In the English classroom, narrative writing is often separated from the work of reading literature or used merely to coax reluctant students into discussing textually relevant topics. This article discusses a close writing activity, Image Explosion, that engages students in narrative writing that brings attention to the smallest details of…

Since writing in the disciplines (WID) is focused on learning how to write formal documents of a professional register, it is important to note that each field or discipline has its own style, structure, and format when it comes to writing, and most composition courses seldom facilitate the transfer of these specialized skills in the classroom.…

This piece introduces methods -- textual interventions -- for teaching close reading through film literacy. Editing is the mechanism that creates meaning out of moving images. To unlock a film's visual "secrets," we must break the sequences of editing; move its hinges; reread and revise the cut.

Describes a "quick-write" as a 1-3 minute written response to a short piece of writing in which students either write as quickly as they can all that comes to mind in response to the work, or borrow a line from the work and write off that line. (SG)

Describes two methods of getting students involved in relevant, business writing assignments: reaction papers to business journal articles and exercises in which communication students dictate letters to shorthand students. (AEA)

Students can benefit from collaboration long before they are ready for draft feedback. By analyzing writing assignments, anticipating and diagnosing student problems, and introducing necessary skills through appropriate exercises, students can be provided with cognitive and social supports that help them address the challenges of academic writing.…

A technique sometimes known as patterned prose or case book exposition is an effective way to improve student writing while also holding their interest. It may also help solve a problem pointed to by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP): students' inability to think about what they read. The technique is simple. The teacher…

Discusses ways to teach critical reading skills and writing production to adult learners of Spanish who already have a basic command of the essential grammatical structures, some aural comprehension and reading ability, and adequate capacity to communicate orally. Describes and provides examples of several sample exercises. (SED)

This article describes a simple in-class exercise in reading and writing that, by asking participants to write their own endings for a short narrative taken from the "Journal of the American Medical Association," prompts them to reflect on the problem of uncertainty in medicine and to apply the literary-critical techniques of close…

Uses Yeats's poem "Father and Child" to help high school students understand the technical elements that go into a poem and to help English methods students understand what is meant by an integrated lesson in language, literature, and composition. (HTH)

Describes a writing assignment to help students develop the capacity to anticipate and deal with the counter arguments of a skeptical reading audience, in which classmates offer rebuttals to student position papers. A sample peer review form is included. (HTH)

Proposes the application of Norman Holland's views on transactional literary analysis to the teaching of basic writing, raising student awareness of reader and writer roles through frequent writing activities and reader feedback. (RL)

Intended as a supplement to the Reading/Literature Released Exercise Set, 1979-80 Assessment, this collection exemplifies students' written responses to thirteen open-ended exercises. Each exercise, its objectives, subobjectives, administration guidelines, and national performance levels on the exercise, are documented. Detailed, age specific…

Suggests the importance of George Orwell's "1984" for today's students and recommends specific analytic and descriptive writing activities to develop critical reading skills. (MM)

Writing can be taught most effectively when teachers build the disorienting characteristics of reading literature into the inventive stages (prewriting and revision) of writing literary interpretations. The reading of literature and the process of composing interpretive essays are both different and similar. They are similar because they are both…