Describes techniques for employing sentence combining to improve the beginning writing skills of elementary school students. (DD)

Offers four ideas for students to share their writing. Suggests that providing time and ways for children to share gives their writing purpose and direction. (MG)

Suggests the use of a taped dictation program to allow children to fully express ideas without initial concern for the mechanical tasks of spelling and handwriting. Offers steps to carry out a writing program with taped dictation. (MG)

Suggests several strategies for producing fluent, legible penmanship for both left and right handed students. Observes that reading readiness skills can be reinforced through handwriting instruction. Describes several physical considerations for successful writing, and notes the modifications needed for left handed writers. (MM)

Describes the development of a beginning writing assessment and defines the criteria used for evaluation. Provides a checklist of evaluation criteria, divided according to three developmental stages: beginning writing or readiness, transition, and composition. (AEA)

Argues the importance of dictated stories, with the teacher or other adult as scribe, in children's development as writers. Examines one child's literary influences and her literacy development. (MG)

Describes objectives, resources, procedures, and teaching strategies for leading children to use magazines to produce a slide-tape show about animals. Highly structured formats for notetaking, synthesizing, and creating a final presentation are used to enable young children to do research and produce written reports without word-for-word copying.…

This paper analyses elementary school Chinese language textbooks for teaching reading and writing in primary grades in the People's Republic of China. The paper begins by examining the characteristics of the Chinese written language, particularly how the reforms of written Chinese in China since the 1950s have affected instructional materials.…

Based on the authors' classroom work and observations since the 1930s, this book is intended to help teach children to write correctly and, at the same time, help them learn to enjoy writing so much that they will want to continue writing throughout their lives. The book offers classroom teachers, school library media specialists, curriculum…

Challenges the view that children should learn to write narratives first and shows how teachers can exploit everyday classroom topics to help children develop control of the kinds of factual writing normally used by adults. (MM)

The articles in this collection are intended to present a detailed picture of the work of Donald Graves and his associates at the Writing Process Laboratory (WPL) of the University of New Hampshire. The introduction provides an overview of the work of Graves and examines his views of beginning writing, writing conferences, revision, audience, and…

Discusses the work of Donald Graves, who has achieved wide recognition for propounding a method of teaching writing that stresses unstructured expression of personal experiences, using a case study of 16 children as his research base. Concludes that because Graves never considers negative evidence for his hypotheses, his work constitutes reportage…

In 2001, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Board of Directors created a focus council examine what all preservice teacher candidates need to know about reading. The council soon broadened the scope of its work from reading to literacy, focusing specifically on grades K-4. This paper is the council's report to the Board.…

Discusses first grade students' writing experiences and processes. Demonstrates, using student writing samples, how simple expression can lead to greater complexity with appropriate teacher guidance. Asserts that teachers must observe and take cues from students to determine what learning context and hints to provide. (MM)

Intended to help education students develop a theoretical framework that will allow them to make cohesive instructional decisions and plan integrated language arts programs, this guide bridges the gulf between language research and classroom practice, acknowledging that language research is increasingly based upon language produced in such natural…