Outlines an assignment in which a teacher used portfolios as the basis for a final examination to give students a chance to assess their own writing and their progress. Discusses the success of the assignment and the teacher's surprise at the students' insight into their own strengths and weaknesses. (PRA)

Presents an instructional assignment--the development of a "Job Strategy Notebook"--designed to assist students in career planning and preparation for an effective job search campaign. Offers ideas for assignments as well as sample forms dealing with skills/interests, resumes, career information, company research, and interviews/company visits.…

Discusses the difficulties with anticipating reader needs and evaluating a text's effectiveness. Reviews current methods of evaluating audience needs such as peer review and audience testing. Describes a reader-focused assignment detailing the class preparation, peer review, reader testing, reader response, and student response to reader…

Describes how the geology department of Bucknell University integrated its Senior Program with Bucknell's writing program. The program stresses the importance of the following: (1) teaching appropriate writing skills and style; (2) providing clearly articulated writing assignments; (3) writing multiple drafts; (4) using the peer-review method; and…

Discusses a variety of writing assignments emphasizing critical-thinking skills for a geology curriculum. The assignments include question and answer assignments, reaction papers, short papers, and position papers. The authors contend that several short writing assignments are better than a single term paper because students improve their writing…

Describes a college literature course that focuses on Leslie Silko's "Storyteller" as its core, uses other authors' related readings as dialog to Silko's multilayered text, and requires weekly informal writing assignments as preparation for discussion. Discusses five assignments and resultant student insights into American Indian…

Presents results of a project examining the effects of writing to learn in elementary social studies. Explains that the research explored journal writing activities as a means of improving social studies achievement, writing fluency, and communication. Concludes that journal writing does increase writing fluency and learning retention. (DK)

Describes Project SPARC (Science Projects across the Regents Curriculum), a two-week summer workshop for middle and high school science teachers, who studied the ecology of wetlands with a biologist and participated in writing and reading activities with a language arts specialist. (SR)

Describes the use of character journals (a written diary kept by the reader who assumes the role of the main character) with a group of eighth-grade students. Shows how students think more about what they are reading and come away with a better sense of their own identity. (SR)

Describes the development of a writing course that facilitates the development of students' writing skills at the same time it provides an opportunity for them to learn about the construction of gender through language. Combines the study of revision with that of "re-vision," as feminists use the term. (RS)

Describes a classroom project in which students prepare a complex collaborative document (assembled from subparts, each collaboratively produced). Enumerates advantages and problems that grow out of this complex collaboration in relation to overall goals for the teaching of writing skills. (SR)

Discusses the advantages of making the writing center part of the instructional media center in schools and provides some questions to consider in setting up a writing center. Offers three examples of popular writing assignments. (MG)

End-of-term assignments proven to be successful alternatives to college term papers include abstracts of journal articles on assigned topics, book reviews, group papers and projects, thought papers presented to class, and take-home final examinations. They change the professor's role form authority to facilitator and are worth the time spent…

Provides four art portraits from various sources to help students question reality and the roles people play in society. Includes background information on the artists, historical contexts, visual analyses, and vocabulary lists. Outlines art and reading assignments for all age groups. (KM)

Discusses a course on shared-document writing in which students indicate that they value the time allowed to coordinate groups and to understand and complete assignments. Asserts that structuring the course necessitates assigning work relating to a single topic and providing choices, including a voice in group formation and evaluation. (PRA)