Contends that by using nonfiction writing as a daily developmental process, a child finds a predictable, nurturing, and accepting environment which helps teachers understand their students, helps children learn, and promotes acceptance of both the student and the child. (MS)

Intended to help students improve their written work by their active involvement and by their interest in investing the time and energy necessary to create a finished product of quality, this booklet presents a structured process that teaches children to progress from a draft to a "published" stage, through individual editing, peer…

Presents case of fourth-grade boy with learning disability that keeps him from being able to read at his own ability level. Examples of the student's writing (prose and poetry) are included. Presents steps in plan to encourage student to continue writing and to improve in his ability to write. (NB)

Describes the Reading/Writing Task, a procedure used to assess what students recall and comprehend from their reading but that also guides them to recall, summarize, and react to what they have read. Discusses the activities involved in the task and the evaluation procedure, and outlines the Reading/Writing Task scoring framework. (TJQ)

This resource package has been prepared as a means for distributing not only the results of the 1978 British Columbia Assessment of Written Expression but also to provide educators with clear, well-organized, classroom-ready materials which will assist them in teaching and evaluating the skills of written expression. It contains all of the test…

Argues that the best way to encourage writers is to allow that their writing has a real purpose and a real audience. Discusses how unself-conscious response to the purpose of writing is more useful than responses that attend only to technique and form. (SRT)

In response to the New York State Fifth Grade Writing Test indicating inadequacies in students' writing abilities in a Southwest Bronx elementary school, a study employed Evelyn Rothstein's developmental, systematic instructional approach to improve students' writing competencies. It was hypothesized that, as a result of the instructional program…

Intended for elementary school teachers in all subject areas wanting to learn more about what is known concerning the teaching of writing, this book summarizes numerous presentations made over the past four years by the many teacher/consultants working with the Bay Area Writing Project. Following introductory materials, the first section of the…

Discusses writing strategies that can be used in mathematics classes, including: (1) free writing; (2) writing in journals; (3) in-class writing; and (4) term papers. A checklist for evaluating student's writing is included and a rating scale for central idea, organization, development, style, and technical control is given. (JN)

Reports on a study which viewed writing instruction as an interactive social process between the teacher and students. Written responses to student writing assignments assessed content rather than accuracy of spelling or grammar. States that written feedback encouraged greater quantity and quality of writing with spelling accuracy being maintained…

Written by teachers for teachers of elementary school students, the 20 articles in this collection are designed to provide insights into the way children learn to write and to encourage teachers to examine their own theories and perceptions of writing and writing instruction. The articles are grouped in five sections. In the first section, six…

To determine what pedagogical uses the primary trait system might serve apart from providing a means to assess students' writing, data were collected from 11 elementary and junior high school teachers who had participated in an earlier week-long workshop on primary trait scoring. Participating teachers were asked to complete a log of their…

The Highland (Indiana) public schools developed a writing program for elementary school students based on the premise that children learn to use language by actively generating language. The program features language production as the principal student activity in the English class and uses the students' own written work and oral expression as the…

Following a major policy statement on writing in the primary school, this document employs a threefold approach to examining the teaching difficulties involved in responding to children's writing. The first section considers expectations that teachers have of children as writers, children's intended meanings, and various kinds of responses to…

A study investigated how and when writing is used at the elementary school level to determine (1) what kind of instructional support elementary students receive, (2) what prewriting support is provided, (3) what support for revising is offered, and (4) what happens to the students' writings. Using preservice teachers as observers, data were…