Describes a first-year composition sequence of assignments using the topic of family to allow students to write essays based on their own experiences. Notes that the sequence eventually requires that students also address connected ideas and then reflect on the convergence of the personal and analytical. (PRA)

Offers a dialog between two writers, showing the mutual struggle with writing issues, many of them distinct to women, concerning such things as bodies, definitions of revision, and exploring purpose. (TB)

Talks about the "writing from the heart" practiced in one sixth-grade classroom by students and teacher, for many different purposes. Describes instructional approaches that encourage such writing. (SR)

Offers a brief history of portfolio assessment, addresses question teachers should consider when implementing portfolios, and gives a classroom scenario using portfolios. Describes the impact of portfolio grading on students, discussing power issues and student attitudes, and increasing student power. (SR)

Describes a writer's professional relationship with the scholarly figure of David Bartholomae and his collection of writings. Considers the issue of authority, social class, and tone in a writer's relationship to his or her sources, subjects, or readers. (TB)

With support and guidance, graduate students can successfully pursue academic writing for publication. In graduate circles, academic writing is presumed to be a solitary activity for which students already are prepared. Yet, the reality is that students tend to find academic writing difficult and stressful, and they often look to university…

In graduate circles, academic writing is presumed to be a solitary activity for which students already are prepared. Yet, the reality is that students tend to find academic writing difficult and stressful, and they often look to university faculty members for guidance. Faculty members, in turn, may provide hands-on practice and other classroom…

Describes how a class of 13 academically average high school students, inspired by an earlier article in this journal, collaboratively wrote a story. Notes that the students continued to revise their story even after it came back from the printers. (RS)

Discusses how the author and a colleague made a short videotape of students talking about their writing experiences. Describes first steps, arrangements and questions, the shoot itself, and crafting the video. Discusses uses of this video, noting the impact this infusion of student voices can have in the composition classroom, influencing the way…

Describes a longitudinal study of third graders experiencing a writing and revision program by following them through high school, interviewing them again in sixth, eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades. Reveals some important steps all teachers must take to achieve a balance between structure and freedom in the writing curriculum. (SG)

Suggests that through Kenneth Burke, writing teachers can approach writing as something to be feared, something to approach with trembling and mortification. Examines Burke's notion of how language "goads" writers to eliminate the response of others. Examines contemporary and Burkean approaches to writing that would help students to…

Recounts how an eighth-grade teacher used reflective portfolios with her students to help them overcome their reluctance to write and to get them to see writing as a way to learn about themselves as students and as individuals. States that the teacher wanted students to be enthusiastic about writing as a part of everyday life. (PA)

Makes a case for asking secondary students to read their compositions aloud to their peers. Reviews techniques that may be taught to prepare students for public reading and listening. Describes a program in which high school students write custom-made stories for individual elementary school students. (TB)

Discusses how to respond to student writing. Offers two assignments that encourage a dialogue between the teacher and student. Relays actual student comments and the process of helping these students. (PRA)

In this article, the author advocates the use of literacy narratives--assignments in which students are asked to describe and reflect upon their experiences with reading and writing. Among their other uses, she believes that they provide a sense of students' prior literacy experiences and of their general feelings toward reading and writing, and…