Notes that, although many composition teachers talk about the need to find "organic" forms in composing, students are often content to organize their writing in formulaic ways. Discusses the difficulties in teaching form arising from students focusing on a particular form's requirements instead of its functions. Discusses using the counterpoint…

Argues that the five-paragraph-essay structure is a valuable teaching tool but cautions that composition teachers need to ensure that their students don't perceive it as an end in itself. Illustrates how students can learn the principles of effective composition and apply them to any writing task by making necessary modifications. (KEH)

This paper offers a model to be followed by students completing a writing assignment. The model, designed originally for writing students at two-year colleges, prescribes the number of paragraphs and the content of each paragraph. Suggested topic assignments are offered, and an example of the use of the model is provided. Four steps are proposed…

This guidebook was developed by a team of elementary and secondary school English teachers to help teachers of all subjects with the difficult tasks of evaluating students' expository writing and stimulating student growth in the art and craft of writing. The twelve parts of the guidebook deal with the following topics: guidelines for giving a…

Briefly discusses the use of student essays as a technique in the teaching of history. Outlines a student guide to writing reports and includes specific hints on writing essays. (JK)

This booklet is one of a series of teacher-written curriculum publications launched by the Bay Area Writing Project, each focusing on a different aspect of the teaching of composition. This booklet explains techniques that can be used by teachers in all subject areas to help students use writing, not merely as a means of testing knowledge, but as…

Because of their effectiveness, as well as their accessiblity as points of reference, TV commercials can provide excellent bridges in teaching concepts of good, effective writing. Specificity through metaphor is only one of the many basic writing course topics that can be effectively illustrated through TV commercials. (Author/EB)

Describes a course in which students were assigned to read magazine articles, label sections according to informative discourse types, mark cohesive ties and cue words, and pick out details. Reports that, by reviewing the articles, students gained an understanding of the "general audience" and of how to read their own writings more objectively.…

Challenges the view that children should learn to write narratives first and shows how teachers can exploit everyday classroom topics to help children develop control of the kinds of factual writing normally used by adults. (MM)

This anthology of children's writing from two Infant, 10 Junior, two Modern, and two Grammar schools in the West Riding of Yorkshire focuses attention on the child's powers of expression rather than on his technical accomplishments . The work from each school is prefaced by a statement from the teacher describing the circumstances under which the…

Outlines an integrated study approach to informational writing for second grade children. Using dinosaurs as the topic, discusses how students solved the problem of selecting, organizing, and structuring their information by focusing on smaller pieces of information or by planning a contents page for their book. (MM)

Focuses on how children learn different written registers. Asserts that teachers must immerse children in a variety of texts to experience different registers of language and make explicit the purpose of registers, the role audience plays, and how information is organized in different registers. (MM)

Shows how to help students shape their self-selected writings into reports. In a class of students with learning and/or attitude problems, follows the development of one student's report writing through the processes of clarifying a purpose and audience, generating information with a word map activity, and organizing the information effectively by…