Explores the use of multimedia in assignments that are submitted on compact disks. Examines the sources of media available, including video, still images, and sound; techniques for editing and incorporating media files, including appropriate software; compact disk technology; copyright; assessment criteria; equal opportunity considerations; and…

Contains an imaginary writing assignment and an imaginary student's response to it that critiques it and the conception of writing it appears to be predicated upon. (TB)

Describes a very successful writing assignment the author uses with his high school English students, in which students write about a letter of the alphabet. Notes that this assignment grants freedom for exploration and voice, the raw material for shaping and can be used to teach everything from the writing of poetry to essays for college…

Looks at first graders enthusiastically writing their autobiographies. Describes an environmental and instructional model called the Center Activity Rotation System. Discusses its three phases and how children rotate through seven centers in the classroom, which allows for a variety of grouping patterns that invite children to work on skills as…

Relates how the author teaches elementary and secondary school students to write nexus poems--poems that use a nexus, or bridge, to persuade the reader, or to show the reader the link between where something originates and where people use it. (SR)

Argues that looking at students' uses of cliche in context can teach instructors about students' struggles to fashion new knowledge from what they already believe to be true. Examines students' most frequently used cliches. Suggests writing instructors who examine their response to cliche can learn how their pedagogical practices can deafen them…

Describes a writing exercise for middle schoolers to college students that encourages students to become more aware of language, especially word choice and audience in their writing, by writing lipograms (compositions from which all words containing a certain letter are omitted). Notes it can be used as a pre-revision activity, part of a poetry…

Notes the relationship between thinking and playfulness. Demonstrates that playful language is a valuable way for adolescents from varied cultural backgrounds to express their thinking. Explores in depth four approaches to writing that encourage linguistic play: choosing playful topics; emphasizing characteristics of linguistic play; selecting…

Discusses factors related to the successful delivery of online programs, based on experiences at Nova Southeastern University. Topics include on-campus visits by online students; timing; synchronous versus asynchronous methods; threaded discussion boards; assignments; learning resources; administrative and technical support; faculty issues; the…

Conducted a confirmatory factor analysis of score profiles of the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) in the United Kingdom to determine whether tests can replace teacher-assessed coursework in the GCSE. Results suggest that replacing school project work by tests could undo a wholesale replacement of school project work by tests.…

Presents strategies to prepare students in step two of the Independent Investigation Method, goal setting, for the research in step three: ask essential questions; ask questions using Bloom's taxonomy; create playful ways to focus questioning; create a hypothesis or preliminary thesis statement; identify a variety of likely resources before…

Postsecondary students were sent case studies to analyze and submit via electronic mail attachments. Results of an evaluation indicate that the benefits of using electronic mail for course work far outweigh the disadvantages. (Contains 10 references.) (JOW)

In this article, the authors describe the concept of an anticipation guide. The anticipation guide is a strategy in which students forecast the major ideas of a reading passage through the use of statements that activate their thoughts and opinions. This strategy is helpful in activating students' prior knowledge and stimulating student interest…

Types of learning with a strong emphasis on the responsibility of the learner (such as discovery learning) are gaining popularity over traditional forms of (expository) instruction. Discovery learning distinguishes itself by the central role of learning processes such as hypothesis generation (induction), experiment design, and data…

A critical geographic pedagogy of writing can help students participate in public life by gaining access to the means of knowledge production. Drawing on pedagogical and composition theory, this article analyzes student papers from an introductory-level geography course to show how geography teachers can create assignments that broaden the scope…