Describes a final writing assignment in which students themselves must propose a writing assignment and rationale for future use in the classroom. The assignment forces students to examine what they have learned in the course and gives the teacher some insight into what has not been taught successfully. (HTH)

Describes a writing assignment useful for high school and college students in which students ponder, discuss, and write about collecting, collectors, and the human impulse to collect. Includes some samples of student writing. (SR)

Explains how an exercise for high school or college students can be disguised as a lecture. States that the first step is to have the students write a conversation, and that after this is done, a whole range of writing devices can be demonstrated, including use of characterization, tone, environment, and plot movement. (PA)

Suggests that through the shared experience of producing a story, students can understand plot on a deeper level and remember it more vividly than simply having it explained to them. (MS)

Describes using self-reflective synesthetic writing exercises (which prompt students to think metaphorically about crossed senses--taste of clouds, smell of anger, etc.) in creative writing with high school students. Notes how such writing allows a reader/teacher insights into students' lives and personalities. Includes student sample poems. (SR)

Offers a 20-item list (put together by high school students) of features characteristic of Whitman's poems. Uses the list of features to write original poetry. Offers additional writing ideas for use with Walt Whitman's poetry. (MG)

Intended for high school and college teachers who are interested in how creative writing can be taught effectively, this book features the ideas of poets, novelists, editors, and playwrights on the fundamental aspects of their craft. The book contains the following chapters: (1) "Notes from a Cell: Creative Writing Programs in Isolation"…

Describes a writing exercise useful for students who have already shown some facility in writing about personal experiences and that emphasizes the narrowing of scope and time in a reminiscence and developing it with detail in order to make it more interesting for others. (HTH)

Professional speakers often use simple mental recipes to organize impromptu talks. The author taught these recipes to his high school composition students and used a timed trial format to give them practice in rapidly outlining their thoughts on a given topic. Thirteen of these recipes are provided. (SJL)

A writing exchange project at Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College in Vermont, funded by Apple Education Foundation and McDonnell Douglas, examined what happened when high school students use word processors and a modem to write to distant audiences. In the first exchange, students interviewed each other in pairs and wrote short…

Suggests a set of sequenced writing assignments based on language use. Argues that language study involves learning how to observe as much as observing something particular. (MS)

Describes reviewing the basics of descriptive writing by having students compare the images described in E. B. White's "Once More to the Lake," with those in the film "On Golden Pond." Students then write a descriptive paragraph, from an internal or external perspective, about a magazine advertisement chosen for its sensory appeal. (HTH)

Freewriting is an effective means of teaching students how to develop persona in writing. One approach is to have students imagine that they are inanimate objects or nonhuman creatures, provide them with a specific situation or environment, and ask them to freewrite for five to ten minutes. Another slant is to have them become famous historical…

Suggests giving literature/composition students a set of declarative statements that enable them to define a thematic statement and then write a focused, fully developed analytical essay. Includes such declarative statements from the novel "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant" by Anne Tyler. (HTH)

Describes a final exercise that gives composition students a better sense of how they have grown as writers during the semester. Students review, edit, and make conclusions on their "selected works," preparing a manuscript-like folder. (HTH)