This study describes intra-individual change in strategic behavior of five second-grade students during three months of guided writing instruction for informational text. Data sources included sequential coding of writing behavior from videotaped writing events and analytic assessment of writing products. Students' development of self-scaffolding…

To address the disparity in the skills of entering students and the goals of the first-year learning community (LC) program, the authors created a series of scaffolded, or tiered, writing assignments around the concept of kingship to move students from summary to analysis to synthesis. For each assignment, the authors incorporate informal…

This paper discusses research into the facilitation of academic writing for first year dance students using images, emails and the forum of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Taking place over several weeks in the early part of the academic year and within a core module entitled Personal and Professional Development in the single honours Dance…

In this article, the author provides technology-based techniques for prewriting invention and drafting that offer students new ways to look at and think about writing topics and tasks. Rather than creating electronic versions of existing paper-and-pencil invention strategies, the author suggests strategies using commonly owned and used computer…

Wikis can be a very useful addition to any classroom. They are engaging to students, easy to use, and focus on literacy whenever students genuinely interact with them. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia (www.wikipedia.org), is the most famous example of a wiki. But today, teachers and students are beginning to engage with this technology more and…

This study investigated the effects of an expository writing strategy implemented using the Self-Regulated Strategy Development model on the writing skills of four, 4th- and 5th-grade students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Instruction had a pronounced positive effect on students' writing. Student essays were longer and more…

Prior to her joining the California Writing Project's (WP) Improving Students' Academic Writing (ISA) program, the author relates how she used to get frustrated when she read her students' essays. As a result of her new understanding gained from her participation at ISA, the author boldly banished traditional literary analysis papers that asked…

Educationists and writing practitioners consider reflection to be a defining feature of student portfolios (Fink 2003; Zubizarreta 2004; Jones and Shelton 2006). A writing portfolio without reflection is merely a collection of written work which does not contribute to "real" learning. Reflection in the portfolio approach happens when…

This article examines the metalinguistic activity that arose in the interaction of 7 groups of bilingual learners writing collaboratively in their second language (L2), English. A microanalysis of this interaction reveals that metalinguistic activity comprises 3 types of oral production: comments, speech actions, and text reformulations. Text…

Kissel focuses on 4-year-olds reenvisioning their writing in discussing his observations of pre-K children's writing during a two-year study. In a writers' workshop each day, children started with a clean sheet of paper. The teacher read aloud, then offered a minilesson, crafting a written piece--always with a picture--in front of the class. As…

This paper begins by highlighting the disadvantage that EAL (English as an Additional Language) writers experience in international publishing. It then explores Goffman's (1959, 1968) ideas on stigma and illustrates how, subject to certain caveats, what he has to say provides important insights into understanding the situation of EAL scholars.…

Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) is a well-established, thoroughly validated instructional model used to teach a variety of writing strategies to elementary, middle, and high school aged students. In this article, an overview of SRSD is presented. Specifically, this includes a discussion about why students struggle with various aspects…

Family writing projects can change the nature of classroom writing instruction and rejuvenate teachers. Marilyn McKinney, Saralyn Lasley, and Rosemary Holmes-Gull report on their study of one such project in an urban school district. Using the concept of "third space," they describe the influence of this family literacy program on…

Since its publication in 1998 Craft Lessons has become a mainstay of writing teachers, both new and experienced. Practical lessons--each printed on one page--and the instructional language geared to three grade-level groupings: K-2, 3-4, and 5-8 are contained in this book. In the decade since Craft Lessons' publication the world has changed in…

This article seeks to show that the practices teachers and students engage in--reading, writing, reflection, conversation, teaching, learning--can be spiritually formative. The first part, "Listening to the Voices of the Pages," explores the monastic approach to reading known as "lectio divina," and my own efforts to transpose this ancient method…