Presents a teaching assignment for business communication students involving library research and a process description assignment for technical writing students. (FL)

Describes a technical writing class assignment in which students describe scholarly journals in their own major fields. Tells how the assignment defines the audience for the reports, Poses descriptive questions, provides a set of general directions, and defines the form for the reports; explains the objectives of the assignment. (TJ)

Describes a weekly vocabulary assignment for college students with poor reading skills and shows how it provides incidental reading and writing benefits. (RL)

Advocates using James Baldwin's essays to motivate high school and college students to write and think critically. Contends Baldwin is the greatest American essayist since World War II. Cites Baldwin's love of language and his carefully crafted prose. Describes assignments in which students write about their mother or father or about growing up.…

Describes how engineering students at a Midwestern university submit final drafts of senior design projects for area businesses and industries in commercial-style formats (rather than in academic formats). Argues that this not only increases the scope and responsibility of writing instruction, but also better prepares students to adapt to…

Describes an assignment that bridges the gap between research on disciplinary discourse and the curricular goals of a first-year composition course, which, in this case, was linked with a section of first-year history. (TB)

Within educational settings students can choose to engage in assigned academic activities or other, sometimes disruptive behaviors. This paper reviews recent research on assignment preference, choice, and choosing. Results of these studies show how educators can enhance students' academic behaviors, decrease disruptive behaviors, and improve…

Shows how the mini-casebook approach, with a few modifications, works well with upper-division writing assignments. Notes that a mini-casebook approach is nothing more than a self-published document including a primary work of literature, selected secondary sources on that work, and a selection of several specified topics on the primary source.…

Provides a qualitative content analysis of photographs of the hallway displays in three elementary schools. Notes that the forms and functions of things displayed on hallway walls reveal much about school culture, what is valued, and what educational tools are and are not being used. Suggests how educators can use hallway display areas to support…

Defines the ballad as the link between the written and the sung. Explains that ballad meter is made of quatrains that alternate between four-stress and three-stress lines, and contain an "abcb" or "abab" rhyme scheme. Notes that ballads are mnemonic devices and tell stories. Discusses modern balladeers and describes ballad writing assignments. (PM)

Describes a 9th grade required course, Social Issues, and a related writing assignment. Students investigated an issue of personal interest to them and produced a paper with reflective and analytical writing. Six girls sparked a critical comprehension of reality. Data from interviews, focus groups, and papers indicated that the project enhanced…

Considers how theories of writing grounded in cultural studies and ethnographic writing have explicitly taken up questions of writing students' relations to cultures and communities outside the academy. Considers disciplinary influences in ethnographic writing. Discusses the reenvisioning of the politics of postmodern ethnography. (SG)

Finding effective ways to teach students to use and apply technology in their coursework and field placements can be a challenge for counselor educators. The use of online assignments in counselor education courses has been one way to teach and model the use of such technology for counselors in training. (Contains 14 references.) (GCP)

In a marketing course, students used the principles of product, price, place, and promotion to market their course work to the professor/customer. Assessment of 357 students over 4 semesters showed this experiential method resulted in higher achievement and greater understanding of customer expectations and satisfaction. (SK)

Defines the boundaries between "realist" literature and science fiction and fantasy. Describes science fiction writing assignments. Mentions science fiction and fantasy books suitable for the uninitiated reader. (RS)