Describes how the author developed her own program for teaching grammar in the context of writing. Shows how, after laying some groundwork, she lets students' needs direct her teaching to specific usage areas. Shows how she gives specific instruction, supports it with examples, and then has students apply this to their writing. (SR)

Contends that religious belief often matters to students and that spiritual identity may be the primary kind of selfhood that more than a few of them draw upon in making meaning of their lives and the world around them. Gives particular attention to evangelical expression in the classroom and the complex ways that faith is enacted in discourse.…

Provides an overview of the Portfolio Placement Project (PPP) at the University of Arizona; explores the concept of validity as it relates to the PPP; explores the concept of reliability within the PPP; and argues that the PPP has had enormous positive impact on the curriculum of the University of Arizona and the schools whose students submit…

Suggests that a pragmatic concern for self-understanding through reflection and action is central to the role of the Writing Program Administrator (WPA), and that recognizing these two principle elements of a pragmatist philosophy in the work of WPAs bolsters the argument of the "Intellectual Work Document." Promotes a self-awareness of…

Presents two educators' stories: one that illustrates the Writing Program Administrator's need for improvisation when faced with pre-existing forms of hiring rationales, and another that considers how the required teacher preparation course may actually contribute to the instability of the writing program. (SG)

Notes how the author helps his eighth graders become more effective writers by acknowledging the role emotions play in their learning and in their ability to make meaning. Describes how he shares his emotions with students to help them open up themselves. (SG)

Describes the arrangements for collaborative writing in an urban elementary classroom. Suggests a more complex view in contrast to typical descriptions of collaboration. Discusses a view that includes a range of ways for students to participate in writing together. Describes the ways students responded to opportunities for collaboration. (SG)

Analyzes results from a study that examined how experienced teachers work with students in the early stages of writing. Examines the process of composition as involving a cycle of two phases: engagement and reflection. Children's difficulties in sustaining their attention across successive phases of this cycle are attributed to specific problems…

Describes the author's efforts in establishing writing groups in a middle school classroom. Discusses setting standards, teacher role, and common projects. Concludes that the development of a safe writing environment requires open discussion about the needs and ears of writers and a common objective or project for revision and response. (SR)

Uses case studies to address the tendency of second language (L2) writing instruction and research to overlook the voices or identities already possessed by L2 writers. Examines the role voice can play as a means for investigating and understanding the voice-related issues mature writers encounter in L2 contexts. (Author/VWL)

Lists 24 writing lesson plans or teaching approaches designed to keep students engaged toward the end of the school year, including list making, ABC stories, fractured fairy tales, cut word stories, "bummer behavior" letter writing, and using children's books as a stimulus. (TB)

Suggests that through Kenneth Burke, writing teachers can approach writing as something to be feared, something to approach with trembling and mortification. Examines Burke's notion of how language "goads" writers to eliminate the response of others. Examines contemporary and Burkean approaches to writing that would help students to…

Discusses the theory of multiple intelligences and what it tells English teachers about students' writing processes. Discusses results of a study of the writing processes of 10 high school juniors whose cognitive profile featured visual-spatial intelligence and subordinated linguistic aspects. Discusses the importance of matching instructional…

Suggests that students can improve their writing by being instructed on how to write badly. Applies the criteria of testability, tunnel-vision, excessive vagueness, flying in the face of established fact, and hazy authority to tabloid newspaper stories. Discusses how students can write their own "rotten" tabloid stories by taking these…

Describes a classroom experience in which the curriculum, committed to helping students use language to criticize and change their social world, gained validity and vitality because of the allegedly racist social climate on campus. Argues against those, such as Susan Miller, who essentialize expressivist pedagogies that are grounded in…