For most millennials, information has always been a couple of quick taps away. Sites have seemingly always existed to provide them with "the answer." Instructors must recognize that not only are they teaching material from their disciplines, but also they are trying to teach the skill and value of critical inquiry. Adopting a Freirean…

Whether novice or experienced, writers must come to terms with the daunting task of filling up a blank page, or screen, in an effort to produce writing. Student writers are no different. They enter teachers' classes having confronted similar difficulties with discovering what it is they want to say. In seeking to help students, they devote…

This paper is about the classroom use of digital literacies. It describes using a hypermedia-authoring program with middle-years students at an Australian secondary school. Classroom environments were created in which collaborative and innovative group work built on technical facilities and expertise developed by students outside of school. The…

This study investigates the collaborative composing processes of a group of five high school seniors who constructed interpretations of each of the five acts of Shakespeare's Hamlet through the medium of spoken word performances. The group composing processes were analyzed to identify how the students drew on conventions from the spoken word…

This document presents the proceedings of the 23nd Annual Research Forum held June 28, 2018, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Included are the following 12 action research papers: (1) Standards-Based Grading in a Secondary Mathematics Classroom (Michelle Anderson); (2) How the Use of Graphic Novels in Shakespeare…

Can music help students become better thinkers and writers? Over the past three years, the author has incorporated some basic music training techniques in her classrooms to help her teach the writing process to students who would otherwise click her off. The students have developed clearer thinking and organizational skills, and have increased…

This article describes a research group project that included students and faculty affiliated with Indiana University, along with secondary English teachers and administrators at several high schools in Southeast Indiana, as they developed and refined an approach to literacy instruction that embraces an expanded notion of literacy and supports…

Outlines a technical writing course in which the students collaborate in writing a technical writing handbook. The course includes traditional lectures as well as small and large group work on various aspects of writing the handbook. (TJ)

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.…

Outlines how the computer groupware program for Macintosh computers called "Aspects" was used at every level of a K-12 school system to enhance collaborative writing and writing skills. Imagines possible future uses of the program in linking classrooms from different areas of the world. (HB)

Describes how one English teacher developed an "I-Search Project" for high school classes that integrated literary research with peer support to create a community of writers. Shows how such a project encourages collaboration both inside and outside of the English classroom. Provides student response to the project. (HB)

Describes the variables for designing and maintaining writing groups within classroom settings. Advocates the use of writing groups. Provides outline of which structures are possible, what training is advisable, and what modifications can be made in view of changing class dynamics. (HB)

Details a unit of study in a seventh-grade English class based on collaborative story-writing activities. Describes how the unit, based on a mystery surrounding a fictitious character called "Admiral Brundage," uses drama, argument, and collaboration to improve students' thinking and writing skills. (HB)

Provides brief accounts of how two writing instructors integrated simultaneous networked writing into their classrooms. Presents actual excerpts from the writing dialogs produced by students. (HB)

Describes the experiences of the participants in a graduate course called "Research in Written Composition" that nurtured the exchange of writing among teacher and students. Narrates the experience of one student and the instructor as a record of an empowering relationship and presents numerous excerpts of their journal writing. (HB)