Although law professors often say that first year law students need training to "think like lawyers," many law students survive law school by practicing the "skill" of rote memory. It is when they take the bar examination or actually begin to work in a law office that they need the faculty of analytical thinking, for notes must…

To examine "bluffing"--ways in which conflicts in classrooms and evaluation procedures influence the styles of student writing and teachers' responses to different styles, a study analyzed the placement-test essays of 99 undergraduates entering Temple University (Pennsylvania) in the fall of 1982. Analysis of the texts was based on a…

This teachers' guide provides lesson plans and support materials to accompany a high school instructional television series on successful Alaskans. The six video programs in the series are each 15 minutes long and present the special skills, talents, and strategies used by successful Alaskans to meet the challenges in their lives. The subjects are…

This collection was written by the students of English as a second language at Streatham and Tooting Institute, London, England. Some of the work is by advanced students, some by people who have only just begun to learn English. Some students who are not yet confident of their ability to write in English dictated what they wanted to say. The…

A case study, designed to provide information on what it is that cognitively and socially defines an underprepared student as underprepared, focuses on a piece of writing by a community college student from the inner city (Tanya) in a college-level basic reading and writing course. The study presents a "snapshot" of some of the social…

The Alberta Essay Scales were developed to assist teachers in the grading of essays. They represent a standard based on written compositions at the 12th grade level in 1964 to be compared with current composition writing achievement. A scale for mechanics in English and one for writing style and content are defined through model essays and…

A training program designed to teach high school students to be specific in their writing is described in this booklet. The first section of the booklet explains the three stages of the program: (1) daily practice in translating a "telling" sentence into a "showing" paragraph; (2) application of "showing" writing to…

The teaching of writing in the American Indian-English bilingual classroom is hampered in that most Amerindian languages have only recently been alphabetized. There are two problems: (1) What standard or orthography will be adopted? (2) What standards of style will be developed? Usually, there are several different writing systems for any one…

This article proposes to teach writing from the hypothesis that true writing and good prose are only end products rather than the primary objectives. The author suggests that producing an effect in a reader and revealing the self in words are prior achievements in the process of learning to write well. Criteria for judging writing are based…

Contemporary poetry can be of value in the study of composition as a model of careful, concise, and effective use of language. Students can observe and, hopefully, imitate the poet's precise use of (1) vocabulary, (2) supporting materials, (3) introductions and conclusions, (4) transitional words and phrases, and (5) a variety of types of diction…

This study describes a workshop course for high school students interested in writing articles, biographies, and humorous essays. Emphasis is on form and content, with special attention to the development of individual styles. Course objectives for the student include: (1) imitating various sentence structures, paragraph constructions, and unique…

Explores the connection between reading and writing implicit in children's creative writing and highlights the similarity between processes of reading and writing. (JC)

Presents the Wilkinson Scales for writing assessment and shows how one eighth grade student's essay, using the scales, can be evaluated for grammatical and mechanical problems without devaluing the emotion that went into its composition. (JC)

Challenges the view that children should learn to write narratives first and shows how teachers can exploit everyday classroom topics to help children develop control of the kinds of factual writing normally used by adults. (MM)

Describes one creative writing teacher's use of an owl as a focal point for writing activities and how the writing activities aided the students' personal and creative development. Provides samples of student writing. (ARH)