Creative warm-up activities help most of the articulate students who hate writing and unblock the most reluctant writers. Some of the warm-up activities for students in elementary grades that help in taking the fright out of writing, or just reduce the initial resistance are described.

Describes several patterned language books useful in helping students overcome writing apprehension by supplying them with the form, so that all they have to do is provide the creative ideas. (RS)

Writing exercises are games that can lead to success in the classroom because they are artificial and have arbitrary rules defined by the instructor. By giving students a starting point, a limited task, and the assurance that the writing is, after all, "just a game," exercises can circumvent students' initial anxieties about self-presentation and…

Presents step-by-step instructions to help developmental writing students write a cohesive essay by combining individually written paragraphs. (HTH)

One hundred seventy-nine students enrolled in a first-year college level composition course were subjects in a study of the effects of four levels of audience specification on writing anxiety, performance, and sensitivity to audience. Subjects completed the Writing Apprehension Test, which determined levels of writing apprehension, and then…

No matter how intimidated or how blocked, any writer can tap into the vast oceans of creativity within by following the exercises in this book. Broken into small steps, each exercise is easy and takes only minutes to do. Yet each one forms a wave that brings with it a rush of ideas, images, and scenes as it crests. Chapters in the book are: (1)…

Stresses the importance of having teachers of writing participate in writing activities at inservice meetings. (DF)

A study documenting and describing dialogue journal writing in a group of nine tenth graders in an Australian secondary school English class is reported. The overall purpose was to understand the nature of dialogue journal writing and to assess its value as a suitable mode of encouraging writing among secondary students. Specific aspects of…

Describes a method for using the press release to introduce basic technical writing principles and increase students' writing confidence. Includes lecture format and writing assignment. (HTH)

Describes the power of adult writing groups to stimulate learning and encourage language development, personal development, and writing skill development. (CRH)

Argues that writing to a real audience in the form of a letter is an effective way for students to learn the importance of audience in writing. Stresses the idea that students who are intimidated by the writing process will view letter writing in a more positive light and be more amenable to the learning process. Describes a specific…

"Aerobic writing" is a writing center strategy designed to keep students in writing "shape." Like aerobic exercise, aerobic writing is sustained for a certain length of time and done on a regular basis at prescribed time intervals. The program requires students to write at least two times a week for approximately an hour each time. Students write,…

A study investigated the effect of ambiguity on the level of writing apprehension of English teachers and whether apprehension varied according to mode of discourse. Subjects, 28 English language arts teachers, were invited to participate in a 5-week summer writing workshop, for which they received university credit and stipends. Participants were…

Imaging, or disciplined daydreaming, can be used in the composition class to expose students to their innate creativity, lessen writing anxiety, refresh memories before writing of personal experiences, and make impersonal subjects, such as historical events, vital and personal. Teachers can construct a classroom imaging session (which takes about…

The paper presents a model for teaching written language to hearing impaired students on which curriculum can be based. In addition, activities, techniques, and resources are suggested that can be used when implementing the writing program. (Author/PB)