This article presents 10 practical teaching procedures to encourage students to develop formal reasoning skills. A twelfth-grade English course is used as an example. Procedures include pretesting, sequencing instruction, providing students with concrete experiences, discussing reasoning patterns and forms of argumentation, assigning argumentative…

Probes the logistical problems of assigning a term paper to large history classes. Proposes a solution that asks students to write a biographical sketch of a notable individual in western civilization. Describes paper requirements and student responses to the assignment. Stresses the importance of developing writing skills in the liberal arts. (RW)

Teaching students about the physiological benefits of regular exercise is an important, though often challenging, aspect of the K-12 physical education curriculum. Due to a variety of class schedules and physical space restrictions, some physical educators may have difficulty integrating fitness and wellness concepts into their daily lessons.…

Stressing that learning to write is learning to think, a series of workshops showed teachers in the content area how to use writing in their classrooms. Following a brief introduction to the program, workshop participants developed eight guidelines for creating effective writing assignments: (1) make all assignments worthwhile, (2) make them…

Student writing can be used in literature classes as a motivational and learning tool. Through careful planning, writing activities can (1) demonstrate that student ideas on literature will be considered seriously, (2) integrate students' literary opinions with those of the instructor and established critics, (3) improve student writing skills,…

A process oriented technical writing course was devised at the University of Alaska to counteract the "forms" approach and to include peer critiques and student participation in class grading. Modifications to the standard syllabus included (1) student analyses of their own writing processes through literacy autobiographies, (2) student…

The 23 original essays on sentence combining in this volume range in focus from classroom methodology and effectiveness, through theoretical issues and syntactic constructions, to current issues in the field. The essays and their authors are as follows: (1) "The Role of the Elaborated Dominant Nominal in the Measurement of Conceptual and…

The best way to teach writing is to make it the way to learn something else. Instructors need to look at written communication as it is used in real life. When students take pains with their writing, it is because what they have to say is important to them. The students' need to communicate a particular meaning for a particular purpose guides them…

Focusing on talk as the vehicle through which the reading and writing processes can become more interactive and can more closely approach the processes of learning, the lessons presented in this booklet provide examples of how teachers can construct learning strategies to help children "talk their way into meaning" against a framework of…

A child's literary experience may be "stretched" through extension activities such as reading aloud, discussion, writing, art, music, and drama. While any planned activity can be overused and work against the intent of furthering the child's literary growth, there are many valid ways of offering the child opportunities for savoring and reflecting…

A study examined the behavior of first graders as they collaborated on a writing exercise using a word processor. Data were collected over three weeks in the form of fieldnotes and 13.5 hours of videotape of students working at the computer. Videotapes were examined to locate patterns of discourse and physical actions, and by abstracting from the…

Intended for college-level basic writers, this booklet integrates training in selected oral communication activities with writing instruction in order to improve students' academic writing. The first section discusses oral communication theory, emphasizing the underlying rhetorical abilities of invention, audience adaptation, and argumentation, to…

Writing techniques espoused by Peter Elbow, applied to the teaching of writing in advertising copywriting classes can help students develop into better writers, generating better copy ideas. The shift of focus from writing a finished piece the first time to concentrating on the process of writing allows for a freer flow of ideas and creativity.…

Intended to provide the schools of California with a standard for assessing their existing writing programs and a tool for designing new programs, this handbook addresses both the content and the teaching methodology of a writing program. Sections of the handbook provide (1) background information on the teaching of writing; (2) a discussion of…

This book recounts the struggles and successes of one Seattle School District secondary school composition teacher guiding special education students through the writing process. The nine students had an IQ range of 59 to 109 and had an age range of 14 to 17 years. Of the students assigned to this class: one was neurologically impaired; one was…