Strategies for Writing Improvement
Greetings. The following materials are intended to provide an introduction to Strategies for Writing Improvement in Elementary and Secondary Education. They were assembled from the World Wide Web, ERIC Database, and a variety of other bibliographic resources. Instructions for acquiring the full text of the ERIC records are presented at the end of this file.
Fang Fang
Reference Specialist
Alphabetically arranged listing of bibliographies
Categorically arranged listing of bibliographies
Internet Sites
Step Up to Writing
Bibliography of Writing Strategies for LD Learners
International Dyslexia Association Web Site
Teaching Writing Skills to Students with Disabilities
Writing Guides
Writing Strategies
Writing Improvement Tips
The Writing Improvement Network
Stretegies to Improve Writing Style
Online Discussion Groups/Listservs
Short Story Writers Group, a good place to exchange ideas and writing strategies
Teachers.Net Mailinglist
Citations from ERIC Database
AN: EJ624569
AU: Weaver,-Constance; McNally,-Carol; Moerman,-Sharon
TI: To Grammar or Not To Grammar: That Is Not the Question!
PY: 2001
SO: Voices-from-the-Middle; v8 n3 p17-33 Mar 2001
NT: Theme: Contextualizing Grammar.
DEM: *English-Instruction; *Grammar-; *Instructional-Effectiveness; *Revision-Written-Composition; *Writing-Improvement; *Writing-Instruction
DER: Editing-; Elementary-Secondary-Education; Language-Arts; Teacher-Effectiveness
AB: Argues that, taught in the context of writing, grammar can enhance and improve students' writing. Offers classroom examples showing how: good preparation for writing fosters good grammar and detail; students can use grammatical and syntactic constructions used by professional authors as models for their own writing; and how to help students learn revision strategies at the sentence and paragraph level. (SR)
AN: EJ619747
AU: Marchisan,-Marti-L.; Alber,-Sheila-R.
TI: The Write Way: Tips for Teaching the Writing Process to Resistant Writers.
PY: 2001
SO: Intervention-in-School-and-Clinic; v36 n3 p154-62 Jan 2001
DEM: *Learning-Disabilities; *Writing-Difficulties; *Writing-Improvement; *Writing-Instruction; *Writing-Strategies
DER: Elementary-Secondary-Education; Peer-Teaching; Proofreading-; Revision-Written-Composition; Self-Evaluation-Individuals; Writing-Processes
AB: This article presents practical and specific strategies for helping students with writing difficulties become successful in each of the following stages of the writing process: prewriting, writing, revising, and publishing. Recommendations include using visual images, modeling prewriting procedures, providing word banks, providing a self-evaluation checklist, and using peer-editing partners. (Contains references.) (CR)
AN: EJ608540
AU: Danielson,-Lana-M.
TI: The Improvement of Student Writing: What Research Says.
PY: 2000
SO: Journal-of-School-Improvement; v1 n1 p7-11 Spr 2000
DEM: *Elementary-Secondary-Education; *Writing-Exercises; *Writing-Improvement
DER: Learning-Strategies; Teacher-Student-Relationship; Teaching-Methods; Writing-Instruction; Writing-Teachers
AB: Identifies research contributing to teachers' understanding not only of what it means to teach composition but how it might be implemented in a meaningful and productive manner to improve students' writing. Concludes that a variety of meaningful writing tasks contribute to student growth, writing instruction is a shared responsibility, and the writing process facilitates both instruction and practice. (Contains 27 references.) (VWC)
AN: EJ612924
AU: Graham,-Steve; Harris,-Karen-R.; Troia,-Gary-A.
TI: Self-Regulated Strategy Development Revisited: Teaching Writing Strategies to Struggling Writers.
PY: 2000
SO: Topics-in-Language-Disorders; v20 n4 p1-14 Aug 2000
NT: Theme Issue: Written Language Disabilities and Educational Strategies.
