Describes a semester-long project for a first-year writing class in which students work collaboratively to research an artist as a person, write an essay as a monologue, and present the monologue as a one-person play to the class. (SR)

Discusses the trials and tribulations of students who struggle with reading and writing assignments centered on the essay form. Argues that students must be shown the artistic merit of the essay form to produce and appreciate essays. Considers how the essay as form provides a spirit to be followed in teaching and in life. (HB)

Investigates whether students are using a process approach to writing by examining pictures drawn by first year college students illustrating their procedures for writing a paper for school. Discusses various aspects revealed in the drawings. Finds that a process approach is scarcely apparent. (SR)

Administered the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to three groups of university level composition students (21 basic writing students, 41 traditional first-year composition students, and 25 English-as-Second-Language students). MBTI personality type, writing measures, and relationships between composition measures and learning styles as measured by…

Discusses the experiences in working with the basic writing curriculum presented in "Facts, Artifacts and Counterfacts: Theory and Methods for a Reading and Writing Course." Discusses reasons for selecting "Facts" as a model for the basic writing program and the rationale for making modifications that renders it more applicable…

Argues that writing is customarily taught by methods guaranteed to produce as little meaning as possible. Shows that current pedagogies are more limited than they need to be. Argues for a new paradigm, related to information theory, which allows new ideas about how meaning is expressed in communications. (SR)

Relates the experiences of a group of five teachers of freshman English who formed a group to discuss their teaching. Considers both teaching composition and talking about teaching composition. Traces the way this project allowed the participants to rethink what their circumstances were and what framed their own ways of seeing themselves. (SR)

Outlines a first-day lesson plan for a first-year writing class in which the instructor engages students at the outset in building an electronic online community. Provides step-by-step methods and discusses specific advice for what to do and not to do within the context of achieving an online emphasis. (HB)

Describes a program of English instruction focusing on having students prepare the syllabus for a second-semester English composition course. Claims that letting students create their own course syllabus increases student investment in learning. Outlines the way one teacher carried out such a method. Includes a student-written syllabus. (HB)

Examines students' accounts of meaning-making and compares those accounts to students' ideas about writing. Presents two case studies of students as they use their ideas about meaning-making while writing for a first-year composition course. Provides implications of this research for teaching writing. (HB)

Describes the design of a standard first-year composition class in which the author used online discussion forums. Discusses how these design choices helped create a dynamic community of readers, writers, and learners in a writing classroom. Discusses pedagogical goals, and course design. Discusses several reasons why this approach works so well,…

Discusses problems in staffing introductory courses in composition, literature, and foreign languages including concerns about the professional status of teachers of introductory courses, and the many variances in staffing patterns in two-year, four-year, and research institutions. (NH)

Argues teachers must learn how to conceptualize the connections between the academy and society in ways that student, administrators, and teachers find convincing. Provides practical as well as theoretical justification for teaching public-discourse writing in a first-year composition course. Discusses several service learning projects produced by…

Argues that, if writing instructors implement Howard Gardner's theories about multiple intelligences (MI), students who do not learn linguistically may develop tools for learning that improve their writing skills. Describes teaching a freshman composition class based on MI theory, discussing seven steps of implementation. Offers insights from…

Shares thoughts about a recent teaching experience that may speak to two current and related issues of importance to English studies, those of part-time and adjunct staffing and of the full-time faculty's responsibility for and involvement in the design, supervision, and instruction of lower-division courses. Considers the reintegration of tenured…