Describes the development and evaluation of writing-across-the curriculum teacher inservice workshop at Virginia Commonwealth University. Characterizes the approach as a faculty-based model. Workshop topics included writing activities and assessment for individual psychology courses. Provides an extensive bibliography. (NL)

Assists writers in getting started, organizing material effectively, and producing high quality technical documents. Uses a nine-block information matrix to provide a system of checks to evaluate the paper. Indicates that each section of the matrix can be written separately and then combined into a coherent document. (Author/MVL)

Describes a study in which students were required to write for five minutes after class on topics that interested them during the lecture. Reports a significant effect on achievement in a vertebrate biology class. Notes that no difference in attitude was found. (MVL)

A teacher of hearing-impaired students in grades three-six used dialogue journals with her students, and combined the use of dialogue journals with reading journals, which focus on specific, reading-related topic . The project evolved into a peer journal-reading program between two students. Journal use was subsequently incorporated into content…

Examines the academic and linguistic needs of writers for whom English is a second language within the context of current research and publications on second language acquisition, affective variables that influence acquisition, the development of audience awareness, collaborative learning, "sheltered" content courses and…

Describes a content area writing lesson which uses a process approach to promote independent student writing and to aid retention. Uses the Predict, Organize, Rehearse, Practice, Evaluate (PORPE) strategy which provides teacher modeling of effective strategies, guided student practice, and feedback. (RS)

Describes the ScI-Journal, an online publication designed to give secondary science students a chance to publish the work they have done in science classes so that other science students can read about it. The goal of this journal is to promote student enthusiasm for science and help students develop a greater understanding of the nature of…

Discusses the use of vignettes (experiences expressed in narrative or dialog form) to merge assessment with teaching. The rule vignette and the two-answer vignette are discussed. (MKR)

Reports on the differences in two sections of a college course on differential equations. Results on a common examination showed that writing assignments substituted for traditional homework assignments did not improve test performance. However, survey results indicated that students felt the writing assignments, in lieu of additional homework,…

Describes the United Kingdom's National Writing Project, examining schools in Berkshire that emphasized writing to teach secondary school students science, math, design, and technology. Results suggest teachers need more knowledge about writing for learning in school subjects if they are going to stress the role of writing across the curriculum.…

Described are student/consultant reports, turned in as homework, that reflected their abilities to distinguish useful from irrelevant information, solve the underlying calculus extremum problem, and reconcile the individual mathematical solutions with the ethical considerations surrounding the moral dilemma of the hypothetical consulting client.…

Factors which influenced the success of a New York staff development program designed to improve student writing included district commitment, voluntary participation, in-district training workshops, on-site support, principals' support, parents' understanding, and continuous followup. Teachers learned the importance of seeing content first and…

Finds that a strategy-instruction approach helped second-grade students to find needed information in the nonfiction texts they read and eliminate the copying of text. Discusses how students learned to search for information, take notes, organize notes, and use those notes to compose a report in their own words. (SR)

Describes how a literacy coach worked with two content area teachers to revise the way they think about and implement instruction to enhance students' reading and writing. Shares two teacher inquiries: the experiences of a ninth-grade science teacher and his students as they developed and rated a class-written expository essay; and a…

When the author and her teaching colleague assessed their 7th and 8th grade students' research papers, they realized that although the papers demonstrated proper structure, the students had not gained meaningful understanding of their topics. Although the teachers had carefully prepared students to write, they had not ensured that students had…