Investigates how word processing experience influences tenth grade student performance on a writing assessment. Examines factors influencing a student's decision about using word processors for writing; relationship between experience with the technology and scores on word processed essays; and differences in length, neatness, mechanical…

Describes how one teacher dealt with a rebellious sophomore Honors English student and how they learned to listen to each other. (MG)

Describes a freshman honors writing course in which students submit research papers and then write letters to the teacher about the experience. Identifies four concerns raised by students: (1) managing time; (2) managing the topic; (3) integrating sources; and (4) following a structure. Concludes that peer interaction is a valuable resource for…

Describes an eighth grade reading program that includes a requirement to read a diary. A questionnaire to determine students' favorite diaries and feelings about the genre is described, activities for students to try after reading a diary are suggested, and an annotated bibliography with 10 fiction and 10 nonfiction books is included. (LRW)

Reports on a collaborative learning project in which college-level counseling students designed and presented workshops on therapeutic intervention. Finds workshops stimulated more personal involvement with the topic and individual written papers ensured that all shared the workload. Concludes that workshops prepare students for collaborative…

Describes a many-faceted class activity involving readings, small group and class discussions, and writing an essay. Notes that, in the essay, the students first think and write about the names people have called them and/or their culture and then rename themselves, thereby gaining personal and political power. (SR)

Describes a writing assignment in which students study and imitate the language of a minority author. Discusses how the assignment helps negotiate conflicts when students resist multicultural literature, as their creative responses mediate between themselves and works they might otherwise find foreign and antagonistic. (SR)

Explores the evolution of a photomontage assignment in a college-level course for academically unprepared students by summarizing the original assignment and then describing the latest version after a three-year period. Believes that the current assignment promotes aesthetically rich and meaningful artwork from students and a positive shift in…

Describes how one eighth-grade teacher creates a safe, playful, literate environment for a four-week poetry unit which immerses students in the thoughtful, energetic, productive experience of poetry. Describes introducing poetry, setting up the unit, class activities, a wide range of requirements and assignments, and students' enthusiastic…

Describes an undergraduate business course in organizational behavior in which students participated in experiential learning exercises linked to classroom conceptual learning, then reflected on the experiences in a written synthesizing statement. Examples of students' insights are provided. Advantages and disadvantages of the approach and…

Describes how the author used research booklets to be read by sixth graders, poetry books, and taking part in a city-wide writing competition with her eighth-grade students to combat a general apathy in many students' writing efforts. Suggests the projects spoke to individual interests, helped students find a purpose to write, and improved the…

This study was designed to increase student empowerment through the use of formative assessment. The targeted population consisted of first and fifth grade students in the same school. Evidence for the existence of the problem included teacher observation, students' lack of knowledge and skills to complete classroom assignments, and low test…

This paper notes the advantages of using e-mail in computer literacy classes, and discusses the results of incorporating an e-mail assignment in the "Introduction to Mathematical Reasoning and Computer Programming" core course at Brooklyn College (New York). The assignment consisted of several steps. The students first read and responded…

A study examined the belief that to improve education, more must be learned not only about the abilities students bring into the classroom, but also about what the students do outside the classroom. Six freshmen were instructed to keep diaries detailing their views of college life. Each subject was given a blank diary entry on a diskette and…

In May 1985 a questionnaire was administered to about 2,600 ninth and twelfth grade students representing all of Detroit's (Michigan) public high schools. The purposes of this survey were to facilitate further evaluation of the Uniform Code of Student Conduct Component, and to collect data for a study of high school homework and students' study…