Four kinds of writing can take place in classrooms: writing as punishment, writing as assessment, writing to learn, writing instruction. First type should never occur, because it reinforces all negative qualities of transcription. This article tells principals what to look for in good writing program and offers tips for encouraging English…

Describes an activity to encourage students to write with specific details. Notes that (at the beginning of each class) students briefly jot down three things that have made them feel good on that particular day. Notes several other benefits of this activity. (SR)

Notes that students new to technical writing frequently have difficulty grasping the essentiality of technical definitions and learning how to create appropriate definitions. Suggests that exercises centered around a term that is lapsing into obsolescence offer some productive solutions to this common instructional problem. (RS)

Looks closely at the words of Whitman's "Song of Myself" to get a closer look at the mystery of poetry. Discusses how Whitman's work can be used with students to inspire their writing. (MG)

Offers a 20-item list (put together by high school students) of features characteristic of Whitman's poems. Uses the list of features to write original poetry. Offers additional writing ideas for use with Walt Whitman's poetry. (MG)

Discusses "January Morning," a poem of William Carlos Williams, wherein the 15 sections come in no apparent order and are "unparallel" (varied in content, tone, length, etc.). Finds the language colloquial and conversational, with casual notation. States the poem, with its free format, can be used successfully in college poetry…

Describes an assignment in which students sharpen their punctuation skills by arranging poems without punctuation in a prose form with appropriate punctuation. Suggests using the poetry of a fictional character from Don Marqui's "archy and mehitabel." (TB)

Notes an often-ignored important step in opinion writing: gathering facts and data to use in supporting arguments. Presents specific 50-60 minute classroom activities to help create a unit for students. Includes a lesson plan for three days, tips for writing a good editorial, and an article by Cat Kasko entitled "Forgiveness is a beautiful thing."…

The professional development organizations educate the local decision-makers by reducing the risks of automated scoring technologies to language and writing practices. These automated assessments lead to changes, which benefits private industry and conflicts with research on writing and language.

During the spring semester of 2006 the Department of Physical Education (John Jay College of Criminal Justice) and a writing fellow, an English doctoral candidate (CUNY Graduate Center), began working together, with the goal of creating a new writing assignment for an integral course at the college. PED 103, Personal Physical Fitness and Dynamic…

This study was designed to elicit concepts and practices of democracy and accountability from education practitioners--graduate students who are teachers and leaders in schools and who are differently positioned as workers in higher education systems. The author's intention was to prompt active and reflective thinking on the part of the students…

This study observes and examines how upper intermediate to advanced level college students perform and perceive one-topic-for-each student presentation as a means of learning English. It is also to have the prospective medical doctors ready for their future use of English presentation and paper writing since such demand is on the rise in the…

Seniors submitted and revised essays within ePortfolios for evaluation by high school faculty and university first-year writing instructors. The project also examined differences between high school and college teachers' responses and effects on students' assumptions about the writing expected and valued in college. Results suggest techniques…

Most freshmen who have been introduced to the scientific report are unaware of its rhetorical complexities and problem-solving purpose. Instead, they experience the task of writing lab reports as a perfunctory recording of prescribed activities. In 1994 an instructor, faced with the taks of developing a writing across the curriculum (WAC) sequence…

This practicum addressed the problem of Chapter 1 fourth grade students not being able to compose a paragraph using correct spelling and language arts skills. The subjects were 16 predominantly Black and Hispanic students in a school in an old small southern city. The students had paragraph composition assignments weekly. The goals were: (1) to…