As the issue of whether literature might be used to teach composition has not been a lively issue of debate among current scholars, those interested in the topic might look to George Jardine, professor of logic and philosophy at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, from 1774 to 1824. As Robert Connors suggests, teachers stand to gain much by…

Summarizes recent research and theory on or related to the composing process to arrive at a general model or structure for the teaching of writing in secondary schools. (DD)

Claims that writing logs constitute an effective teaching tool in basic college writing courses. Discusses one teacher's success using writing logs to assist the development of students' freewriting skills. Includes sample entries revealing students' comments and progress throughout the term and documenting the teacher's response to these…

Claims that self-evaluation instruments strengthen students' ability to evaluate their own writing and improve writing instruction. Argues that self-evaluation exercises should (1) help students evaluate their writing, (2) demystify teachers' grades, (3) encourage students' awareness as writers, (4) require written responses from student, and (5)…

Discusses tasks that students often overlook but need to address when completing "instructor/content-based" writing assignments. (HTH)

Adapts Edward de Bono's "Intermediate Impossible" strategy--for considering ideas that normally would be discarded as stepping-stones to new ideas--for use as a prewriting activity to enhance creative problem solving. (HTH)

Argues that writing instruction should begin as early as kindergarten. Suggests that learning how to write occurs best not in traditional classrooms but when the classroom is turned into a workshop, where the process of planning, writing, and revising is honored. (KH)

Suggests using poetry's short short forms for a methodical and rapid series of writing assignments that emphasize both careful writing at the sentence level and overall planning and respect for form. (HTH)

Discusses the "can of worms" opened by exhorting students to "write with a purpose." Examines other cliches that state the obvious about the writing process. (HTH)

Argues that structuralism needs to be given a wider base than that of the highly specialized studies that are usually cited as examples. Rather, extension should be made philosophically, in the direction of phenomenology, and, practically, with some of the work being done in linguistics. (HOD)

Argues that the possibility for surprise is the starting point for both effective writers and teachers and describes six elements that help create surprise: expectation, habit, ease, recognition, "pounceability," and acceptance. (MM)

Through 77 targeted, high-powered writing activities and detailed directions for guiding the activities, author and master storyteller Kendall Haven provides teachers of grades 3-9 with a complete writing program that ensures student success. These field-tested writing strategies and techniques create a carefully sequenced and balanced approach…

Presents a nine-step program for reviving a school's teaching of writing, including gaining faculty participation, compiling a bibliography, getting participants' descriptions of effective methods of teaching writing, and having participants present workshops built on doing, looking at, and learning from their teaching methods. Provides a…

Describes an end-of-the-term project in which students were encouraged to write for a specific, actual audience. (FL)

Advocates using the case approach in college writing classes. Suggests that asking students to play the roles of participants in a situation, whether real or imaginary, helps them learn to address a particular audience with a clear purpose. Offers a case approach with discussion questions and possible assignments. (RL)