Replicates, using diverse quotations grouped under four metaphors (dreamcatcher, gatekeeper, spider web, safety net) representing the dissonance of the reading/writing processes as they might be experienced by basic skills readers. Questions the relationship of basic skills to its students; implements D. Bartholomae's recommendations to reform of…

Describes a successful approach used by the author in "Composition and Literature" courses which teaches students to write in a relaxed manner about material unnatural to them (literary texts). Describes focusing on communicating to a generally ignorant reader who is knowledgeable about the work. Argues that papers became clearer as the semester…

Proposes a turn toward "social-process rhetorical inquiry" in composition, a turn that requires further pedagogical adaptations of cultural studies methodologies in writing classrooms. Notes that the social-process heuristic is based on a cyclical model of writing processes, a model comprising cultural production, contextual…

Notes how the author helps his eighth graders become more effective writers by acknowledging the role emotions play in their learning and in their ability to make meaning. Describes how he shares his emotions with students to help them open up themselves. (SG)

Discusses idea strategies that can help the learner comprehend and communicate, and composition strategies that can be applied to writing for communication. Highlights include thought starters; information evaluation phases, including analyzing the audience; strategies in writing management; drafts and revisions; and introductions and conclusions.…

Analyzes results from a study that examined how experienced teachers work with students in the early stages of writing. Examines the process of composition as involving a cycle of two phases: engagement and reflection. Children's difficulties in sustaining their attention across successive phases of this cycle are attributed to specific problems…

Describes the author's efforts in establishing writing groups in a middle school classroom. Discusses setting standards, teacher role, and common projects. Concludes that the development of a safe writing environment requires open discussion about the needs and ears of writers and a common objective or project for revision and response. (SR)

Presents a dialog between two speakers examining the nature of writing discourse, how it is categorized, how it is changing, how e-mail and other media are affecting it, and what is considered acceptable in certain discourses. (TB)

Discusses the theory of multiple intelligences and what it tells English teachers about students' writing processes. Discusses results of a study of the writing processes of 10 high school juniors whose cognitive profile featured visual-spatial intelligence and subordinated linguistic aspects. Discusses the importance of matching instructional…

Suggests that students can improve their writing by being instructed on how to write badly. Applies the criteria of testability, tunnel-vision, excessive vagueness, flying in the face of established fact, and hazy authority to tabloid newspaper stories. Discusses how students can write their own "rotten" tabloid stories by taking these…

Suggests that although Mark Twain may have been a natural storyteller, he was not by nature a novelist. Addresses Twain's attitude towards fiction, and discusses "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,""The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,""The Prince and the Pauper,""A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," and…

Notes that if students are able to publish, they are often more interested in engaging in the messy, challenging, rewarding process of writing. Describes experiences in writing letters to the editor and letters of appreciation or complaint. Concludes that through these experiences, students see how writing is powerful, accomplishes specific…

Notes the difficulty in writing a newspaper column and gives several questions and responses to consider. Discusses what a column should do, how a column should be written, and questions to consider. Presents a sample page with an explanation of several different columns. (SC)

Offers an interview with poet X. J. Kennedy, winner of the prestigious National Council of Teachers of English Award for Poetry for Children for the year 2000. Outlines how he began writing poetry, his work writing poetry for adults, and how he began writing poems for children. Offers an overview of his work. (SR)

Outlines detrimental effects of word processing in the composition classroom on planning, reading, organizing, revising, error detection, and spelling and vocabulary skill development. Discusses strategies instructors can use to teach students to use the computer at each stage of the writing process in ways that encourage and develop the…