Considers how over 10 years of teaching first-year composition, more than two-thirds of the authors' students have elected to write about things that have caused them sorrow, about the deaths of loved ones, about the deaths of neighbors, even of hope itself. Composes a set of "meditations" - brief essays in which the authors try to understand…

Argues that characters in young adult books who happen to be writers can serve as models of the writing process for students. Discusses several novels that feature young writers. (SR)

Describes the use of anonymous daily journal entries (edited and graded at the end of the semester) in a literature survey course to nurture individual inquiry without sacrificing coverage. Maintains that anonymity encourages students to take risks, raise questions, and evaluate and shape the course. (SR)

Argues that listening is an integral part of composing by discussing the results of several listening/writing exercises (retellings of short stories or parts of novels). Notes that basic writers learned to hear the reader-voice in texts, thereby developing their internal writer's voice and better control of their writing. (RS)

Explores some special qualities of children's writing--directness, adventurousness, and innocence. Asserts that writing instructors must be aware of the transitional nature of children's writing while teaching them the mechanics of writing. (MM)

Cites essays by Joan Didion, John Berryman, and Martin Luther King in arguing that the essay, no matter how serious, can be considered as a fiction and a playful, exploratory and deeply interesting rhetorical game. Describes how these works were used to teach students that the essay is a living document calling for interaction. (SG)

Explores the nature of children's poetry. Describes an underlying mechanism activated when children engage deeply, meditate unselfconsciously, and express those meditations through the act of writing. Urges teachers to incorporate into writing instruction children's natural inclination to play. (MM)

Defines four principles (goodwill building, course of action, bottom line, and most important first) that pose rhetorical problems for students making the transition from academic to business writing. Presents a problem-solving case to demonstrate reader-based business writing and provides samples of students' writing that illustrate the…

Considers different fifth-grade students' transformations through expressing themselves with poetry. Claims the content of children's writing suggests a complete revision of standard educational ideas about who the children are, what they know, how they think, and how much they can learn if teachers only know how to tap into their brilliance. (SC)

Argues that comparison and contrast are an essential part of review writing for high school newspapers. Offers examples and discusses their use in reviews of movies, albums, restaurants, books, concerts, and more. Notes the importance of including audience and reviewer reaction, of grading, and of a good lead and conclusion. (SR)

The affirmation of individual creativity in writing is what sets this book apart from other process-oriented rhetorics. Conversational in tone, the book's third edition boasts a writer-to-writer perspective that will put students at ease. The book "walks" students through the main elements of writing from discovery and research to…

Presents advice for writing award-winning feature stories for high school newspapers. (SR)

Describes how, at the Alice Carleson School in Fort Worth, Texas, elementary school students have ongoing sources for meaningful writing tasks as they participate in the business of school. Offers examples written by students of in-house memos, letters organizing a conference, and solutions to school problems. (SR)

The writing samples presented in this paper were selected from the portfolios of fourth-grade Vermont students as examples of the various points in Vermont's newly revised analytic writing assessment guide. The benchmark writing pieces in the paper, when used with the analytic assessment guide that begins the paper, are guideposts for assessing…

Suggests that educators fundamentally change the way they teach grammar. Offers the author's experience with some curious success with students taking on grammar as part of their writing process, and gives some ideas about starting the teaching of grammar in a radically different place and as a radical agent. Speaks against using student writing…