The primary purpose of this book is to offer suggestions and writing examples for use in teaching children to write poetry. Each of the 15 chapters deals with a particular subject that could be useful in introducing poetry writing to students. The chapters discuss such topics as developing word consciousness in children, writing cinquains and…

This issue of "The English Record," devoted largely to the teaching of composition, includes such articles as "Writing in the Reading Class"; "A Sequence of Writing Tasks for a Composition Elective for Juniors and Seniors"; "An Inquiry into the Composing Process"; "A Spin-off from Kenneth Koch's 'Wishes, Lies, and Dreams'"; "Interdisciplinary…

At present, the theory of creative writing most widely used is based on the premise that personal writing contains dimensions for child growth. Recent research indicates that students taught from the creative model require the same degree of facility in writing skills as those students taught by the traditional method. Furthermore, students in…

A practical and detailed account of how the language-experience approach to reading instruction functions is presented. The importance of the bond between thought, word, and deed and reading, writing, and school learning is emphasized, The included chapters describe the function of dictated experience stories, building a word bank, creative…

In an attempt to exorcise cliched, hollow, "voiceless prose," 11 diverse novelists, poets, playwrights, essayists, and critics who are serious teachers of writing share their insights and feelings about their roles as teachers and about writing. Some of the goals expressed in these essays about the relationship between processes of writing and the…

The eight articles in the first section of this publication on the teaching of writing in British schools concentrate on classroom practices--ways of motivating student creative writing, the encouragement of group expository writing, and criteria to be considered when marking student writing. In the second section, five articles critically analyze…

In teaching students how to write, the utilitarian aspect does not need to be ignored, but--more important--the imaginative, expressive aspect should be emphasized. Since all writing depends on the full resources of the imagination, students need to be taught how to recreate or vivify people, objects, scenes, and feelings. A process which helps…

This book attempts to give a new dimension to James Moffett's philosophy on using drama combined with the small group process as the primary basis for the teaching of language arts. The main goal of the book, therefore, is to provide the teacher with practical, proven ideas and techniques for individualizing the language arts. The first section,…

A twelve lesson descriptive writing unit for tenth graders is presented in this document. Each lesson lists one or more behavioral objectives, materials needed, the procedures to follow, the method of evaluation, comments about the lesson by the teacher who used the plan, and suggestions for future use. Copies of the pre-test, the worksheets,…

After an Open Admissions (OA) policy was established at Baruch college in New York City, heavy emphasis was placed on remedial English. This emphasis was unfortunate for creative students since it reduced all writing courses to a "utilitarian," pre-college level. OA students also need to develop their perceptions, imaginations, and…

Designed to assess the quality of pieces of creative writing in the intermediate and junior high grades, the Sager Writing Scale (SWS) is intended for use by both students and teachers or by researchers. The SWS contains four scales with four ratings possible in the areas of vocabulary, elaboration, organization, and structure. Validity for the…

To analyze the use of metaphor in inducing innovative thinking in fourth grade children, two series of metaphorical activities were developed--the first asking children to compare given stimuli to a variety of other things, the second asking children to become other things (e.g., doorknobs). Oral and written responses were elicited from five…

The literary genre explored in this study is The Fantastic Tale for Children, which combines magic and reality. Two examples of the "pure" fantastic tale are "The Return of the Twelves" by Pauline Clarke and "Tom's Midnight Garden" by Philippa Pearce. The motifs of the fantastic tale are methods which connect the world of the principal characters…

This is an introduction to the work of 19 contemporary English-language writers for children. It consists of critical essays on the works of Joan Aiken, L. M. Boston, H. F. Brinsmead, John Christopher, Helen Cresswell, Meindert DeJong, Eleanor Estes, Paula Fox, Leon Garfield, Alan Garner, Madeleine L'Engle, William Mayne, Andre Norton, Scott…

The use of electric typewriters for beginning reading instruction was investigated. Thirty-six freshmen and sophomore education majors worked for 10 weeks with nine pairs of L-level (first-grade) children from the Wisconsin University laboratory school on SRA materials, Dolch phrases, and creative writing. Half used typewriters and the rest,…