Outlines a set of terms which can be used (in sequencing writing assignments from simple to complex) to make distinctions between kinds of sequences and notions of complexity. Shows how these terms allow teachers to understand the logic of various sequences, compare and contrast related sequences, and evaluate the concept of assignment sequence.…

Argues the need for additional experience in language for social action in contexts where English teachers can provide scaffolding, monitoring and intervention. Concludes that students must have experiences in real writing contexts that lead them to face the linguistic and other demands which will enable them to develop the competencies they need.…

Argues that basic writing teachers should think of their students as seekers who are coming from different places and going different directions, each carrying different burdens and needing different tools. Presents a series of writing assignments using the process approach to writing. (RS)

Finds that case assignments used in a college business composition course generally produced more effective writing products than did traditional model assignments. Suggests that the writing processes and attitudes involved in the case assignments were highly sensitive to audience and context, whereas those involved in the traditional assignments…

Describes an exercise designed for K-6 grade levels based on books where the characters undergo transformation. Explains that students should write a story in which the main character goes through a transformation, and then act out the story. Emphasizes that younger students may not pay attention to the "why" or "how" of the…

Discusses a literacy-enhancement program for undereducated university staff members tutored by college students taking a composition course on literacy. Focuses on the essays of one college student to illustrate how the sequence of writing assignments in the course fostered the reading and writing processes of academic literacy. (SR)

Describes an assignment that provides an alternative to the end of the chapter test. Students instead are asked to write a chapter of the text clarifying their ideas and explaining the material in a manner that a student unfamiliar with the subject of the chapter could understand. (ZWH)

Discusses a unit on performance appraisals, including writing comments to support ratings, drawing conclusions concerning performance, and making recommendations to improve performance. Provides an assignment requiring students to complete an appraisal form. (SR)

Uses central ideas from Roland Barthes's essays on connotative semiotics as a rationale for directing students in technical and professional writing classes to develop the critical reflex to analyze and then make judgments about the values implied by connotative systems. (SR)

Describes a writing assignment in a business communication class in which students, in previously designated study groups, discover for themselves the complex interaction between a writer and an audience by becoming the president, vice president, and manager of operations of a company, and solve a problem that they can handle only through memos.…

Describes a small group assignment for business communication students in which they put together a report describing the most important periodicals, reference works, or other ongoing information sources for people just entering professional fields. (SR)

Describes how creating a poem that focuses on memory, understanding, and emotion can lead to the construction of a meditative poem. States that poetry of meditation can be modified for use in almost any writing or literature classroom environment. (PA)

Annotates 12 conference papers, journal articles, and theses in the ERIC database that discuss the effectiveness of journal writing in the elementary and secondary classroom. (RS)

Describes the development of a writing assignment using the four discourse types to write about a single, physical object. Reviews specifically how this assignment was carried out to completion by students. Defends the assignment as a framework for the study of writing. (HB)

Describes a technical writing assignment in which students write two different papers on the same topic--one directed toward a lay or executive audience, and the other toward an operator or technician audience. (SR)