This article looks at the use of art in developing students' prewriting ability. The activities, strategies, and objects used provide students with the background knowledge, motivation, vocabulary, structure, and fluency they need to compose and rehearse written pieces. The article describes research conducted on the effects of combining art with…

Prepared by classroom teachers in a Phoenix elementary school district, this handbook provides information for use in initiating writing practice in both the language arts and the content areas at all elementary school grade levels. The major sections of the handbook provide (1) techniques for motivating students to write; (2) activities at the…

The articles in this journal issue provide a rationale and methods for enhancing students' critical awareness of visual media and for a process approach to composition instruction. The titles of the articles and their authors are as follows: (1) "Reel English: Film Study in the High Schools" (James Griswold); (2) "Introducing History Media"…

Critical thinking skills were taught to students in a lower-track freshman English class through the use of cross-disciplinary subject matter. Given a set of three transmission electron micrographs, or photographs of magnified tissue used in histology and pathology, students were asked to support their conclusions on which two of micrographs A, B,…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 23 titles provide information on a variety of topics, including the following: (1) voice and the fictional narrative; (2) the effects of oral response groups before and after rough drafts on writing achievement and apprehension;…

Reports on a survey of English, social studies, and science teachers about perceived and actual classroom writing instruction practices. (RL)