Describes a scavenger hunt assignment in a freshman orientation course. Uses the idea of the scavenger hunt as a way to locate and utilize campus resources and gain insight into the grading and self-evaluation process. Contains four resources, with sample assignments appended. (NB)

Presents the details of the Shakespeare Frolic Project, a multimedia approach to teaching works of Shakespeare that involves students in writing, analyzing, drawing, reading, and performing. Presents an introductory exercise and describes various student activities. (RS)

Describes a study that investigates the relationship between secondary students' written responses and the mathematical and cognitive processing used when solving a complex problem. Contains 40 references. (DDR)

Discusses seven issues affecting assessment: (1) selection of texts, (2) use of oral and written assignments, (3) characteristics of grades and evaluation, (4) opportunities for self-assessment, (5) retention of learning, (6) psychology of students, and (7) the development of new tests. Suggests ways that economics faculty can improve assessment…

Provides classroom activities to enable students to learn about the economics of auctions. Explains that the students complete a written assignment listing products that are sold at auctions and participate in a classroom discussion. Includes ideas following the discussion, such as the alternative hypothesis strategy, housing auctions, and…

Discusses how research comes alive when students explore a range of alternate genres instead of writing the traditional research report. Notes that multigenre writing helps most students grow as researchers, thinkers, and writers while they develop a fundamental understanding of the different purposes for which text can be used. (SG)

Discusses the different requirements of teaching drama students and directing professionals. Outlines a range of dramaturgical action between working to support the artistic interests of an established playwright and instructing a novice playwright in basic approaches. Examines how thinking in terms of a spectrum from neophyte to veteran guides…

Concludes, derived from three years' work with high school and college writing classes, that students need to practice reading one another's work while giving and receiving feedback. Describes a program in which writing teachers of college-bound high school seniors and freshman college composition teachers designed writing assignments that all of…

Proposes that writing to published authors deepens students' understanding of children's literature and gives them a greater awareness of writing techniques. Suggests that when letter writing takes place within the context of a writing workshop, it is an effective strategy for literacy growth. Outlines how to choose authors, find addresses, and…

Discusses a means for increasing undergraduate and graduate students' level of empathy. Assigned students to write about and role play a character that they create who suffers from a psychological disorder. Explains that after quantitative and qualitative analyses it was demonstrated that students' empathy increased. (CMK)

Describes an assignment in a social psychology course to help students learn about social constraints. Directed students to write a report after either violating a norm or imagining what would happen during a norm violation. Discusses student reaction to the assignment. (CMK)

Explores the possibilities of the paperless classroom achieved through e-mail strategies and the use of Blackboard, an e-learning software platform. Claims that the system can be an efficient method for storing and evaluating papers and communicating with students. Concludes that the system allows the author to create a permanent electronic paper…

Notes the importance of online writing groups in an English 101 class. Suggests that for any writing group to be effective, students need to feel safe to express themselves. Describes three main writing assignments which created connected, motivated writing groups: the biography assignment, an essay on identity, and a group essay. (PM)

Describes a journal writing activity designed to engage students in the exchange between text and reader. Argues that informal writing in a journal is a means of letting students find out that, if they engage themselves with a text, they will find it interesting. (RS)

Suggests that using sociolinguistics as the subject of a semester-long course leads to real and exciting research rather than technically correct but lifeless "dummy runs" for real research in freshman composition courses. (MG)