Suggests ways for the instructor to turn evaluation into an open-ended transaction with the student writer rather than a final pronouncement. Suggests that teachers should ask questions of the writer to clarify the rhetorical situation and goal, give the student one piece of advice per paper, and help the student set a reasonable goal for each…

Presents an effective strategy for having business writing students create drafts of their work, so that final copies of assignments receive better grades, and students subsequently feel better about the class. (JC)

Fluency writing programs do not meet the needs of poor and minority pupils. If minority people are to effect the change which will allow them to progress, writing programs for them must insist on skills within the context of critical and creative thinking. (PS)

Describes the Early English Composition Assessment Program of the Ohio Writing Project and the Ohio Board of Regents at Miami University. The project brings together high school English teachers who collaboratively grade papers and discuss the assessment process. Contains sample papers ranked by consensus. (SKC)

Laments the lack of respect with which graduate teaching assistants are treated in many composition programs. Describes a program at the University of Arizona that trains graduate assistants in teaching from a perspective of junior faculty colleagues and which stresses that composition instruction is a worthy and valuable profession. (SKC)

Describes a program for teaching college writing in which students analyze their own videotaped speeches as a class in order to become more aware of the composition process. Argues that the emphasis on audience feedback enhances revision, persuasion, and reader orientation and makes concepts of English composition more concrete. (JG)

Responds to a call for proof of the effectiveness of the basic writing program at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, and documents a marked increase in the success rate of basic writers after the program had shifted from a traditional product centered course to a process course. (RS)

Addresses many questions teachers might have about incorporating writing in science curricula. (JK)

Describes various activities designed for use in the reading classroom, including (1) cooperative learning activities; (2) reading and writing activities; (3) ways to improve comprehension; and (4) ways to encourage independent reading. (FL)

Verbal modification is an effective means of teaching and practicing French grammar when students feel that they have progressed beyond the grammatical stage in the major and when a conventional grammatical approach in the classroom may prove to be tedious and to disenchant students. (CB)

Presents the Wilkinson Scales for writing assessment and shows how one eighth grade student's essay, using the scales, can be evaluated for grammatical and mechanical problems without devaluing the emotion that went into its composition. (JC)

A review of recent classroom research regarding writing processes reveals ways in which contextual factors affect student learning. Teachers should investigate the relationship between teaching and writing development in their own classrooms. (Author/CB)

Challenges the view that children should learn to write narratives first and shows how teachers can exploit everyday classroom topics to help children develop control of the kinds of factual writing normally used by adults. (MM)

Describes one creative writing teacher's use of an owl as a focal point for writing activities and how the writing activities aided the students' personal and creative development. Provides samples of student writing. (ARH)

Notes that Australian teachers are not following U.S. teachers in (1) the use of drill and practice computer software and (2) teaching programing and computer literacy. Discuses Australian teachers' use of the computer as a tool for accessing information, for enhancing creative writing, and as a news tool. (NH)