Writing autobiographies, in which students describe their experiences as writers, show that students already know a great deal about their strengths and weaknesses as writers and about the conditions they need to write successfully. Typical first assignments given to entering college students are often used to diagnose the ability level and…

This paper describes the content, techniques, and benefits of a life history course, which was designed to extend the traditional goal of psychological development through autobiography into a spiritual context. The three major components of the course are described. The format of the lectures is presented, focusing on concepts, ideas, and tools…

This paper, written for counselors and educators, describes a course in guided autobiography (a self-narrative which is structured around important life themes such as family, work, health, love and death) and its role in developmental psychology. A description of the course which is structured around three components, lectures, writing…

A study explored literacy myths of the academic culture as expressed by college writing students, examining shared literacy myths about the acquisition and uses of literacy, how beliefs influence literacy acquisition, and how cultural roles determine literacy experiences. Students were asked to write autobiographical accounts of their literacy…

In the summer of 1884, Ulysses S. Grant wrote his "Memoirs," which were published and promoted by the great American writer, Mark Twain, who encouraged and aided Grant in his literary work. Grant was fatally ill with cancer of the throat and raced against time to complete his manuscript. He was motivated by the desire to provide…

Teaching college writing students to edit the autobiographical writing of others has many advantages. Autobiographical materials, such as diaries, letters, or journals, are physically and psychologically accessible for students, and as editors they would be obliged to keep in mind appropriateness of language, tone, and simplicity or complexity of…

While the story is autobiographical, it is also the story of Fairleigh Dickinson University, thought to be one of the last private universities to be established in the United States. Its early development was inspired by the philosophy of New College, Teachers College, Columbia University. Fairleigh Dickinson's establishment represented an…

This bibliography is intended to inform and acquaint teachers, administrators, and community persons in Baltimore, Maryland, with the multi-ethnic print and nonprint resources available for their use at the Pathway Project Resource Center. There are 14 parts to the listing: audiovisual materials, autobiographies and biographies; cultural…

Traces the educational progress of a successful working-class student from his first days in school, when he was unprepared and barely able to speak English, until he concluded his studies 21 years later in the British Museum. (DD)

Describes a writing project designed to encourage eighth-grade students to examine their past with specific objectives to: (1) complement the speech and reading components of a theme on childhood and youth; (2) introduce or review basic mechanical skills and basic research skills; and (3) introduce basic tools of expressive writing.(NH)

Explains how students can enhance their writing skills and strategies by examining prose models concurrent with their own writing. (HOD)

Explores how Asian-American literature provides unique access to understanding the social history of an often misunderstood American racial minority group. (CRH)

Describes the work of Friends of the Children of Mississippi, a Head Start program which began in the late 1960s and for which the author was hired to develop Black history materials for teacher training. Presents excerpts from the autobiographies of several Black women trainees in the program. (GC)

A qualitative study examined the effectiveness of the combination of autobiography, biography, and cross-cultural analyses in the context of preservice teacher education. Subjects were 21 preservice teachers at a rural Midwestern public university in which only 9% of the 11,000 students were from minority backgrounds. Subjects, for a class…

While most students in a secondary language arts methods course found writing and reading each other's critical literacy autobiographies interesting and helpful to their understanding of literacy, they struggled with how to respond to their classmates' autobiographies. That struggle emerged within a teacher inquiry project whose central question…