Highlights exemplary moments from the first three writing courses that Youngstown State University has been teaching at a union hall for steel workers. Includes excerpts from student interviews; illustrates the teachers' evolving approach to teaching writing in a workplace setting; and explains student responses to writing assignments. (TB)

Proposes that students can best learn to recognize and enjoy irony by creating it. Outlines a class activity and two exercises that help students write with irony. Concludes that the energy created by ironic tension encourages students in their writing and reading. (PM)

Discusses a process to guide students at various levels of writing ability to inquire into unfamiliar and often intimidating subject areas. Notes the process is based on a Piagetian learning cycle that asks students to identify areas of cognitive dissonance, and to engage in a conversation about ways of resolving their uncertainty. (RS)

Presents detailed teaching procedures for an "in-basket" business communication assignment, describing the time frame, method, and practical details necessary for teaching the assignment. Argues that students must be taught how to determine priorities for items to be answered, discarded, or noted and filed. (MM)

Argues that writing parodies of poetry is a productive, nonthreatening introduction to the creative effort of poem making. Provides several suggestions that may help in the parody-writing process. (RS)

Presents a simple writing assignment, composing an anthology, in which students have some control over their learning and gain confidence, enabling them to approach class discussions with more personal involvement and leading them to find more for themselves in poetry. (RAE)

Suggests that the key to making research writing something students are eager to learn is the instructor's enthusiasm and skill in gathering irresistible ideas and prompts to pique students' curiosity. Presents seven steps to help students write research papers. (RS)

Demonstrates how grading students journal can be made easier by making the journals goal-oriented, such as using them as the basis for exams. Suggests that journal assignments can involve more complex learning tasks such as analyzing, interpreting, and applying course materials in specific ways. (PA)

Aims to teach students how to merge the realms of creativity and analysis by using metaphors. Presents various activities to develop metaphorical thinking and writing skills. (PA)

Argues that a prevalent mistake made by teachers preparing writing curricula and assignments is dividing writing into classes or modes. Suggests alternatives to classifying writing. Envisions writing as a discourse act and assignments as performance of such acts. (HB)

Describes a senior-year requirement of a high school in Oregon consisting of a prescribed research paper. Demonstrates the benefits of this requirement among those in college writing courses. Argues that freeing students to choose a topic may be the key. (HB)

Discusses the rationale for experimenting with diverse discourse alternatives in writing classrooms. Offers examples of the readings that inspire the author and her students, as well as samples of student essays. (SR)

Presents a nine-assignment sequence that has students engage three interconnected problems of writing and word processing. (SR)

Describes how generating effective advertising copy affords students practice in aspects of persuasive writing, such as developing a thesis, refuting counter-arguments, and writing in a comparison-contrast mode. Notes that this approach helps students negotiate the problematic shift from expressive to persuasive discourse without losing their…

Describes four essay assignments in a sequence on experts that deal with sharing expertise, defining expertise, interviewing an expert, and seeing teachers as experts. Asserts that these assignments result in writing that is no longer the recapitulation of information received from experts but is communication notable for the quality of its…