Describes a community anti-litter campaign developed by second grades, involving letter writing, dramatics, photography, and the creation of posters and a videotape. Identifies skills from the Kentucky Essential Skills list that were taught by the project. (SV)

Describes the following prerequisites for successfully teaching writing, based on recent research in writing instruction: (1) knowing about writing process theory and practice; (2) adopting a radically revised view of the teacher's role as responder/marker/evaluator; and (3) mastering certain "technical knowledge" about the written…

Recommends that students conduct ethnographic studies of language in their own communities. Emphasizes that the focus ought to be conventions of speaking and writing, as well as conventions that govern the conduct, the "texts," of a culture. (RAE)

Argues that incorporating computers into writing across the curriculum programs is important because computers are becoming more common and more essential in business and professional writing. Argues that the success of institutionalizing the computer depends on convincing teachers that teaching the processes of writing and thinking is essential.…

Outlines the importance of a literature-based curriculum that encourages higher-order thinking skills. Discusses the reader-response approach to language arts teaching as a valuable instructional process, that emphasizes the connections between what is in a text and the reader's previous knowledge and experience, thus fostering higher-order…

Students with learning difficulties can develop their literacy for daily living by using daily-living literature, which provides knowledge and skills for accomplishing some societal task. Daily-living materials approximate real-life materials and differ from general literacy materials in organization, style, and format. Suggestions are provided…

A semantic mapping heuristic is presented which provides an instructional strategy for teaching notetaking, recognizing main ideas and pertinent details, and sorting and organizing them into a report. The strategy enables learning-disabled students to read independently about a topic and subsequently write a report, thus establishing a…

A grid system designed to help students and other writers exploit familiar forms of discourse for better thinking and composing is outlined. The technique helps link topic and discourse form innovatively, promotes understanding of the contextual character of every writing task, and can encourage students to read in order to master writing…

Examines the way that value mediates the construction of meaning, how the active processes of constructing meaning are molded around value. Explores how a description of the writing process in terms of value might inform classroom practice--how it might affect teacher perceptions of what students are doing in their writing and how teachers comment…

Describes a 45-year-old preservice teacher's relationship with his students in an inner-city school. Suggests that inner city students, despite their exposure to violence and drugs, are willing to cooperate and put forth effort if their ideas are treated with respect. (TB)

Recent studies at four colleges and universities (West Virginia University; University of Cincinnati, Ohio; Johnson County Community College, Kansas; University of Texas, El Paso) indicate that comprehensive writing tools software can improve both student writing performance and pass rates for disadvantaged students. (Author/MSE)

Twenty kindergarten classrooms were observed during two full days of integrated language instruction. Over 300 observed literacy tasks were analyzed by activity format, duration, cognitive complexity, organization, and participation structures. Results indicated that, although most of the activities were meaning based, over half of the observed…

This article explains the Integrated Strategies Instruction Model by analyzing the problems of ineffective writers and presenting instructional techniques for framing, applying, and extending students' understanding of the executive strategy. A vignette from an eighth-grade history classroom illustrates the guidelines. Research regarding the…

Discussion of the implementation of educational innovations in classrooms focuses on the implementation of ENFI (Electronic Networks for Interaction) among a consortium of colleges and universities using computer networks for teaching writing to deaf and hearing students. Situated evaluations of educational innovations are discussed, and two case…

Describes a parent participation project in which students wrote a biography about a parent or guardian. Offers a list of family projects for each month of the school year. (SR)