Suggests general principles for developing assignments where students prepare portfolios that reveal their overall communication skills in addition to the usual job search tools. Emphasizes that students should concentrate on including works in the portfolio with the criteria of quality, variety, professionalism, and maturity in mind. (SKC)

Describes an exercise to elicit student interpretations of Robert Wallace's poem, "Ungainly Things." (MM)

Suggests that teachers attempt to have children write poetry that deals with the senses. Develops lessons to demonstrate to students their own potential for writing poetry. (MS)

Suggests that if students are to become comfortable enough with poetry to freely write about it, they must first discover the poetry in themselves. Offers a composition-poetry method that allows students to experience poetry, analyze their writing processes, and synthesize all the information gained from doing and analyzing. (MS)

Evaluates the use of meditation as a basis for a descriptive writing assignment in advanced composition. (MS)

Describes an assignment that urges expository writers to pursue their own interests and create a fully developed prose project that they will be eager to share. (HTH)

Discusses how student journals can be used as a way to incorporate writing into the engineering curriculum. Reports on a study done at Northeastern University which indicated that students responded positively to the journal-keeping requirement. (TW)

Analyzes the creative writing of 94 second-grade children in a suburban elementary school, comparing boys' and girls' creative writings when the composition was elicited from realistic fiction, fantasy, and fantasy in conjunction with stuffed animals and wind-up toys. Also examines the combined creativity of boys' and girls' compositions and the…

Describes problem definition in academic writing as existing on a continuum, with literary interpretation near one end and scientific writing near the other. Examines the consequences of this for undergraduate literature and composition assignments. (SRT)

Discusses the advantages of a microcomputer program that provides exercises for writing practice at the elementary French level at Vanderbilt University. A "computerized workbook" was developed to provide further written practice and to accompany the textbook. The text and results of a questionnaire administered after the computer-based…

Describes a method for involving disabled readers with Shakespeare texts by means of reading aloud, writing, and workshops. (HTH)

Presents a descriptive exercise, also useful for technical writing, that provides a real reader and a strong sense of the nature of descriptive writing. Students are given sketches of an art piece that they must describe for a museum for identification. (HTH)

Group creative writing activities encourage foreign language students to participate on various levels as thinkers, writers, readers, and critics. Students stimulate, correct, and give feedback to each other about writing skills. (CB)

Examines a number of language activities in educational software, noting that most focus on surface structure and conventions, thus closing off students' options rather than expanding them. Discusses how, by improvising with word processors, teachers can tailor activities to help students explore and reflect on their reading and writing…

Describes a technical writing assignment designed to teach (1) audience awareness, (2) strategies for analytical problem solving, (3) an understanding of the patterns of organization that make the information clear to the intended audience, and (4) a mastery of the editing skills needed to make writing correct and concise. (SRT)