Describes a classroom project conducted at Mary Washington College to examine students' awareness of the demands posed by the various academic writing tasks required during the semester; discover how that awareness develops with experience; and orient new students to the roles writing plays in their academic lives. (DMM)

Describes a writing assignment designed to help students with the frequently strange and foreboding job of writing a poem. Discusses how one student and the teacher worked through the assignment. (RS)

Describes a writing assignment that requires students to research and report on what it would be like to live on minimum wage. Explains that this assignment is not really any different than the traditional assignment, it is simply more obvious about its political content because it involves an inquiry into economics rather than literature or…

Notes the increasing number of learning-disabled (LD) students in college writing classes and the serious lack of research and training in how best to deal with their writing problems. Makes 25 suggestions for classroom management to help alleviate some of the problems that LD students face. (SR)

Describes a class project/case study where students draft a proposal and present it to a board for deliberation. Details how students analyze the current problem and the cause, brainstorm for a preferred and alternative solutions, and discuss advantages and disadvantages. (PRA)

One law school professor's experience with use of out-of-class assignments similar to those actually faced in legal practice as a teaching tool and an alternative to final examinations is described. Students responded well to the method, finding it effective, less stressful, and a legitimate evaluation tool; and the professor found it helped in…

Investigates whether 7-11 year old children are capable of nonchronological writing (exposition, argument, categorizing, comparison, and hypothesizing), and if so, how they are best supported when writing in these genres. Finds that such children were able to undertake nonchronological writing and produce acceptable results. (RS)

Describes an activity (the first assignment in a graduate reading course for teachers) which provides teachers with the opportunity to develop awareness of their own reading processes by thinking aloud about the strategies they use when reading texts that are difficult for them. (SR)

Describes a method of teaching writing founded on a concept of response papers based on the strong emotional reactions of students to assigned texts. Gives examples from several student papers, highlighting typical kinds of response. Argues for the response paper as a site for safe thought concerning difficult issues. (HB)

Argues that both academic writing (academic jargon to some) and personal writing (soul-searching drivel to others) in all their diversity, with whatever purity they can attain or with whatever impurity they must reveal, ought to be a part of composition teachers' knowledge and practice. (RS)

Provides practical examples of assignments that increase the effectiveness of foreign language reading instruction. It is suggested that, by restructuring reading instruction, the role of the teacher will also be restructured. (12 references) (JL)

Discusses the experiences in working with the basic writing curriculum presented in "Facts, Artifacts and Counterfacts: Theory and Methods for a Reading and Writing Course." Discusses reasons for selecting "Facts" as a model for the basic writing program and the rationale for making modifications that renders it more applicable…

Presents a social studies writing assignment which encouraged students to offer their personal reflections on the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving. (MG)

Offers teaching tips on thematic writing assignments, student resubmission of papers, sharing memorable sentences from students' writings, and nontraditional grading policies in writing classes. (RDS)

Describes a 10-stage process approach to teaching technical students "definition." Includes an assignment that encourages the use of the defining process. Discusses advantages of the approach. (PRA)