In this study, we sought to determine the effectiveness of a sentence creation intervention on the sentence writing ability of a young writer with Noonan Syndrome. Noonan syndrome is an autosomal dominant condition characterized by shortness in stature, with neck and ear anomalies, hypertelorism, ptosis of the eyelids, low set ears, and instances…

"Writing is a core skill for living, not just for school," writes high school English teacher Penny Kittle. Although it's important to teach students the conventions of grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure, teachers don't need to approach this task "like scolds, red pens in hand, stamping out sin, and punishing…

The difficult relationship between boys and writing is well documented; its causes and solutions are the source of passionate debate. Of the many trends the author has observed in 20 years as a classroom teacher, one of the most disheartening has been a deteriorating interest in writing among male students. Their disengagement manifests in many…

This article features a discussion of what contemporary research tells us are the most significant factors that individually and collectively serve to thwart the writing development and performance of students with LD. Support is drawn from recent research syntheses, as well as individual studies. I begin with an overview of skillful writing and…

In this essay, Jessie L. Auger reflects on the practice of Buddy Editing in her first-grade classroom as an opportunity for student and teacher learning. By explicitly revealing her pedagogical approach and sharing transcripts of students' engagement with her Buddy Editing protocol, Auger presents the dynamics of a learning partnership that…

This study explores cross-language and longitudinal patterns in unconventional word segmentation in 25 emerging bilingual students' (Spanish/English) writing from first through third grade. Spanish and English writing samples were collected annually and analyzed for two basic types of unconventional word segmentation: hyposegmentation, in…

Current research suggests that nurturing teachers' creativity can improve their practice as teachers of writing. A number of Teacher Education interventions have focused on the provision of creativity and creative writing courses for teachers with the view that such experiential learning will enable teachers to become more effective writing…

As new media technologies emerge and evolve rapidly, the need to make informed decisions about using these technologies in teaching writing increases. This dissertation research study aimed at achieving multiple purposes. The first purpose was to catalog the new media technologies writing teachers use in teaching first-year composition classes.…

Most developmental community college students are not completing the composition sequence successfully. This mixed-methods study examined acceleration as a way to help developmental community college students complete the composition sequence more quickly and more successfully. Acceleration is a curricular redesign that includes challenging…

When Alexandra Gold described her composition course: one that situates feminist and queer theory as a lens through which to view, analyze, and discuss contemporary television, a male acquaintance responded by saying he would not pay for that class. Another female acquaintance assured Gold that although she had loved a similar class at her Ivy…

Writing correct English sentences can be challenging. Furthermore, writing correct formulaic sequences can be especially difficult because accepted combinations do not follow clear rules governing which words appear together in a sequence. One solution is to provide examples of correct usage accompanied by statistical feedback from web-based…

This article reports findings from a four-year formative experiment (Reinking & Bradley, 2008) investigating a summer writing institute for ninth graders entering an urban high school. Intended as enrichment, not remediation, for a heterogeneous group of students, and as a learning experience, not just a teaching opportunity, for…

Even though a first-year writing course remains a near-standard component of the college experience, its "content" and the "path" students take to enroll in it are not so standard. Two recent changes at a public, land-grant institution with a selective admission policy and an undergraduate population of approximately 10,000…

Background: The learning of students from (im)migrant backgrounds has long been a consideration for the field of education. The "transnational" turn in research has brought to the forefront the need to account for students' language and literacy practices as situated within multiple national affiliations, fluid migration histories,…

The "creativity gap" is a distressing discrepancy between the ostensible value educators place on creativity and its absence in schools. How do teachers take on the attributes and skills of a creative practitioner? What struggles do they face in doing so? This case study examines the practices of six early elementary teachers who…