The distinction between revising and editing is a hard one for middle schoolers to grasp. Bruce Saddler knows that students must understand that writing means making meaning, and making meaning requires revision. Internalizing that concept and the steps that help achieve it requires a process characterized by peer conferencing, revision guides…

Analysis of interview and classroom observation data collected through four institutional case studies reveals some consistent findings regarding how writing assignments and class discussions can be made conducive to critical thinking development. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

An autobiographical writing assignment given to fourth-year BSW students is described and evaluated. Its purpose is to encourage students to reflect upon their life experience and identify significant values and life principles embedded in their personal narrative, and explore these as a foundation for social work practice. The limitations of…

This article describes an autobiographical writing assignment completed by students and faculty that is shared in an off-site retreat. It highlights an approach to learning about human diversity that blends affective and behavioral approaches with more traditional cognitive methods. It supports the interrogation of student and instructor…

The main aim of this article is to explore the ways in which teacher educators can improve levels of reflection in postgraduate student teachers. The author argues that postgraduate student teachers are able to reflect on their practice in schools, and that the insights gained are useful in clarifying their own beliefs about teaching and learning.…

The nonfiction literature of the Vietnam War is accessible and engaging to students, and it deals with issues that speaks to students in powerful ways. In addition, the literature can help students better understand their parents and grandparents and the effect on them of the Vietnam War. A number of teachers who have taught the nonfiction…

This study describes the extent to which shared assumptions of literary scholars form part of an introductory literature course. Fahnestock and Secor, in The Rhetoric of Literary Criticism describe five special topoi of literary criticism (appearance/reality, paradigm, ubiquity, contemptus mundi, and paradox) that characterize the warrants of…

Although Toulmin models of argumentation are pervasive in composition textbooks, research on the model's use in writing classrooms has been scarce--typically limited to evaluating how students' essays align with the model's elements (claim, data, warrant, qualifier, rebuttal, backing) construed as objective standards. That approach discounts…

It is essential for students to think clearly about fundamental biological concepts. One of the benefits of writing is that it promotes and enhances thinking. If students can write clearly, they are thinking clearly. Writing helps to connect new knowledge with prior knowledge and promotes the construction of knowledge. Writing-to-learn activities…

What do we want our students to get out of the introductory physics course? Often these goals include improved conceptual understanding, improved critical thinking and improved writing and communication. These can be difficult goals to accomplish. One possible way to address these goals is through the use of peer ranking of student writing. In a…

Students in college writing courses need to understand world issues, including the oppressive effects of the global economy. But their teachers need to give them a sense of agency and authority, rather than simply telling them what political positions to take. One example of a writing assignment that might engage as well as inform students…

In this article, the author, a third grade teacher at Hillside School in Needham, Washington, describes how, after a death in her family, she found comfort and made valuable connections with her students by completing a "When I Was" writing assignment that she had assigned them. While sharing the story of her uncle's death with her students, she…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the ways in which postgraduate study in vocational fields supports the development of advanced competences amongst mid-career professionals. Design/methodology/approach: The extensive written communications between health and safety professionals taking a postgraduate course in health and safety…

For some teachers, the increasing attention to digital and multimodal composing in English and Language Arts classrooms has brought into sharp relief the profession's investment in print as the primary means of expression. Although new forms of communication that combine words, still and moving images, and animation have begun to dominate digital…

Grounded in integrated and excerpt style (Emerson, et al., 1995), this article chronicles Mr. Lehrer, an English teacher who provides his students access to standard and nonstandard writing conventions. Student writing samples and discursive practices illustrate enhanced awareness of distinctions between nonstandard language (African American…