Writer's workshops provide students with the appropriate processes they need to learn about publishing and First Amendment freedoms when collaborating on a school newspaper. High school teacher and journalism adviser Janet Ewell outlines the structures students can use for learning to find, research, develop, respond to, and reflect on story…

Teachers are faced with a dilemma when they know what good teaching is but feel pressure from their colleagues and administrators to use published test preparation materials to teach reading and writing. However, effective instructional practices and mandated testing demands can coexist if teachers choose methods that not only provide authentic…

Two scales of mothers' mediation of their children's writing based on Aram and Levin (2001) were developed and tested in 67 mother-child Hong Kong Chinese dyads in three grade levels--second-year kindergarten, third-year kindergarten, and first grade. With children's ages, grades, and non-verbal IQs, as well as mothers' education levels…

The aim of this working paper is to identify research-supported strategies for reading and writing that can be integrated effectively to promote the development of biliterate academic literacy by English language learners (ELLs) in middle-school bilingual classrooms. The paper begins with a review of the theoretical foundations that highlight…

This paper focuses on the analysis of certain didactic resources that proliferated on the fringes of schooling during the second half of the nineteenth century in Mexico. The first of these is a method that, according to its author, made it possible to teach a pupil how to read in only six lessons, dated 1830; the second is a writing method from…

In this article, the author first explains what an authors gallery is and suggests additional uses and modifications. Next, readers are taken through a day-by-day description of creating the gallery while having the theory behind this pedagogical choice explained. The step-by-step discussion is supported with student examples and concepts drawn…

Teaching rhetorical production in a digital age calls for us to rethink our discipline's current distaste for writing mechanics. Yet, the digital mechanics of writing are much broader than grammatical concerns. They include production tools that allow for the invention and circulation of audio, visual, and Multigenre writing. (Contains 3 figures…

Notes that guidelines for the curriculum in English published by the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association have been criticized by a number of publications. Proposes a new guideline--for writing to convey factual information only. (PA)

Discusses William Zinsser, a former newspaperman and current essayist and teacher, who has spend decades encouraging people to write "warmly and clearly." Writing is a craft, a necessary skill for professional advancement, but not a mysterious form of artistry, he strongly believes. (EV)

Presents a compilation of classroom writing strategies designed for students and selected from readings and classroom experiences. (RS)

Discusses briefly some ways professional writers create fine titles, using allusions, puns, rhyme, alliteration, and paradox. (SR)

Discusses and illustrates how technical communicators can read and write complex documents dialogically by using a new/old strategy to help them in three activities: breaking down complex documents and data into components; solving problems by locating and describing causal components; and following and organizing sequences of components. (SR)

Discusses documenting object-oriented projects from the technical writer's perspective. Suggests that writers prepare themselves by becoming educated, getting comfortable with object-oriented concepts, understanding reuse, defining a development process with the rest of the project team, and defining document requirements using rapid prototyping.…

Describes a seven-step approach for writing a strategic plan for a small business. (SR)

Reconsiders the modern classic "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. Discusses three issues from the book that speak to the technical writer in particular: finding the proper perspective, using metaphoric writing, and avoiding gumption traps. (SR)