Gives two anecdotes by practicing teachers of their experiences with basic writers. Provides thick descriptions of two different basic writing students' attempts to write stories. Gives insight into the writing processes of basic writers. (HB)

Suggests that the best writing curriculum for second language students is one that balances content and form, that calls for an attention to writing process and to written product, and that draws on knowledge from both teacher and student. Describes the "focus on form" approach the author uses in her mainstream basic writing class, as well as some…

Relates how the author came into a generally contentious classroom of eleventh-grade developmental English students and how it became a place of cooperative reading and writing and critiquing through a democratic approach and a three-week project in which students wrote a fictional story via letter writing. Notes student's involvement and…