Describes a course that is built around student participation in an annual teaching of psychology professional conference. Focuses on course goals and objectives, course requirements, such as written assignments and attendance, and the evaluation of students. Considers benefits of the course. (CMK)

Describes learning log assignments for college students in a developmental studies program. Notes that the assignments call for students to reflect on specific cognitive aspects of learning giving them the opportunity to explore their own thinking, evaluate their own progress, and promote metacognitive awareness. Describes learning log assignments…

Proposes a rethinking of what professors should teach technical writing students, based on actual experience with three organizations in Oregon. Discusses how to design assignments for students that simulate the reality of a work environment. Explores types of technical writing skills that are increasingly in demand. Offers several strategies for…

Offers an exercise to help students understand the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing and how both practices can result in plagiarism if the original source is not cited. Explains how the exercise uses Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address." (TB)

States that the Progressive Novella Project for high school students involves the collaborative writing of a 35-50 page novella. Explains that prior to the actual writing process, students are educated in the basic elements of fiction writing. Describes the division of labor into groups. Comments that the results of the project are invariably…

Discusses aspects of the classroom environment that nurture young writers. Describes strategies and assignments (including cross-curricular poetry, a letter writing activity, multigenre papers, a tribute assignment, and a "read and retail" assignment) which helps students understand and develop voice. Notes that while students' writing…

Describes three types of reflective writing assignments the author uses in her high school writing classes to create better writers who are actively involved in their own learning. Draws distinctions among the three (a writer's log, a draft letter, and a portfolio letter) and discusses the methods she uses to promote quality written reflections.…

Examines procrastination by college students (30 women, 7 men) of academic and nonacademic tasks at beginning and end of semester. Analysis found that procrastinated tasks early in the term were more effortful and anxiety provoking than other tasks during the term. Results imply that academic and nonacademic tasks should be challenging, yet fun,…

Describes a writing exercise with the "Oxford English Dictionary" that teaches students about research and attention to detail. Describes how the exercise, which involves the student in a set of serial tasks, makes students comfortable with the OED, teaches them how to extract full details of any word, and teaches students to take…

Provides activities for teachers to use in studying characters' motivation in literature. Suggests books and describes the action and motivation for each; considers evaluation methods that include group activities, individual activities, and writing; and includes a student assignment worksheet on motive. (LRW)

Presents a sequenced writing assignment on shopping to aid basic writers. Describes a writing assignment focused around online and mail-order shopping. Notes steps in preparing for the assignment, the sequence, and discusses responses to the assignments. (SC)

The first section describes visual and aural reading strategies for a women's literacy class, using literary analysis of a poem. The second recounts the same group's experience writing persuasive letters or short reports based on a museum visit, which enabled hands-on learning and integration of local and student knowledge. (SK)

Considers how effective teacher feedback increases students' awareness of the choices they make in a piece of writing and enables them to discuss those choices with others. Describes the Comment to Comment assignment, an asynchronous written collaboration between teacher and student. Discusses the process of trial and error that the author went…

Studies the socialization processes of two writers new to an organization in terms of writing tasks, writers' social roles, and methods of socialization. Reveals 15 different writing roles depicting a continuum from novice to expert. Argues the implications of this study are relevant to current school-based approaches to writing instruction. (NH)

Argues that writing teachers ultimately need to view their prompts rhetorically. Argues that writing teachers should consider carefully the role that students have as audiences, writing audience responses to teachers' texts through their essays. Argues that a rhetorical analysis of the prompt will help students criticize the cues of a real-world…