An experimental composition project focused on a correspondence method of teaching writing. Composition and Literature students at the Florida campus of Embry-Riddle University exchanged papers and critiques with students on the Arizona campus of Embry-Riddle. This correspondence method insisted on the nature of writing as a form of dialogue.…

A study was conducted of 4 university instructors teaching a first-year composition class and of 16 of their students (4 for each instructor) randomly selected. Parts of the interviews, parts of the think-aloud protocols, and parts of the instructors' written comments are examined--the focus is on the way that students and teachers approach…

Designed specifically for authors, both aspiring and experienced, who work with children and their teachers, this booklet offers advice for educators who want to write and publish professional articles or books. It examines the following eight topics: (1) what it means to be an author; (2) how to prepare to write: learning the craft of writing;…

Labeling Peter Elbow an "expressivist" is an ironic reduction of his multifaceted thought to a one-dimensional term at a time when postmodernism stresses heteroglossia. This paper outlines the recent history of "expressivism" to demonstrate its curious social construction. The paper then calls for an "end of…

Talk is central to what writers do--it is the collaborative activity that underlies most, if not all, individual acts of composing. Writers compose through inner speech while walking, by speaking aloud at the word processor, when discussing a work-in-progress, or as they share ideas during conferences in writing centers and classrooms. But this…

To become writers, students must see themselves as writers and be treated as writers by their teachers. Students need to find the motivation to go beyond formulas, to grapple with messy, often inchoate ideas, to find their own particular angle of vision. What rhetoricians call "invention" or "discovery" is difficult to pin…

This book has an easy-to-follow-format. It supports teachers through six workshops by sharing specific strategies, procedures, and materials that worked best for students and teachers in classroom writing workshops. The book discusses the routines that helped organize and support a workshop; and presents strategies for anecdotal record-keeping,…

If social constructionism would seem to encourage collaborative learning, it is not hard to understand why feminist instructors would align themselves with this philosophical position. In "Women's Ways of Knowing," however, M. Belenky, B. Clinchy, M. Goldberger and J. Tarule present quite different feminist justifications for…

This booklet offers practical ideas, specific examples, and realistic solutions to the most common writing problems that administrators face. The booklet's four chapters are: (1) Writing Basics (ideas on organization, reasons to write, writers' responsibilities, getting personal, and writing for a particular occasion); (2) Getting Started (getting…

A student was able to overcome flatness in his writing when he focused on the process of writing rather than the product. The student's draft of an essay about a symbol the student found meaningful contained spelling and grammatical errors and was also "flat." The essay had no apparent thesis, demonstrated lack of success in issues of…

The investigation involved a comprehensive descriptive analysis of the reading and writing behavior of 13 upper elementary level learning disabled students. Data were collected on student responses to 11 language tasks, including drawing; forming letters, numbers, and their names; being read to; reading; and answering questions about reading and…

Designed to assess students' attitudes toward writing, this scale contains 40 items representing three categories: preference for writing, perception of writing, and process of writing. Respondents circle one of five points ranging from "almost always" to "almost never." Validity, reliability, and normative data are included.…

Designed to identify students with writer's block, this measure is an attitude questionnaire of 24 items separated into five subscales: blocking, lateness, premature editing, strategies for complexity, and attitudes. If teachers or researchers wish simply to identify blockers, they can administer only the items within the behavioral…

An alternative to the often artificial writing workshop model focuses on learning through imitation and on the writing process rather than the product. This alternative model also involves considerably more reading than a typical workshop class, requiring students to read the way writers do, with a critical understanding and an awareness of the…

Based on the idea that creative writing in the classroom need not begin with writing as the first step in the composing process, this guide suggests an oral approach to creative writing. The guide describes the "Telling to Write" process which begins with a structured exploration, continues with a series of story-related activities…