The authors investigated whether a series of mini prewriting assignments linked to a formal paper describing an original research project would improve preservice elementary teachers' writing abilities in a science context. They compared 38 final reports from students who completed the prewriting assignments with 38 reports randomly selected from…

In the late 1970s, poet Lewis MacAdams labeled the many writers beginning to visit schools as "wild cards in the deck of education," bringing fresh possibilities to a somewhat staid curriculum. Now, nearly thirty years later, the authors wonder if it isn't time to renew the metaphor, as everyone strive to name what happens when poets bring their…

Writing at the high school level requires higher cognitive and literacy skills. Educators must decide the strategies best suited for the varying skills of each process. Compounding this issue is the need to instruct students with learning disabilities. Writing for students with learning disabilities is a struggle at minimum; teachers have to find…

Improve students' writing skills and boost their assessment scores while adding arts education, creativity, and fun to your writing curriculum. With this vibrant resource, improving writing skills goes hand-in-hand with improving test scores. Students learn how to use acting and visualization as prewriting activities to help them connect writing…

This paper aims to find out two outcomes of feedback in the novice writers' graphic organizers, which are the novice writers' ability to align their ideas to their writing goal, and their perceived germane, metacognitive, extraneous and intrinsic cognitive loads when generating and revising ideas based on the feedback. Data was gathered from the…

Recasts are an important type of implicit negative feedback that has attracted much attention in both L1 research and SLA research. The utility of recasts in face-to-face interaction has been empirically established, and the contingency of recasts is argued to be the key. However, the efficacy of recasts in computer-mediated communication (CMC),…

This study investigated the relationship between components of working memory (WM) and the macrostructure (e.g., planning, writing, and revision) and microstructure (e.g., grammar, punctuation) of writing. A battery of WM and writing measures were administered to 160 high-school students. Overall, hierarchical regression analyses showed that the…

States that "gathering material" is what writers do when they are not writing and that writers are their own first audience, even as they write. Advocates active reading and book collecting as rewarding for writers. (PA)

Offers a model of the writing process that is based on a review of recent research and the author's experiences as a writer and teacher. Explains these stages in the writing process: (1) prewriting, (2) exploratory writing, (3) developmental writing, (4) external revision, and (5) "last looks." (RL)

A fifth-grade school teacher discusses the usefulness of brainstorming as a prewriting activity and illustrates how she used this activity with her students. (MP)

Describes a strategy for curriculum review that guides teachers through integrating technology into an existing curriculum plan. Based on a prewriting activity called SCAMPER, SCAMPER-CR offers a frame in which to review and revise existing units and unite literacy and technology. (LRW)

Argues that outlining should not be abandoned as a means to teaching students how to organize their thoughts because it can be an invaluable tool in certain circumstances. Describes in outline form how one teacher goes about teaching outlines to her students. (TB)

Writing, and the vocabulary building that goes with it, is a more complex process than merely putting words on a page. In the process of acquiring vocabulary, for example, students need to understand not just what individual words mean but also which combinations of these words in sentences or paragraphs convey a meaningful message to the reader…

Recommends a series of questions, activities, and guidelines to make free writing more productive and generative. (MS)

Presents a procedural model for use as a prewriting strategy to help students "decenter" or distance themselves from their writing and avoid the generalities that characterize egocentric writing. The model provides opposing viewpoints in a student's analysis of problems or issues. (HTH)