This article argues that the goal of an educator is to help students realize they can be effective writers by giving them the ability to demonstrate their skills. Scene writing can make writing seem less like a chore and more like an opportunity to express ideas. As students write scenes that include both dialogue and action, they gain a deeper…

Literature that provokes readers to engage in activism is the author's favorite type of writing. For years she has celebrated the tradition of counterculture authors who advocated for a cause, using narratives to educate the world and elicit change. As a culminating project after a year of embracing dialogue and promoting writing for power, she…

Effective writers--professionals and students--break traditionally taught rules frequently. So why teach students rules that writers don't actually follow? English teachers bear the responsibility of offering young writers guidance--of teaching them stylistics "rules." But as thoughtful writing teachers, they are also responsible for observing…

Time and opportunity to discover truths are essential in education. Discovery takes repetition and trial and error. Discovery crosses intellectual and disciplinary boundaries as well. What is learned through the diverse experiences of one's academic and individual lives will pollinate each other if there is room left for discovery. The tyranny of…

Proposes that students writing public letters to their forebears might provide a reminder of how individuals and communities can learn from the experience of their foremothers and forefathers. Includes the author's letter to her grandfather, who was imprisoned in internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II. (PM)

The email received by a professor explained to him that it is worth it to praise students and encourage their best efforts to get them writing. He has decided that he will continue to praise somebody who looks uninspired.

Relates the story of how the author connected for the first time, in the 11th grade, with writing, awakening in her something she did not know she had. (SR)

Considers what poets themselves have to say about poetry. Discusses how they write poems, why they write poems, and what poetry is good for. (RS)

Presents the author's (she is a well known poet, essayist, and fiction writer) 10 commandments of writing that portray writing as a moral force, an ethical practice, and also mundane plain and simple hard work. The commandments are in the form of quotes from famous writers. (SR)

Presents a letter written by a professional writer (and a former high school and college teacher) to a young female student who has started writing poems. Discusses why and how she writes. Urges the student to continue writing. (RS)

Criticizes teaching formal, impersonal writing and argues for teaching that encourages students to write about what they know and love as they discover who they are and why words matter. (PRA)

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)

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)

Describes the successful use of college admission essays as motivation and inspiration to a group of college-bound high school students who had never developed a personal voice or style. Outlines the processes used to teach these students to experiment with their writing and find their own voices. (PRA)

Describes ways to help students of all ages with writing apprehension, including write more; discourage appropriation of voice; listen to fearful writers; find patterns in students' errors; conference during drafting stages; coach peers for effective response; encourage positive self-talk; be aware of possible gender differences; vary writing…