Reveals the lack of research on children's writing and suitable writing instruction in the last 25 years. Points out the inadequacies in the research that is being done and the need for better research methods that take writing context and environment into account. (HTH)

Describes a project used in a technical writing class to teach students about questionnaires and informal reports. Tells how students work in small groups to create questionnaires, use the questionnaires on selected populations, evaluate the questionnaires, and write informal reports of the project. (TJ)

Provides pertinent information on 24 journals that represent publishing opportunities for teachers of writing. (DD)

Describes a successful five-day writing workshop held at West Chester State College (Pennsylvania) for teachers from a variety of departments, which increased the participants' insights into the writing process and changed their attitudes about writing instruction. (DD)

Describes how the author arrived at a successful course outline for an advanced professional writing course for legal assistants. (DD)

Suggests stimulating the visual imaginations of student readers of Shakespeare by examining plays from new but related perspectives--for example, discussing "As You Like It" transposed to the Appalachian area. Also suggests a writing exercise in which students describe and justify choices for props, sets, and costumes for similar…

Suggests a graphic way of helping students limit the thesis for a paper to one main area and then further limit it to one point. (TJ)

Describes an assignment in which composition students explain how the elements in a magazine advertisement contribute to its overall strategy. Indicates that the assignment fosters students' critical judgment and audience awareness. (TJ)

Suggests two techniques to help students look carefully at language. The first involves students in reacting favorably, unfavorably, or neutrally to a list of words and then discussing the list; in the second, students create a brand name and an advertising campaign for green beans. (TJ)

Relates the dominant perspectives of past composition pedagogy--interventionism and maturationism--to their correspondent paradigms in human development--nurture and nature. Traces the use of these two educational perspectives to an emerging interactionist perspective that may unify the field of composition pedagogy. (JT)

Solicits the opinion of writing specialist Peter Elbow on two-year colleges, whether writing can be taught, whether literature has a place in the composition classroom, and whether teachers with literature degrees make good writing teachers. Discusses what works with developmental writers, and other topics. (PA)

Wrestles with the question of what kind of assignment to give to composition students at the University of Pittsburgh. Tries to strike a balance between critical reading and creativity, between work and play. Finds that "experimental writing" helps resolve the conflicts. Works to bring such writing into the classroom. (PA)

Describes a project in a third-year Latin class in a high school in the Appalachian foothills in which students (1) identified and analyzed classical rhetorical devices in speeches by Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King Jr.; (2) used rhetorical frames; and (3) wrote their own speeches as part of a year-long writing exchange with senior-level…

Finds that Nikki Giovanni's poem "Knoxville, Tennessee" works with students of all ages (including adults) and, because of its simplicity, needs no preparation and can be read aloud by students. Suggests students write a group poem before they write their own individual poems. Contains many examples of student poetry. (PA)

Argues that it is a mistake to aim for equality of performance in English because boys and girls are literate in different ways and need to play to their greatest strengths while at the same time widening their repertoire. Suggests that teachers should guide boys away from replicating restricted narrative modes. (TB)