Describes the positive effect a teacher had on his son's writing by offering encouragement and interest rather than assignments and criticisms. (PRA)

Diagramming composition as a control structure allows us to see the interaction between process and product and to discover that composition is not a linear process but starts and stops, returns and fixes, and moves ahead. In the interaction of three factors--the real world, the writer, and the reader--a text is produced. The objects, social…

Describes the writing theories of Lev Vygotsky, and how they are borne out by modern research. Asserts the Vygotsky's ideas show why cooperative learning strategies such as peer response groups fit into the beginning stages of the composing process. Discusses Vygotsky's zone of proximal development. (PRA)

Describes how an English teacher asks students to reflect and respond about their learning after each unit of instruction. Students in different classes planned a short story unit and a poetry unit. Cites students' writings. Despite the reluctance of students to write their reflections, the process is seen as a valuable component of the learning…

Examines results of a study using the inquiry method in composition instruction. Findings suggest that writing tasks that engage students in specifiable inquiry strategies should be an important part of every writing curriculum. (RAE)

Describes five writing activities and assignments designed to help students understand the content of social studies and the process of writing. These include student journals, biographical poems, elaborate word games, and creative writing exercises. Illustrative examples relate these to social studies issues. (MJP)

Proposes a view of literacy learning in which various forms of reading and writing are conceptualized as unique ways of thinking about and exploring a topic of study (analogous to a conceptual "landscape") en route to acquiring knowledge (best "traversed" from a variety of perspectives). (MS)

This is one in a series of eight discussion pamphlets produced by the Writing Across the Curriculum Project dealing with some of the issues connected with writing in the schools and their relation to learning. This pamphlet is concerned with what is involved in the learning of new ideas and what part language plays in the process. It includes…

After a brief discussion of the concepts underlying the design of a high school district's composition program that emphasizes teacher inservice preparation and writing as process rather than product, this paper develops a theory of learning language skills similar to that used in learning a second language. A distinction is drawn between language…

This book recounts the struggles and successes of one Seattle School District secondary school composition teacher guiding special education students through the writing process. The nine students had an IQ range of 59 to 109 and had an age range of 14 to 17 years. Of the students assigned to this class: one was neurologically impaired; one was…

Focuses on the need for improved teaching at the secondary and college levels of the English curriculum, emphasizing the view of learning that also includes the development of thinking abilities capable of helping students use information to create their own insights. Reviews recent pedagogical guides that follow this approach. (NKA)

Noting that teachers sometimes fail to draw on students' prior knowledge, this guide focuses on helping teachers both to think about the cognitive processes involved in learning and to design activities that provide students with a solid introduction to various learning tasks. The first section briefly discusses current theory and research in…