This article addresses the importance of teaching transformative usability and accessibility concepts through the lens of disability studies in general business and professional communication courses. It argues that when students learn to analyze audiences, include diverse users, and foresee accessibility "before" the final draft because…

Since July 2013, our research team has been working on a project that aims at re-introducing rhetorical exercises in Belgian secondary (high) schools and at studying their effects on the pupils. Our hypothesis is that the regular practice of rhetorical exercises, inspired by those practised in Antiquity, could stimulate skills like…

To succeed as tomorrow's workers in the knowledge society of the new century--a world characterized by ceaseless change, boundless knowledge and endless doubt, today's business writing students must develop the skills and traits needed to become creative problem-solvers, flexible team-players and risk-taking life-time learners (Bereiter, 2002a).…

Award-winning author Carolyn Coman has made a career out of writing stories for children and young adults as well as teaching writing to people of all ages. She believes that the essence of good writing, no matter the genre, is the ability to craft a solid story. In this innovative book, Carolyn provides advice, strategies, and inspiration…

This article explores the beneficial and sometimes unpredictable implications of a daily reflective writing exercise for introductory literature courses: the learning log. Pseudonymous samples of student writing, coupled with instructor commentary, gesture toward ways in which the learning log's continual implementation and modification foster a…

If a teacher reads the children's stories to the whole class, the children begin to write for their peers rather than for the teacher's approval. The combination of hearing their stories read aloud and seeing their friends enjoyment is irresistible. The writing improves dramatically. (Author/MS)

Offers a writing exercise, based on a comic-strip theme, that teachers can use to relieve tensions between them and their students while developing students' expressive writing skills. (RL)

A teacher at a junior college with a high percentage of Chicano students finds that a buddy system" approach to in-class writing improves student motivation and writing skills. (MN)

Describes a teaching game for bibliographic formatting that emphasizes the importance of noting author, title, and publication information precisely while using accurate formatting and punctuation. (HTH)

Lists several classroom writing activities, including writing in sand, using letters cut from magazines and newspapers, and baking letter cookies. (HTH)

An elementary teacher presents suggestions for helping students focus their thinking, find a central theme, and develop story ideas for writing. She describes how to demonstrate focus in writing (via teacher's writing, professional authors, and student's writing) and how to develop focus when conferencing. (SM)

Suggests using poetry's short short forms for a methodical and rapid series of writing assignments that emphasize both careful writing at the sentence level and overall planning and respect for form. (HTH)

Describes a writing exercise in law enforcement report writing--writing a report based on a crime photograph--and discusses 10 writing problems revealed by this exercise. (RL)

An approach to persuasive writing is presented for English-as-a-Second-Language classrooms. Activities include discussion to activate past experience, connecting experience to purpose, constructing the argument, extending the argument, supporting the argument, and examining and evaluating alternatives. (12 references) (LB)

Describes a project in a reading class in which students wrote to communicate with a real audience and in so doing interested themselves and others in reading and writing. Outlines the project's five steps of prewriting, prewriting with partners, writing, revising, and proofreading. Notes the students' overwhelming positive response to the…