The act of reading a well-written book to students is one of the easiest writing lessons a library media specialist can give. When kids hear new or unusual words and descriptive, poignant phrases, it increases their own experimentation with writing. Using good literature to develop good writers just makes sense. There are a plethora of avenues and…

In this article, the author describes an authoring project that familiarizes his students with writing workshops and also provides them a forum for examining key theoretical perspectives about "the relationship between print and other modalities." This project became the focus of an inquiry that addressed the following research questions: (1) What…

Current research and legislation show a need for special education instruction to be more closely aligned with general education curriculum and develop strategies that support the development of self determination skills in students with disabilities. The present study embeds self-determination skills of writing annual goals and objectives in the…

Eduardo Galeano's "Memory of Fire: Genesis" raises a number of questions concerning the "politics of location," a term that may be defined as the intersections, tensions, and complications that people of color bring to space and what space means in terms of hierarchies and power, racial and gender stratifications. Text can also…

A writing seminar on the writing process required senior students at Rollins College (Florida) to bring to class with them piles of their previous compositions and drafts. Their first assignment was to research the composing process of a well-known writer and then write a paper about it. After that, they turned to their own work. The objective was…

A study examined an eleventh grade literature teacher's written responses to her students' writing. Copies of the students' graded papers were collected, and the instructor and eight students were interviewed. These sources became central to building a framework detailing five key ways that this teacher oriented herself to student writing: (1)…

In 19th century America, talk of manners and morals as integral components of American character filled a significant space in public discourse. Lessons on how to compose oneself properly and models of appropriate behavior abounded in the form of essays, stories, poetry, editorials, and travel literature. This conversation on character influenced…

Instructors in general, but particularly first-year graduate teaching assistants tend to lump their undergraduate students into groups and give them various attributes. However appeasing such generalizations are at the moment, they are dangerous both to the teacher and the students. If the instructor thinks his or her students are all honors…

The adversarial forces of governmental censorship, freedom of expression, and capitalistic appropriation are engaged in an acrimonious debate over "Gangsta' Rap" that is being played out in the public spaces of popular culture. However, as a literacy of lived experience, Gangsta' Rap warrants critical investigation. Many postmodern…

To provide a writing pedagogy grounded in theory, a teaching method was developed which sequenced certain types of assignments. The classification of types and the organizational structure of the sequences were based on a teaching model that draws upon theories from various disciplines. Although the teaching activities are not new in themselves,…

Various authorities outline the benefits of collaboration in the form of classroom writing groups in learning certain writing skills. Collaboration promotes interaction, dialogue and negotiation between reader and writer. Whether the collaboration resides in interior dialogue or communal discourse or both, collaborative discourse can enable the…

Suggesting that writing can play an integral part in the learning process, this ERIC "FAST Bib" provides annotations of 31 ERIC documents and journal articles published between 1987 and 1992 concerning the Writing to Learn movement. The citations in the first section of the FAST Bib present an overview of the theories and criticisms of…

This study investigated the preferences of students of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) for the form in which a writing prompt is given. Subjects were 142 college students with intermediate to advanced English language skills. Each student was offered 10 potential essay topics, each containing a prompt in the form of either a…

This book provides insight into the interrelationship among students' writing, their thinking about their writing processes, and the language of instruction. It offers information on both common and diverse patterns of understanding among children experiencing the same instructional program and explores the influence of instructional language on…

This paper explores the ways in which inner-city students' social, cultural, and political relationships and their thinking and behavior patterns that stem from the range of different situations outside the classroom can shape the classroom roles that they develop with their peers as thinkers and learners of English and writing. It presents a case…