Focuses on the conflicts among written languages in the countries of West Africa, especially in the areas of education, mass communication, and creative writing. Points out that writing is done mostly in the language of the former colonizing country, which makes literature accessible only to the elite. Advocates translation and native languages…

Strategies to develop creativity were given to high school teachers in a graduate course, Developing Creativity in Teaching. Higher degrees of creativity emerged when the groups used the instructor's clues to write a story and when group brainstorming and writing, as opposed to individual writing, were done. (Author/SJL)

A wide range of instructional methods for teaching haiku poetry is described: readings from a text, lecture on the background and structure of the haiku form, comparisons between modern poetry and haiku, examining contemporary haiku written in English, showing a film, and writing haiku in a workshop setting. (MLW)

Cites ERIC materials describing how music in the classroom can help improve reading readiness, recall, and creative writing. (HTH)

The article describes the Alabama School of Fine Arts, a public secondary school offering, in addition to basic academics, intensive training in the areas of music, dance, drama, creative writing, and visual arts to talented and motivated junior and senior high school students in Birmingham. (Author/DLS)

Discusses three books on language and literature instruction that present humanistic approaches to teaching students how to write, think, and express themselves in a creative manner. (FL)

Describes a course that integrates abstract biological concepts into narrative contexts to make science come alive for apprehensive nonmajors. Simple and creative methods of conveying information--such as humorous, light-hearted analogies to lighten the mood--reduce the abstractness of the material and alone can effectively relieve anxiety and…

Reports on a study of seven experienced secondary school writing teachers in Victoria, Australia. Focuses on how their own writing or lack of writing affects their teaching practices and effectiveness. Finds that the issue of becoming an effective writing teacher is more complex than the seemingly straightforward prescription that writing teachers…

Poetry provides a vehicle for culturally diverse peoples to voice their political statements and personal expression within the dominant culture. Discusses the usefulness of poetry in multicultural education and counseling training. Various exercises and techniques are presented that are applicable for training graduate-level counseling students…

The word processor is an effective tool for students composing poetry because of the formatting features and the ease of revision. This article includes several poetry writing activities and identifies software which can be utilized in teaching students to write poetry. (IAH)

Suggests ways to help students using Systeme-D, a word processing program for creative writing in French, exploit more of the linguistic features of the program aside from the dictionary section. The importance of Systeme-D for evaluating written work is discussed, and a list of all program categories within the program is provided. (GLR)

Outlines how poetry, especially the Moderns, can enhance problem-solving skills. Presents George Steiner's four problem categories: contingent, modal, tactical, and ontological. Discusses the application of these categories to obtuse poetry. (KM)

Findings are reported from a longitudinal study, involving 8- to 10-year-old students in England, which evaluated and analyzed student writing samples. The writing samples were elicited by tests intended to produce two kinds of writing: a story and a description. (IAH)

Describes a course unit on fiction writing with an emphasis on motivating students to see value and relevance in writing. (RAE)

Suggestions are offered for parents who wish to support their gifted children's writing. Parents should write themselves and share their writing with their children. Parents should encourage children to write abundantly to promote children's interest and confidence. Parents should not correct or comment on their children's writing unless asked for…