This study used an online peer assessment activity to help 47 college students to learn biology through writing. Each student submitted a biology writing report to an online system and then experienced three rounds of peer assessment. During the online peer assessment process, self, peer and expert evaluation scores for the writing were gathered…

We present some key findings of a four-year, two-phase writing assessment project at Central Michigan University: Phase One (2002), a survey of faculty members (n=115) and subsequent focus groups (n=14) and Phase Two (2005), an evaluation of two samples of student writing (n=635 and 632). Major findings of Phase One reported here include the…

The role of reflection in the learning process has taken on new significance in a digital environment. The potential of using innovative teaching methods to prompt first-year writing students to self-regulate learning behaviors and write more critical reflection statements when using electronic portfolios was studied over eight fall semesters.…

Today it is necessary to approach environmental topics with students in an interdisciplinary manner to mitigate the environmental damages that the Earth is suffering. In this paper we report an action-research and innovation study aimed at sensitizing students with respect to the care and preservation of the environment through the writing of…

This article describes a case study using an electronic learning platform for creating an interactive learning community through asynchronous discussion to enhance the initial field experience of secondary math and English teacher candidates enrolled in Field Experience. We identified three problems with the field experience course--lack of…

In the May 2009 issue of "English Journal", we reported on our analysis of data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress to provide a first look at changes in the teaching of writing over the past 30 years. In this article, we provide a more detailed look, drawing on data collected from visits to 260 English, math, social…

Today, many students not only access the Internet through desktop and laptop computers at home or at school but also have copious amounts of information at their fingertips via portable devices (e.g., iPods, iPads, netbooks, smartphones). While some teachers welcome the proliferation of portable technologies and easy wireless Internet access, and…

This article describes the use of poetry as a pedagogical tool intended to intensify the reflective process of a service-learning project. In addition to keeping electronic journal entries, and summarizing and reflecting on service activities, preservice teachers wrote (or selected) poems to reconstruct their experiences and recreate some of the…

Using a framework grounded in critical literacy, the author describes her 1st-grade students' responses to works of literature that portray the impact of war. When given opportunities to read works of literature that address social justice issues, such as the consequences of war, her primary-age students' written, drawn, and spoken responses were…

Creative writing workshops typically feature a gag rule and emphasize purported flaws. This structure limits students' meaningful engagement with each other's work; positions the author as inherently flawed; and positions other participants as authority figures, passing judgment without articulating their aesthetic standards. I propose an…

When the author first started teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) students, she was incredibly naive about the second language acquisition process. One of the first moves she made was to look at the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) goals, and she began to think about the purposes and situations in which her…

The search for literature that is of high quality and interest, is written at age-appropriate levels for adolescent readers, addresses social studies topics, and presents multicultural perspectives can be daunting. "Legend of the St Ann's Flood" is a fiction trade book that meets all of these criteria. Its setting in Trinidad and Tobago…

The evolution of a writing project in a language arts methods course provided the author, a teacher educator, an opportunity to reformat a writing assignment so that students would be encouraged to write for an authentic audience. The author reflects on a series of changes made to a writing project assigned as part of a language arts methods…

A secondary English teacher in the Bronx, Marisa Harford describes several self-reflective activities she has designed to improve students' writing skills. Beginning a new school year with activities like Harford's can focus students' efforts all year. (Contains 1 figure.)

Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) is an online tool being used to integrate a writing component in classrooms. In an introductory zoology lecture class, the authors found that CPR-assigned scores were significantly higher than instructor-assigned scores on two of three essay assignments. They also found that neither students' technical-writing skills…