Describes how two teachers approach poetry writing with at-risk high school students over a 12-week period, structuring activities to initiate poetry as language play, selecting model poems that are developmentally appropriate, and organizing writing assignments that encourage students to draw on their individual experiences. Discusses conducting…

Presents a case study for use in business communication classes to help students understand and learn both the context and the strategies for communication with business and management. Discusses planning required to do business (selling speciality construction cranes) in the Middle East. Includes some correspondence and two assignments. (SR)

Presents a case study for use in business communication classes to help students understand and learn both the context and the strategies for communication with business and management. Deals with a new human resource director's attempt to bring order to an organization and software developers' concerns over their work being hindered. Includes two…

Details a first-year college composition course that blends journalism instruction with first-year composition. Describes how students learn about news gathering and news writing techniques common to feature writing and complete a profile writing project which encourages a level of discourse that bears closer kinship to everyday workplace writing.…

Considers the short stories of William Carlos Williams as material for college courses. Describes an unsuccessful writing assignment based on Williams'"The Use of Force." Notes that the assignment was more successful at an adult-education arts center with a more mixed group of students. (PA)

Describes how the author came to develop an elective community-college course called "AIDS: A Literary Response." Discusses the course curriculum and course materials, literature and films, class assignments, formal paper assignments, notebooks of materials, and the impact of the life stories shared with the class by visitors. (SR)

Explores a method of developing kindergarten children's written stories through journal writing, specifically written interactions or dialogs between child and teacher in response to journal entries. Notes how journals and written conversation encourage process writing, helping children produce stories with a sense of meaning. Offers suggestions…

Describes how the authors use a broad-based, client-centered model to teach an introductory course in public relations, integrating writing assignments for "clients" into course topics, which include history, ethics, theory, research, program planning, publicity, crisis management, and evaluation methods. Discusses course objectives, and notes…

Discusses a three-step process for teaching sixth grade students to connect current events to a perennial issue using the Internet. Proposes selecting and collecting information on a current event; producing an editorial and political cartoon on the event; and publishing the work online and in a local newspaper. Includes a sample activity. (CMK)

Describes a first-year composition course that used writing assignments to give students the opportunity to explore the transition from high school to college and their inclusion into campus culture, and to argue for campus policy changes. Offers preliminary data concerning the course's effectiveness in enhancing retention of first-year students.…

Shares ideas for effectively and efficiently gaining control over the volumes of paper generated in a reading/writing classroom. Suggests that organizing the flow of paper in a class, through such items as file boxes and hanging folders, is essential for an effective class. Provides 10 sample categories for filed materials. (MAB)

Describes a writing project, based on the reader's guide, that helps students get an overview of the literature on a psychology topic. Highlights the five components of the reader's guide (content outline, theorists and contributors, central concepts, hot topics, and major resources). Addresses the role of the assignment and student reactions.…

Provides a rationale for why high school social studies students should create children's picture books. Describes the procedure for creating picture books: (1) choosing a topic; (2) collecting information; and (3) writing and illustrating. Provides an example children's picture book. (CMK)

Describes a three-part class assignment for a high school literary magazine course (and applicable to other student publications) in which students each select two poems for publication in an imaginary poetry journal and describe their reasons; collectively discuss responses and how they might be worked into an editorial policy; and end up with an…

Considers the use of multiple forms of assessment in the social studies classroom. Focuses on writing assessments, such as response notebooks and the I-Search essay, utilizing a rubric, the change in student projects that accompanies the incorporation of multiple assessments, and changes in tests and quizzes. Provides three recommendations for…