As increasing number of college and university instructors are requiring peer editing and electronic submission of writing assignments. It is necessary for high school students to learn that quality commentary is essential for peer editing to work and effectively improve their writing skills as part of their college preparation. Successful writers…

After an introduction by James L. Marra explaining the Intellectual Heritage Program at the College of Art and Sciences at Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), this paper presents four brief faculty essays describing various techniques that the writers use in their classes in the program. The techniques discussed in the paper are…

Composition classrooms are the place to talk specifically about the rhetoricity of writing in academic disciplines. Students can use personal experiences to understand what it means to see themselves as aggressive or passive participants of various institutions. Too often students do not understand themselves as having any authority, but are…

Many students consider the writing of papers to be a lonely, difficult, and even painful process. To enable these students to improve their essays and research papers, a teacher has used a collaborative method of writing called the group paper. This method encompasses the various stages of writing, from freewriting of first drafts through multiple…

This book is based on the premise that a writer is much like an artist who paints images, only using grammatical structures as tools. In conjunction with this approach, each chapter is divided into concepts and strategies: concepts illustrate how professional writers have applied image grammar to develop their art, and strategies provide…

Explains certain writing projects oriented toward real life situations (in this case a proposal to establish a museum display) can help college students bridge the perceived gap between academic writing and the kind of writing that will be asked of them in the professional world. Suggests that students' attitudes and writing improved as a result…

Describes the approach used with high school advanced placement English classes to a nature-writing project based on the work of Henry David Thoreau and Annie Dillard. (SR)

Describes a writing assignment in which students write (and send) a letter to a famous person of their choosing. Notes one student's seriousness about the project and the usefulness of peer editing in revising. (SR)

Describes how the author teaches her eighth-grade students to revise their writing, providing "working revision days" in class, offering direction and structure, and thereby helping students learn how much impact going back to a piece of writing and making sweeping changes can have on the end result. (SR)

Examines the creation of process drama and writing experiences in a second/third-grade classroom. Describes how the classroom teacher used process drama (involving students in imaginary, unscripted, and spontaneous scenes) as a context for learning. Notes how process drama provided a context for content area instruction along with writing…

Focused freewriting, broadly defined as writing without stopping and editing about a specific topic, has been viewed and used as a powerful tool for developing student writing in a wide spectrum of educational contexts. This study aimed to further explore the use of focused freewriting in the context of promoting students' academic skills…

This article describes the preliminary exploratory process used to develop the research questions that will be addressed during a project to be offered in the 2005-2006 academic year. The project will bring together Maine high school and college faculty to learn from each other about shared needs, methods and priorities, in a year long series of…

Designed with real teachers and real conditions in mind, this booklet presents a model for a writing-across-the-curriculum/writing-to-learn program that can be used in all classrooms in all subject areas from grades 4 to 12. The model presented in the booklet defines five types of writing assignments and the outcomes expected for each--using…

A home writing program was developed and implemented using 22 second-grade target students to increase writing proficiency by soliciting parent involvement with home writing and to improve attitudes toward writing. Students attending a north central Florida school were supplied with a writing suitcase containing thematic story starter cards, a…

A writing across the curriculum coordinator considers it part of her job to help faculty assist students to write better. She reminds faculty that she is available to do workshops for teaching assistants, to help design sequenced assignments, and to meet with students to set up effective peer response groups. A sociology professor sought her out…