Educational reform initiatives of the last decade have focused on the three R's: reading, writing, and arithmetic, with writing receiving the least attention in the research literature (National Commission on Writing, 2003). Studies of writing performance in United States schoolchildren indicate that many are writing only at basic levels. The…

Integrated approaches to the teaching of reading and writing being used in classrooms in Australia and New Zealand are described in this booklet. The first part of the booklet presents theoretical background on how children learn to talk and the reading and writing processes. The second and third parts of the booklet describe ways of putting…

Examines a number of language activities in educational software, noting that most focus on surface structure and conventions, thus closing off students' options rather than expanding them. Discusses how, by improvising with word processors, teachers can tailor activities to help students explore and reflect on their reading and writing…

Describes "Plausible Stories," an activity which uses creative writing and story predictions to help teachers exploit the interactive nature of the processes of reading and writing. (MS)

Reading and writing are both creative acts of communication that use written language as a vehicle for meaning. A strong theoretical case for teaching the two processes concurrently can be built by examining points of contact between reading and writing. One such point is context concerns. The Communication Triangle model (author/audience/…

Describes the Directed Reading-Writing Activity (DRWA) as a framework that helps high school students write about the information they acquire through reading. Discusses how the DRWA's three steps--preparation, involvement, and reaction--extends the thought processes associated with reading comprehension into effective writing. (AEW)

Offers a variety of practical writing ideas that can help first-grade teachers encourage writing across the curriculum. (FL)

Most educational computer software currently available severely restricts the kinds of interaction that can take place between the student and the computer. In fact, an examination of 317 language arts programs listed in a directory of educational software shows that 60% of the programs were of the drill and practice type. In response to this…

This paper describes a practicum in which a comprehensive daily writing program was implemented to determine the effectiveness of the writing process in improving the self-esteem as well as the reading skills of first-grade students. The target group was 11 first graders who, out of a class of 25 students, had failed the comprehension part of the…

Consisting of material designed for practical application in the English classroom and representing all educational levels, this collection of articles contains a selection of the best presentations given at the fall 1986 meeting of the Southeastern Ohio Council of Teachers of English. Following an introduction by guest editor James L. Creighton,…