DEM: *Program-Effectiveness; *Self-Management; *Writing-Difficulties; *Writing-Improvement; *Writing-Instruction; *Writing-Strategies
DER: Elementary-Secondary-Education; Teaching-Models
AB: This article examines the development of the Self-Regulated Strategy Development Model for teaching writing strategies and self-regulation procedures to students with writing difficulties. It describes how the model operates, and examines its effectiveness. It also highlights how the model has been used to respond to variations in settings and children. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)
AN: ED446339
AU: Brynildssen,-Shawna
TI: Vocabulary's Influence on Successful Writing. ERIC Digest D157.
CS: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication, Bloomington, IN.
PY: 2000
AV: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication, Indiana University, 2805 E. 10th Street, Suite 140, Bloomington, IN 47408-2698. Tel: 800-759-4723 (Toll Free); Web site: http://reading.indiana.edu.
PR: EDRS Price MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
DL: http://orders.edrs.com/members/sp.cfm?AN=ED446339
DEM: *Vocabulary-Development; *Writing-Improvement; *Writing-Instruction
DER: Class-Activities; Elementary-Secondary-Education; Writing-Skills
AB: Arguing that the ability to write effectively hinges upon having an adequate vocabulary, this digest explores some of the ways vocabulary influences writing ability, and how teachers can use vocabulary development specifically to improve writing skills. The digest suggests that the breadth and depth of a student's vocabulary will have a direct influence upon the descriptiveness, accuracy, and quality of his or her writing. It outlines several key principles that should guide teachers in the creation of and implementation of a comprehensive vocabulary development program. The digest argues that improvement in vocabulary will result in improved writing skills only if the teacher is able to create a classroom that takes writing seriously. It also describes techniques teachers can use to create a writing-centered classroom. (SR)
AN: EJ612925
AU: Roth,-Froma-P.
TI: Narrative Writing: Development and Teaching with Children with Writing Difficulties.
PY: 2000
SO: Topics-in-Language-Disorders; v20 n4 p15-28 Aug 2000
NT: Theme Issue: Written Language Disabilities and Educational Strategies.
DEM: *Learning-Disabilities; *Personal-Narratives; *Writing-Composition; *Writing-Difficulties; *Writing-Instruction
DER: Elementary-Secondary-Education; Short-Stories; Writing-Improvement; Writing-Strategies
AB: This article discusses the development of the story form, examines the written narrative patterns of students with learning disabilities, and discusses the reasons for their difficulties with this genre of writing. Instructional approaches are presented that have been effective in improving written narrative skills of these students. (Contains extensive references.) (Author/CR)
AN: ED430256
AU: Jenkinson,-Andrea
TI: Improve Student Reading and Writing. Sentence-Combining Activities for Elementary and Secondary Teachers. Working with Language Series.
CS: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication, Bloomington, IN.
PY: 1999
AV: EDINFO Press, P.O. Box 5247, Bloomington, IN 47407; Tel: 800-925-7853 (Toll Free).
NT: See CS 216 737-740 for the 4 books in the series.
PR: EDRS Price MF01/PC05 Plus Postage.
DL: http://orders.edrs.com/members/sp.cfm?AN=ED430256
DEM: *Reading-Improvement; *Sentence-Combining; *Writing-Improvement
DER: Class-Activities; Classroom-Techniques; Elementary-Secondary-Education; Learning-Activities; Reading-Writing-Relationship; Student-Improvement
AB: This teaching guide urges the use of sentence combining as a technique to improve both the reading and the writing of students. The guide offers practical activities in sentence combining in forms that will make classroom teaching more interesting for the instructor and elicit more productive work from the student. The guide is divided into the following six chapters: (1) "The Promise of Sentence Combining"; (2) "Using Sentence Combining in the Classroom"; (3) "Providing Signals: Cued Sentence-Combining Exercises"; (4) "Open Sentence-Combining Exercises: From Sentence to Paragraph to Discourse"; (5) "One Researcher's Sequence: Sentence-Combining Exercises for Elementary Students"; and (6) "A Brief Summary of Research." Contains 52 references and a 47-item annotated bibliography of related resources in ERIC. (NKA)
AN: EJ565223
AU: Smith,-Steven; Boone,-Randall; Higgins,-Kyle
TI: Expanding the Writing Process to the Web.
