The importance of direct explicit instruction in secondary schools has been shown to improve student learning outcomes across the curriculum. The question then becomes one of whether adapting direct explicit instruction in post-secondary institutions would have the same impact on student grades. Graham and Perin (2007) identified eleven elements…

Whether novice or experienced, writers must come to terms with the daunting task of filling up a blank page, or screen, in an effort to produce writing. Student writers are no different. They enter teachers' classes having confronted similar difficulties with discovering what it is they want to say. In seeking to help students, they devote…

Describes cultural studies as a framework for analysis and critique, not a political agenda. Shows how the author has used cultural studies as a way to get his students to write intelligent, reflective papers about topics that interest them. (SR)

Argues that writing instruction should lead student writers to find their voice in their writing and that this will only happen if they write often for personal purposes and personal expression. (SR)

Describes a writing assignment based on a teacher-created scenario in which students discover a box (when visiting their grandmother's sister) containing a number of strange items including a written proposal for marriage. (TB)

Argues that, after students are familiar with the characteristics of the five paragraph essay and the expectations of that genre, they can learn to play with those expectations to create lively writing that reveals more individual voice by mixing in other genres. Argues that such a strategy can teach students to engage in academic writing more…

Defines the ballad as the link between the written and the sung. Explains that ballad meter is made of quatrains that alternate between four-stress and three-stress lines, and contain an "abcb" or "abab" rhyme scheme. Notes that ballads are mnemonic devices and tell stories. Discusses modern balladeers and describes ballad writing assignments. (PM)

Describes one teacher's difficulty in getting his eighth-grade students to revise their writing. Discusses his successful use of writing "skeletons" to help define what revision is and to teach a structure for one type of revision. (SR)

Discusses a writing assignment in which students write biographies comprised of literary genres such as dialogues, poems, newspaper articles, obituaries, songs, and letters. (RS)

Offers a pedagogy that invites students to know firsthand how traditional poetic forms are both historic artifacts and living practices. (RS)

Describes a writing assignment that uses metaphors to encourage students to rethink their assumptions about writing and about themselves as writers. Discusses metaphors of process and speed, fear and courage, control, silence, and metaphors as invitations. (PRA)

Argues the need for additional experience in language for social action in contexts where English teachers can provide scaffolding, monitoring and intervention. Concludes that students must have experiences in real writing contexts that lead them to face the linguistic and other demands which will enable them to develop the competencies they need.…

Describes the development of a writing assignment using the four discourse types to write about a single, physical object. Reviews specifically how this assignment was carried out to completion by students. Defends the assignment as a framework for the study of writing. (HB)

Argues that through poetry students can give voices to people whose voices usually do not find their ways into their classrooms or textbooks. Discusses poetry and literature, poetry in history, and personalizing poetry. (RS)

Describes how writing oral history can help students to feel that they are participating in a lively intellectual and cultural process that travels beyond the limits of the classroom. Says students claim that their obligations to the assignment are surpassed by their feelings of gratification in having created living works with lasting vitality.…