In this interview, Susan Wells discusses the teaching of public writing and the work of public rhetoric as they respond to both shifting and recurring political and social contexts. Drawing on insights from her extensive and current work on public rhetoric, including her foundational essay "Rogue Cops and Health Care: What Do We Want from…

Drawing from their experiences teaching two different activism-focused writing courses, the authors consider the benefits, pitfalls, and potential dangers of activist writing pedagogy. Scott provides a retrospective on a rhetoric and writing course focused on the employment of digital rhetoric, while Katherine reflects on an activist-rhetoric…

An increasing challenge for many secondary special education teachers is preparing students for the writing demands in postsecondary settings. The self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) model of writing instruction, considered an evidence-based practice, is an effective strategy for enhancing the writing skills of students with disabilities,…

Casey Cuny was frustrated with the lack of depth in his high school English students' writing. He'd heard about Socratic seminars but was reluctant to try them until he saw them in action. He decided to conduct Socratic seminars with his students centered on the question, What is the value of life? In past years, student papers on this…

An oxymoron is a simple contradiction, a juxtaposition of two inharmonious terms, such as "fiend angelical" in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." At first glance, literature and professional writing seem to be polar opposites; however, when one views them together, one can see unique, often interesting possibilities that add…

In this article, I describe my reflections on developing student authors through a class research project. I review the assignment origins and description and my role in the students' developmental journey from transforming a class assignment to a publishable work. (Contains 1 figure.)

Writing effectively in a second language can be one of the most challenging tasks second language learners must undertake and master. English teachers are in a good position to implement the types of supports that can move ELLs toward success in academic writing by providing exposure to and practice with different genres of academic writing,…

The purpose of this "teaching tips" article is to describe practical classroom instruction that helps elementary students write expository responses to narrative texts. It focuses on the importance of scaffolded, interactive discussions comprised of a combination of teacher think alouds and similar student responses before, during, and…

This literature review serves to inform the reader on current literature on Contrastive Rhetoric (CR), with specific reference to teaching writing to Japanese students of English. It will examine the historical developments of CR and its present significance before then looking at possible reasons for unique characteristics of Japanese L2 writers…

Writing courses are increasingly popular in higher education. This paper presents a pedagogic approach that combines theory and practice, in an accessible way, to help students appreciate the interrelation of styles and contexts, and develop skills for writing in a range of genres. The approach is characterised as "adaptive application".…

Drawing from her own experiences as well as those of other teachers, the author of this book shares a variety of useful and practical teacher-tested strategies that have helped young children experience success in writing. With easy-to-access information, the book provides teachers with: ways to build children's interest, enthusiasm, and…

It is argued that college students can learn to improve their writing by being taught a number of basic strategies. A distinction is made between weak and strong strategies, and a number of each are identified and discussed. Classroom instructional procedures supporting improvement of skills are outlined. (Author/MSE)

In this video, an educator models efficient peer writing conferences in a third-grade classroom. The video demonstrates peer conferencing at work and its value in the daily writing workshop. An important sharing technique is included in the model. Key concepts are listed and reiterated. The model presented in the video may be used at any grade…

This book is meant as a resource that can be used by experienced writing teachers as a practical reference when planning writing lessons. The book includes a sequence of instruction, lesson ideas, enrichment options, literature and poetry connections, student samples, and all the ready-to-use materials teachers need to implement the…

This article describes how computer center sign-up sheets encouraged preschool children with a variety of disabilities to make visible advances in their emergent writing skills over the years. The children progressed from making scribbles to making recognizable letter-symbols on the sign-up sheets. Tips for creating sign-up sheets are provided.…