The purpose of this essay is to instruct teachers how to write a letter of recommendation for their students. It includes when to say no, what the student needs to provide the teacher and how to write a strong letter. I am a teacher with sixteen years experience and therefore have written many letters for students. This instructional essay will…

If writing teachers want to use modality effectively, they first have to deal with three problems: identification of markers of modality in English; representation (the use of models for modality); and correlation (pedagogical usefulness, and writing strategies for students). Two models of modality address the problems which writing teachers…

This article suggests one way of categorizing types of factual writing and introduces a teaching strategy for developing students' awareness of structural and language features of many factual genres. It is based on genre theory and the idea that generic structures of texts are determined by the purpose of the text. Six nonfiction genres are…

This series of issues of a newsletter called "The Dangling Modifier" begins with Volume 1, Number 1 (Fall 1994) and concludes with Volume 9, Number 2 (2003). The newsletter is subtitled "A National Newsletter by and for Peer Tutors in Writing" for the majority of the issues--the last issue changes the subtitle to "An…

Argues for teaching students to write leads that stress unusual story features and can be used as a peg to hang the rest of the story on. Recommends the use of student writing models, accounts by professional writers about lead writing, and instruction in the rhetorical strategy of contrast/dissonance. (PAA)

Deliberately writing badly can be an effective way to learn to write better because knowing when writing is bad is an essential element in knowing when it's good. There are distinct advantages to encouraging students to learn the rules by breaking them. Deliberately doing it wrong removes the threat of failure. Students are playing; they are…

A composition teacher's suggestion to students to read personal compositions to others and to act on their reactions took on new meaning when the teacher read his own works to a writer's group. The teacher then began to realize the real implications of this method for writing instruction. Student reactions to their classmates' compositions can…

Responds to Thomas Devine's indictment of the process approach to writing instruction, arguing that teaching practices reflecting misapplication of research are often wrongly labeled the process approach and a more precise definition of the process approach should inform debates over its value. Questions Devine's conclusions. (DMM)

As an elementary reading specialist, Lynn Mondello Caggiano, the author of this article, often worked with students who struggled with reading and other language tasks, including writing. After working with a group of students for whom written expression was particularly difficult, Caggiano came up with the plan of having the students draw their…

This paper describes experiences in teaching writing skills to elementary gifted students with learning disabilities. Journal writing and word processing are found to be powerful tools in improving student writing while increasing students' self-confidence. Guest speakers, daily reading aloud by the teacher, and field trips to enrich students'…

These three papers deal with ways to incorporate social studies into the language arts curriculum. The first paper, "What Social Studies Teachers Need To Know about Language Arts," provides suggestions on the writing process and how that process can be used in the social studies. Paper 2, "Applying Communications Activities to Learning Processes…

This checklist is designed to help develop writing strategies for English language learners (ELLs), focusing on a variety of linguistic strategies inherent in the writing process. It provides them with a graphical representation of the cognitive process involved in complex writing, promoting self-assessment strategies and integrating oral…

Supports the use of the applied linguistics technique of error analysis (i.e., charting and analyzing patterns in language errors) in developmental writing instruction. Argues that error enables teachers to diagnose the cognitive strategies and processes used by students in writing. Discusses teaching strategies and the approach's limitations.…

This collection of essays relates the experiences of teachers who have adopted and implemented a writing-process approach in their classrooms. In the collection, elementary, secondary, and college teachers candidly discuss their experiences--the struggles and successes, and the differences between their imagined ideal and the everyday reality.…

Argues that the combination of collaborative writing and electronic resources can produce a reaffirmation of literacy as a social process. Utilizes feminist theory to equate the postmodernist assumptions regarding the indeterminate nature of language with democratizing influences. Describes a class project where students produced a collaborative,…