Analyzes four informal science-related writing tasks produced by seventh-grade students (n=374) from two schools with different socioeconomic populations. Demonstrates that students' informal writing in the science context can provide a rich source of information regarding students' cognitive and attitudinal engagement with science. (Author/CCM)

Outlines a unit of study of Baz Luhrmann's 1997 film version of "Romeo and Juliet" for Year 10 students in Australia. Includes a series of lessons/questions and activities that include directing students (1) to consider speed and editing and character analysis; (2) to engage in language comparison; and (3) to generate extended responses.…

Presents two assignments that are designed to help students (at the high school and college levels) to develop a sense of place while building skills to improve their narrative writing. Includes the assignment sheet. Describes how students create a Michigan Travel Guide from their final drafts. (SR)

Presents and describes a narrative writing assignment used by the author in a developmental writing course that helps to demonstrate to students how and why sexist language usage can limit thinking, sometimes injuriously, and that concretely illustrates how language and gender stereotyping interact causally. Describes the assignment, how it is…

Describes a method the author has used successfully with elementary school classes that enables students to enjoy the process of revision in their prose-writing. Notes that the exercises can be used in any time frame or circumstance. (SR)

Believes that a humanities survey course should engage the "whole student" allowing students to draw from their entire identity that includes personal insights, experiences, and heritage. Argues that the survey course should teach students formal analysis, perceptive writing, and critical thinking skills. Describes a humanities survey that focuses…

States that service learning educates students to volunteer their expertise for the benefit of society. Suggests that teachers of business and technical writing can apply this pedagogy by assigning students to write for nonprofits. Describes service learning's origins; proposes a rationale for it; explains sequential projects and teaching methods…

Presents a case study for use in business communication classes to help students understand and learn both the context and the strategies for communication with business and management. Deals with multiple problems caused by the rapid expansion of an insurance brokerage, including gender issues, clarification of responsibilities and roles, and…

Presents a case study for use in business communication classes to help students understand and learn both the context and the strategies for communication with business and management. Deals with dilemmas of moral and ethics within a company that has gone through downsizing and is considering relocating. Includes two assignments. (SR)

Presents a case study for use in business communication classes to help students understand and learn both the context and the strategies for communication with business and management. Looks at communication strategies employed by Denny's during its crisis caused by charges of racial discrimination. Includes actual communications instrumental in…

Describes how one teacher uses life writing (reading and writing about transformative life experiences) in her basic writing class to engage students and to help them understand the power and purpose of reaching out to a variety of audiences. Discusses grading life writing. (SR)

Offers four brief descriptions of research and class assignments that incorporate use of the World Wide Web, including resume writing and the Web; team research projects; "hunts" for local Web sites to introduce the World Wide Web; and using the Web to get updates or confirm accuracy. (SR)

Describes a class writing exercise for high school and college English classes (which functions well early in the first semester), which emphasizes a basic idea (that close inspection of a subject will reveal that there is a lot to say about it) by having students describe in detail a person's face, first as a class and then individually. (SR)

Shows how a writing exercise requiring students to write to themselves five years into the future has a dramatic effect on them and helps them, perhaps for the first time, to think about their futures. (TB)

Teachers can encourage parental involvement and appreciation of studying Spanish through simple homework assignments. This article discusses how students and parents work together to discover the impact of the Spanish-speaking world on their surroundings. (Author)