The importance of direct explicit instruction in secondary schools has been shown to improve student learning outcomes across the curriculum. The question then becomes one of whether adapting direct explicit instruction in post-secondary institutions would have the same impact on student grades. Graham and Perin (2007) identified eleven elements…

Many college students struggle with the literacy skills needed to be successful in higher education (Bettinger & Long, 2009; Snyder, Tan, & Hoffman, 2004). The difficulties emerge within students' capabilities in reading and writing. Students must be taught the skills needed to be successful to complete the tasks assigned in college classes and in…

Pacesetting high schools, middle grades schools and technology centers have changed classroom and other practices to prepare students to meet postsecondary requirements and rising workplace needs. The strategies include raising expectations, project-based learning, guidance and advisement, improving students' reading and writing skills,…

Describes the difficulties in assessing writing improvement in high school students based on national reports. Discovers that students' fluency, their use of dialogue, and their ease in moving between the abstract and the concrete is increasing. Suggests the resources of the National Assessment of Educational Progress might yield the information…

Argues that there should be a place in English classrooms for the teaching of style in writing. (SR)

Advises teachers not to evaluate students on day-to-day growth, but instead to allow for measurable growth, evaluating them after a suitable period of time has elapsed. Assumes that true growth in writing occurs slowly, that it is seldom linear, and that distinctions between disparate texts remain spurious. (MS)

Argues that a good procedure for starting an essay is to define the topic's central concept, looking up the word in reference books and looking carefully at what it means to the student personally. (SR)

Discusses 10 misconceptions about writing, including (1) the theory of divine inspiration, (2) the theory of creative padding, (3) the theory of profound authorities, and (4) the theory of predestined puppetry. (EL)

Examines the process of writing and concludes that a teacher's affirmation and encouragement is needed for a student to feel his or her work has validity. (DF)

Argues that the poetry of war is often compressed and powerful and that students of writing and literature can learn from these poets that restraint creates resonance. Discusses war poems with emphatic conclusions; war poems that are short and direct; and teaching the dynamics of brevity through a variety of activities using war poems and war…

Discusses lighthearted writing, much of which has a serious intent as well as two highly desirable qualities: writer satisfaction and reader-appeal. Offers examples of all sorts of lighthearted writing including lighthearted writing from the classroom. (SR)

Argues that writing instruction should lead student writers to find their voice in their writing and that this will only happen if they write often for personal purposes and personal expression. (SR)

Considers some obvious and some not so obvious syntax errors, and how to correct them, using numerous examples taken from material published or broadcast. (SR)

Argues that, after students are familiar with the characteristics of the five paragraph essay and the expectations of that genre, they can learn to play with those expectations to create lively writing that reveals more individual voice by mixing in other genres. Argues that such a strategy can teach students to engage in academic writing more…

Discusses the challenges of finding "voice" as a writer. Considers how a writer's voice is more than character and style. Notes that a writer's voice is the thumbprint of his or her whole person--his or her idea, wit, humor, passions and rhythms. Concludes that the discovery of voice is the real beginning of a writer's life as a writer.…