Advocates a view of language using the notion of "interfaces," which includes both technology and linguistic devices of different kinds. Suggests that this extended interface concept is useful in the classroom because it may help the writing student adopt a richer view of language and a more complex understanding of the relation between language…

Discusses three books that can be helpful to teachers in demonstrating the connections between thinking and writing with journals, thus offering good models for "thinking journals." Notes that these books cover a wide range: beginning journal writers, professional journal writers, and the journal writer in all people. (SR)

Argues that a simple celebration of cultural multiplicity while retaining the literacy practices that have maintained the subjugation of too many of America's people of color is insufficient. Points to the connections between colonialism and histories of rhetoric, hoping to start a conversation about "the combat zones as well as the kinder contact…

Suggests that nature writing as a genre enacts the sort of interdisciplinarity that many in the composition field seek to promote. Explores the tensions inherent in "nature" writing, when it would seem that "nature" is signed as the opposite of "culture," and culture, in turn, takes writing as its quintessence. (RS)

Uses Roland Barthes's metaphor of the "punctum" to explore the transformative potential of disruptions. Argues that writing teachers have been trained to read disruption in texts and classrooms as "evidence of poor taste or failed pedagogy," but that disruptions delay closure and thereby create spaces wherein theories and…

Reviews the inclusion of literacy lessons and rhetorical learning into the architecture and urban planning curricula. Reviews these curricula in order to demonstrate how they can be turned to inform attention to place in the teaching of writing. Concludes with a discussion of some assignments that such perspectives support. (SG)

Examines when and why a "safe" approach to visual design for Web pages is attractive to writers and writing teachers. Considers typical reasons for choosing a "safe" approach to designing the visual dimensions of Web pages, traditional sources in print graphics and writing for safe advice about visual design, and design…

Presents a comparative analysis of two pieces of computer-based interactive multimedia whose words are similar but visual structures different. Argues that the visual aspects of these texts are "idea" and "assertion," doing the work of "content" and "information." Suggests that educators need to expand or…

Presents descriptions of 11 websites helpful for teachers of creative writing. Lists websites produced by: National Council of Teachers or English; Education Planet; ERIC; Scribbling Women; The National Writing Project; Academy of American Poets; Journal of Teaching Writing; Learning Disabilities Online; Inkspot; Ideas for Teaching Writing; and…

Notes that the beginning of the 20th century witnessed "The Manifesto Moment"--a ten-year period of "glorious madness" in which nearly every "-ism" that people identify with Modernism proclaimed its existence. Considers how in a time of heightened student violence, the manifesto may offer young writers a proactive strategy for expressing their…

Considers some obvious and some not so obvious syntax errors, and how to correct them, using numerous examples taken from material published or broadcast. (SR)

Discusses the author's goal of helping students see how mistakes in their writing distract readers and how errors have influenced the grade. Recommends the careful use of the "red pen" noting that it is easy to forget its power. Suggests that teachers use this power to help students grow as writers. (SG)

Maps out two simultaneous and mutually reinforcing phenomena: (1) the material conditions that have given rise to hierarchically arranged writing programs; and (2) the attendant cultural values that have made possible the feminization as well as the racialization of composition teaching. Argues that writing programs have emerged by way of…

Considers how teachers might re-create, rather than import, Paulo Freire into North American contexts--and so not lose the power of his ideas. Takes the method of pragmatism and connects it to Freire's concept of praxis to argue for pragmatic theory and practice in the work of teaching literacy. (SG)

Critiques Terrance Riley's "The Uncompromising Future of Writing Centers" and Stephen M. North's "Revisiting 'The Idea of a Writing Center'"--two articles that upset assumptions about writing centers. Suggests that while the vision of these writers may strike some as harsh, readers should turn toward rather than away from the important questions…