Many students who struggle with handwriting eventually dislike all writing. Positive teacher attitudes can change students' attitudes and encourage them to improve their penmanship. Two activities can help elementary students enjoy writing while improving their handwriting. One has students practice common strokes in letter formation. The other…

Spelling centers are useful as elementary students become adept at managing their spelling practice. Teachers can store regularly-used spelling materials at spelling stations. This article presents two spelling-station activities. One helps students become more aware of how to spell well. The other helps students make individual spelling lists and…

Describes four studies of high school students that examined the effectiveness of user-adaptive computer-aided instruction that explicitly models the cognitive processes of composing for developmental writers and is integrated with classroom composition instruction. Discusses the design and use of the writing software R-WISE (Reading and Writing…

Examines one type of religious identity (Christian Fundamentalism) and profile's one student's oral and written responses in an intermediate-level college writing course as a means of illustrating how his reliance on fundamentalist discourse played a key role in producing his resistance to assigned texts, to the course's stated goals, and to the…

Shows that high school students who took a specialized high school course in intensive journalistic writing passed the Advanced Placement English Language and Composition Examination at higher rates (from 1991 to 1997) than did test-takers who took AP English Composition courses as a preparation for the exam. (SR)

Suggests that W. Ross Winterowd's most significant and influential contribution to the field of rhetoric and composition is the Rhetoric-Linguistics-Literature Program (RLL), started in 1972 as a program in the Department of English at the University of Southern California. Presents a history of the program, noting its "virtual demise"…

Explores claims about creative writing through students' experiences in a summer introductory fiction workshop for non-English majors. Suggests that in writing instruction, the critical and the creative need to go hand in hand. Concludes that critical reflection on the makings and use of stories is crucial for students planning careers in…

Describes teaching poetry to fifth-grade students, who are immigrants from 20 countries and who speak 11 languages. Discusses the students' responses to the poetry of Wallace Stevens and attempts at writing their own poetry. (CR)

Examines the need for a new perspective in research on young children's writing development, one which identifies writing as a language process in which children construct meaning. Presents an example of a linguistic analysis of a child's writing. Discusses the implications for early-childhood educators of a text-focused approach to studying…

Examines students' responses and comments on facilitative (helping the student rethink a paper analytically) versus directive commentary (teacher suggestions made in an authoritative manner). Argues that directive commentary has several legitimate uses and that its judicious use can coax students into writing stronger text. (SR)

Suggests that the prewriting phase of the writing process is the most important and that a promising approach to the prewriting phase for students with learning difficulties is called Web-making (also called cognitive mapping, idea mapping, patterned note taking, construct procedure, graphic overview, networking, flowcharting, and semantic…

Discusses the use of two trial lessons on poetry writing in an advanced English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) composition course for Ethiopian EFL teachers. (Author/VWL)

Discusses learning-style differences in students and the need for teachers to present opportunities for children to develop their stronger gifts and to strengthen their weaker areas. Alternate ways of teaching writing to children are highlighted, including providing multisensory stimuli, role-playing, and storytelling. (CR)

Creative-writing classes help adults acquire aesthetic knowledge and understanding as well as skills in the craft of writing. They also develop creative modes of thought and the ability to assess their own work; they may possibly achieve perspective transformation. (SK)

Suggests that keeping a writer's notebook can be a unit of study in itself and that students can learn to use the notebook as a workbench for drafting, crafting, revising, and editing. Describes the author's work using writer's notebooks across several classrooms and grade levels. (RS)