Asserts that in order for students to succeed in college English and composition as well as in other classes, there must be a learning pathway between the two curriculums. Developmental Education is the perfect setting for such a bridge. Describes a research project conducted to link university composition teachers with high school composition,…

Describes a project inspired by the 100th day of school in which first-grade students created a self-portrait of themselves at 100 years old and wrote an accompanying essay. States that the students drew wrinkles on the faces, age-appropriate clothing, gray or white hair, and even glasses as a finishing touch. (CMK)

Illustrates how the transformation approach can be used to enhance the social studies curriculum. Describes a project where elementary students analyze primary documents and firsthand accounts of a shared, class experience in order to help them understand the role that cultural perspective plays in the recording of history. (CMK)

Maintains that reader response, a cooperative learning exercise where peers critique one anothers in- and out-of-class writing assignments, assists students in becoming better writers and enables them with some control over their education. Gives examples of how reader response can be used in the classroom and offers two handouts. (CMK)

Introduces the special issue on children's writing which contains seven articles that offer analytic portraits of the teaching and learning of writing from prekindergarten through seventh grade. Highlights the collective themes of a social perspective on writing, of children's diverse resources, and of the links between those resources and…

This study, based on data from the National Study of Student Learning, examines factors that influence undergraduates' academic library use during the first three years of college. Undergraduates' high school library use, student-faculty interactions, and active learning and engaged writing activities predicted library use for all three years of…

Examined the effects of first-graders' writing competency when using computers compared to writing by hand. Found that students demonstrated significant differences favoring computer use over handwriting, including more words and sentences and greater writing competence, despite no differences observed in off-task behavior. (JPB)

Compares some of the writing behaviors present in the think-aloud protocols of three male Spanish university students while writing in Catalan, their native language, and in Spanish and English. Analysis of the subjects' composing behaviors based on think-aloud protocols shows that their planning and other strategies are consistent across the…

Although Yankton Sioux writer Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Bonnin, 1876-1938) was, as P. Jane Hafen notes, "virtually unknown for many decades," much critical work has appeared since Dexter Fisher's 1979 article,"Zitkala-Sa: Evolution of a Writer." Some critics desiring to bring Zitkala-Sa into the conversation about turn-of-the-century American women…

This study presents and tests a hypothesized structural model that attempts to explain the relationship of writing in English as a foreign language by Taiwanese university students to a variety of factors. Investigated were factors considered to be inhibiting (writing apprehension and writer's block), factors considered to be facilitative (free…

Physics as a subject for school students requires an understanding and ability to move between different modes of representation for the concepts under review. However, the inability of students to have a multimodal understanding of the concepts is seen as restricting their understandings of the concepts. The aim of this study was to explore the…

In this article, the author discusses the factors that contribute to the success of International Academy in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in teaching history to its high school students. In 2003, "Newsweek" ranked the academy number one in the nation. The secret to its success is a combination of high expectations set by both teachers and…

An important goal in preventing writing disabilities is to provide effective early instruction to at-risk students to maximize their writing development. This study examined whether or not explicitly teaching six at-risk second-grade writers, including children with disabilities, how to plan and draft stories would improve their story writing as…

Applying reading and writing theory to cases in composition, this chapter troubleshoots assignments that produced disappointing results and illustrates how the model of the "ill-structured problem" can help writing instructors craft assignments that foster the cognitive and affective maturation essential to college-level literacy. (Contains 2…

Writing--and lots of it in all genres--is at the heart of the language arts curriculum and the skills of critical thinking that students need to develop to become prepared consumers and citizens. In this article, the author reflects on her growth as a writer and teacher, and offers an overview of what people know about writing, what they need to…