This paper explains how first-year composition students wrote business sales letters about short fiction and then revised those letters into full-fledged literary essays that analyzed the stories. By completing these two writings back-to-back (that is, experiencing the metagenres between business writing and literary analysis), students not only…

Describes a course in which technical writing students write letters to themselves stating goals they want to accomplish within the next 10 years, which the teacher promises not to read and to mail to them in exactly 10 years. Discusses purposes and actual results of assignment. (EL)

Describes an assignment in which students wrote letters to the editor of the "English Journal" in response to Edna Bogert's article, "Censorship and 'The Lottery.'"

Discusses a letter-writing assignment in which students write five letters over the course of the semester to anyone they wish about material they read in their U.S. literature class. Describes how the assignment elicited writing in which the students were personally invested, leading to their greater involvement in the class as a whole. (SR)

Offers strategies for teaching grammar, literature, essay writing, democracy in letters to the editor, and oral presentations of the research paper. (PA)

Describes five teaching methods concerning the social nature of writing, basic writers writing letters to the editor, journal writing, homophones, and punctuation. (RS)

Presents six teaching suggestions from classroom teachers regarding creative scenarios with literary figures, lemons in the classroom (to aid descriptive writing), conferences using a computer, organizational patterns in writing, an epistolary icebreaker in composition, and using five-minute writings as review. (SR)

Describes how one English teacher used a method of teaching letter writing to foster students' communication and thinking skills. Outlines a method which involves students dually as both consumer complainant and company representative responding to the complaints. Claims that such a process enhances student learning. (HB)

Shows how letter writing can motivate basic writers. Describes how the author began teaching his first remedial writing class with a class-wide engagement in letter writing. Discusses how the class developed an active, collaborative, engaged, and inclusive spirit as students learned to put expression first and polishing later. (SR)

Describes five activities for college writing courses: (1) sports as a literary topic; (2) paragraph descriptions of a favorite meal; (3) interdisciplinary team teaching in the humanities; (4) use of "real" letters and memoranda in a technical writing course; and (5) a word-strength chart for a poetry-writing class. (MM)

Suggests that beginning writers can improve skills when they exchange letters with peers, teachers, and others. Offers a brief historical perspective on the use of letters as a pedagogical device. Outlines current applications of letter writing and exchanges in: English as a second language; technical and business writing; composition and…

Describes a freshman honors writing course in which students submit research papers and then write letters to the teacher about the experience. Identifies four concerns raised by students: (1) managing time; (2) managing the topic; (3) integrating sources; and (4) following a structure. Concludes that peer interaction is a valuable resource for…