Intended for use with ninth grade students, this guide is one of a series of teacher resource curriculum guides in communication arts developed by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The curriculum described in the guide is intended to (1) appeal to students of all abilities, (2) provide for student interaction and involvement, (3)…

Intended for use with tenth grade students, this guide is one of a series of teacher resource curriculum guides in communication arts developed by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The curriculum described in the guide is intended to (1) appeal to students of all abilities, (2) provide for student interaction and involvement, (3)…

Because student-teacher conferences appear to be more effective than other methods of writing evaluation, a study was conducted to observe how students' writing changed over a semester and whether those changes were related to the conversations in student-teacher conferences. Two college freshman composition students--one strong and one weak…

As a follow-up to the Central Wisconsin Writing Project, a writing survey was prepared to (1) introduce the concept of writing across the curriculum to high school faculty in the district, (2) determine the district's need for inservice in writing across the curriculum, (3) establish the validity of the data, (4) collect information about writing…

The six articles in this journal issue deal with teachers intervening in the writing process (what happens before the student turns in a paper for a grade). The articles focus on the following topics: (1) some objectives and classroom practices for teaching the composing process; (2) a composing profile and a system for developing a student…

An instructional sequence based largely on combining B. Bloom's six-level, instructional related hierarchy with J. Piaget's causal sequence of cognitive skill development is utilized in a three-day unit on the correct use of commas in lists. The sample unit follows G. Torkelson's guidelines for instructional development that include outlining the…

The use of small instructional groups can make several contributions to college writing courses. First, small group instruction is participatory, it provides helpful feedback, and it fosters higher levels of cognition. There is near universal acceptance of the theory that students of all ages learn best when participating actively in their own…

A study was conducted to determine what conditions connected with college students' entering status were associated with significantly increased error reduction during the first semester of freshman composition and what factors connected with preparation made it possible to classify students who proved to be successful--or unsuccessful--in that…

A redesigned college composition/humanities program that has as its primary goal the raising of the self-esteem of a predominately black student body is described in this paper. First discussed are the deficiencies of an earlier program, traditional freshman composition followed by sophomore humanities, that centered around the cultural…

Writers and writing teachers should be wary of depending on readability indexes as indicators of the difficulty of written messages. The Gunning Fog Index and the Damerst Clear Index, two readability formulas, were used to determine the readability of "A Statement of Editorial Policy" and two abstracts appearing in an issue of…

The case study described in this paper supports the premise that sentence combining exercises do more to improve student writing than simply producing longer sentences. Following a brief description of a longitudinal study that involved college freshmen in 15 weeks of sentence combining exercises, the paper focuses on the changing characteristics…

Visual strategies that involve students in comprehending and writing processes while achieving whole-brain input can strengthen the bond between language and experience. Both the analytical, sequential, left brain hemisphere and the holistic, visual/spatial right brain hemisphere can be stimulated in oral and written expression through the use of…

This paper discusses problems and offers suggestions related to mainstreaming hearing impaired students into composition classes. The minimum language proficiency necessary to mainstream a student is described first, followed by the recommended procedure to actually move a hearing impaired student into a regular composition classroom. Listed among…

This booklet is one of a series of teacher-written curriculum publications launched by the Bay Area Writing Project, each focusing on a different aspect of the teaching of composition. The purpose of the booklet is to help teachers, parents, and students understand the provisions of contract independent study and how to start an independent study…

This booklet is one of a series of teacher-written curriculum publications launched by the Bay Area Writing Project, each focusing on a different aspect of the teaching of composition. The basic principles of literary cohesion (the way a text hangs together) are discussed and exercises are suggested to help students increase their sensitivity to…