Seeking to involve students more actively in their writing assignments, two teachers developed a group of sequential writing assignments with an interdisciplinary emphasis for students in an advanced writing course. The goal of these writing assignments was to give students who had solved most of their mechanical writing problems a chance to…

The four articles in this monograph are concerned with why it is important to teach composition and with identifying the characteristics of "good" writing. The first article presents an argument for a curriculum that stresses many kinds and purposes of writing so as to produce writers who respond with freedom and diversity to a variety of writing…

This booklet is one of a series of teacher-written curriculum publications launched by the Bay Area Writing Project, each focusing on a different aspect of the teaching of composition. It describes four sequences for teaching writing developed by four teachers at four different levels--kindergarten through grade three, intermediate grades, grades…

Prepared as part of the evaluation of the Bay Area Writing Project (BAWP), this report offers descriptions of promising practices in composition instruction. It explains the selection criteria and classification scheme used and describes practices in the following four categories: (1) structuring of writing programs, (2) teaching the elements of…

A set of writing assignments and class activities designed to help students analyze their own writing processes, define their own strengths and weaknesses as writers, set their own goals, devise plans for achieving those goals, and evaluate their own progress is presented in this paper. The assignments are explained in detail, and suggestions for…

Assesses surveys of college writing teachers using computers in their composition courses. Results show little consensus in equipment or methods, but indicate that all teachers are positive about the computer's potential as a teaching and writing tool. The questionnaire is appended. (AEW)

Describes newspapers as a good alternative to the traditional writing textbook and discusses how they can be used at all age levels to develop three stages of the writing process: prewriting, revision, and publishing. (JD)

Relates the story of the arrival of a new instructor at a community college and his introduction to contemporary composition methods, wittily parodying both writing process jargon and computer jargon. (NKA)

The expository writing difficulties of exceptional students are examined in relationship to the writing process, expository text structures, and students' metacognitive knowledge. Approaches to the teaching of expository writing are discussed, and a dialogic approach, involving teacher modeling and a series of think sheets, is described.…

Investigates the implications of conceiving writing-as-performance. Claims that public speaking compares closely with a writing-as-performance course. Focuses on students' perception of themselves as writers and of their audience and presents several analogies comparing writing with other performance activities. (JD)

Presents three exercises that teach good proofreading and editing skills as well as tap students' creativity on the word processor. (HTH)

Discusses the essential difference between the writing process and its product; namely, that the former is a private and unique activity, whereas the latter is an observable artifact that can be publicly evaluated. Argues that even proponents of the process approach to writing cannot escape basing their discussions on products. (JD)

Claims that the product approach to business writing prescribes a way of operating similar to imitation and creates an illusion of a static world when, in reality, the business environment is constantly in flux. Argues that the process approach to writing instruction should be used in business communication classes. (JD)

Defines free writing, reviews the philosophy and history of free writing, and discusses some problems that it entails. (NKA)

Asserts that most English departments are product oriented in their hiring and faculty evaluation, therefore the slow transition from product to process oriented writing instruction is not surprising. (SRT)