Describes one method of introducing journal writing to a junior high school class and offers a number of journal writing assignments. (MM)

Discusses the problems that usually plague high school yearbook writing. Offers 12 rules of style that can help improve feature and news writing in yearbooks. (HTH)

Examines the perspective necessary for student sports writers and some problems with high school sports reporting. Discusses five basic characteristics of news and how these can be applied for discriminant sports writing. (HTH)

Shows how photography and photographic processes can be used as a metaphor for describing writing and writing processes and, thus, can be a useful teaching tool. Discusses subject, focus, arrangement, and style. Describes how a writing teacher can use all this as a means of illustrating various aspects of the writing process. (SR)

Presents three brief articles written by teachers that 1) describe a collection of approaches that utilize newspapers and magazines as the "excellent teaching tools they are"; (2) plunge students into critical analysis through the use of advertisements in magazines; (3) present ideas on how to teach students to create writing prompts…

Describes a four- to six-week project for high school sophomores in which students create pamphlets and in the process learn basic research skills and practice several elements of the research paper. (SR)

Describes several ways in which the newspaper is a useful resource for teaching reading skills and for allowing students to model just about all types of writing. (SR)

Points out that a carefully developed checklist is a valuable writing aide that can help students and instructor focus on successful writing throughout the writing process. Shares five how-to steps as a guide for developing a writing checklist. (SR)

Voices concerns with isolated exercises in grammar. Offers an alternative, in which teachers collect sentences (mostly from literature) and use them to point out or teach skills for writers. Offers numerous examples. (SR)

Describes how a fourth-grade teacher made poetry part of the daily ritual of her class. Describes how students began to read poems, write poems, and love poems enough to work persistently at reading and writing them. Describes a poetry festival that the class prepared. Describes the many effects, both cognitive and affective, of daily poetry. (SR)

Describes "Grammar in a Nutshell"--a visual-auditory-kinesthetic approach to traditional textbook grammar, usage, and mechanics concepts. Notes that the idea behind Nutshell is that as the students slowly mature in other writing skills they can also grow in their understanding of how to use, how to handle their language, not only correctly but…

Outlines the internal usability review, a systematic examination of documentation to identify basic usability issues and solve problems. Discusses typical user problems and explains the review steps that eliminate documentation problems before they become problems for the customer. (SR)

Describes a process to help journalism students in feature writing break left-brain dependence and make right- and left-brain connections to enliven their writing. Adapts William Gordon's six "synectics modeling" steps: topic description, direct analogies, personal analogies, compressed conflict, new direct analogies, and topic rewrite. (SR)

Talks about the "writing from the heart" practiced in one sixth-grade classroom by students and teacher, for many different purposes. Describes instructional approaches that encourage such writing. (SR)

Offers comments, intended for writers of language arts education articles, discussing both positive and negative aspects of the writing that the editors and editorial board and staff of this journal have seen in the writing submitted over the past few years. (SR)