PY: 1998
SO: TEACHING-Exceptional-Children; v30 n5 p22-27 May-Jun 1998
NT: Special Issue: World Wide Web & Special Education.
DEM: *Learning-Disabilities; *Multimedia-Materials; *World-Wide-Web; *Writing-Improvement; *Writing-Instruction
DER: Elementary-Secondary-Education; Hypermedia-; Vocabulary-
AB: Discusses how teachers can encourage the development of story writing and the writing process in students with learning disabilities through using the World Wide Web. A fictional account of a middle school student with learning disabilities illustrates how such students can use the Internet to improve their writing. (CR)
AN: ED432117
AU: Lewis,-Rena-B.
TI: Enhancing the Writing Skills of Students with Learning Disabilities through Technology: An Investigation of the Effects of Text Entry Tools, Editing Tools, and Speech Synthesis. Final Report.
CS: San Diego State Univ., CA. Dept. of Special Education.
PY: 1998
PR: EDRS Price MF01/PC03 Plus Postage.
DL: http://orders.edrs.com/members/sp.cfm?AN=ED432117
DEM: *Computer-Uses-in-Education; *Learning-Disabilities; *Word-Processing; *Writing-Improvement; *Writing-Instruction; *Writing-Strategies
DER: Computers-; Editing-; Elementary-Secondary-Education; Literacy-; Speech-Synthesizers; Spelling-
AB: This final report discusses the outcomes of a 3-year project that studied the effectiveness of word processing tools in improving the literacy skills of students with learning disabilities in grades 4-12. In Year 1 (1994-95), four text entry strategies were compared in 132 students with learning disabilities: keyboarding instruction, alternative keyboards, word prediction, and word prediction with speech synthesizers. The Year 2 study (1995-96), investigated the effects of two types of text editing tools, such as spelling and grammar aids with and without speech synthesis, in 106 students with learning disabilities. The Year 3 study (1996-97), investigated speech synthesis under three conditions in 103 students with learning disabilities: when available at all times versus when available only during the text entry or the editing/revising stages of writing. Results of the studies found: (1) that word processing had the most impact upon the accuracy of students' writing; (2) word prediction was the most promising strategy for improving the text entry speed; (3) spell checks were effective editing tools, although grammar checkers were not, and spell checks had a more positive effect on students' writing quality and accuracy than synthesized speech. (Contains 35 references.) (CR)
AN: EJ598865
AU: Ammer,-Jerome-J.
TI: Peer Evaluation Model for Enhancing Writing Performance of Students with Learning Disabilities.
PY: 1998
SO: Reading-and-Writing-Quarterly:-Overcoming-Learning-Difficulties; v14 n3 p263-82 Jul-Sep 1998
DEM: *Learning-Disabilities; *Peer-Evaluation; *Writing-Evaluation; *Writing-Improvement; *Writing-Instruction
DER: Cooperative-Learning; Elementary-Secondary-Education; Evaluation-Methods; Models-
AB: Constructs a model for successful peer involvement for assessing writing produced by classmates with learning disabilities. Discusses six effective outcome building blocks: (1) cooperative learning from a student perspective; (2) peer as a learning assistant; (3) orchestrating purposeful peer interactions; (4) valuing peer assessment; (5) establishing procedures for effective peer input; and (6) constructing a peer assessment format. (RS)
AN: EJ542437
AU: Fried,-Steve
TI: Word into Idea: The Four-Column Association and the Placket.
PY: 1997
SO: Teachers-and-Writers; v28 n4 p5-8 Mar-Apr 1997
NT: Special Issue: National Poetry Month.
DEM: *Expository-Writing; *Imagery-; *Writing-Exercises; *Writing-Strategies
DER: Class-Activities; Elementary-Secondary-Education; Poetry-; Student-Writing-Models
AB: Offers two expository writing exercises that, machinelike, move from word to idea to arrive at rich and evocative connections. Shows how the first exercise, the four-column association, produces a free-form paragraph or poem following a freewriting warmup. Uses the term "placket" to describe the second exercise, a poem that has a set of initial, internal, and end rhymes. (PA)
AN: EJ556684
AU: Reeves,-LaVona-L.
