Rhetorical theorists have argued that agency is a communal experience, but material conditions in jail "and" society often prevent prisoners and college students from experiencing it in meaningful ways that embrace difference. Challenging those conditions by bringing both groups together in a writing workshop enables everyone to resist…

This article draws on my experience as an adjunct professor in the Master's program of the Department of Mexican-American Studies at a large public university in California. Seeing my students' struggles with writing, I conceived of a set of practices of writing mentorship anchored by a series of writing workshops held in Summer 2012. In this…

This article is based on research in a United States second-grade classroom during a multimodal literacy workshop. Observing students working with tissue paper, foam board, string, pipe cleaners and other materials, we asked how is intra-activity with materials, time and space influencing literacy learning in Room 203? While the research…

This paper reports on the responses of six secondary teachers to a six-day writing workshop led by the author in January, 2013. These teachers, representing a range of subject areas, underwent this professional learning as key participants in a two-year, participatory action research project being conducted in their school entitled: "A…

As teachers work to move their writing workshop into the 21st century and to help students meet new standards expectations, they are ramping up their use of technology. This article lays out a set of guiding principles (E-BEST) to help teachers make reflective choices, so that the digital technologies in their workshops will enhance and extend…

This full-year experimental study examined how methods of writing instruction contribute to kindergarten students' acquisition of foundational and compositional early writing skills. Multiple regression with cluster analysis was used to compare 3 writing instructional groups: an interactive writing group, a writing workshop group, and a…

Students' cognitive ability, the learning environment, and the relevance of the writing assignment influence their writing abilities and engagement in writing instruction. Currently there is a limited amount of knowledge about youths' dispositions to and experiences with writing instruction in juvenile detention centers. The purpose of this study…

This article describes how one teacher implemented a memoir genre study in her sixth grade classroom using a writing workshop approach. It begins by outlining the author's philosophy and rationale for teaching writing in this manner. This is followed by a discussion of how one could organize one's classroom for a memoir genre study. Several…

The authors discuss a scholarship of teaching and learning project conducted in three first-year writing seminars of different disciplines. The goal was to introduce students to academic inquiry, which they define as the process of critically analyzing class materials, engaging with the larger body of knowledge on a topic, using evidence to…

This article describes how one urban elementary school's professional development workshop on technology helped teachers grow in their knowledge and practice of a digital reading and writing workshop model. Created in partnership with university faculty, school administration, and elementary teachers, this whole-school professional development…

After decades of use in creative writing programs, the workshop method has come under a recent wave of attacks and criticism. Though revising and enhancing the workshop process is necessary, the writing workshop should remain a tradition in the education of young writers.

Research, teaching, and service--the traditional tripartite division of academic work. The kind of institution and the nature of institutional priorities have some bearing on the arrangement of the first two parts, but service always comes last. From the authors' shared perspective as faculty members and administrators in writing studies, though,…

Teaching technical writing without formal training can be daunting. However, there are many resources available that can provide background and materials for teaching. My approach involved reading textbooks and articles not only on approaches to technical writing but also on what students can expect once they complete their education and are…

The diversification of settings in which higher education is delivered has resulted in a growing proportion of lecturers entering teaching from professional backgrounds. This is a challenging transition as lecturers are rarely given the space to consider the implications of this move on their identities and practice styles. Writing is recognised…

During a series of writing workshops at a shelter for young homeless people in Copenhagen, I examined to what extent the literary practice of student-driven imitation with its emphasis on self-governance and a dialogical approach can engage marginalized learners in reading and writing. I found that student-driven imitation had the potential to…