To mimic as closely as possible successful classroom procedures, NCTE convention speakers should be assigned topics one hour before their sessions, with only the rhetorical form specified. The audience should shout evaluative comments during presentation and the recorder should interrupt at each spelling and punctuation error. A final grade should be forwarded to the speaker's employers. The chief absurdity of this format lies in the fact that in the world outside the classroom writers do not write under such conditions. The question arises whether the pressures and anxieties teachers impose upon student writers in the classroom are unproductive. Many children bring a spirit of language experimentation to school that is gradually changed to anxiety and error avoidance. Teachers can reduce anxiety by lessening the tyranny of grades and presenting enthusiasm for writing. Assignments should be realistic and pertinent to students' future lives. Free writing exercises and the opportunity to revise papers will produce papers of improved quality. Modelling classroom writing procedures on the practices teachers themselves engage in can create conditions for progress in students' development as writers. (HTH)