TI: Minimizing Writing Apprehension in the Learner-Centered Classroom.
PY: 1997
SO: English-Journal; v86 n6 p38-45 Oct 1997
NT: Theme: Writing and Rewriting: Issues and Practices in the English Classroom.
DEM: *Student-Attitudes; *Teacher-Student-Relationship; *Writing-Apprehension; *Writing-Attitudes; *Writing-Improvement
DER: Class-Activities; Elementary-Secondary-Education
AB: Describes ways to help students of all ages with writing apprehension, including write more; discourage appropriation of voice; listen to fearful writers; find patterns in students' errors; conference during drafting stages; coach peers for effective response; encourage positive self-talk; be aware of possible gender differences; vary writing modes; monitor attitudes; give and attend public readings; and share writing. (SR)
AN: EJ558006
AU: Karnes,-Frances-A.; Riley,-Tracy-L.
TI: Enhancing Reading and Writing through Competitions.
PY: 1997
SO: Reading-Teacher; v51 n3 p270-71 Nov 1997
DEM: *Competition-; *Reading-Improvement; *Student-Motivation; *Writing-Improvement
DER: Class-Activities; Elementary-Secondary-Education
AB: Notes that competitions can excite and motivate students in reading and writing. Lists a sampling of such competitions, appropriate for students of all ages, and offers tips about participation. (SR)
AN: EJ524486
AU: Riley,-Richard-W.
TI: Improving the Reading and Writing Skills of America's Students.
PY: 1996
SO: Learning-Disability-Quarterly; v19 n2 p67-69 Spr 1996
DEM: *Intervention-; *Learning-Disabilities; *Reading-Difficulties; *Reading-Improvement; *Reading-Programs; *Writing-Improvement
DER: Elementary-Secondary-Education; Literacy-; National-Programs; Reading-Instruction; Reading-Strategies; Research-and-Development; Theory-Practice-Relationship
AB: The U.S. Secretary of Education describes the Department of Education's READ*WRITE*NOW! Initiative which aims to increase literacy rates by encouraging early and frequent reading as well as summer reading for children and youth, including those with learning disabilities. The need for a closer relationship between research and practice in reading instruction is stressed. (DB)
AN: EJ500104
AU: Hodges,-V.-Pauline
TI: Teaching Writing to At-Risk Students in a Rural High School.
PY: 1995
SO: Rural-Educator; v16 n2 p28-31 Win 1994-95
DEM: *High-Risk-Students; *Learning-Strategies; *Teaching-Methods; *Writing-Assignments; *Writing-Instruction
DER: Career-Education; Elementary-Secondary-Education; High-School-Students; High-Schools; Interdisciplinary-Approach; Portfolio-Assessment; Rural-Schools; Writing-Composition; Writing-Improvement
AB: A teacher describes strategies for improving writing skills of rural at-risk high school students including writing stories for kindergarten students; developing portfolios that include descriptive, expository, and persuasive pieces; and participating in a career development unit that incorporates writing assignments. Students also learn to find information in the library, through interviews, and through computer searches. (LP)
AN: ED404631
AU: Cook,-Jeanne-Wells; Prather,-Jo
TI: 43 Ways To Help Students Become Better Readers and Writers.
CS: Mississippi State Dept. of Education, Jackson.
PY: 1994
PR: EDRS Price MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
DL: http://orders.edrs.com/members/sp.cfm?AN=ED404631
DEM: *Reading-Improvement; *Reading-Strategies; *Student-Improvement; *Writing-Improvement; *Writing-Strategies
DER: Elementary-Secondary-Education; Reading-Aloud-to-Others; Reading-Material-Selection; Reading-Processes; Reading-Writing-Relationship; Teacher-Behavior; Teacher-Student-Relationship; Writing-Processes
AB: This guide briefly discusses reading and writing, and then presents 43 strategies for becoming better readers and writers. The guide discusses writing and reading as processes, and lists questions that writers ask and that readers ask. Some of the 43 ways to help students listed in the brochure are: read aloud to students; practice journal writing; have students make predictions about the story; have students read and write for a variety of purposes; give genuine praise for improvements in reading and writing; provide time for reading; give students plenty of opportunity to write and read a variety of forms; model reading and writing; encourage students to edit and reflect on what they have written; provide students with adequate time to prepare and practice if they are to read literature or their writing aloud to the class; allow students to make some choices about what they read and write; and link reading and writing to what is being taught in class. (RS)
AN: EJ464064
AU: Leavell,-Alexandra; Ioannides,-Anne
TI: Using Character Development to Improve Story Writing.
