Outlines the nature of the contemporary complaints about the decline of poetry and the effects of creative writing programs. Describes generally what creative writing programs try to accomplish. Shows by way of example how these programs can aid a developing poet. (HB)

Reviews "Author's Insights" (edited by Don Gallo) in which 12 distinguished writers of young-adult books have their say about how literature and writing ought to be taught in secondary schools. (SR)

Relates the author's experiences first studying rhetorical theory with Professor Richard Lloyd-Jones, and then preparing a tribute to him by attending his classes and talking with him. (PRA)

Asserts that, if "social epistemic" rhetoric is to realize any of its potential, it must create a new pedagogy that will resist unexamined masculinist assumptions, construct new academic forms of selfhood and intellectual property, and bring students to interrogate any status quo including that with which they are most comfortable. (PRA)

Argues that the contemporary struggle with the primacy of "official histories" provides teachers with a useful tool for reading cultural history and reconsidering suppressed voices in relation to canonical texts. (HB)

Argues that two oppositions (product versus process, literacy versus orality) bear a special relationship to one another resembling a ratio. Relates product and literacy to centralized authority, and relates process and orality to open-minded exchange, thus evoking the central dilemma of modern culture. (HB)

Provides 10 tips on things not to do when writing stories, including not believing any of the other 9 "don'ts." (SR)

Semantic mapping is offered as a prewriting strategy to help students (of all ages) with hearing impairments organize and structure their writing. Semantic mapping can offer these students a visual access to the writing process. (DB)

Urges writing teachers of all backgrounds to face higher education's continuing inability to meet the needs of African American students. Discusses literacy and African American students, authentication, and defining self. Recommends moving toward a more inclusive literacy. (PRA)

Presents a collaborative essay by a writing teacher and a writing student in which they try to make sense out of a situation in which the student was fired from her off-campus job for what she had written in the context of a writing assignment in the university setting. (PRA)

Maintains that cliches can improve students' writing style. Describes six techniques for polishing cliches into something original. (SR)

Provides memoirs of the late composition theorist James A. Berlin by four friends and colleagues: Janice M. Lauer, John Trimbur, Debra L. Jacobs, and Lester Faigley. Includes personal information about Berlin as a teacher, father, and friend along with comments about Berlin's contributions to the field of writing theory and praxis. (HB)

Outlines a process by which senior high school students study Jonathan Swift's'"A Modest Proposal" and then write their own satirical essays by modeling the tone and style of Swift's essay. (SR)

Provides a theoretical framework by which traditional prosody might be reformulated according to reader response insight. Advocates prosody taking the form of a "story of reading." Advocates a narrative style of prosodic criticism. (HB)

Suggests that educators help students see their literacies as grounded in situation and community. Argues that high schools should provide a multitude of situational contexts for literacy-learning experiences beyond the general academic community. Draws on genre theory to offer five general suggestions for improving the teaching and learning of…