Describes a writing class activity to encourage peer feedback when peers are reluctant to give it. Notes how it invites personal dialectic and critical analysis while protecting the writer's originality and sense of control. (SR)

Describes working with multiage elementary school students on demand writing--writing to meet deadlines. Discusses why to teach it, practical applications, what teachers need to know before beginning instruction, getting started, introducing demand writing, modeling it, teaching beginnings and endings, and revising and editing/proofreading. (SR)

This handbook is one of a set of six which provide a systematic means to help students in grades 4 through 8 learn the process of writing while building specific writing skills. The handbook focuses on editorial skills, and offers 25 reproducible lessons, in a variety of formats, which focus on a specific writing improvement skill, such as writing…

Offers three techniques for helping students learn to revise entire pieces, discover how words work in context, and eliminate errors. (RL)

Noting that educators need to capture the interest of primary students early on to make lifelong writers out of them, this paper discusses ways to encourage the writing process in the primary grades. The paper discusses the philosophy of the writing process, what experts say about writing, setting up the environment, writing with lower primary…

A practicum was designed to improve the internal and external editing skills of high school students so that their papers would reflect thought and care. The target population was 67 regular level tenth grade English students in a predominantly middle class high school in southeastern Florida. A combination of strategies were used to improve…

Introducing middle school students (grades 6-8) to the joy of writing, this book presents ideas, practical lessons, examples, games, and resources. Step-by-step guidelines and helpful tips for educators are combined with numerous writing and prewriting activities for students--from "braindancing" and "zoom lens" to "downhilling." The book is…

Intended for teachers of kindergarten through grade 8 who want to improve their students' writing skills, this book is based on existing research findings to serve as a practical guide to procedures, methods, and skills essential for the development of proficiency in written expression of all kinds. The book includes practical, research-based…

Examples of writers' workshops and ways to implement them for children's second-language learning are described in this handbook for teachers. Writers' workshops are important structured classroom events that provide children with opportunities to demonstrate their facility as writers. The theory behind writers' workshops is that children…

An activity book presents strategies and suggestions to help elementary teachers lead their students through the five steps of the writing process: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. A student activity page has children use artwork to inspire writing. (SM)

Several activities to help teachers focus students' attention on learning at the end of the year include quiz games, mystery boxes, map games, videotapes, gift making, author birthday parties, yard sales, ice cream science, and summer safety activities. Younger students can create murals, play editing games, and enjoy special ceremonies. (SM)

Focusing on process description, provides a step-by-step class presentation of an assignment given to a technical writing class that uses a computer program to teach instructions. Discusses the assignment's benefits to class discussion, the editing session, and the writing produced. (JD)

Emphasizes the need for students to develop their editing skills. This article suggests that teachers and students should concentrate on major error patterns, and teachers should personalize editing instruction. Attention should also be given to the most frequent and glaring errors. Students who followed this editing approach significantly reduced…

This sixteenth volume of "Notes Plus: A Quarterly of Practical Teaching Ideas" contains numerous teaching ideas from English classrooms. Articles in number 1 are: "'Cricket' Contests as Class Exercises" (Rosemary Laughlin); "Body Biography Revisited" (Julie Medow); "Helping Students Keep in Touch" (Joyce Taaffe); "A Love Affair with Letter…

Participants in an adult education grade 11 English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writing class, all immigrants to Canada with varying cultural backgrounds, wrote journal entries in response to the theme "growing up different." The project involved individual writing, word processing, peer editing, computer graphics, audiotape recording of…