While a single lesson plan cannot fully explore the variety and complexity of African life, in this lesson students can gain insight into the lives of some black women in Sub-Saharan Africa by adopting a perspective that is in part traditional, based on the arts of African village life, and in part postcolonial, based on the work of African women…

Describes a method that spurs students to engage in the process of self-analysis and exploration that makes an excellent antecedent to informed college selection. Students wrote essays describing their ideal college. The exercise allowed students to keep a goal in mind as they began their college search. (RJM)

Presents a case (based upon an actual situation that occurred between an insurance underwriter and a major university) used in a business writing course. Notes that the assignment requires students to compose a letter that addresses complaints, conveys bad news, maintains good will, and attempts to persuade the reader to renew a contract under…

Discusses problems with teaching multicultural texts at North Hennepin Community College (a second-tier suburb north of Minneapolis, Minnesota). Notes that many students are naive of (or deny) how class functions in the United States. Discusses assignments that deal with race, class, and gender. (RS)

Explains certain writing projects oriented toward real life situations (in this case a proposal to establish a museum display) can help college students bridge the perceived gap between academic writing and the kind of writing that will be asked of them in the professional world. Suggests that students' attitudes and writing improved as a result…

Proposes an alternative pedagogy and curriculum to one implied by the text, "Ways of Reading," which provides a set of difficult, theoretical texts for writing classes. Suggests that teachers should learn something of the student's world as the student learns of the teacher's. (TB)

Argues that writing about physics forces students to come to grips with the material and with what they do and do not understand. Describes the use of writing in an introductory course. Discusses benefits of a decentralized "writing across the curriculum" program. (JRH)

Provides examples of arts infused literary studies, with each example using art experiences (expressive writing, creative movement, visual arts, exploratory music, and informal drama) to relate to the literature text. Notes that the learning outcome is to involve readers in exploring the meaning of the story as it relates to their own life…

Describes the introduction of an innovative approach to learning and assessing critical science understanding by preservice elementary science teachers. Student teachers submit a cumulative, multivoiced (patchwork) text which integrates smaller pieces written across the module that demand critical and personal engagement and have been given peer…

Describes an inquiry-based approach to researching in the intermediate grades. Presents detailed minilessons intended to provide students with strategies for writing effective research reports. Notes that hyperlinks in the article carry readers to examples of these strategies and to student applications. (RS)

Compares two advertising assignments to demonstrate how different approaches to audience radically affect students' critical understanding of popular media texts. Argues that "audience" needs to be present in writing assignments as a cultural experience rather than a merely static rhetorical category. (TB)

Describes a two-week unit about Benjamin Franklin, and discusses what happens when 9- and 10-year olds use their own language and life experiences to learn new content. (SR)

Proposes that teaching writing as a process will remain the best way to teach writing. Contends that determining the shape of the material is an important element of writing. Discusses the segmented essay, or collage. Concludes that this assignment helps students wrestle with the truth of their experience or their evidence and encourages them to…

Examines the case method in light of developments in adult education and finds that reflection after class discussion is usually neglected and often discouraged. Concludes that use of reflective reports helps to overcome concerns about value and relevance in management education. (Contains 17 references.) (JOW)

Considers how when two-year college students take time to write at length, paying more attention to their own feelings and those of their readers through regular response and revision, they write better. Presents four assignments that all students would attempt, then share with classmates, and with partners at the other grade level via a Web site.…