PY: 1993
SO: Teaching-Exceptional-Children; v25 n4 p41-45 Sum 1993
DEM: *Characterization-; *Writing-Composition; *Writing-Improvement; *Writing-Instruction
DER: Creative-Writing; Elementary-Secondary-Education; Teaching-Methods; Writing-Difficulties
AB: This paper presents guidelines for teaching students to develop lifelike characters in their written stories. The guidelines call for exposing students to books and stories, focusing on student knowledge and experience, providing explicit instruction in character development, and providing story writing practice. The paper includes a thoughts and emotions chart and a character problems chart. (JDD)
AN: ED359541
TI: Ideas Plus: A Collection of Practical Teaching Ideas. Book Eleven.
CS: National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL.
PY: 1993
AV: National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No. 22701: $5.95 members: $7.95 nonmembers).
NT: For Book Ten, see CS 213 943.
PR: EDRS Price MF01/PC03 Plus Postage.
DL: http://orders.edrs.com/members/sp.cfm?AN=ED359541
DEM: *English-Instruction; *Language-Arts; *Language-Usage; *Learning-Activities; *Literature-Appreciation; *Writing-Instruction
DER: Class-Activities; Communication-Skills; Creative-Writing; Educational-Games; Elementary-School-Students; Elementary-Secondary-Education; Secondary-School-Students; Student-Motivation; Teaching-Methods; Writing-Exercises; Writing-Improvement; Writing-Processes
AB: Contributed by English teachers across the United States, the activities contained in this booklet are intended to promote the effective teaching of literature and writing. Teaching strategies offered in the first section of the booklet are designed to stimulate language exploration and include activities in which students choose their favorite trite expressions in poems by Coleridge and Shakespeare and then write ballad stanzas to illustrate those cliches; imagine that they are famous artists and write self-portraits; keep music journals; and make speeches on topics taken from recent magazines and newspapers. Activities in the second section, which are designed to stimulate an appreciation and understanding of literature, require students to write their own versions of Swift's "A Modest Proposal"; create a literary poster that illustrates a passage the class has studied; give a five to seven minute talk in which they pretend to be movie directors describing how they would cast and shoot scenes in a given novel; engage in "inner and outer circle" discussions that allow only students from the outer circle to ask questions that those in the inner circle must answer. Teaching ideas in the third section provide various strategies for teaching different stages of the writing process. These include activities in which students pretend they are on vacation and write three humorous postcards; write romantic short stories; create a pre-writing "memory chain" about persons from their pasts; and keep a class journal in which everyone makes entries. (SAM)
AN: EJ468844
AU: Stevens,-Dannelle-D.; Englert,-Carol-Sue
TI: Making Writing Strategies Work.
PY: 1993
SO: Teaching-Exceptional-Children; v26 n1 p34-39 Fall 1993
DEM: *Attribution-Theory; *Learning-Disabilities; *Writing-Instruction; *Writing-Strategies
DER: Classroom-Techniques; Elementary-Secondary-Education; Learning-Strategies; Metacognition-; Self-Evaluation-Individuals; Teaching-Methods; Writing-Processes
AB: This article proposes that teachers of students with learning disabilities combine instruction in writing strategies with training in strategy attribution, whereby students learn to attribute their success or failure to use or nonuse of a particular writing strategy. Specific strategies are offered for writing subprocesses and steps in linking strategy use to strategy attributions. (DB)
AN: EJ475735
AU: Willis,-Meredith-Sue
TI: Deep Revision.
