In the English classroom, narrative writing is often separated from the work of reading literature or used merely to coax reluctant students into discussing textually relevant topics. This article discusses a close writing activity, Image Explosion, that engages students in narrative writing that brings attention to the smallest details of…

The "Silent Interview" provides an effective ice-breaking exercise for the first day of composition class and also triggers learning strategies toward writing effectively. At the first class meeting, students are asked to work in pairs, exchanging questions and responses in writing until six or eight questions have been asked and…

Discusses methods to lend more realism to the technical writing classroom: (1) role playing, in which a report is written for someone other than the teacher; (2) presenting proposals orally at a party; (3) presenting a problem for students to solve through research; and (4) creating an advertising poster on a topic students know little about to…

An architecture design studio classroom is a community. The myth of the solitary student is destroyed by the very structure of the classroom: students can use the room at any time, students share their works-in-progress and final products with the class, and the class is a congenial and informal mix of discussion, comments, critiques, and…

Presents a catalog of active-learning techniques aimed at fostering student learning in the context of a lecture course. Activities range from listening practices to short writing exercises to complex group exercises. Barriers to implementing active learning, and some solutions, are explored and personal experience with the techniques are…

A study examined the composing processes of eight college freshman writers and the contexts for their writing when they composed in natural settings without narrow time constraints. Subjects, both traditional freshmen and adult learners with varying degrees of writing skill, were assigned two research tasks during which they kept tape-recordings…

Addresses both pedagogical and logistical concerns and objections to writing-across-the-curriculum programs in introductory content-area courses. Explains how instructors may use writing to help students master course content and how instructors can create a classroom structure to ease the pressure on themselves to respond to student drafts. (TB)

When college courses and classrooms are consciously designed to foster self-evaluation, critical shifts occur in student autonomy and responsibility. Three elements that transform the school experience into meaningful learning include encouraging student "ownership" of their work; promoting reflection on that work; and creating a sense…

Plain talk is the cornerstone for creating a classroom atmosphere in which students want to learn to improve their writing. As much as possible, the jargon and technical terminology of the profession of English should be eliminated. Teachers will know what level of language to use if they determine the nature of their audience. Teachers have to…

An investigation into the context for writing in two college chemical engineering classes revealed that the two courses represented distinct communities where different issues were addressed, different lines of reasoning used, different writer and audience roles assumed, and different social purposes served by writing. Copies of assignments are…

The teacher of a law-school course in Legal Imagination discusses the evolution of his personal approach in the classroom, which is designed to discern the gifts of each student rather than to simply identify the gifted. Three crucial elements are explored: use and treatment of writing assignments; the use of silence in the classroom environment;…

Describes the use of peer grouping and the puzzle-solving format of a popular television game show to help students explore literary themes and compose a paper. (HTH)

Student writing can be used in literature classes as a motivational and learning tool. Through careful planning, writing activities can (1) demonstrate that student ideas on literature will be considered seriously, (2) integrate students' literary opinions with those of the instructor and established critics, (3) improve student writing skills,…

The textbook for students of intermediate English as a Second Language (ESL) is based on cross-cultural communication misunderstandings described in essays written by university students. It consists of 20 instructional units, each beginning with a real student's dilemma caused by cultural differences and each dealing with one particular custom.…