Provides an overview of online education models developed by commercial and academic institutions. Examines some rhetorical strategies used to talk about online education. Outlines some of the main players and positions involved in debates about online education. Suggests strategies that academic groups might explore. Considers how composition and…

Discusses how electronic portfolios show considerable pedagogical, student-outcomes, and program assessment promise but have been plagued by numerous logistical and implementation problems. Describes using an efolios project to solve these problems, enabling students to concentrate on writing rather than on technology and to create an electronic…

Echoes Robert J. Conners' call for a reexamination of sentence pedagogies in composition teaching. Offers an explanation of the unsolved mystery of why sentence combining improves student writing, using insights provided by work in contemporary research in linguistics and in language processing. Argues that educators invite words and phrases, the…

Offers alternatives for facilitating background schemata development, pre-reading "bridges," and active identification with text, drawing from the work of certain scholars in composition studies who have documented the value of uniting reading and writing. Targets those strategies that the author has found to be most useful and offers practical…

Argues that the absence of the arts in testing programs contributes to their marginalization. Considers the role of imaginative potential in determining what is important in schools. Considers what the arts have to do with literacy, that is, with the standard conceptions of reading and writing. Discusses transforming brains to minds, the arts as…

Attempts to find a middle ground between the extremes of direct instruction and discovery learning by creating a process that helps young children acquire beginning writing and spelling skills without the "drudgery" associated with drill and practice and the anxiety associated with spelling quizzes. Describes the "Share and Compare" process that…

Notes there are many ways that information and communication technology (ICT) can provide students with opportunities to become involved in a quality writing program. Describes 9 professional development resources, and describes 15 resources to support children's writing and publishing. Concludes the Internet can assist teachers in cultivating…

This article presents a writing process wheel that has been designed as a task-specific tool for assisting teachers of students with learning disabilities to develop writing competence. The wheel displays five writing stages (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publication) in a circular fashion with appropriate activities for each stage.…

Discusses Authentic Intellectual Achievement (AIA) in Writing, which can be defined by construction of knowledge, disciplined inquiry, and value beyond school. Addresses translating AIA into criteria for language arts; connecting to students' lives; applying AIA; and thinking about AIA in classroom practice. (SG)

Proposes that students can best learn to recognize and enjoy irony by creating it. Outlines a class activity and two exercises that help students write with irony. Concludes that the energy created by ironic tension encourages students in their writing and reading. (PM)

Considers how educators can assist parents in supporting their children toward a positive educational experience through language arts. Describes a class for parents that offered a different approach to helping students meet the state standards. (SG)

Looks at the current interest in thinking about rhetoric and composition not just as a required first-year course but as a program of study. Suggests that the current trend to think not just of writing courses but of writing studies and a curriculum with advanced courses, majors, and minors is interesting and important. (SG)

Takes a critical look at the issue of scaffolding in children's writing, beginning with a consideration of the ways in which children's productions of text have been supported in previous research on writing development. Suggests that while scaffolding can assist children it may also, at times, hinder children in demonstrating their full range of…

Suggests that educators can provide the nurturing and encouraging atmosphere, the sense to say what works and what does not, and the freedom to let the students express whatever their synaptic processes produce without the fear that their lives and grades depend on it. Presents a "Top Ten List" of the best "rules" in teaching poetry writing. (SG)

Discusses creativity in terms of imagination and knowledge. Considers how students have a need to create. Explores how creativity helps young adults "get through the darkness." Notes ways to use writing to foster creativity. Addresses ideas such as the magic of the unknown and the place of knowledge. (SG)