The purpose of this 3-year data gathering and analysis project is to specify ways in which strategic instruction is conducted in classrooms, including how teachers adapt instruction to their curriculum and how students adapt instruction to fit their purposes for and methods of writing. The purposes of the writing instruction on which the study is…

This four-document collection describes the implementation processes of dramatically improved literacy programs in elementary schools which are leading the move to restructure literacy education in the Northwest (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington). The first document in the collection, "Strategies for Improving School-Wide…

Beginning with the premise that writing cannot be separated from the subject written about, composition teachers should address themselves to what their students are learning in the process of writing. Some writing courses introduce students to great books but those books are usually written only by white men. Others open students to multicultural…

A survey investigated the attitudes of 52 elementary school teachers of limited-English-proficient (LEP) students concerning their preference for product- or process-oriented writing strategies for this population. The teachers were administered a questionnaire on which they indicated preference, on a four-point scale, for 28 product- and…

Intended for teachers, reading specialists, administrators, students in teacher education programs, and parents, this book contains descriptions of strategies for fostering emergent literacy and steps for carrying them out. An underlying theme is the merging of the art and the science of teaching. Chapters in the book begin with questions to focus…

Information on current trends and issues informally discussed and then delineated by the directors of six National Council of Teachers of English commissions, is presented in this 11th annual report. The commissions and their directors are: (1) Commission on Curriculum (Dorothy King); (2) Commission on Language (Vivian I. Davis); (3) Commission on…

A program was developed for improving the social skills and reading levels of 29 elementary grade students in a low- to middle-class manufacturing community located in an urban area in northern Illinois. The problem was originally noted by the amount of teacher time spent correcting behavior and the low reading levels of students as evidenced by…

A practicum was designed to increase the expertise of primary teachers in the creation of developmentally appropriate reading/writing curriculum for the multi-age, multi-ability, primary classroom through literacy training staff development sessions. The system of literacy training was constructed over a period of eight months with 34 primary…

Intended to help literature teachers examine ways in which the traditional canon can be expanded to include diversity in curricular choices, this book invites readers to work together to find new and better ways to introduce an ever-changing student body to what has heretofore been either unacknowledged or undervalued. The book is divided into…

Showing how fiction is a natural genre for children, this book helps teachers experiment with 10-minute fictional occasions, write with the children, and meld work in writing fiction with the reading program. The book includes a series of "actions"--experiments for personal growth and discovery in the classroom. Chapters in the book are:…

An advanced writing course required of English education majors may also be taken by students in the humanities. The course helps students gain experience with longer and more complex essays, develop a more mature writing style, and learn how to make metacognitive evaluations of their own and others' writing. It also extends the contexts and…

A study examined the writing performance of American schoolchildren based on a survey conducted in 1992 by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Nationally representative samples of fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students attending public and private schools--approximately 30,000 in all--responded to a variety of writing…

A new director of composition at Arkansas State University explains how she has had to mentor herself, write and revise herself, read herself into her new bewildering environment, and in short, make her job as easy as possible. Reading the new environment and understanding how faculty members fit into it may be one of the hardest aspects of a new…

A case study of one 14-year old boy whose writing skills were falling behind those of his peers explored how a tutorial program would enhance his skills. The tutorial sessions, which occurred twice a week for one school year, followed a process approach to writing that invited the boy to brainstorm possible topics, attempt multiple drafts, edit…

An ongoing study evaluated the effectiveness of a writing across the curriculum (WAC) program at a small liberal arts college. Fifty-five out of 99 full-time faculty responded to a survey seeking to compare WAC faculty who had voluntarily participated in at least a 3-day workshop to faculty not involved in the WAC program. Pre- and post-workshop…