As an instructor of the developmental reading and writing course at Texas State University, Barrie McGee is required per state mandate to design a course as an accelerated version of an integrated reading and writing (IRW) course. Furthermore, she is uniquely positioned as a student enrolled in the program in developmental education to access…

"An Introduction to Complexity Pedagogy: Using Critical Theory, Critical Pedagogy and Complexity in Performance and Literature" offers readers an introduction to the basic concepts of complexity science and how they might be applied in the teaching of composition, creative writing, performance, and literature. The book builds on Critical…

Google Docs, an online word processing application, is a promising tool for collaborative learning. However, many college instructors and students lack knowledge to effectively use Google Docs to enhance teaching and learning. Goals of this study include (1) assessing the effectiveness of using Google Docs in an out-of-class collaborative writing…

Argues that the perennial problem of boring student writing is solved when assignments provide writers with target readers, enabling students to find their appropriate voice. Discusses a sample assignment in which students explain how to do something they do well to readers who don't know how to do it. (JG)

Contends that students need to be taught how to analyze their audience and to adapt what they say to that audience. Describes teaching methods used to introduce students to the use of a heuristic model for audience analysis in written discourse. (FL)

Offers an approach to using film as an object of analysis for writing classes having no previous knowledge of film terms and techniques. Provides 19 study questions to stimulate identification and a description of a director's techniques to facilitate an interpretation of what the film means. (JG)

Explains how to use various periodicals to demonstrate to composition students that writing style is both accessible and controllable. (AEA)

Presents a model for the long report that can be used to subsume several technical writing forms and skills: the proposal, the progress report, formal and informal oral presentations, and the format of the long report itself. (FL)

Notes that an assignment to write a technical book review for a journal informs business students about a technical subject, teaches criticism and judgment, and tests their knowledge and writing skills. Describes the steps followed by students in completing such an assignment. (TJ)

Offers four evaluative questions for revising writing assignments into vehicles that steadily move students toward writing fluency. (RL)

Describes a technical writing class assignment in which students describe scholarly journals in their own major fields. Tells how the assignment defines the audience for the reports, Poses descriptive questions, provides a set of general directions, and defines the form for the reports; explains the objectives of the assignment. (TJ)

Describes and compares the major approaches to organizing a writing course, classifying them under the following four terms: traditional modes, process, epistemic, and stylistic. Discusses the basic tenets of each teaching philosophy, suggests appropriate textbooks, and identifies various ways of implementing these approaches in the classroom. (JG)

Examines two technical writing assignments involving analysis of particular audience adaptive techniques used in five published technical articles from diverse sources on the same limited subject. The first is a discussion exercise involving the entire class, and the second is an individual written exercise. (HTH)

Presents an assignment sequence, based on James Moffett's sequence of narrative types, designed to teach the various points of view most often used by authors. Provides instructions, including names of model texts for students to write pieces imitating such narrative techniques as interior monologue, correspondence, dramatic monologue, diary,…

Teachers as readers would have a more pleasant and stimulating job if they were reading essays that interested them. The step to reading a good paper is designing a good assignment. Some areas that need to be defined for students before they begin to write are outlined. (MLW)