Tells the story of the author's working class niece who became the first student in the history of a university-sponsored writing workshop for children and young adults to have her story rejected for publication. Examines aspects of the story's violence, its connections to popular culture, the gender inflections of the story's reception, and class…

Describes a 10-week workshop at an alternative high school in New York City that explored how words come into a language and that involved students in writing their own reference books of words not yet in any dictionary (their "personal dictionaries"). Contains a 22-item annotated dictionary source list. (RS)

Describes an informal class for teenaged writers on sonnets. Shows that the young writers, after reading some actual sonnets, can work with this 14-line poetic form. Illustrates with examples of the sonnets written by the participants. (PA)

Describes how the author used literature with her second-grade students to explicitly demonstrate elements of the writer's craft. Focuses on how writers get their ideas, descriptive language, and character development. Describes how these young students made noticeable improvements in their writing over a fairly short period of time. Draws…

Investigates the current situation of the writer in the schools by talking with six eminent children's writers--three novelists, three poets--who visit schools in the United Kingdom. Suggests the need for writers and teachers to work more closely together before, during, and after contact with pupils. (SR)

Notes how students learn to examine multiple elements of a text with critical perspective making analogies between others' writing and their own. Concludes that students may only have one opportunity to workshop their writing, but that intense learning experience, coupled with critical responses to another 20 or so drafts, coaxes writers into…

Presents three teachers' experience with a journal-writing workshop that was successfully implemented in a first-grade classroom, in which the children became an enthusiastic and effective community of writers. Discusses several advantages of a journal-writing workshop. (SG)

Recognizes a predominant pattern of elements for writers' workshop and categorizes these elements as the Seven C's: Climate, Choice of Literature, Communication, Coaching, Connection, Collaboration, and Chemistry. Elaborates on each "C." Concludes that after working cooperatively in a writers' workshop, the author was able to bring more meaningful…

Presents a scene from the multimedia performance of "We're Not Nice Little Old Ladies." Notes that the performance was the culmination of a 3-year research project called "Stories of Ageing" intended to explore what ageing means from the point of view of the older woman. (SG)

This article explores the ways three young students expressed their perceptions about literacy and investigates how their classroom identity shapes and is shaped by those perceptions. The ways in which positioning within a writing event and the classroom culture contributed to the development of writing voice and identity are examined. In…

According to this book, writing is a process of "uneducation," rather than education. The book cites the secret of creativity as subtracting rules for writing, not adding them. Most people are baffled at how to teach this, since teaching and "uneducation" appear contradictory--but experience in Zen meditation, which is…

Based on a series of successful summer writing institutes, this book presents practical ways for teachers to reinvigorate their classrooms and their own attitudes toward creative writing. In four complementary sections focusing on four groups of writers--creative writers in residence, K-12 students and teachers who participated in the summer…

An ethnographic study examined the impact of a writing workshop on non-academic writers. Subjects, 11 adult non-academic writers who wrote little, were seldom around others who did, and did not think they were good writers, participated in 10 Saturday sessions conducted in a bookstore in a rural town. They wrote narratives on self-selected topics…

The emotional transitions basic writers have to make when they enter the academic setting can be overwhelming. Basic writers tend to have a host of problems and obstacles to overcome, not the least of which are their own anxieties. One way to alleviate some of the anxieties and insecurities is through a studio or workshop course staffed with…

Intended for anyone who wants to write poetry (and do it well), this guide provides the "nuts and bolts" of craft and process, as well as the sources of inspiration. The guide contains brief essays on the elements of poetry, technique, and suggested subjects for writing; each essay is followed by distinctive writing exercises. Included…