To illustrate ways that students might generate ideas for writing, this article presents a list of 20 suggestions for using prewriting to explore fiction, along with 8 guidelines for teachers to use in responding to students' writing. (43 references) (LB)

Employs a cognitive discourse analysis to analyze instructions for using a word processor written by eighth grade students. Analyzes text structure to specify underlying semantic and conceptual knowledge structures. Finds that written instructions produced by the students were deficient in content information and did not parallel the hierarchical…

Advocates teaching social skills and nurturing moral development to guide children toward positive social behavior and moral understanding. Recommends applying the same patience to teaching the social process as is applied to the teaching of the writing process. Argues against isolating children through the overuse of punishment. (SM)

Asks how religious faith and spirituality function in the creative lives of people as makers and searchers. Describes a week-long summer workshop called "Women's Space: Exploring Our Creative and Spiritual Selves." Considers the historical achievements of women as writers and thinkers, and the recent recovery of such work. (HB)

Outlines a balanced view of writing instruction emphasizing process, product, and purpose. Proposes various principles of writing that instructors should foster among student writers. Gives examples of these principles in practice. Argues for more carefully structured teacher-directed instruction. (HB)

Describes an interview with Patrice Kindl, describing her world, her writing process, and discussing her two novels for young adults, "Owl in Love" (1993) and "The Woman in the Wall" (1997). (SR)

A teacher recounts her experiences with students who were successful telling their stories through writing and using their writing as a vehicle for expressing their emotions. Explains how helping students "find their voices" through writing can crack tough exteriors and help youth reconnect to school and themselves. (Author/MKA)

Observes that writing is a process of learning and that students learn best when the writing process is well-organized. Outlines a process for writing, named DRAFT (Design, Role, Audience, Format, and Topic), that bridges social studies with critical thinking and problem solving, and allows writing projects to be easily transformed into models…

Analysis of questionnaires completed by 715 undergraduate psychology students identified four patterns associated with writing term papers: (1) a minimal-drafting strategy; (2) an outline-and-develop strategy; (3) a detailed-planning strategy; and (4) a "think-then-do" strategy. Detailed-planning and think-then-do strategies appeared to result in…

Theorizes that three features of electronic texts have changed writing and writing instruction: the creation of a seamless flow of text, word publishing as a rhetorical act, and hypertextual writing and thinking. Discusses implications for how teachers read, respond to, and evaluate student writing. Stresses importance of linking writing…

Claims that participants in computer-mediated "chat" (CMC) produce a kind of hybrid text. Stresses the importance of investigating the individual texts and writing practices of each participant in CMC studies to better understand what occurs when language users bring individual cognitive, social, and contextual factors with them to a…

Describes a classroom activity in which students prepare a spot for television, including game shows, commercials, and news programs. Shows how students prepared through prewriting exercises and then conducted their research. (TB)

Instructions for three classroom sessions show how process writing can be introduced to students with learning disabilities by the teacher modeling the processes of planning, writing, sharing, taking criticism, and revising. Teacher modeling helps students overcome their hesitance about sharing their work. (DB)

Assesses the influence of two self-regulated learning strategies (organizing/transforming and task-information seeking) and two other variables (reading ability and self-efficacy for writing) on undergraduate students' compare/contrast essays. Finds that essay quality was correlated with each of the variables, but only reading ability and…

Presents a pedagogy for teaching writing students a theory of interlocutor relationships in synchronous computer conferencing (SCC), also known as chat. Constructs four major categories of interlocutor relationships: agonistic, hierarchical, dialectical, and empathic relationships. Argues application of this rhetorical theory provides students and…