Notebooks and journals can help interest students in writing. A sample activity suggests that teachers begin the year by reading a poem about notebooks then discussing school supplies and writing. Discussions can examine creative things to write on, creative word choice, creative use of notebooks, and turning favorite words into art. (SM)

Describes what it felt like to enter the creative writing classroom as a composition specialist and the world of composition studies as a creative writer. Suggests that composition instructors rethink undergraduate writing curriculums and revise graduate education for writing teachers. (RS)

Describes how Bette Green, popular author of adolescent fiction, goes about the business of writing. Speaks out particularly against the violence and oppression experienced by many gay and lesbian youth in American schools. (HB)

Examines the good fortune that marks the career of writing teachers. Shows how creative writing activities stimulate and inspire writing teachers. Includes five poems written by the author. (HB)

Describes the use of poetry, music, and creative writing with forensic patients at a state mental health institute. Demonstrates that expressive interventions were helpful in group treatment by promoting verbalization, decision making, and the recognition of personal responsibility for incarceration. (SR)

Alleges that creative writing can be taught and should be an important "writing" course in undergraduate writing programs. Argues for an enlarged professional approach to teaching creative writing. Challenges those who define curricula to consider the place it has in the development of young (meaning undergraduate) writers. (NH)

Offers an overview of the initial 8 weeks of a creative-writing pilot project which was an adjunct to the already established vocational therapy for adults with mental illness. Discusses how the program attempted to address the psychosocial needs of outpatients living independently in the community, the majority of whom had not been exposed to a…

Considers different fifth-grade students' transformations through expressing themselves with poetry. Claims the content of children's writing suggests a complete revision of standard educational ideas about who the children are, what they know, how they think, and how much they can learn if teachers only know how to tap into their brilliance. (SC)

Considers how the readers' view of the text can be changed after understanding the circumstances under which the author wrote the text. Describes her personal experience with this using Susan Vreeland's work and life as an example. Discusses Vreeland's experience as a teacher of English, creative writing, and art for over a 25 years. (SC)

Describes the use of "poemakers," sheets of white paper with special drawings pre-printed on them that have blank lines where words go. Describes using these poemakers as springboards for writing in poetry workshops for students from first grade through twelfth, as well as with college students. Includes one finished example, followed by four…

Argues that silence has a remarkable presence, and that hearing silence is about stopping and not doing, letting the sounds of the world come to you. Describes ways the author has worked with elementary school students, asking them to think about and write about silence. Includes poems about silence. (SR)

Examines how a number of modern innovative authors use chronological progression, causal connection, and narrative voice in their novels. Analyzes texts by Alain Robbe-Grillet and Jeanette Winterson, noting the areas of connection and disjunction between the theoretical claims and actual practice of experimental authors. (NH)

Discusses how to encourage creative journal keeping among campers during camping trips. Tips include keep it simple, don't present it as an assignment, the counselor should make entries, allow an open format, vary the writing time, make it a group effort, and send it home. (TD)

Noted poet and anthologist Naomi Shihab Nye discusses her books of poetry for young people and her work with students to help them find their own poetic voices. Nye's poetry anthologies are appropriate for elementary, middle-school, and high-school students. Fundamental themes are crossing boundaries and making connections to help young readers…

Describes the use of presentation software such as PowerPoint with elementary school students to create electronic books that use a combination of text, audio, and graphics. Discusses introducing the concept, planning the story on paper with the help of a worksheet, creating the story on the computer, and sharing stories. (LRW)