Creative thinking is sometimes neglected by schools. Introducing philosophy in schools represents a commitment to balancing the development of logical and creative thinking, currently exercised only orally. In the present study, the focus is on writing. Firstly, the value of authentic pupil writings is underscored. The pupils and students studied…

In the context of our work as literacy specialists, we taught teachers to use sentence frames to support ELL students' writing. We then studied the impact of their instruction on students. Our analysis of student writing samples revealed no group wide developmental trends so we posed deeper questions about their work using the data analysis…

In this mixed methods study, qualitative, quantitative, and single-case methods were combined to provide a comprehensive investigation of teacher and student outcomes following practice-based professional development (PBPD) for self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) in writing. Qualitative observations were used to determine outcomes among the…

This action research study investigates the effectiveness of a model based on the theory of systemic text analysis for the teaching of EFL writing. Employing students' pieces of writing and a teachers' survey as data collection instruments, the writing performance of a group of monolingual intermediate level adult students enrolled on a private…

This yearlong ethnographic case study investigated higher and lower track adolescents' experiences with core content-area (social studies, science, and math) writing in one urban working-class district. Teacher, student, and administrator interviews; field notes; and students' written work comprised the data set. The findings from this…

This essay interrogates the concept of "clarity" that has become an imperative of effective student writing. I show that clarity is neither axiomatic nor transparent, and that the clear/unclear binary that informs the identification of clarity as a goal of effective student writing is itself unstable precisely because of the ideological baggage…

This study investigating the effectiveness of Calibrated Peer Review (CPR )[TM] in a senior-level biochemistry class had three purposes: to (a) compare the CPR process for feedback with TA-generated feedback in improving students' ability to write scientific abstracts; (b) compare CPR results for males and females; and (c) observe whether CPR…

Discusses aspects of the classroom environment that nurture young writers. Describes strategies and assignments (including cross-curricular poetry, a letter writing activity, multigenre papers, a tribute assignment, and a "read and retail" assignment) which helps students understand and develop voice. Notes that while students' writing…

Uses illustrations from a graduate seminar in the teaching of writing, a high school classroom, and a seventh-grade classroom to show the value of teacher-student dialog over teacher monologue, and to show teacher responses that resist the impulse to launch into the teacher's monologue, and instead invite dialog and turn the work of meaning-making…

Describes a nonfiction genre study in a first-grade class in which reading and writing minilessons focused on nonfiction, and the children were required to read nonfiction and write a piece in that genre. Notes that, by the end of the nonfiction study, the group exhibited confidence and comfort with nonfiction. (SR)

Describes a research project in which elementary students with learning disabilities participate in both individual and cooperative computer-enhanced writing sessions, using three types of topics: free choice, literature based, and fantasy based. Finds the computer-enhanced whole-language writing sessions more instructionally effective than the…

Introduces a four-step process of clustering to help students integrate their reading and writing skills to produce better papers in their college courses. Provides students writing samples from before and after clustering. (MG)

Recounts the author's experiences teaching writing for several years in the New York city public schools. Relates his changing thoughts, feelings and assumptions about why creative writing matters (or does not matter) to these students. Concludes that writing can help people struggle against suffering and injustice, and it can also give the…