Writing is a powerful social tool that offers students opportunities to chisel their identities as they position themselves and others on issues and beliefs (Dyson, 1992). This article presents the story of how Mark, a fifth-grade student who resisted writing in certain classroom contexts, used positional writing practices to shape his identities.…

Students more familiar with failure than success can carry inhibiting levels of fear, and mature students are twice as likely to drop out of Higher Education in their first year than younger students. Through its use of conversational and supportive tones, this study guide puts readers at ease assisting the transition to academic study. The author…

Scholars such as L. Calkins (1993), D. H. Graves (1978, 1984, 1990, 1994), and R. Routman (1991, 1996) hypothesized that teachers must be confident, avid readers and writers to be effective reading and writing teachers. Three questions guided a case study that examined this hypothesis among 4 fourth-grade teachers nominated as exemplary reading…

"Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition"[R] ("CIRC") is a comprehensive reading and writing program for students in grades 2 through 8. It includes story-related activities, direct instruction in reading comprehension, and integrated reading and language arts activities. Pairs of students (grouped either by or across…

After defining exactly what a term paper is, this book discusses the steps in writing a term paper, including choosing a topic, doing library research, writing an outline, taking notes, writing a rough draft, and editing and polishing the final paper. The book offers special tips on how to benefit from the use of a computer in the…

A study determined the effectiveness of using a computer word processor as compared to the traditional paper-and-pencil method for process story writing. Students in a first-grade classroom in the Mark Gardiner Hoyle Elementary School located in Swansea, Massachusetts, were randomly divided into a control group of 12 students and an experimental…

Intended for a broad spectrum of teachers using or considering using computers networks for written interaction, this teacher's guide presents techniques and behaviors that encourage and support learning on a computer classroom environment. The 21 essays that make up the book are written by people involved in the ENFI (Electronic Networks For…

Through three semesters of teaching the nonfiction essay, an instructor has come to terms with the fact that she has yet to attempt the type of personal essay that she asks her students to write, essays in which personal experiences with death are shared. However, a reminiscence on death through a recounting of her reactions to and understanding…

This book highlights ways in which science instruction benefits from the perspectives of teachers committed to whole language. The introductory chapter starts from a viewpoint outside the classroom and seeks to identify overall patterns while the remaining chapters build from experiences in individual classrooms. This book assumes that teachers…

For much of this century, text linguists have recognized that various tokens called "metadiscourse" may help explain how texts function. In linguistics, metadiscourse has a more concrete meaning than it typically does in composition: it refers to specific words, phrases, and clauses which are primarily intended to help the reader…

This collection of essays is introduced by Paul Connelly, who focuses on how the essayists encounter problems boldly and recognize opportunity in them--the essays are less local reports of various successful process approaches to teaching writing than a record of the willingness to experiment, to take risks, to learn. The essays and their authors…

The 33 activities in this book reinforce the rules of written English by providing students with practice in editing a variety of formats. The activities help students develop a basic understanding of the rules of grammar and mechanics (generally taught in grades 6-7) in context and exercise their critical thinking abilities by identifying content…

This guide takes the student step-by-step through the writing process in preparing an application essay for admission to college. It tells the student how to: (1) understand what the admissions committee looks for in essays; (2) choose a topic; (3) get "psyched" to write the essay; (4) bring originality to the page; (5) maintain focus;…

This guide presents a view of how to develop a personal program of productive publishing in scholarly journals and how to increase the chances of having articles accepted for publication. In the first chapter, the importance for academics of publishing articles in professional journals is explained. Chapter 2 outlines factors that should be…

This handbook has been guiding writers through the writing process for many years, helping them every step of the way, from getting ideas to getting published. In 110 chapters, the revised and updated 1996 edition presents the practical side of how to write and sell novels, short stories, articles, nonfiction books, poetry, and drama. The 3,000…