Argues that, as decision makers, students must sort out their rhetorical contexts to determine whether a sentence needs the active voice or the passive voice. Notes that one source for finding realistic sample sentences for learning about the passive voice is the daily newspaper, and offers examples from the business section, sports page,…

Profiles two children's authors, Marion Dane Bauer and Katherine Paterson, examining the social interactions that have influenced their writing. Looks at the social context of their lives as influences on their writing, including family, friends and acquaintances, literature, research for a novel, editors, the marketplace, and readers. Suggests…

Discusses why word families should be taught. Argues that the timing of such instruction is critical and that teachers can use children's invented spelling to determine what they already know and what they are ready to learn. Offers a developmental perspective to guide teachers in the planning and pacing of word-family instruction. (SR)

Finds that "color- and power-evasive paradigms" for thinking about race dominate in public discourse; argues that they also dominate in composition studies. Pinpoints critical race theory as a movement of legal scholarship that investigates how racial inequities are sustained through legal discourses. Discusses the works of theorists…

Describes a writing assignment useful for high school and college students in which students ponder, discuss, and write about collecting, collectors, and the human impulse to collect. Includes some samples of student writing. (SR)

Claims many student writers long for instruction in using writing to assess, define, and assert who they are becoming. Suggests these students would find Black feminist essayists useful for their ability to reconcile social and personal identities and for directing those identities toward rhetorically useful ends. (NH)

Offers suggestions to promote becoming a lifetime writer: build a positive professional attitude toward writing in school; provide extended blocks of time for writing; guide learners in a variety of writing experiences; help writers to "go public"; hand students over to authors through a visiting authors program; and invite parents to be…

Notes that preparing manuals electronically is a growing requirement for technical writing professionals and that technical writers now often work concurrently with illustrators, designers, and engineers. Discusses how, using a desktop computer and adapting some software solutions, students can produce "professional" engineering diagrams and…

Shows how the Genre Teaching Methods from Australia can be adapted to literature study in secondary English classrooms. Finds that the genres of Narrating, Describing, Explaining, and Arguing can be used to analyze specific features of literature analysis--plot, character, setting, theme, and style. Finds that modeling texts and providing…

Presents an interview with teacher, "theorist of writing, accomplished rhetorician, and prolific author" Gloria Anzaldua. Comments on going beyond dichotomies of all kinds--allowing for nonbinary identity, for new states of "mestiza" consciousness, and for multiple writing strategies. Addresses her prior experiences with and…

Responds to the significance of student "identification" by considering how student identities have historically been invited by and performed within the contexts of schooling in general and writing pedagogy in particular. Explores the historical context of schooling in former colonies to elucidate how identities, aesthetics, and writing…

Advocates the use of commonplace books (a time-honored way for students to collect, analyze, and reflect on the writings, thoughts, and rhetorical strategies of others) as a means of teaching style integrated with other components of rhetoric. Argues that students become closer readers and critical thinkers about the nature of ideas and language…

Presents a cautionary tale for writing teachers who may be unaware of opposition awaiting students whose identities are being shaped by their experiences on the Web. Interviews openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual people from Columbus, Ohio, who are associated with the Web, to begin discovering a sound pedagogy sensitive to and supportive of students…

Explores connections between reading and writing to examine why teachers assign readings to students in writing courses. Details a variety of goals that writing teachers have for their students' reading. Concludes that exploring theories of reading with students will cultivate critical readers in composition classrooms--critical readers who…

Considers defining "culture," noting how it is difficult to define because those individuals defining it cannot separate themselves from it. Relates these issues to student writing and their writing improvement. Addresses violence in relation to culture. (SG)