Within educational settings students can choose to engage in assigned academic activities or other, sometimes disruptive behaviors. This paper reviews recent research on assignment preference, choice, and choosing. Results of these studies show how educators can enhance students' academic behaviors, decrease disruptive behaviors, and improve…

Shows how the mini-casebook approach, with a few modifications, works well with upper-division writing assignments. Notes that a mini-casebook approach is nothing more than a self-published document including a primary work of literature, selected secondary sources on that work, and a selection of several specified topics on the primary source.…

Provides a qualitative content analysis of photographs of the hallway displays in three elementary schools. Notes that the forms and functions of things displayed on hallway walls reveal much about school culture, what is valued, and what educational tools are and are not being used. Suggests how educators can use hallway display areas to support…

Defines the ballad as the link between the written and the sung. Explains that ballad meter is made of quatrains that alternate between four-stress and three-stress lines, and contain an "abcb" or "abab" rhyme scheme. Notes that ballads are mnemonic devices and tell stories. Discusses modern balladeers and describes ballad writing assignments. (PM)

Describes a 9th grade required course, Social Issues, and a related writing assignment. Students investigated an issue of personal interest to them and produced a paper with reflective and analytical writing. Six girls sparked a critical comprehension of reality. Data from interviews, focus groups, and papers indicated that the project enhanced…

Considers how theories of writing grounded in cultural studies and ethnographic writing have explicitly taken up questions of writing students' relations to cultures and communities outside the academy. Considers disciplinary influences in ethnographic writing. Discusses the reenvisioning of the politics of postmodern ethnography. (SG)

Finding effective ways to teach students to use and apply technology in their coursework and field placements can be a challenge for counselor educators. The use of online assignments in counselor education courses has been one way to teach and model the use of such technology for counselors in training. (Contains 14 references.) (GCP)

In a marketing course, students used the principles of product, price, place, and promotion to market their course work to the professor/customer. Assessment of 357 students over 4 semesters showed this experiential method resulted in higher achievement and greater understanding of customer expectations and satisfaction. (SK)

Defines the boundaries between "realist" literature and science fiction and fantasy. Describes science fiction writing assignments. Mentions science fiction and fantasy books suitable for the uninitiated reader. (RS)

Provides directions for making four-page fold-a-books for children to use when authoring their own books. (MG)

Presents a term paper assignment for a sophomore and junior college level developmental psychology course designed to acquaint students with primary literature in developmental psychology, and to provoke critical thinking. Reports that the assignment met the goals set forth by the author. (KO)

Describes an advanced desktop publishing course that combines instruction in a few advanced techniques for using software with extensive discussion of such design principles as consistency, proportion, asymmetry, appropriateness, contrast, and color. Describes computer hardware and software, class assignments, problems, and the rationale for such…

Reviews the arguments for and against teaching the traditional five-paragraph essay model. Describes a teaching approach in which students critically examine these arguments while learning the principle features of the five-paragraph essay. (SR)

Describes a class activity to help students gain insights into the collaborative process and to launch them into a collaborative report. (SR)

Describes 3 assignments for introductory-level business writing students (who have already learned the fundamentals of document design) that present design challenges in a sales letter, a resume, and a memo report and instructions, to be introduced in class over a period of 8 to 10 weeks. (SR)