Argues that in both collective and individualistic societies, the most crucial experience for a writer is discovering what it means to write for oneself. (MM)

Reports the results of a survey on the use of teacher produced writing in the composition class. Discusses the reasons why teachers do or do not use their own writing models. (MM)

Describes a comparison of the function of audience in students' writing processes with that of experienced technical writers. Examines students' rough and final drafts for content and style as audience considerations influenced revisions. (HTH)

This check list contains tips for parents to help students reinforce and build upon what children learn at school: (1) Set a consistent time each day for doing homework; (2) Encourage children to make a homework checklist; (3) Provide assistance to help get started on a task; (4) Help children make a list of all needed materials before starting…

As the cry for accountability rises from students to teachers, to parents and administrators, college and university teacher education programs find increasingly difficult demands are made upon them to demonstrate that these programs do, in fact, produce competent teachers. Yet, these programs remain assaulted by overlapping accrediting agencies…

Intended for anyone who wants to write poetry (and do it well), this guide provides the "nuts and bolts" of craft and process, as well as the sources of inspiration. The guide contains brief essays on the elements of poetry, technique, and suggested subjects for writing; each essay is followed by distinctive writing exercises. Included…

This book is about tutoring writing--about the techniques of tutoring, the theoretical and practical background that tutors will need to be successful--and the specific issues that make writing center work both challenging and rewarding. The structure of the book mirrors the structure of tutor training, starting with overviews of the writing and…

Noting that learning to read and learning to write are closely linked, this paper asks why there are sometimes readers who cannot write and writers who cannot read. The paper advocates taking a closer look at the reading and writing relationship to answer the question and provide strategies for competent literacy instruction in all areas. It…

An experimental course, "Thinking about Writing," was started in 1999 at the University of Dundee and ran for three years across the first half of the B.Ed. Degree course for two consecutive years. The unit's focus was on a metacognitive approach to understanding writing, particularly knowledge about writing and monitoring of the writing…

Because oral language is so basic, it is the first step to verbal thinking, communicating socially, and understanding literature. It is through speech that children learn how to organize their thinking and focus their ideas. Nurturing children's language is fundamental to molding them into natural and competent readers and writers. This topical…

At any given time, any given child may hold different, even competing, understandings of the strategies and processes involved in reading, writing, and coordinating the two. And different children's developmental paths may differ in significant ways even though they eventually achieve common outcomes. Different developmental paths notwithstanding,…

Intended primarily for Kentucky classroom teachers and administrators, this idea book first identifies three major issues that members of the Writing Advisory Committee felt should be addressed so that writing instruction will not suffer because of use of the writing portfolio. The broad issues emphasized in the idea book are for teachers to: (1)…

Many traditionally held academic views of personal writing have myths embedded in them. These myths include: (1) anything written in the first person singular is autobiographical; (2) personal writing can only exist in an expressionist classroom and is often uncritical and unproblematic; (3) student personal writing is a dying genre, and college…

This book dares educators to rethink their beliefs about how they design writing workshops, use writer's notebooks, choose appropriate genres, teach spelling, help students connect their reading to their writing, and even edit and publish students' writing. Filled with stories and work samples of real children in a diverse urban setting, the book…

Argues that when students interrupt their thought flow during composition writing to edit language, syntax, or mechanics, the pauses obstruct fluency and dilute concentration. Use of the word processor for invisible composition is described to show how computers reduce time spent on composing and alter quantity and quality of time. (MBR)