity, rhetorical strategies, and development of essays all displayed…