This paper is organized around a goal-complication-resolution framework of questions: What do people want from higher education?; How could people achieve what they want?; What is stopping them?; and What can they do about it? The paper's context is writing in the disciplines, rather than composition specifically or academic writing in general.…

This ERIC Digest discusses science notebooks and how they can be used as a tool for increasing achievement not only in science but across the curriculum. The use of science notebooks allows students to become actively involved in their own learning and affords them the opportunity to investigate content in which they are naturally interested and…

Drawing from her own experiences as well as those of other teachers, the author of this book shares a variety of useful and practical teacher-tested strategies that have helped young children experience success in writing. With easy-to-access information, the book provides teachers with: ways to build children's interest, enthusiasm, and…

Written for the third- and fourth-grade levels, this workbook gives students practice in using context clues and reading comprehension to apply punctuation rules, as well as in carefully reading and following directions. Noting that the activities are based on the idea that punctuation is necessary to make written communication clear, the…

Suggesting that the old saying "It's not what you say, it's how you say it" rings true for one educational leader, a Speech Pathologist, keenly aware of the necessity of effective communication and its impact on leadership. Possessing the quality of effective communication makes for a high quality leader because it enables one to express ideas…

This book presents bibliographic annotations of 202 picture books and 53 activities for teaching writing. The first part of the book is arranged alphabetically by author within categories of six traits of writing in the analytical assessment model: ideas and content (clarity and focus, rich and vivid details, and a clear sense of purpose),…

This paper addresses the question of how grammar checkers may help or hinder students by analyzing the performance of the Microsoft Word 97's Grammar Checker at flagging and explaining errors frequently made by college students. Thousands of sentences were fed into the program. Results indicate that it caught some of the errors reliably (e.g.…

This book uses art to stimulate content-area language development and writing skills. From A to Z, the 81 animal patterns in the book combine with 35 different activities to enhance the primary curriculum--each student gets a photocopy of the pattern, paper, scissors, and some materials to decorate the "critter." The book's activities…

At any level, good writing requires an acknowledgment of writing strengths and weaknesses by both student and instructor. The four project collaborators/writing teachers outlined six specific areas on a teacher feedback sheet to note students' writing strengths and weaknesses; the areas of purpose, audience, thesis, development, organization, and…

This series of issues of a newsletter called "The Dangling Modifier" begins with Volume 1, Number 1 (Fall 1994) and concludes with Volume 9, Number 2 (2003). The newsletter is subtitled "A National Newsletter by and for Peer Tutors in Writing" for the majority of the issues--the last issue changes the subtitle to "An…

This document includes a booklet and a presentation guide. The booklet contains the anchor papers used to score the 2001 Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) in writing, grade 10. Anchor papers are concrete examples that illustrate the intent of the scoring guides. The papers in the booklet exemplify the full range of score points…

For the purposes of this paper, proofreading will be defined as the final step of revising a paper. The paper describes what one writing lab, the Writing Center at the University of Connecticut, does to provide students with one-to-one help with their writing. It explains that services in the center include individual tutorials, a grammar hotline,…

This study attempted to establish a desired image of an expert science writer based on a synthesis of writing theory, models, and research literature on academic writing in science and other disciplines and to contrast this desired image with an actual prototypical image of scientists as writers of science. The synthesis was used to develop a…

This research focuses on a program for improving spelling achievement through an integrated approach using high-frequency words. The targeted population consisted of a third grade class, a fourth grade special education resource class, a sixth grade language arts class, and an eighth grade language arts class. All classrooms were located in rural…

This paper presents model reading and writing standards that express what each student in Colorado should know and be able to do in order to become fluent readers, writers and speakers; be able to communicate effectively; recognize the power of language; and be at ease communicating in an increasingly technological world. The six standards in the…