Argues for a more principled and careful consideration of composition handbooks. Discusses the values and measures used to evaluate handbooks, what constitutes the act of writing, what constitutes good writing, and who writes and why. Lists questions to serve as a guide for instructors in handbook selection. (TB)

Considers five ways in which the theories that inform writers' workshop have been oversimplified to the point where the power and intent of the original idea is lost. Argues that these oversimplified ideas need to be examined and made complex again. Presents Donald Murray's supportive response to the article. (SR)

Talks about the "writing from the heart" practiced in one sixth-grade classroom by students and teacher, for many different purposes. Describes instructional approaches that encourage such writing. (SR)

Discusses Online Writing Labs--World Wide Web sites designed to support students' writing efforts by providing easy access to electronic resources and online tutoring. Describes three types of these services: resource materials, online tutoring, and information gateways. (SR)

This article is the second published case study using the method of reflective inquiry on practice developed by Stewart B. Shapiro. This approach integrates professional practice with personal concerns. Most of the article is excerpted from the transcript of a reflective interview with an instructor of writing at the University of California,…

Presents brief annotations of 11 books and journal articles (published between 1971 and 1996) useful to teachers, that address the teaching and learning of spelling. (SR)

Proposes that it is essential for creative nonfiction writers to establish a personal ethics of telling. Contends that it is irresponsible of college writing teachers to allow students to think of classrooms as extended diaries where all that matters is that the student get it down on the page. Concludes that in the end, each writer is accountable…

Contends that essays are the proper rhetorical domain of stories, the place where stories most naturally belong when they are being used for the development and enlargement of ideas. Notes that stories are so powerful and distracting that when used together to make a familiar story, they can divert attention away from the essay's idea. Concludes…

Contends that being able to write and being able to analyze the writing and speaking of others is a way to power. Explains that critical literacy aims to help students become the best writers and thinkers possible so they can critically examine the world around them. Outlines how teachers need to let students think for themselves, even if it is…

Describes one student who resists personal writing. Explores reasons why some students resist personal writing. Considers how providing the conditions for students to speak surely entails that educators become engaged readers and interlocutors of their students' writing, that they regard their writing as ongoing cultural and constitutive teachings…

Considers how encouraging students to tell their own stories in their first languages as well as in English develops academic strategies and a sense of identity. Shares what the authors have learned about how to bring together two teaching disciplines that have sometimes followed separate tracks--the teaching of writing and the teaching of second…

Suggests that the marginalized teacher-subject look to contemporary theoretical notions of the "radical resignification" of power as well as to the neglected rhetorical concept of metis, or "cunning," to engage difference more efficaciously, if more sneakily. Argues that one possible praxis for better negotiating student resistance is the…

Comments on what trends the author has noticed in writing handbooks, comparing four handbooks first published in the 1990s with a random selection of four older handbooks. Includes some pedagogical observations based on his experience as a linguist and in the writing classroom. Reveals both important trends and room for further development. (SG)

Considers how working with accounts of famous trials can involve students in thinking through and critiquing important techniques of argumentation. Discusses how criticism that can be applied to arguments in criminal proceedings can sometimes be applied to arguments in student essays. Discusses how the author incorporates this into her classroom.…

Exploits the advantages of a portfolio assignment both as a tool for teaching writing and as a tool for enhancing students' job search. Provides some background on the use of portfolios in an educational context; describes the portfolio assignment for the writing class and the rationale behind it; and draws some conclusions about the outcome of…