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Representing fresh, useful ideas for teaching English gathered at several annual conventions of the National Council of Teachers of English, the 11 chapters of this book contain 200 activities in the following categories: (1) getting ready to write; (2) expressive writing, including autobiographical and journal writing; (3) informative writing, including writing for readers other than the teacher, and research and the research paper; (4) tricks of the writing teacher's trade; (5) revision, review, and evaluation; (6) word study, vocabulary development, and spelling; (7) punctuation and grammar; (8) speaking and listening; (9) newspapers, magazines, and the visual arts; (10) talking and writing about literature; and (11) classroom management, including organizing the classroom--the students, bulletin boards, and the first five minutes as well as the last. (JL)

The teaching activities presented in this document focus on motivating students in the classroom. The paper describes (1) using stick figures to teach the use of adjectives, (2) using pen names in a covert letter writing project to teach writing skills, (3) increasing creativity in composition topics by brainstorming about ways to use bricks, and (4) testing powers of observation and knowledge of how people act by listing five specific actions observed in pantomine. (EL)

A response to the educator's confusion over how to teach critical thinking skills through writing, the writing process model described in this paper underlines the close ties among cognitive, language, and writing skills. Guiding writing assignments in all content areas, the model involves students in reflection and discussion as they move from prewriting strategies to first draft, revision, proof reading and final paper. Based on this model, a writing assignment would establish a purpose and an audience (other than the teacher/editor) and would use warmup games as part of brainstorming activities; interactive discussions of paper topics and sample essays to help students refine and organize their ideas; and peer and teacher reactions to rough drafts to encourage self-assessment and to help students generate their own thoughtful questions about their writing. (MM)

Observation and investigation indicate that academic writing tasks are generally quite different from those required in standard English composition courses, with respect to both process and product. Writing instruction in English as a second language should prepare students for subject-matter writing tasks, focusing less on pure composition. Academic writing tasks require little generating of ideas, but do require selecting, organizing, and expressing specific information, either in response to an essay question or in an informative paper where there is little room for personal opinion. Classroom writing exercises found to be effective in producing transferable writing skills in students include: (1) sentence combining exercises of a paragraph that provide a check on reading comprehension, elicit specific grammar points, convey information, and model suitable information and organization types; (2) writing from data in non-prose form; (3) sentence forming from lists of bits of information; (4) reading selections in preparation for answering questions; and (5) writing from lectures, with or without accompanying readings. (MSE)