In this article, the author talks about the use of punctuation and describes a study that confirmed her growing sense that all students need exposure to and instruction on the full repertoire of punctuation. In an attempt to assess how much of the eleventh graders know about the way professionals use punctuation, all teachers at Webster Thomas…

English teachers have a unique opportunity to expand and develop the way their students think. Too often, students are comfortable in thinking about reading and writing processes in a concrete or linear way. They are used to "right" or "wrong" answers in their other studies and look for the same in their English assignments. While teachers often…

In this article, the author shares how she envisioned and created a writing assignment for a ninth-grade English course. The writing project is a class novel comprised of short stories, one written by each student. In the writing assignment, seniors compile their favorite writings from any class in any year of high school and write reflections…

Illustrates how writing exercises involving epitaphs may be used to teach brevity, restraint, and lucidity. (DD)

Offers seven effective learning activities for the first day of class. (MS)

Describes the "Chinese Menu System" of student instructional units based on the ideas of James R. Moffet being used by teachers in the Columbus, Georgia, area in which students select learning activities from categories constructed around a single topic. (JL)

Presents opposing views on the wisdom of teaching student writers to write for an "audience." (JL)

Insists upon the importance of poetry and provides a procedure for introducing both students and teachers to the writing and appreciation of poems. (JL)

Describes a synonym exercise--composing an essay without using the verbs "be,""have,""go," or "get"--which increases students' awareness of at least six different language features. (MM)

Presents a sample of short writing assignments flowing from carefully prepared lessons that isolate specific learnings, guide processes closely, and appeal to student interests. (RB)

Recommends using young adult literature to teach basic composition skills. (JL)

Discusses how powerful the letter is as a form and vehicle for writing, particularly because the language of letters is the closest to natural speech and represents casual spontaneity associated with conversation. Suggests practical ways of including letter writing in the classroom and provides sample letters as illustration. (KEH)

Deals with teaching a Walt Whitman unit in a high school American literature course. Discusses ways of making the poet's work relevant to the current generation of students. (RBW)

Recounts how students at Rutgers (New Jersey) Preparatory School used journal writing to explore their feelings about the disruption in their academic life caused by a fire that destroyed much of their school. (RBW)