This document consists of the first three issues of a newsletter written by the members of the Making Thinking Visible Project. The first newsletter describes collaborative planning as it related to writing, discusses school projects using collaborative planning, presents a dialogue between two students using the process, and compares…

This resource manual was developed for educators responsible for teaching grades 4, 5, 6, and beyond, concentrating on student literacy as it relates to written language. The manual focuses on helping educators apply a specific instructional strategy that is related to student needs identified in the "Writing Skill Arrays" and skills…

A composition teacher's suggestion to students to read personal compositions to others and to act on their reactions took on new meaning when the teacher read his own works to a writer's group. The teacher then began to realize the real implications of this method for writing instruction. Student reactions to their classmates' compositions can…

This paper aims to refute the idea that the best means of helping students learn to write is by "correcting" every error in their writing. The paper provides a guide to an alternative that works and that can relieve teachers of the burden of paper-grading. It hopes that the strategies outlined may make teaching composition "fun and exciting." The…

The purpose of this guide is to assist teachers in preparing their students to write effectively in all contexts, including the Georgia Grade Five Writing Assessment. Teachers are encouraged to make optimal instructional use of the information in this guide by creating transparencies and handouts for students. The guide includes a revising/editing…

The purpose of this guide is to improve high school writing and writing instruction. Teachers are encouraged to make transparencies and handouts of the information in this guide in order to make the information accessible to students. Using the scoring rubrics and model papers, students can be taught to recognize both strong and weak areas in…

Offering advanced writers the opportunity to present their research findings in the form of an I-Search paper yields a more enriching experience for them and a better "read" for their audience. In the past 2 years, students in upper-level undergraduate courses--like Advanced Composition and Teaching and Evaluating Writing and graduate…

This guide outlines the process for writing a research proposal for classroom research on second language teaching, and suggests that this process is an important step in the process of planning and implementing the study itself. The format of such a proposal is first outlined, and each element (title, introduction, methodology, analysis,…

Creative writing is not a magical art from magic wands, but an everyday practice in the hands of steady writers. Creative writing calls, above all, for self-discipline. Along with intellectual and emotional stamina, a poetic writer needs sensory awareness. The writer also forms a mysterious sixth sense--intuition. In search of the good words, the…

The effects of prewriting, drafting, and revising in a large-scale writing assessment were studied, focusing on drafting and revision patterns exhibited by students during testing. A total of 465 students were selected for this study (113 in grade 3, 117 in grade 5, and 116 in grade 10). Each student's work included the prewriting, first draft,…

While research papers may hold unique challenges for all writers, they are especially daunting for "less experienced" writers because these students often come to college without ever having written a research paper. A study examined several research papers written by students who took part in the Summer Bridge program at California…

"Classroom Notes Plus" publishes descriptions of original, unpublished teaching practices or adapted ideas. Each issue also contains sections on Teacher Talk, Classroom Solutions, and Web resources. The August 1999 issue contains the following materials: Ideas from the Classroom-"Parody: Getting the Joke with Style" (Bonnie…

This Writing Instructional Intervention Supplement from the Mississippi Department of Education contains benchmarks, informal assessments, and suggested teaching strategies for the fourth through eighth grades. Benchmarks outline what students should know and be able to do to meet mandated competencies. Informal and observational assessments…

Based on the understanding that writing should not be confined to the language arts classroom, this book provides over 200 examples of how 12 different strategies can be used in kindergarten through high school classrooms. The writing strategies in the book demonstrate how writing can also be employed as a powerful tool for processing new…

Designed to help teachers develop instructional practices that enable students to become more active learners of content, this handbook provides elementary, middle school, and secondary teachers with strategies for integrating reading and writing as tools for learning in the content areas. The handbook describes literacy strategies that have the…