An Iowa school district's inservice program introduced nearly 150 teachers to the writing process to help the teachers be more effective as writers and as teachers of writing. Direct measures evaluate both the writing curriculum and students' improvement in writing: writing samples, each student's cumulative writing folder, and a formal…

Suggests specific approaches to critiquing A student's paper motivates THE student to produce better papers and to improve writing skills. Warns against overemphasis on the mechanics of writing, and points out steps the instructor may follow to involve students in the editing process. (NL)

This panel discussion document about portfolio evaluation of student writing consists of three presentations from faculty members of Lynchburg College in Virginia, who describe the introduction of a portfolio-assessment system in their writing program. In this system students choose the three papers they want to rewrite for inclusion in their…

Originally developed as part of a project for the Department of Defense Schools (DoDDS) system, this learning package on writing across the curriculum is designed for teachers who wish to upgrade or expand their teaching skills on their own. The package includes an overview of the project; a comprehensive search of the ERIC database; a lecture…

This book explores the findings and beliefs researchers and teachers have shared about classroom practices and children's writing processes, highlighting representative studies with a focus on classroom application. The book examines subjects in a comprehensive review of recent research. It looks at past findings and presents challenging questions…

The margins of college students' writing are the ideal site for teacher-student conversations about the writing, but most of these conversations misfire, largely for reasons that are avoidable. Suggestions are made for responding so students can understand, respond to, and learn from teachers' written comments. Examples from several…

Electronic dialogues tend to be rapid, informal, and public. When college teachers use computer technology to respond to student writing, they have an opportunity to rethink and reinvent the ways in which they teach and by which students learn. Despite some new concerns and problems, this mode of communicating does not evoke the same response that…

A 1985 study of students at Ferris State University (Michigan) found that the majority of freshmen improve their writing abilities from their beginning English course to the end of their freshman year, with ability levels changing little after that. In the current study, graduating seniors were studied to evaluate growth in writing throughout the…

In fall 1991, Solano Community College (California) undertook a study comparing the writing skills of students in an integrated course combining history and freshman English composition with students in unpaired history and English classes. Students were divided into three groups: the integrated class and two control groups, one taking history…

Designed for Pima Community College (Arizona) instructors, this booklet presents 50 sample writing assignments developed for 38 non-writing courses. Three types of assignments are represented: (1) short papers, which are usually one to five pages long, require few research skills, and allow students to use the instructor's feedback to produce…

Intended for college faculty in all disciplines, this guidebook offers practical methods and ideas intended to help teachers clarify writing assignments so that students' writing will improve, as has been seen to happen when teachers sharpen their responses to students' papers. Contents include: (1) "Assigning Writing," which describes…

College courses which use writing across the curriculum (WAC) principles encourage students to write about assigned readings and to respond to each other's writings, resulting in better learning of course concepts and the experience of participating in a discipline's ongoing conversation. Guidelines for setting up peer response groups in both…

Tape-recorded commentaries on student writing can tell students in detail how a reader responds to their writing. Computers that can record and/or play back voice recordings can also help improve the way teachers annotate students' drafts. Strategies for using the method are presented, with excerpts from students' discipline-based writing and…

Offers basic guidelines for college teachers in responding to students' writing in the disciplines, with the central principle that teachers' comments should reflect their instructional goals for individual students. Suggests that fewer, more carefully designed comments are likely to be more effective than many unfocused responses. Examples of…

A college teacher describes his approach to student subject-area writing, which includes assignment of several short papers to be written according to carefully prescribed guidelines (appended to the article), clear grading criteria, high expectations, availability for individual conferences, rewards for improvement, encouragement of writing for…