Presents some suggestions for the writing of poetry to expand vocabulary in the target language. Since poetry demands preciseness, writing poetically helps students develop this language skill. (Author/CK)

Describes a cross-county writing project involving a third-grade class and high school drama students. The third graders write character sketches and send them to the drama students, who write a play using the characters. The high school students then produce the play for the elementary students, complete with costumes, makeup, and scenery. (TJQ)

Fenton Johnson, an award-winning writer living in San Francisco, reflects on growing up in a large Catholic family in Appalachian Kentucky and the stigma associated with being gay. His latest novel, "Scissors, Papers, Rock," relates the story of a young man leaving the gay urban culture of San Francisco to return to the straight rural…

Presents a defense of the use of collaborative writing projects in writing classrooms, particularly in creative writing courses. Considers the issues involved in the use of such practices. Suggests ways to use collaborative writing in English classes. (HB)

The creative development of Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Patrick Branwell, Emily Jane, and Anne Bronte in England during the early 1800s is analyzed, with attention to the role of the parents, collaborative siblings, and the natural environment in supporting their talent. The education of the Brontes and the "little books" they wrote as…

An interactive, multimedia program designed to teach writing in Spanish as a second language is described and its instructional features are discussed. In it, students must interpret ambiguous scenes and communicative interactions in Spanish to create a fictional account. An oral component also requires students to speak the language. (MSE)

Forty-two inner city intermediate-grade learning-disabled students wrote fables when provided with the following stimuli: story starter, story ending with story content, and story ending with rhetorical purpose. The story ending groups did more story development planning than the story starter group, but composition quality was not significantly…

In a sixth grade science classroom for able students, major grades are broken down into four categories: lab reports, projects, creative writing, and written tests. These four components of assessment structure how the curriculum content is presented. (JDD)

Provides a 1993 speech given by the children's book author Virginia Hamilton. She describes how she has absorbed her personal history as well as African-American history within the broad context of U.S. history and transformed them into her writing. (nine references) (EAM)

A range of alternative approaches to student work in science is presented. The approaches are illustrated by examples of students' work including cartoons, cards, poems, and posters. A number of audiences other than the teacher is identified as a potential focus for students' written work. (KR)

Examines the effects of mental imagery instruction on 37 gifted fourth and fifth grade students' creative writing and development of imagery vividness. Finds that treatment subjects significantly outperformed control subjects on originality and use of sensory descriptions but not on writing length. (MG)

One Israeli elementary school uses creative writing to make English writing real for upper elementary students. After selecting meaningful topics, students brainstorm ideas to write about, narrow their selection to a specific aspect of the topic, choose a writing style from a list, produce a first draft, edit, and rewrite as necessary. Finished…

Uses examples of children's poetry to illustrate both the power of metaphor and the possibilities of poetry in the development of metaphor. Traces children's development in creation of metaphor from kindergarten through eighth grade. Looks at early demonstration of metaphor use and the expanded use of metaphor to describe complex concepts and…

Discusses six books that offer beginning and veteran teachers classroom-tested ideas to help students read and write poetry and other literature, and interact with each other as they strive to understand and appreciate classic drama and novels. Notes four websites that are good sites for teaching poetry. (SR)

Reports the findings of a classroom-based study into the effectiveness of various strategies designed to assist children at Key Stage 3 (11-14 years) to become better writers. Takes into account the attitudes of the pupils themselves and considers the role of the teacher in facilitating improvement in imaginative writing. (PA)