Suggests that through the shared experience of producing a story, students can understand plot on a deeper level and remember it more vividly than simply having it explained to them. (MS)

Describes how a class of 13 academically average high school students, inspired by an earlier article in this journal, collaboratively wrote a story. Notes that the students continued to revise their story even after it came back from the printers. (RS)

Presents several activities for an "interactive" classroom, including improvisation, role-playing, and informal discussions of literature. Notes that all suggested activities provide a context for language use and use students' talk as a vehicle for learning in a wide variety of communication situations, including reading and writing.…

Describes a summer school remedial writing class' experiences writing children's stories. Discusses the reactions of children at an abused-children's shelter to the stories. Notes that the students increased their self-worth and confidence as a result of writing children's stories. (RS)

A study examined how collaborative writing groups functioned in a Madison, Wisconsin high school classroom. The class in the study was ninth-grade English "Academically Motivated" (which is neither high nor low tracked). The researcher spent the first 9-week quarter in the classroom observing, taking field notes, teaching some of the classes that…

States that the Progressive Novella Project for high school students involves the collaborative writing of a 35-50 page novella. Explains that prior to the actual writing process, students are educated in the basic elements of fiction writing. Describes the division of labor into groups. Comments that the results of the project are invariably…

Uses a study of a high school writing center program to illustrate and explain the different forms and skills needed for collaborative writing in both classroom and writing center contexts. (MM)

Describes a collaborative research project in a tenth grade world history class which used a computer software product ("Aspects") in the school writing center to allow students to write collaboratively. (SR)

This study investigated the effects of having student writers use a set of networked computers to assist them in their writing lessons. Subjects were 15 students who were designated by their school district as remedial writers because they did not pass a writing competency test in their freshman year. For 10 weeks students participated in the…

Describes a New Jersey high school's development and implementation of a question-driven model for interdisciplinary research designed to improve students' writing skills, research skills, and their understanding of, and interest in, the local community. (PRA)

Teachers who are looking for new ways to approach the research paper, and to use cooperative learning in the classroom, can employ the "we-search" paper--a combination of cooperative/collaborative learning and Ken Macrorie's (1988) "I-search" paper. To get started, teachers should: (1) introduce the project and explain its…

Describes how the author and a colleague engaged their students in a variety of research and writing activities to prepare the students for the merger of two school systems and to help them participate intelligently in a bond referendum campaign to fund the building of a new high school. (PRA)

Presents findings from an ethnographic study of four high school basic writers collaborating on an assignment in their school's computer lab. Finds that the students were largely unsuccessful as writers and as collaborators--three of the students became, for the most part, nonwriters. Suggests that computer-assisted writing environments may result…

This casebook is part of a set of materials written by the members of the Making Thinking Visible Project. It offers high school, college, and community college teachers' multiple perspectives on the teaching and learning of collaborative planning, and on classroom inquiry and practice. The casebook explains collaborative planning (a writing…

Describes a letter-writing campaign in which students in an English class wrote to their state representatives opposing a bill intended to restrict the viewing of certain films in the classroom. Demonstrates the students' attention to the effects of their writing on their audience, and on their own image as writers. (PRA)