The Monash University (Australia) Transition to Tertiary Writing Project seeks to produce a World Wide Web-based resource for first-year students to facilitate their transition to the kinds of thinking and writing valued at the university. The background research on which this language and academic skills (LAS) project is based centers on three…

The purpose of this guide is to assist teachers in preparing their students to write effectively, both on the Georgia Grade Three Writing Assessment and in other contexts. Using Quality Core Curriculum (QCC) writing objectives, teachers are encouraged to use the information in this guide to create transparencies and handouts for students. The…

This Winter 2006 issue of "Learners in Action" contains the following articles: (1) Premiers Honour Adult Learners; (2) Learning Difficulties?; (3) Awards; (4) Hats off to Jacques Demers!; (5) What Do You Think?; (6) Meet the Current Learners Advisory Network; and (7) "Learning Edge" is No Ordinary Magazine!.

The goal of this guidebook is to help writers activate their brains to stir up more and better ideas and details. The guide's thesis is that "good writing combines fresh ideas energized by vivid details." Chapters 1, 2, and 3 are devoted to providing thinking options for writers. Chapters 4 and 5 discuss options for paragraphing and…

This book offers 25 mini-lessons which focus on the elements of good writing. Intended for teachers of grades 3-6, the book provides practical teaching suggestions to introduce particular elements and strategies, as well as activities that will allow students to practice new techniques. Using excerpts from favorite children's authors' works and…

The book provides teachers, program directors, administrators, and parents involved in Spanish-English bilingual education programs with practical ideas to support the development of reading and writing programs in Spanish, using literacy approaches that are effective and empowering for Spanish-speaking children in American schools. It describes…

With many English teachers now opting to teach writing and literature courses in electronic environments, some of the teachers' most significant experiences in these environments have stemmed from their attempts to make technology available as a literacy tool for culturally diverse student populations. Computer-mediated communication can broaden…

This paper describes the use of technology in a first year college writing class. The class utilizes a multi-user object-oriented domain (MOO) which allows participants to talk, perform actions, thoughts, and emotions, manipulate objects and furniture, and altogether control the online environment. The class holds discussions on the computer in…

Introducing middle school students (grades 6-8) to the joy of writing, this book presents ideas, practical lessons, examples, games, and resources. Step-by-step guidelines and helpful tips for educators are combined with numerous writing and prewriting activities for students--from "braindancing" and "zoom lens" to "downhilling." The book is…

As classroom use of the World Wide Web grows, teachers are searching for new standards for evaluating the quality of online resources. Yet by promoting traditional standards of "quality," teachers push students towards viewing the Web as they often view the library, as a place to get "correct" information to support their…

The emptiness and nothingness associated with writer's block is often described as a kind of death, a place where there is nothing to decide, nothing about which to express an opinion. However, for students who enter the writing classroom from a different culture, the problem may not be lack of ideas, but conflicting ideas. Some of these students…

This book is about managing and balancing the merging of literacy assessment and instruction in classrooms. The activities discussed have been used again and again by students ages 5 to 18 in integrated literacy environments; the instructional strategies easily adapt to self-monitoring activities. Chapters in the book are: (1) "A Rationale for…

Marking "Writer's Digest"'s upcoming 75th anniversary, this book presents a collection of the best writing instruction, advice, and inspiration written by famous and not-so-famous writers and published in the magazine from the 1920s to the 1990s. The 49 selections in the book are arranged chronologically and address: (1) selecting an…

A disturbing gulf between the culture of the United States and that of Singapore, was noted by an American English professor after spending the 1986-87 academic year as a Fullbright lecturer in Singapore's Department of English and Literature and again after returning for the 1991-92 academic year as a visiting professor. Cultural differences were…

This ethnographic study was conducted in order to (1) investigate the forces affecting the literacy practices of first year teachers, (2) examine factors that foster the creativity, innovation and growth of teachers, and (3) describe some exemplary literacy practices of beginning teachers. Three beginning teachers in an urban midwestern school…