Measuring the effects of computer-managed instruction (CMI) on the teaching of and student writing about literature involves more than having students write and then evaluating their performance. Measurement is made difficult by the fact that the computer technology used in instruction is in a state of flux. Variation of computer technology,…

After students' interest in literature has been stirred by journal writing, it is time for them to turn their private journal writing into writing for an audience. Instead of having students write the usual responses to literature, vary their assignments by offering them creative responses, either occasionally or as an individual alternative to…

This paper describes a writing assignment given in an introductory literature class at an open-admissions university. In what can be called "the paper of many parts," students write six short pieces in which they do different things with a poem. The paper begins and ends with response statements: an initial one and one at the end that…

This document outlines the development of an American Studies learning community in which a literature and a history professor created a framework for collaborative inquiry across the two disciplines. The learning community was situated within General Education requirements, and thus reflected the freshman course level. The community was linked…

This paper is a "how-to" paper for promoting writing and critical thinking skills. Intended to be practical in providing timely and helpful strategies for fostering analytical thinking and effective writing among college students, the paper is offered as a useful resource for classroom instructors seeking fresh new ideas and approaches…

Learn how to use literature to teach students the six traits that characterize effective writing: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. This practical text gives the reader a variety of ideas and strategies for developing and integrating the traits into students? writing, bibliographies of recommended…

Service learning discourses have often addressed questions of representation through reciprocity, asking what various participants receive from service learning community experiences. In the process of researching an article about reciprocity, a writing teacher found that reciprocity was often defined as an exchange of learning for some form of…

This paper describes how freshman composition teachers can provide students with tools for integrating different classes and navigating the university experience by introducing students to discourse community theory and viewing freshman composition as a foundation for Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC). It begins by describing how discourse…

A high school English teacher used her weekly Impromptu Poetry session to find out what 11th graders thought veterans had accomplished. The teacher developed a writing prompt that asked the students to describe a family member who had served in the military and to show what they understood about that person. Students who did not have a family…

This paper describes how one university professor discovered a gap between her explanation of a class assignment (analyzing a content textbook) and students' comprehension of the assignment. After attending a workshop, she revised all assignments for the content reading course and designed a grading rubric for each assignment. The assignment…

Boom! Br-r-ring! Cluck! Moo!--exciting sounds are everywhere. Whether visiting online sites that play sounds or taking a "sound hike," ask your students to notice the sounds they hear, then write their own book, using sound words, based on Dr. Seuss's "Mr. Brown Can MOO! Can You?" During the three 45-minute sessions, grade K-2…

The lead of a story is the beginning, and yet it can be the end if the reader is not entranced immediately. This lesson examines types of leads in prominent children's literature and asks grade 3 to 5 students to try their own hand at writing leads. During the two 40-minute lessons, students will: discuss their reactions to the leads from the…

For an instructor of freshman composition at the University of Michigan at Flint, faith-based writing topics offer particular challenges and sometimes intersect in troubling ways with her own prejudices and personal history as a teacher and as a person. But if handled correctly, she believes that a teacher's interaction with students about…

This book explores the intersections of creative writing, composition, feminism, and critical theory in ways that speak powerfully to each discipline. It offers provocative considerations of writing and teaching, side by side with practical features including sample assignments and ready to use classroom strategies, as well as a glossary of terms…

The borders that separate and connect different cultures often come into sharpest relief when the focus is on themes and motifs found in the literature or the visual arts of several lands. With the Internet, students can discover such points of intercultural contact for themselves, crossing borders that can lead them to a broader perspective on…