The Writing Program (WP) at Saint Louis University has striven to create a course that draws on a richer disciplinary understanding of writing and rhetoric. The standard course structure, from which instructors are asked to fashion their own syllabi, asks students to pursue a scaffolded semester-long project. As they pursue the scaffolded…

This article presents the results of a 2016 classroom research study assessing the impact of open pedagogy on student skills mastery in English 101, a first-year undergraduate composition course at a two-year community college in North America. Ninety-two students in five sections used the same free OER course materials, but two sections were…

In her recent "Teaching English in the Two-Year College" ("TETYC") article, Denise Marchionda argues for a grading system in her first-year writing course that turns over responsibility to students for earning grades. The approach, which she calls "the point-by-point grading system," is a variation on a contract grading approach in which each…

In the fall of 2009, the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) initiated a series of research programs designed to support the high school reform program, "Excellence for All," based on more than 20 years of research on the school reform programs of the countries with the most successful education programs worldwide. A…

Describes a collaborative writing assignment devised for a first-year composition class. Outlines how the assignment was undertaken and carried out by the students. Provides background on the theoretical literature concerning collaborative writing. (HB)

Describes how one English teacher developed an approach to teaching writing that was based on asking students to write memoirs or personal narratives. Presents an amalgam of letters written to a newspaper and to three co-authors of an article published in "The Chronicle of Higher Education" regarding the use of personal writing in freshman…

Describes a method of teaching professional expository writing skills in which a teacher wrote to real professional people, some famous, and asked them to become "clients" for first-year student researchers by requesting specific information. Argues for the feasibility and success of this project. (HB)

Discusses the trials and tribulations of students who struggle with reading and writing assignments centered on the essay form. Argues that students must be shown the artistic merit of the essay form to produce and appreciate essays. Considers how the essay as form provides a spirit to be followed in teaching and in life. (HB)

Describes the problem of allowing students to voice their opinions in research papers. Argues that seeing this as a problem points to pedagogical problems. Shows how student hesitancy to engage their opinions reflects their own developing epistemology. (HB)

Describes an approach to teaching a literature-based first-year composition course that allows students to read poetry and understand it, which in turn helps them to become better writers. Outlines class activities and writing assignments that foster independent thinking and personal writing, finally leading to essays. (HB)

Describes a writing assignment in which students think about how their families celebrate their own cultures through special meals or a certain dish, find out how this dish became part of their rituals, write a brief summary of the history of the dish, and write up the recipe itself. (SR)

Outlines a writing assignment for first-year composition students in which they choose a popular song and explicate its meaning both through prose and in a classroom presentation. Explains how to prepare students for public speaking regarding their essays. Discusses problems and argues for the assignment's usefulness. (HB)

For many students, grammar represents a baffling set of capricious rules wielded by "sadistic" English teachers for the sole purpose of making their lives miserable. To combat this misconception and to dispel the mystery and empower students with the ability to use the conventions of standard written English, a series of student…