Three classroom activities that can help students become better writers by building on skills they already have as well as by providing them with necessary strategies are conferences, journals, and class discussions. Conference groups--made up of three to five students discussing rough drafts of each other's written work and recorded by tape or notetaking--allow students to use their oral communication skills to become better critical readers and writers. Student journals--written records of experiences both in and out of class--allow students to explore ideas, observations, conversations, and issues drawn from oral experiences and serve as the basis for additional written assignments. Class discussions--drawn from newspaper articles, books, song lyrics, or any issue introduced in class--can serve as a stimulus for written composition by providing information and generating interest in a topic. These three methods allow students to use oral communication skills as a way of responding to and analyzing written work, generating ideas for writing, and exploring issues and topics. (EL)