For educators striving to create an egalitarian classroom based on open, reflexive, and honest dialogue, silence can be the ultimate obstacle. Not only does silence stifle individual expression; more importantly, silence also prevents the collective production of knowledge, understanding, compassion, and empathy. When learners and teachers feel…

This action research project involved the implementation of a program designed to improve student motivation to write through the use of children's literature. The targeted populations were students in one kindergarten class and one third grade ELL [English Language Learners] class in two elementary schools. Both schools were located in a…

Research indicates that difficulty in general education classes significantly contributes to attrition among college freshmen. Accordingly, this mixed-method study sought to address the related problem of high school students' preparation for freshman composition or English classes. The purpose of the sequential explanatory study was to identify…

Rooted in graffiti culture and its attitude toward the world, street art is regarded as a postgraffiti movement. Street art encompasses a wide array of media and techniques, such as traditional spray-painted tags, stickers, stencils, posters, photocopies, murals, paper cutouts, mosaics, street installations, performances, and video projections…

The context for this teacher narrative is a multicultural South Australian secondary school with over 50 nationalities represented, where many of the older students are disengaged from English. A transformative moment for the writer occurred following research for here doctoral thesis, which unexpectedly challenged her thinking about the English…

The gap in academic achievement between English speakers and English learners continues to concern educators, parents, and legislators. Rising expectations for literacy and the increasing number of students from diverse backgrounds contribute to this achievement gap. In this article, the author discusses a variety of strategies for reaching out to…

When given opportunities to explore mathematics, make conjectures, and write about what they have discovered, students gain a deeper understanding of this fascinating subject. In this article, the author describes her successful Geometry Portfolio class. In addition to traditional student work, the author frequently added short essay questions or…

Most faculty will agree that students must learn to write well (Emerson, MacKay, MacKay, & Funnell, 2006), and in the sciences, a variety of approaches have been taken. In the College of Physical and Engineering Science at the University of Guelph, we have developed a way of embedding research, writing, and analytical skills into an…

This article points composition scholars toward two bodies of theory that are gaining attention in our discipline, performance studies and multimodal discourse theory. Each raises important questions about the ways we teach writing, the kinds of composition processes we value, and the means by which students construct authority in the university.…

A Latina college professor describes the family history-writing project she uses in her reading/language arts teacher preparation course. The project provides opportunities for Spanish bilingual teacher candidates to gain greater understanding of their cultural selves and to consider ways to successfully deploy that new insight as teachers in…

This paper reports on a study designed to investigate (a) whether peer review is an effective pedagogical activity with adult Chinese students in the teaching of second language (L2) academic writing and (b) how factors such as perceptions of the influence of peer reviewers' L2 proficiency, previous experience with peer review, feedback…

This article reports the results of a research project involving "unconventional" pedagogical practices and examines the impact of contemplative practice on teaching and learning in an undergraduate creative writing class and a graduate level methods of teaching writing course. Using student evaluations of the projects, the authors…

Providing effective feedback on writing is a challenge in any learning environment, but it is even more problematic in fully online instruction. The lack of face-to-face interaction in web-based classes increases the need for highly transparent, prompt, and personalized feedback. Student views on the use of a semi-structured template combined with…

In this article, the authors reflect on a very different form of ITT assessment--"patchwork text"--wherein the learner provides several small pieces of work, or "patches", which are "stitched" together with a reflective commentary, written once all of the patches are complete. Each piece of work should stand alone,…

Scientific literacy is an important fundamental skill for scientists. In order for students to improve their writing they require constant feedback throughout the process. They also need to learn the value of the peer review process by experience. Although they may require submission of a rough draft, typical upper-division writing assignments…