To illustrate the principles of partial specification in writing research, six emerging paradigms of writing research are considered. It is shown that each of these paradigms makes contradictory claims as to what constitutes the principal causative context of classroom writing competence. The sociopolitical implications for these paradigms are…

Offers excerpts from Kenneth Koch's classic book in which he tells how he and Kate Farrell taught poetry writing to elderly people in a nursing home. Describes four poetry writing classes, first giving students' poems, then Koch's commentary. (PA)

Uses six students' writing to detail classroom revision techniques that have students write alternative sections of their essays, generate new aspects of their topics, and see other possibilities in their work. (SR)

Relates how poetry in Spanish is used with bilingual students in elementary school and with Spanish classes in high school. States that basic ground is covered first: metaphor and simile, use of the five senses in description, and the idea of the "persona poem." Furnishes examples of poems written in English by students and translated…

Describes the events leading up to the publication of an article on athletes and alcohol (included in full). Discusses how the school newspaper has been credited with allowing a negative, sensitive subject to be discussed among students and faculty for the good of the student body. (KEH)

Notes that, although many composition teachers talk about the need to find "organic" forms in composing, students are often content to organize their writing in formulaic ways. Discusses the difficulties in teaching form arising from students focusing on a particular form's requirements instead of its functions. Discusses using the counterpoint…

Cites essays by Joan Didion, John Berryman, and Martin Luther King in arguing that the essay, no matter how serious, can be considered as a fiction and a playful, exploratory and deeply interesting rhetorical game. Describes how these works were used to teach students that the essay is a living document calling for interaction. (SG)

Presents 11 strategies writing teachers can use to alleviate writing apprehension and to encourage student writers to feel confident about revealing their thoughts in writing. (SR)

Writing need not be a minefield of run-on sentences, misspellings, and trite expressions, but should serve as a powerful catalyst for learning. Teachers focusing on the writing process in various disciplines take students through prewriting activities, writing a draft, peer review of a draft, revising, editing, rewriting the final draft, and…

Questions the required use of over-sized pencils as writing implements in kindergarten. Evaluates eight writing samples written with eight tools of different sizes and shapes. Reports no noticeable differences in the conventionality (form) of the letters, in directionality, or in spelling. (KEH)

Explores the nature of children's poetry. Describes an underlying mechanism activated when children engage deeply, meditate unselfconsciously, and express those meditations through the act of writing. Urges teachers to incorporate into writing instruction children's natural inclination to play. (MM)

Describes strategies (including the use of multicultural reading materials) for helping culturally diverse students make personal connections with poetry and the creative process. (SR)

Reviews briefly how imagery is integral to knowing and thinking, and how perception and reason do indeed reside under the same blanket. Details two college writing assignments that require writers to engage in "imaginal processes" in proportion to their verbal process. (SR)

Describes three fifth-grade students in the author's school who used humor in their writing assignments. Offers samples of their work and their observations about it. (SR)

Analyzes writing samples of a child's letters to her aunt over a period of a year and a half to show how writing and reading influence each other. (SR)