Whether novice or experienced, writers must come to terms with the daunting task of filling up a blank page, or screen, in an effort to produce writing. Student writers are no different. They enter teachers' classes having confronted similar difficulties with discovering what it is they want to say. In seeking to help students, they devote…

In second-language writing, assessment has traditionally focused on the written products and how well (or badly) students perform in writing. Teachers dominate the assessment process as testers, while students remain passive testees. Assessment is something teachers "do to" rather than '"with" students, mainly for…

Offers a nonverbal prewriting strategy, writer-based sketches, intended to help students turn their thoughts into words. (MS)

Describes different types of prewriting activities such as "brainwriting," visual synectics, and relational algorithms. (JL)

Describes nine prewriting activities using supermarket tabloids as the model for producing a newspaper on mythology. (RS)

Offers a strong rationale for the idea that the journey of writing good poetry begins on a path that infuses technology into the first stage of the writing process. Presents several ideas of ways to incorporate technology into the prewriting poetry experience. Concludes that by making technology an ingredient, the true potential for synergy…

Points out the value of responding to students' first drafts of papers, outlines a three-step approach for doing so, and gives five examples of such an approach. (JL)

Suggests teaching a variety of sentence beginnings in writing instruction. (AEA)

Designed to combine the science and the art of teaching composition, this series of assignments encourages junior high and high school writing students to explore tone, original visual images, point of view, and other literary techniques. One assignment asks students to write a number of paragraphs alternately using sarcasm, humor, melancholy, and…

An individual folk anthology unit covering eight topics is described in this paper. The eight topics include (1) I have an identity, (2) my interesting name, (3) mandalas and sentences, (4) rhythms and rhymes of old times, (5) myths of my childhood, (6) folk legends/old and new, (7) aspects of folklore, and (8) slang. The activities accompanying…

Suggests a prewriting exercise in characterization using the legend genre as framework. (HTH)

Explains how journal writing, taught with some direction, can guide students' writing and provide them with a sense of self-discovery. (HOD)

Reviews what researchers have found out about prewriting, and postulates how this information can help teachers promote growth in writing. (CRH)

Describes an activity in which students write guided-imagery scripts that are related to works of literature. (MM)

Prewriting exercises such as outlines, successive drafts, or free writing are not helpful to students from oral cultures who are unfamiliar with the writing process. Speaking as a rehearsal technique for writing can help nontraditional students formulate and organize ideas before starting the first draft. Speaking as a rehearsal for writing…