Suggests that despite culturally induced aversions, aromas do have a role to play in writing instruction. Suggest there are many examples in literature of authors' treatment of the olfactory sense. Argues that emphasizing smell as a writing stimulant and encouraging olfactory analyses of literary works can serve as valid ways of introducing…

The author discusses how she became interested in teaching tolerance in her university-level writing course. The article highlights classroom dynamics and building experience with tolerance.(Author/VWL)

Discusses the life and work of Marian Wharton, a socialist and feminist who helped shape the English curriculum at the People's College in Fort Scott, Kansas. Develops a rich, historical-situated conception of how the rhetorical activities of women and other marginalized people are a complex interweaving of alliance and antagonism, of free choice…

Suggests an approach to teaching German as a second language in which students jointly create a character and her family and then write a series of stories during he year about the character in various everyday situations. Benefits include use of basic language, cultural issues, and stimulation of student creativity and interest. (Author/VWL)

Addresses problems related to consistency of goals and objectives in student portfolio applications. Poses questions to test if the portfolio process is working correctly and authentically, particularly in weighing the use of portfolios as a formative rather than summative tool. (SG)

Continues a discussion of critiquing peer tutoring groups by underscoring a typically unacknowledged component: the way in which an emphasis on "peerness" disguises the inherent aggression in tutoring relationships. Defines "peerness" as a complicated relation that involves power and aggression as well as equality. (SG)

Considers if reflection on practice would be effective as ongoing training of tutors. Discusses the designing of a series of guided reflection exercises and examines the impact. Finds that it is difficult to use guided reflection to foster more reflective thinking by tutors and to change basic tutoring approaches. (SG)

Defines the Graphic Organizer Notebook as a collection of teacher-developed blank webs and organizers for a student to complete after reading chunks of content material taught in a unit. Concludes that implementing the Graphic Organizer Notebook in a content area unit enables teachers to teach reading, writing, and study skill strategies meeting…

The Conference on College Composition and Communication's statement on second language writing and writers is reprinted in this article. It contains a general statement, guidelines for writing programs, and a bibliography. (Author/VWL)

Presents seven suggestions to help writers and teachers go beyond limericks, parts of speech poems, and haiku. Frames the suggestions for those who are (for whatever reason) trying to write poems, including teachers who are joining their students in the act of learning poetry writing. (RS)

Describes how reading and art have taught the author to slow down. Discusses how she wants her students to leave the third-grade classroom reading--reading words, reading pictures, and reading their world. Considers how one student slows down her reading, pays attention to her thinking, and begins to see the pictures and connections that poems…

Outlines preliminary findings from a small scale research project that monitored teachers' views of the literacy hour in its first year. Draws on questionnaires, interviews and video data to reveal issues which concerned those teachers taking part in the survey. Provides a snapshot of what it was like for some teachers coping with this initiative.…

ESP genre research has generated numerous descriptions and explanations of discipline-specific genre exemplars and has produced various pedagogical proposals. However, what learners learn from these genre descriptions and the resulting pedagogical proposals and how they develop as learners and writers of genres in ESP genre-based writing pedagogy…

Recently, scholars of rhetoric and composition have shown much interest in the ancient composition exercises known as "progymnasmata". This paper explains how these exercises, which provided ancient students with a transitional curriculum between grammar and rhetoric, have theoretical and practical merit for contemporary compositional…

In the many years the author has worked with students in the lower grades, she has heard plenty of myths about their capabilities as writers. She has also learned a few things about how they approach the writing process. Here are some things to keep in mind when working with younger writers: (1) Younger students are capable writers; (2) Younger…