Suggesting that students can be independent thinkers and writers, this book helps teachers implement an effective factual thinking and writing program into elementary, middle, and high schools. It demonstrates six different models of factual writing: narratives, procedures, descriptions, reports, explanations, and arguments. An introduction is…

Describes a way to give word-processed feedback on business communication assignments. Describes some advantages of this mode over both handwritten and audio comments, and identifies limitations of this method. (SR)

Discusses a teacher-training experience in which a systemwide inservice seminar was offered. Offers the following tips for novice inservice providers: foster professionalism, provide structure for reading and writing activities, support change, accept participants as they are, stress commonalities, vary activities, provide supplemental fuel…

Presents three brief articles written by teachers that 1) describe a collection of approaches that utilize newspapers and magazines as the "excellent teaching tools they are"; (2) plunge students into critical analysis through the use of advertisements in magazines; (3) present ideas on how to teach students to create writing prompts…

Describes a four- to six-week project for high school sophomores in which students create pamphlets and in the process learn basic research skills and practice several elements of the research paper. (SR)

Presents an assignment, conducted by the business communications instructor as "raconteur," that elicits discussions about ethics, decision making, channeling, legal questions, and the practical applications of business communications. Describes how the class completes a major report on a career and participates in three interviews so that they…

Highlights exemplary moments from the first three writing courses that Youngstown State University has been teaching at a union hall for steel workers. Includes excerpts from student interviews; illustrates the teachers' evolving approach to teaching writing in a workplace setting; and explains student responses to writing assignments. (TB)

Explains a writing assignment called "occasional paper," a brief written reflection that is read aloud and discussed but not turned in. Notes that it is important that these papers be easy to write. Contends that since adolescents experience nearly everything as personal, the occasional paper offers them an entry into thinking that is abstract and…

Describes a writing intensive seminar for college freshman. Includes goals, reading assignments, writing assignments, and group projects. Provides web-based resources on tuberculosis along with an evaluation sheet for web site reviews. Concludes that students exhibited great interest in the topic and course feedback was positive. (DLH)

Proposes that students can best learn to recognize and enjoy irony by creating it. Outlines a class activity and two exercises that help students write with irony. Concludes that the energy created by ironic tension encourages students in their writing and reading. (PM)

Examines prewriting and writing assignments designed to tighten the continuity between the personal essays typically written in English 101 and the more literature-based essays of English 102. Aims to help students blend personal and public voices. (MG)

Argues that basic writing students need incremental assignment sequences to experience success in writing and to develop their abilities to write about abstract concepts. Describes a four-part sequence of writing assignments moving from observing to narrowing to generalizing to theorizing. (RS)

Presents teaching tips for (1) generating titles as a prewriting activity; (2) having students write a biography of a classmate; (3) asking students to determine scenarios for their business communication documents; (4) using interviewing as a method of primary research; and (5) sequencing writing assignments to help students clarify their…

Discusses a process to guide students at various levels of writing ability to inquire into unfamiliar and often intimidating subject areas. Notes the process is based on a Piagetian learning cycle that asks students to identify areas of cognitive dissonance, and to engage in a conversation about ways of resolving their uncertainty. (RS)

Describes an assignment in which students write a short memo report analyzing and comparing both what a company says in its annual report and what its balance sheet shows. Describes four simple mathematical formulas students can use to quickly diagnose a company's financial health. Appends a sample of the short report format. (RS)