This investigation sought to determine if a planned program in personal writing might be effective in teaching the language arts tasks of intermediate grade children. Examined were the effects of the personal writing treatment upon word meaning, paragraph meaning, spelling, language, writing, and attitudes toward reading. One experimental and one control class in each of grades 4 and 5 were taught by the experimenter; the experimental class followed a planned program of personal writing activities composed by the investigator, while the control class followed the lesson plans in the language textbook. Pre- and post-tests used were the "Stanford Achievement Test" subtests in the language arts; the STEP Essay Test; and a reading attitude test. Results were that both experimental 4th- and 5th-grade students showed significant differences in punctuation, usage, capitalization, dictionary use, and essay composition; 5th-graders exhibited a significant difference in understanding word meaning; 4th-graders exhibited a significant difference in spelling. Neither grade's experimental group yielded a difference in attitudes toward reading or in paragraph comprehension. The conclusion was that the program in personal writing was effective in several areas. (Author/LH)