Students can benefit from collaboration long before they are ready for draft feedback. By analyzing writing assignments, anticipating and diagnosing student problems, and introducing necessary skills through appropriate exercises, students can be provided with cognitive and social supports that help them address the challenges of academic writing.…

Devoted to Greek and Roman mythic contributions to culture and developed to tie in with the 1984 Olympic Games in California, this pamphlet includes exams, discussion topics, vocabulary, and other teaching ideas on the Olympic heritage. Most of the exercises were written by Nathan Reed Mathis, former president of Southland Council of Teachers of…

A writing exchange project at Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College in Vermont, funded by Apple Education Foundation and McDonnell Douglas, examined what happened when high school students use word processors and a modem to write to distant audiences. In the first exchange, students interviewed each other in pairs and wrote short…

The use of controlled compositions as a method of providing writing practice for English as second language (ESL) students is described. The method requires students to copy well-written short compositions while changing each one a meaningful way, such as from present to past tense or singular to plural. Thus, students at all levels or ages can…

Discusses the researched article as an alternative to the research paper and provides guidelines for students to follow in writing a query letter which sells the idea for the article. (RB)

Metaphors, figures of speech of one sort or another, similes, and analogies are not strangers to technical writing. Four exercises that seem typical of most technical writing syllabi and that seem appropriate points for the introduction of students to metaphors and other figures are (1) a technical description, which requires the student to…

Intended to help students improve their written work by their active involvement and by their interest in investing the time and energy necessary to create a finished product of quality, this booklet presents a structured process that teaches children to progress from a draft to a "published" stage, through individual editing, peer…

The first year of the writing program at the William M. Trotter Elementary School (Boston, Massachusetts) accomplished (1) the development of an outline of basic writing activities and skills for grades one through five; (2) the use of holistic rating; (3) the development of a common correction symbol; (4) the development of writing folders…

This journal issue provides topics and methods that elementary school teachers can use in writing instruction. The first part of the bulletin describes the nature of the composing process, the types of writing that elementary students produce, and an analysis of teaching strategies. These comments speak to the classroom teacher and reflect recent…

The popular arts are useful resources in college composition courses both because of their appeal for students and because they embody the fundamental patterns, or archetypes, found in myths, fairy tales, and classic literature. The nine basic archetypes examined in certain composition classes at Queens College (Flushing, New York) are the Shadow,…

The importance of formulating a good theme topic is discussed, and a brief definition of a successful topic is provided. The major portion of the article consists of suggestions on how to use literature as a source for 11 different types of themes. These suggestions may be adapted to any age level. (BN)

This collection of papers presents many practical procedures for improving secondary school instruction in the several content areas. Topics included are principles and procedures in corrective reading, diagnostic techniques, the role of a reading consultant in the content areas, the use of writing to help poor readers, corrective reading in the…

This paper cites descriptions, by professional writers, of two stages in the composing process that appear to correspond with the two modes of mental activity separately controlled by the hemispheres of the brain. The stage of writing a first draft involves unconscious, personal, irrational, intuitive writing which may be called "writing for…

Based on the premise that students have a wealth of resources they can tap for their writing, this book presents a series of practical, student-centered strategies for use in high school and college composition classes. The exercises are grouped in four sets: the comfort zone (strategies for use in the early part of the composition course),…