Describes an assignment in a social psychology course to help students learn about social constraints. Directed students to write a report after either violating a norm or imagining what would happen during a norm violation. Discusses student reaction to the assignment. (CMK)

Explores the possibilities of the paperless classroom achieved through e-mail strategies and the use of Blackboard, an e-learning software platform. Claims that the system can be an efficient method for storing and evaluating papers and communicating with students. Concludes that the system allows the author to create a permanent electronic paper…

Notes the importance of online writing groups in an English 101 class. Suggests that for any writing group to be effective, students need to feel safe to express themselves. Describes three main writing assignments which created connected, motivated writing groups: the biography assignment, an essay on identity, and a group essay. (PM)

Describes a journal writing activity designed to engage students in the exchange between text and reader. Argues that informal writing in a journal is a means of letting students find out that, if they engage themselves with a text, they will find it interesting. (RS)

Suggests that using sociolinguistics as the subject of a semester-long course leads to real and exciting research rather than technically correct but lifeless "dummy runs" for real research in freshman composition courses. (MG)

Describes a collaborative writing assignment which features a series of interconnected business messages arising out of a case study and including inhouse memos and an analytical report. Shows how the design of a collaborative writing assignment can foster creative rather than debilitative tension. (RS)

Describes five writing activities for college writing courses: (1) a documented opinion paper exercise; (2) breaking writing rules; (3) trip reports from absentees; (4) case studies to promote writing for particular audiences for pragmatic purposes; and (5) an organizing strategy for studying, using a chart format. (SR)

Argues that, as the world becomes increasingly less human and more technocratic, staying in contact with whatever is humane requires conscious effort. Suggests the use of poetry writing assignments as a means of preserving children's inventiveness and imagination. Provides examples of poems written by schoolchildren. (SG)

Argues that summarizing, paraphrasing, and precis writing skills are important to the development of critical thinking and the ability to learn from text. Describes the use of precis writing in the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classroom. (RS)

Examines academic and pacing performance differences for students who chose between instructor- and self-set deadlines. Finds that students in the two conditions did not differ in academic performance but that students who chose to set their own deadlines missed fewer deadlines and showed accelerated pacing. (KO)

Describes effectiveness of parable format for increasing student understanding of counseling concepts and for helping students attain self-actualization. Illustrates effectiveness by describing his published parable entitled Gifts From Eykis. Argues that counselor educators should consider using literature and other creative vehicles in their…

Describes five activities for college writing courses: (1) sports as a literary topic; (2) paragraph descriptions of a favorite meal; (3) interdisciplinary team teaching in the humanities; (4) use of "real" letters and memoranda in a technical writing course; and (5) a word-strength chart for a poetry-writing class. (MM)

Contains six short descriptions of lesson plans that teachers have found effective in a range of areas: (1) first day confidence building; (2) innovative lessons in punctuation; (3) approaches to teaching the comparison/contrast papers; (4) writing about possible careers; (5) student presentations designed to make literature come alive; (6)…

Describes a project in a fifth-grade classroom that uses dialog to teach students expository writing and research reports. Describes how students worked together using all four language modes to explore a topic. (SR)

Describes the variables for designing and maintaining writing groups within classroom settings. Advocates the use of writing groups. Provides outline of which structures are possible, what training is advisable, and what modifications can be made in view of changing class dynamics. (HB)