Offers two expository writing exercises that, machinelike, move from word to idea to arrive at rich and evocative connections. Shows how the first exercise, the four-column association, produces a free-form paragraph or poem following a freewriting warmup. Uses the term "placket" to describe the second exercise, a poem that has a set of…

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)

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)

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)

A successful expository writing program (1) should develop basic writing ability and fluency, (2) should convey to students that they are informants in a communicative context that includes writers and readers, and (3) should foster student control of the writing process including thinking and organizational strategies (such as planning,…

A writing instructor at a California University, assigned to teach expository writing in a science course, restructured the course before the third paper assignment to allow students to write, to discover, and explore ideas about science, rather than simply to learn standards of rhetoric or scientific writing. This assignment required students to…

A number of the axioms of tagmemics are explored in order to develop exercises based on these axioms about language structure but specifically designed to develop writing competence. Exercises for unit definition through contrast with other units; range of variability; and distribution in class, sequence, and system receive particular attention.…

Consisting of material designed for practical application in the English classroom and representing all educational levels, this collection of articles contains a selection of the best presentations given at the fall 1986 meeting of the Southeastern Ohio Council of Teachers of English. Following an introduction by guest editor James L. Creighton,…