In recognition that remedial writing students, regardless of age, are accustomed to failure in written English, instructors of Glen Oaks Community College's developmental writing classes emphasize positive attitudes and activities, students' responsibility for their success or failure, and positive and reassuring instructor attitudes. The writing program follows the principles of Reality Therapy, whereby an individual has the power to make his/her own choices, including success and failure. While instructors support the student and provide examples by their own behavior, they do not assume responsibility for the student's success or failure. Instructors do not accept excuses, but assist the student in evaluating the situation and recognizing the ramifications of his/her behavior. Activities intended to promote positive attitudes include the following: (1) starting the class off with a "question of the day" in place of roll; (2) an ungraded weekly journal assignment on which the instructor makes only positive comments; (3) focusing on the process used to arrive at answers, rather than labeling answers as "wrong"; (4) student attendance at computer lab once a week where they work with tutorials coordinated with classwork and a simple word processing program used for writing exercises; and (5) enabling students to see the progress they have made by making the final assignment of the quarter a revision of their first assignment. (WJT)