Examines the reading personna of the writer and its functions. Discusses how a writing instructor, by means of listening in a conference setting, can bring this other personna into existence. (HTH)

Raises some questions about the way children write stories and the part teachers play in their writing. (HOD)

Discusses efforts at teaching children in kindergarten how to write, indicating that emergent readers can indeed write with scribbles, random letters, numerals, and sometimes words. Discusses their dictation, journal content, writing stages, and developmental trends. (HTH)

Argues that children want to write and enjoy writing and that teachers need to provide them with suitable opportunities for doing so. Discusses different kinds of writing that allow children's voices to come through. (FL)

Research on the composition process and writing instruction has reiterated that red-pencilling students' literary efforts achieves mostly negative effects. Researchers contend that if teachers ignore the mechanics used (or misused) by beginning writers, if they encourage and stimulate the production of both oral and written language, reward the…

Recounts observations of a second grader's writing processes and concludes that students' enjoyment of writing should be cultivated. (DF)

An account of how the author's son began writing as a play activity, issuing tickets to neighbors, attempting to read and interpret signs, and participating in making shopping and duty lists in the household. Includes observational recommendations. (CRH)

Views the writing act as an act of exploration rather than the reporting of what was discovered and emphasizes six elements that achieve the surprise in writing, including expectation, ease, and acceptance. (DF)

Examines the connections between children's writing and their earlier developed form of graphic symbolism--drawing--and explores research on early writing development. Considers the range of contexts for drawing and writing presented in the classroom. (HTH)

Examines the early writing of a young child over the course of several months to illustrate the struggle with the writing process. Draws parallels between the child's writing progress and that of the author as she learned to be comfortable as a writer and suggests implications for the teaching of writing. (HTH)

Presents a model that predicts writing growth in children as a logical outcome of language acquisition. Provides a list of the kinds of language learning underway in the elementary school years and suggests that teachers may use this list to anticipate where and how such learning will influence the writing processes of children. (FL)

Discusses children's writing process and how creating an atmosphere in which they are willing to take risks encourages their writing fluency and enthusiasm. Suggests that allowing invented spellings, reading-writing partners (peer pairs), and class editing can be beneficial to beginning writers. (HTH)

Suggests that reading and writing are not only language competencies displayed in literacy or literature but that they are the sites for analysis in emergent literacies. (DF)

The articles in this collection are intended to present a detailed picture of the work of Donald Graves and his associates at the Writing Process Laboratory (WPL) of the University of New Hampshire. The introduction provides an overview of the work of Graves and examines his views of beginning writing, writing conferences, revision, audience, and…

Offers a variety of practical writing ideas that can help first-grade teachers encourage writing across the curriculum. (FL)