Uses central ideas from Roland Barthes's essays on connotative semiotics as a rationale for directing students in technical and professional writing classes to develop the critical reflex to analyze and then make judgments about the values implied by connotative systems. (SR)

Describes a writing assignment in a business communication class in which students, in previously designated study groups, discover for themselves the complex interaction between a writer and an audience by becoming the president, vice president, and manager of operations of a company, and solve a problem that they can handle only through memos.…

Describes a small group assignment for business communication students in which they put together a report describing the most important periodicals, reference works, or other ongoing information sources for people just entering professional fields. (SR)

Describes how creating a poem that focuses on memory, understanding, and emotion can lead to the construction of a meditative poem. States that poetry of meditation can be modified for use in almost any writing or literature classroom environment. (PA)

Annotates 12 conference papers, journal articles, and theses in the ERIC database that discuss the effectiveness of journal writing in the elementary and secondary classroom. (RS)

Describes the development of a writing assignment using the four discourse types to write about a single, physical object. Reviews specifically how this assignment was carried out to completion by students. Defends the assignment as a framework for the study of writing. (HB)

Describes a technical writing assignment in which students write two different papers on the same topic--one directed toward a lay or executive audience, and the other toward an operator or technician audience. (SR)

Presents two writing activities for math class that help students explore contexts for multiplication and write multiplication stories. (SR)

Argues that through poetry students can give voices to people whose voices usually do not find their ways into their classrooms or textbooks. Discusses poetry and literature, poetry in history, and personalizing poetry. (RS)

Describes an autobiography writing assignment. State that the resulting texts are entertaining, enlightening, and contain facts and anecdotes that reflect the personalities of the authors. (RS)

Describes a free writing exercise designed to help first-year college students confront perceptions they have of themselves as learners. (RS)

Argues that rationality follows rhetoric and emerges from discourse. Asserts that teachers must empower the students by starting with honest personal writing and move to honest personal writing about public issues. Presents samples of students' writing which illustrate the problems involved in trying to sound rational when arguing personal points.…

Argues that literature classes will grow more interesting and more effective if educators coordinate two kinds of emphases: allowing for discovery and moving toward productivity. Offers four principles for developing assignments: respect the process; nourish the participants; aim for a variety of products; and reflect together on process,…

Describes what business plans are and how educators can use them in class for a team writing assignment. (RS)

Describes adding lessons on stress management to the business communications classroom. (RS)