Describes a program to train English teachers to prepare for Great Britain's National Curriculum. (PRA)

Describes the activities of "The WONDER of Learning Program" of the National Writing Project. Shows how the program was designed to nurture first-grade teachers in seven retreat sessions in which the teachers studied and learned from each other about teaching approaches, methods, and activities. (HB)

Describes how one English teacher developed an approach to teaching writing that pairs student writers with writers in the community outside the school. Outlines the features of this writing partners project, including the responsibilities of each partner. Argues that such programs foster writer skill and self-esteem. (HB)

Describes a collaborative reading and writing project matching preservice student teachers with eighth-grade students. Provides analysis of participant reactions to the program, including specific comments by both students and teachers about the readings and the subsequent writing assignments. (HB)

Considers the role of the writing center within the context of a large writing program. Describes how the adoption of a portfolio system of grading at the University of Southern California focused attention on this issue. Narrates the changes brought about by the adoption of a portfolio assessment system. (HB)

Discusses the merits of implementing a character education curriculum through teaching literature according to themes. Argues that a reflective approach, emphasizing students' engagement with the issues and the resolutions they come up with for considering moral dilemmas, will be more effective than a didactic approach. Describes a unit on…

Reform of undergraduate education is sweeping the United States and the design of the writing major at Millikin University (Decatur, Illinois), is an example of this movement. The writing major was in need of reform because, in addition to the English major core of literature surveys, Shakespeare, and a course in the history of grammar and the…

Efforts at diversifying and pluralizing curricula in English departments have been under way long enough for many to realize that simply adding a few texts by writers historically omitted will not promote truly broadened learning. A course on "minority literature" (Native-American, Asian-American, African American, and Hispanic) for the…

By using a thematic approach and by drawing on other disciplines for breadth, English teachers can "honorably seduce" career-oriented students into a love affair with literature and draw them back into the English curriculum. For example, a teacher's conversation with a student focusing on fathers and sons led the teacher to suggest that the…

This paper describes the development and design of English 118 at Drake University. The course, geared primarily for college juniors and seniors, devotes proportionate shares of time to the theory, practice, and analysis of written expression, oral interpretation, and nonverbal communication. Six course options enable a wide variety of students to…

The home mission of the University English department is the teaching of reading and writing, and its foreign mission is the "converting" to a higher literacy of those outside the English department, especially those who teach English in the high schools and other subjects at the college level. Potential high school English teachers'…

Little attention has been paid in composition journals and professional conferences to the practical problems associated with a writing program director's efforts to introduce an innovative composition curriculum within a traditional English department. A collaborative, problem solving approach to curriculum change is a practical way to proceed…

Ways of enriching the high school English curriculum with instruction in oral communication and career related skills are presented in this paper. The suggestions include activities for developing skills in basic public speaking, listening, social awareness, educational awareness, economic awareness, group discussion, letters of application, job…

A pilot project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and a state college educational trust fund to improve writing in the humanities and across the curriculum is described in this paper. Also presented are the obstacles confronted in establishing the project, a seven-point strategy developed to counter those obstacles, the…

Describes the objectives and background of a project designed to implement change in a school district's written communication program and analyzes the data obtained from writing evaluation forms. (HOD)