The six-sentence argument (6SA) is an exercise to train critical thinking skills. Faced with a decision situation, students argue for their preferred course of action using a logical structure of exactly six sentences. Through a guided peer review, students engage critically with other students' arguments and receive detailed feedback on their own…

In this article we propose a five-step sequenced approach to integrative interdisciplinary learning in undergraduate gateway courses. Drawing from the literature of interdisciplinarity, transformative learning theory, and theories of reflective learning, we utilize a sequence of five steps early in our respective undergraduate gateway courses to…

This report summarizes the procedures and outcomes of the 1971 classroom tryout of the Southwest Regional Laboratory (SWRL) Second-Grade Composition Skills Exercises, a series of sequenced writing lessons for second graders who have completed the SWRL first-grade exercises. The purpose of the tryout was to identify appropriate writing outcomes for…

Discusses situational sequencing, a concept of teaching writing that places writers within specific rhetorical contexts and asks them to produce a series of writings that develop from and relate to one another. Provides examples of such assignments. (FL)

Presents sequential approach to writing instruction that draws on power of rhetoric to help students connect with real world. Exercises focus on country's literacy problem and allow students to work with all kinds of discourse in logical sequence while learning to summarize, to analyze their own and their classmates' styles, and to work with…

Illustrates how elementary-secondary teachers often ask students to perform tasks beyond their abilities. Argues that writing teachers should learn what can reasonably be expected at various grade levels; show students how to improve; and focus sequentially on the four stages of writing-- fluidity, versatility, correctness, and style. (AYC)

Freewriting can be more than merely a prewriting heuristic that provides preparation for more advanced kinds of writing. A class at Jefferson Davis State Junior College (Alabama) attempts to promote the lack of pressure as well as the freedom and spontaneity that freewriting allows to a traditional composition course. In this class, freewritings…

Increasing numbers of teachers seem to recognize that sequencing assignments is an effective way to teach writing. A sequence of 20 writing assignments was developed by four composition instructors at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado. The first eight exercises asked cadets to look at and think about their physical surroundings at…

Identifies three stages of developmental writing topics: simple personal topics that encourage fluency; topics that encourage students to use reading, writing, critical thinking, and dialog; and academic topics involving abstract concepts. Presents a reading/writing/critical thinking/dialog framework for writing assignments, whereby class…

Research in secondary school composition instruction indicates that (1) emphasis on writing for the teacher-as-examiner is prevalent, (2) prewriting activities are limited, (3) there is little discussion of approaches to the topic or what information should be included, and (4) activities to help students while they are writing are almost…

Describes a system for arranging assignments in a composition course that aims to prepare students for academic writing, by focusing entirely on exposition and its conceptual demands. (HTH)

Discusses the sequencing of writing assignments based on students' natural development. Cites the work of Piaget and Moffett. (FL)

Offers a practical curriculum for the composition classroom which takes into account a socially informed sequence of work. Argues that every student possesses a socially constituted generic lexicon which functions as a complex code of verbal behavior. Urges teachers to establish mediating links between familiar and unfamiliar generic contexts.…

Provides eight sequential, process-oriented writing assignments: (1) diagnostic essay, (2) personal account, (3) ghost writing, (4) summary, (5) developing a thesis, (6) exploratory essay, (7) proposal, and (8) final paper. (HTH)

With support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, writing teachers at three central Illinois high schools, a community college, and Illinois State University (ISU) are addressing the problem of getting composition teachers to cooperate in developing long range curricula and sharing actual classroom practices through a collaborative…