PY: 1993
SO: Teachers-and-Writers; v25 n1 p1-8 Sep-Oct 1993
NT: Special Issue on Revision.
DEM: *Revision-Written-Composition; *Writing-Assignments; *Writing-Improvement; *Writing-Instruction
DER: Class-Activities; Elementary-Secondary-Education; Student-Writing-Models; Writing-Skills
AB: Discusses revision as a form of learning and as a response to all kinds of literature, whether imitating what went before, reacting against it, or making something genuinely new of it. Offers numerous writing activities based on this idea. (SR)
AN: EJ441376
AU: Graham,-Steve
TI: Helping Students with LD Progress as Writers.
PY: 1992
SO: Intervention-in-School-and-Clinic; v27 n3 p134-44 Jan 1992
DEM: *Learning-Disabilities; *Teaching-Methods; *Writing-Composition; *Writing-Difficulties; *Writing-Instruction
DER: Elementary-Secondary-Education; Revision-Written-Composition; Writing-Improvement; Writing-Skills
AB: This article about the poor writing of many students with learning disabilities suggests that a major cause is inadequate instruction and presents three principles of writing instruction: (1) frequent and meaningful writing; (2) developing, embellishing, and refining; and (3) a warm and supportive environment. (DB)
AN: EJ437764
AU: Graves,-Anne; Montague,-Marjorie
TI: Using Story Grammar Cueing to Improve the Writing of Students with Learning Disabilities.
PY: 1991
SO: Learning-Disabilities-Research-and-Practice; v6 n4 p246-50 1991
DEM: *Cues-; *Learning-Disabilities; *Story-Grammar; *Teaching-Methods; *Writing-Improvement; *Writing-Instruction
DER: Elementary-Secondary-Education; Writing-Composition; Writing-Ability; Writing-Processes
AB: This article provides specific recommendations for teaching students with learning disabilities how to use a story grammar cueing system for improving writing. The article emphasizes the importance of individualizing instruction and teaching for generalization, and discusses the purpose of the system and methods of assessment. (JDD)
AN: EJ452719
AU: Brazil,-Gino-T.
TI: Teach Writing through Journalism.
PY: 1990
SO: New-Mexico-English-Journal; v5 n2 p30-31 Fall 1990
DEM: *Writing-Assignments; *Writing-Instruction
DER: Class-Activities; Elementary-Secondary-Education; Writing-Improvement
AB: Suggests that an effective way to develop students' writing abilities is to teach writing through journalism. Discusses the successes the author has had in incorporating journalistic writing strategies into elementary and secondary English/language arts classrooms. (RS)
AN: EJ408367
AU: Costanzo,-William
TI: Meditation through Writing.
PY: 1990
SO: Writing-Notebook:-Creative-Word-Processing-in-the-Classroom; v7 n4 p29-32 Apr-May 1990
DEM: *Meditation-; *Writing-Improvement; *Writing-Instruction; *Writing-Processes
DER: Elementary-Secondary-Education; Higher-Education; Teaching-Methods; Writing-Difficulties
AB: Describes using meditation to write with greater concentration, continuity, and depth, at any level of writing skill. Describes how to consciously cultivate the ability to focus, follow, and trace ideas through writing. (SR)
AN: EJ393394
AU: Maguire,-Frank
TI: Eleven Strategies for Building Self-Confidence in Student Writers.
PY: 1989
SO: Clearing-House; v62 n6 p256-58 Feb 1989
DEM: *Student-Writing-Models; *Writing-Apprehension; *Writing-Instruction
DER: Elementary-Secondary-Education; Teaching-Methods; Writing-Improvement
AB: Presents 11 strategies writing teachers can use to alleviate writing apprehension and to encourage student writers to feel confident about revealing their thoughts in writing. (SR)
 Improving Your Child's Writing Skills |
Other Resources (available either for sale or via interlibrary loan
Title: Teaching every child every day: Learning in diverse schools and classrooms
Editors: Karen R. Harris, Steve Graham, & Donald Deshler
Year: 1998 2nd edition
Publisher: New York, NY: Brookline Books
ISBN:3357125648798
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