Argues that writing instruction should lead student writers to find their voice in their writing and that this will only happen if they write often for personal purposes and personal expression. (SR)

Describes two word games useful in secondary writing classrooms: "illot-mollo," in which freewriters announce words they just wrote which the other members must use in their subsequent freewriting; and "secret" in which students each write a secret (usually made-up) and then put them into a hat--students then pull out a secret and write about it.…

Presents strategies to increase the flow of writing so that students become more attuned to the usefulness of words in capturing thoughts, feelings, and impressions. (RL)

This digest discusses expressive writing and the expressive mode, which is seen as a recurring stage in a writer's process of writing. The digest suggests that by structuring expressive writing activities and correlating them with particular stages of the writing process, a teacher can draw the natural linguistic activity out of a student. The…

Contains suggestions from five teachers on (1) the power of imagery and lessons on poetic form, (2) a writing assignment designed to arouse students' memories in writing, (3) the uses of free writing, and (4) the value of writers' conferences for writing teachers. (RL)

Explains why structured composition assignments produce better writing than nondirectional writing experiences, explores the reasons for this, and establishes hypotheses based on these reasons for developing a theory of composition instruction. (HOD)

Discusses a method for involving students in topics so that research evolves from a desire to know. Describes using response group discussion about real life problems to find topics, freewriting loops, and class presentation before and during research. Reports positive atmosphere and interest. (JG)