Proponents of writing across the curriculum are quick to clarify that writing to learn is not the same as learning to write; but as flip sides of a single coin, the two support one another. Across-the-curriculum writing finds its merit in removing students from their passivity. Cross-curricular writing activities fall into two groups--expressive…

Students often see revision not as an opportunity to develop and improve a piece of writing but as an indication that they have failed to do it right the first time. To them, revision means correction. To correct this assumption, teachers' comments on papers should focus on more than mechanics. Teachers would do well to comment on the paper's…

This Digest reviews studies that deal with use of newspapers in grades K through 12 and as part of the language arts or general curriculum, as well as other studies that examined specifically journalism student performance in secondary schools and beyond. It concludes that evidence from all these studies is decidedly positive when comparing…

This digest considers the one thing that all English teachers do--make reading and writing assignments. It addresses 4 questions whose answers should determine the nature of the reading and writing assignments given by teachers: (1) who are the students? (2) why are the students in college? (3) what is the nature of the course in which the…

This digest examines issues related to the grading of students' classroom writing, including the relation of the writing process to the grading process, ways to construct effective writing assignments, fairness and professional judgment, ways to include students in the assessment of writing, and guidelines that professors can use to provide…