Writing assignments involving newspaper portfolios or analyzing the content of a film (animated or live action) are interesting because they help students become involved with course content and improve students' critical thinking. A study examined writing assignments of these types from 21 students taking two sections of a course on child…

Discusses several terms used to denote cultural diversity and their implications. Emphasizes the importance of intracultural variations to an understanding of multiculturalism. Describes two assignments that give students in a graduate business communication course experience in researching various aspects of culture, exploring issues cultural…

Describes how art-making and writing intersect in a sixth-grade art classroom. Discusses how writing about art-making promoted reflection and thinking, and was essential to the learning in class for both students and teacher. Offers brief notes also about art in the language arts class. (SR)

Describes a nine-week South Dakota history unit for junior high school students that incorporated writing for learning. Describes the eight writing assignments that were the key activities of this unit. Concludes that writing helps students comprehend, apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information. (SR)

Analyzes a large-scale professional communication project, exemplifying the type of projects that graduating students will be expected to collaborate on or to manage successfully. Discusses implications for teaching managerial communication to Masters of Business Administration students and recommends ways to integrate real world tasks into the…

Describes numerous teaching\writing activities used in a teacher's high school history classes that are based on using writing as a means of teaching and learning, and on an understanding of the importance of continual (formative) assessment. Describes "initiative" assignments, process and reflection assignments, and research assignments. (SR)

Advocates using scrapbooks as a genre for getting reluctant writers involved in writing across the disciplines of English and social studies. Provides examples. (PA)

Explains how the reading of young adult fiction can help young adults to write better. Presents exercises in writing good first lines; using detail; using simile and metaphor; and sharing significant insights. Provides excerpts from young adult fiction. (TB)

Describes ideas for writing prompts and assignments proposed by three different teachers: (1) writing poems inspired by smells of herbs and spices; (2) writing about past perceptions and feelings after looking at a photograph; and (3) writing a "self-portrait." (TB)

Reports on a study that examines the planning and revising of ninth-grade coauthors to determine how collaborative writing socializes and impacts the writing process. Finds that the students' writing processes tended to resemble those of more expert writers--planning, composing, and revising collapsed into a truly recursive process. (TB)

Outlines effective and practical creative writing assignments given to literature students. Concludes that writing short, imaginative summaries provides a change of pace from the usual lecture, discussion, and group work formats of literature classes. (PM)

Details a creative writing assignment used in literature classes to help students better grasp the principles of literature from the inside out. Suggests this method should be employed more often in survey classes. (PM)

Explores rhetorical specification in writing tasks by examining responses to a poorly constructed task used in large-scale placement testing at a major university. Argues that fictional scenarios (writing prompts which give student writers a role to play) can be effective, provided that the roles created are reasonable ones for students to adopt.…

Argues that when the context supports sustained writing, both assigned and self-designed tasks can foster learning and commitment to writing. Reports on a case study of two graduate students in two universities. Finds that sustained writing, both of instructor- and self-designed tasks, can lead to positive intellectual and affective changes. (RS)

Describes a freshman composition course which employs problem-solving exercises as a writing improvement technique. Notes that sharing ideas while solving problems builds new writers' openness and trust, whereas thinking aloud prepares students to benefit from other writers' thinking protocol methods. Suggests that brainstorming can help students…