TEACHER-PARTICIPANTS IN A WORKSHOP OF THE 1965 NDEA ENGLISH INSTITUTE AT CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY RECOGNIZED COMPOSITION AS THE MOST PROBLEMATIC AREA OF ENGLISH TEACHING. THEY IDENTIFIED LACK OF THOROUGH PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION IN TEACHING COMPOSITION AS THE PRIMARY REASON FOR ITS RELATIVE NEGLECT BY TEACHERS. HIGH STUDENT-TEACHER RATIO, MULTIPLE-CLASS PREPARATIONS, AND INSUFFICIENT RELEASED TIME WERE CONSIDERED TO BE GOOD AND VALID, BUT SECONDARY, REASONS FOR THE NEGLECT OF COMPOSITION. A SERIES OF INSERVICE TRAINING PROGRAMS WAS PROPOSED AS A MAJOR SOLUTION FOR TEACHER PREPARATION DEFICIENCIES, AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS WERE DEVELOPED FOR FOUR SUCH PROGRAMS--SEQUENTIAL COMPOSITION, THEME EVALUATION, THEME ASSIGNMENT, AND THE VALUE OF HIGH SCHOOL COMPOSITION INSTRUCTION AS INTERPRETED BY FORMER STUDENTS. ENGLISH DEPARTMENT CHAIRMEN WERE URGED TO TRY TO ELIMINATE TEACHING CONDITIONS WHICH INTERFERE WITH EFFECTIVE COMPOSITION INSTRUCTION. MEANWHILE, THE PROPOSAL SUGGESTED, INDIVIDUAL TEACHERS MIGHT TRY SUCH TECHNIQUES AS MULTIPLE-STUDENT-CRITIQUING OF THEMES, RECORDING COMMENTS ON TAPE RATHER THAN WRITING THEM ON THE PAPERS, AND CRITICIZING ONLY ONE WRITING ASPECT PER SET OF THEMES. (THIS PAPER WAS PRESENTED AT THE 1967 NCTE ANNUAL CONVENTION.) (RD)