The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association encourages university programs to cultivate skills related to client health literacy among students. One means of doing so is to train students to write in a way that places lower health literacy demands on clients and their families. This study tested the effectiveness of a health literacy module…

Since writing in the disciplines (WID) is focused on learning how to write formal documents of a professional register, it is important to note that each field or discipline has its own style, structure, and format when it comes to writing, and most composition courses seldom facilitate the transfer of these specialized skills in the classroom.…

Retrospective reports gathered from developmental education students as part of a learning assessment revealed the use of several strategies for writing a summary based on a text. Participants were selected for the study based on the richness and variety of their verbal descriptions of task performance in structured, individualized interviews.…

This article introduces a pedagogical intervention that includes a set of creative activities designed to improve the oral and written production of students in the English classroom, especially those who have shown a lack of interest or attention. It was observed that participants initially seemed careless about studying the language. Eventually…

In this article, the author talks about the use of punctuation and describes a study that confirmed her growing sense that all students need exposure to and instruction on the full repertoire of punctuation. In an attempt to assess how much of the eleventh graders know about the way professionals use punctuation, all teachers at Webster Thomas…

My experience working with first year writers in courses designed to teach critical thinking and composition has introduced me to a mass of young adults who are anxious when it comes to effective written communication in a college classroom. Not only are they troubled about how to write to an audience of college professors, but they are also…

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 video workshop for elementary school teachers uses classroom footage to demonstrate how a writing workshop approach motivates intermediate students and helps them become proficient and independent writers. Ten teachers from across the country model teaching strategies and share reflections on their practice. Six nationally known experts in…

During the spring semester of 2006 the Department of Physical Education (John Jay College of Criminal Justice) and a writing fellow, an English doctoral candidate (CUNY Graduate Center), began working together, with the goal of creating a new writing assignment for an integral course at the college. PED 103, Personal Physical Fitness and Dynamic…

In this article, the author talks about Natalie Goldberg's "Writing Down the Bones." Over the past 20 years, she has referred to its pages whenever she needs a chapter of cheery Buddhist philosophy to soften an onslaught of editorial rejection slips. In the midst of any heady publishing success, she turns to the book to remind her that,…

Provides analysis of an imaging exercise. Describes how one experience became something unexpected as imaging met imagination. Lists five steps for teachers to use in conducting the exercise. (PA)

Writing instructors who would like to move beyond the collaboration provided by workshops and peer-response groups might consider asking groups of students to write a collage together. According to Peter Elbow, a collage "consists not of a single perfectly connected train of explicit thinking or narrative but rather of fragments: arranged how…

Describes metaphor as being alternately an "ornament" or a powerful way of knowing. Focuses on the latter definition, so that teachers may better discover their tacitly held beliefs on writing, learning, and teaching. Offers examples of teachers using metaphor in writing. (PA)

Incorporating creative play in the writing lab or classroom is a unique way to pique students' interest and boost their imagination. Exercises varying from describing Hershey's Kisses®, to using tape recorders for discussing voice, to using magnetic poetry to practice grammar are all ways that stimulate learning through the lens of play. Play…

This book is in favor of the inclusion of co-authoring in writing instruction and provides theoretical and research background to support the value of this strategy, which involves more than just peer editing and small-group revision. According to the book, co-authoring builds naturally on the social emphasis of the writing process and…