Discusses 5 principles from the "Tao Te Ching" (an ancient Chinese classic intended for rulers) and how they can be applied by composition teachers. Suggests many of the insights in the "Tao" have become accepted wisdom in the teaching of composition. (SR)

Provides the example of writing as a subject in which an educator might design instruction so that students think their way through the logic of the subject rather than memorize bits and pieces of someone else's thought (never grasping its logic). Presents four instructional steps: prethinking the course, student orientation, initial practice, and…

Presents a course design for English 3310, a three-credit composition course offered to advanced writing majors and non-majors at the University of Florida. Describes the section subtitled "Rhetoric and Environment" that was taught in conjunction with the development of University of Florida's College of Natural Resources and…

Notes that the most pressing question occupying scholars in rhetoric and composition involves defining the relationship between the writing classroom and public discourse. Claims I. Young's notion of the ideal city, developed in her 1990 book "Justice and the Politics of Difference," can serve as a model to help theorize the connections…

Describes professional development program in Ontario school district to improve student reading and writing skills. Program used food-pyramid concepts to help teacher learn to provide a balanced and flexible approach to literacy instruction based on student needs. (PKP)

Presents an interview with the poet Ania Walwicz. Discusses that she is a Melbourne writer who often performs her own work. Notes that she has taught Short Story, Creative Writing and Myth and Symbols courses. (SG)

Suggests that students and tutors resist conference summaries because they maintain a hierarchy between student and tutor. Proposes that tutors and students need to embrace the resistance that they feel toward conference summaries and rethink how tutoring sessions are "written up." Concludes that tutors must be willing to believe that students can…

Examines the location and status of poetry writing within an assessment-driven curriculum. Argues for the development of an assessment model that could remove the mystique surrounding poetry and establish it on an equal footing with prose text types in the National Curriculum for English. (SG)

Describes an educator's experiences teaching creative writing in prison. Notes that Emily Dickinson's rich inner world especially resonated with a few prisoners. Contains three of Dickinson's poems, and two poems by a prisoner. (RS)

Describes 20-25 minute poetry workshops conducted by students individually or with a partner. Notes that the teacher meets with students prior to their presentations to review their objectives and plan; and that the teacher models the poetry workshop. Concludes that the investment in time has produced a more profitable return than any other…

Suggests the best way to help high school students write poetry is to bring them to memories that would stimulate the expression of everything more intensely. Describes four workshops that appeal to the senses: scent writing, taste writing, music writing, and sight writing. (RS)

Asks seven successful poets to share their knowledge and experience of writing poetry by answering seven questions that provide classroom teachers with approaches for facilitating students' poetry writing. Addresses topic selection, writing processes, language usage, choosing a form, whether forms should be taught, revision, and whether hard work…

Describes how the author allows the children to make choices about their art and writing, enabling them to make connections between their own lives and work. Suggests that educators need to provide doorways to the things that give students ideas: books, music, objects, pictures, smells, sounds, and textures. (SG)

Describes how four teachers used a pilot program of incorporating art into a writing workshop, as described in several related articles in this issue. Notes the experiences with its development, the integration of teaching and learning, the challenges faced, and a presentation to the National Council of Teachers of English convention. (SG)

Examines both the early and recent periods of the history as it has been written for both English education and first-year composition. Argues that those accounts show consistently converging trajectories of disciplinary practice in both areas. Proposes that writing teacher educators should actively consider reconfiguring their shared discipline…