In the English classroom, narrative writing is often separated from the work of reading literature or used merely to coax reluctant students into discussing textually relevant topics. This article discusses a close writing activity, Image Explosion, that engages students in narrative writing that brings attention to the smallest details of…

This study explored racialized newcomer student participants' experiences in a rural high school in Western Canada, and utilized critically engaged language and literacy workshops (CELLWs) as a means to authentically represent participants' interrelationships with and relatability to their school and community spaces. CELLWs are an important…

Reflection is a necessary component of learning. Through reflective assignments and tasks, students are given opportunities to evaluate their learning and analyze strategies they use while acquiring and applying course material. Reflections also help students assess and think deeply about the information presented in class and thus better retain…

The purpose of this article is to provide strategies that address three areas (creating a classroom library, incorporating environmental print, establishing writing activities) for beginning teachers for creating literacy-rich environments to support the academic and functional needs of young students with significant developmental disabilities…

The "Silent Interview" provides an effective ice-breaking exercise for the first day of composition class and also triggers learning strategies toward writing effectively. At the first class meeting, students are asked to work in pairs, exchanging questions and responses in writing until six or eight questions have been asked and…

Discusses methods to lend more realism to the technical writing classroom: (1) role playing, in which a report is written for someone other than the teacher; (2) presenting proposals orally at a party; (3) presenting a problem for students to solve through research; and (4) creating an advertising poster on a topic students know little about to…

Suggests ways of designing poetry writing assignments so that students are motivated to practice a particular writing skill. (RL)

An architecture design studio classroom is a community. The myth of the solitary student is destroyed by the very structure of the classroom: students can use the room at any time, students share their works-in-progress and final products with the class, and the class is a congenial and informal mix of discussion, comments, critiques, and…

Opportunities for and limits upon diary writing in one second/third-grade classroom are examined with the purpose of stimulating critical thinking about two issues: (1) the diary's potential within the school writing curriculum, and (2) the classroom as an environment for the teaching and learning of writing. Field notes, teacher journal entries,…

Offers guidelines on helping young children develop into independent writers. Explains what to expect at different stages, such as semiphonetic and phonetic stages, drawing as a prewriting activity, and writing and revising once drawing no longer dictates writing. Offers suggestions for providing an environment that supports the writing process.…

The teacher of creative writing should be willing to begin by making a fool of himself. (JH)

IN CREATIVE WRITING, UNLIKE IN FORMAL COMPOSITION, STUDENTS CHOOSE THEIR OWN FORMS AND MATERIALS TO EXPRESS THEIR THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS. SUCH AN OBJECTIVE DEMANDS A CLASSROOM ATMOSPHERE IN WHICH STUDENTS CAN EXPRESS THEMSELVES FREELY AND CONFIDENTLY WITHOUT FEAR OF HARSH NEGATIVE CRITICISM. IN ADDITION TO WRITING EXTENSIVELY, STUDENTS CAN BE AIDED…

Students asked to write directions for assembling a tinkertoy structure learned valuable writing skills as well as critical ability. (JH)

Presents a catalog of active-learning techniques aimed at fostering student learning in the context of a lecture course. Activities range from listening practices to short writing exercises to complex group exercises. Barriers to implementing active learning, and some solutions, are explored and personal experience with the techniques are…

Discusses an instructional model viewing the role of teachers as gatekeepers or border crossers, with gatekeepers maintaining tight control over learning and border crossers providing students greater freedom to define their own learning experience. Examines the validity of the model in the context of using writing assignments in large lecture…