Description can make a piece of writing come alive. This lesson plan combines art and word play, emphasizing writing for an audience while drawing on multiple intelligences. Peer review and feedback reinforces the revision process as students create trading cards by drawing pictures of monsters and describing and categorizing them in detail.…

A writing instructor's quest in a screenwriting course was to convince her students to get in touch with their inner voices. Her male students are mostly Tarantino clones who write scripts that could star Robert DeNiro or Harvey Keitel. The instructor wanted them to create characters that are believable and that the audience can attach to in a…

Through the guide's 39 chapters, a person can learn how to write his or her life, and how to prepare, submit, and sell the story. The guide offers advice on: ideas--how to spot them, enjoy them, and jot them down; first drafts and the value in simply telling the story and revising later; establishing a writing routine and keeping it; the hows and…

This paper reports on the analysis of an instructional text on the basis of M. Bakhtin's (1986) notion of speech genres, which is used to theorize the different influences on the writing of an instructional text. Speech genres are used to reveal the multiple voices inherent in any text: the writer's, the reader's, and the text's. The…

The study of discourse genres as social action has steadily displaced more traditional views of genre, proposing the organic and ecological model that any consistent pattern of response to a recurrent rhetorical situation might constitute a genre. Observation of the life cycles of genres as transient social events can occur in a classroom using…

This paper reports on a study as one aspect of research being conducted to document ways the Arts Connections Program (Cincinnati, Ohio) makes a difference in student learning. The study examines the effects of Arts Connections on higher order thinking and learning to learn skills of sixth-grade students (n=27) in 2 classrooms. One classroom, the…

Filled with time-tested techniques and relevant examples, this user-friendly guide aims to empower educators with the confidence and tools necessary to communicate effectively, efficiently, and honestly in all situations. The resource guide uses clear-cut language, to-the-point insights, and pertinent advice--reflecting the many suggestions found…

The V-chip is an electronic filtering device that parents can use to block the reception of sensitive or potentially harmful television programming they do not want their children to see. Given that the revised V-chip rating framework including content descriptors has been in effect for a full year, it becomes essential to examine how the array of…

Family Message journals, notebooks in which first-graders write a message to their families and receive a family reply each day, provide a fertile context for instruction and practice in writing for real-world functions and authentic audiences. Observation of classroom instruction, qualitative analysis of case-study children's and families'…

Finds that picture books are difficult to define--are they a separate genre or a format? Lists six variations on picture books. Presents a workshop designed to raise teachers' consciousness about picture books--activities can be adapted for students. Gives five questions for stimulating student response, using the books discussed. (PA)

Describes aspects of Linda Flower's work used by the author in devising writing technical assistance for teams writing technical reports in the United States General Accounting Office. Discusses three brief case studies describing the relationship between the work program structure (a major barrier to audience-based writing) and the writing…

Suggests a number of teaching strategies that can be used for the development of authentic voices (instead of institutional, depersonalized voices) in student writing. Focuses on the importance of students' choosing their own topic, developing audience awareness, and making connections between their own lives and literature. (TB)

Examines the socialization of anxiety based on analyses of narrative interactions between an agoraphobic woman, her husband, son, and daughter, who has been diagnosed with separation anxiety. Notes that although children of agoraphobic parents are at risk for developing anxiety, little is known about the socialization process and anxiety may be…

Notes that adapting the text to the audience is only possible when the physical task of writing becomes automatic and the writer is no longer absorbed by it. Describes a quasi-experimental study in which a procedural facilitation strategy is used to promote writing skills among Portuguese students, in particular, the skill of suiting the text to…

Examines audience awareness in a 5-month naturalistic study of a fourth-grade classroom infused with technology and which valued collaboration and inquiry. Finds this classroom offered such pervasive opportunities for interaction between authors and classmates that it was difficult to distinguish between author and audience. Examines impact of…