Exploring the use of the prefix "meta" and the use of "meta" terms in the context of Lev S. Vygotsky's theories demonstrates that students need to use language to learn about language. "Writing about writing" is already part of many classrooms, but by establishing a connection between metadiscourse written informally…

Writing classes ought to be among the most creative environments imaginable, but sadly, some writing teachers seem to think that their own writing ability, in proximity, is enough to get students started. A good writing teacher must be a constant student of creativity, always searching for new ways to teach, new inspirations, new forms of…

Discusses a writing teacher's move toward expressive writing, toward her understanding of art, expression, and the objectification of the aesthetic, ethical, and the self. Comments on the role of technology in personal writing. Discusses the impact on her teaching of her "writing relationship" with her mother. (TB)

Discusses the importance of considering theory to be rooted in observation and suggests that no observation stops with itself but instead yields another observation. Suggests that what must occur is that teachers become prepared to observe their observations: to look and look again. (MG)

Provides 21 brief responses from readers of Karen Jost's articles in the March and September 1990 issues of this journal regarding whether or not writing teachers should write. (MG)

Argues that writing teachers need to encourage profuseness as well as concision, to teach not just brevity but also loquacity, to help students repeat inventively. Notes that the stylistic values implicit in writing theories, pedagogy, and culture so overwhelmingly favor conciseness that elaboration gets lost in the learning process. Presents…

Elaborates upon the assertion that composition studies is potentially a postdisciplinary inquiry which sometimes requires teachers to call upon knowledge from various disciplines to convey ideas to students. Identifies "narrative knowledge" as the kinds of tacit awareness that comes to writing teachers as a consequence of their work. (SG)

Discusses the ideological dimensions of writing instruction software. Discusses errors and assumptions of choosing software for writing instruction. Suggests that all software decisions must be tested against the instructor's own self-conscious and informed understanding of the goals of writing instruction. (RS)

Defines portfolios in terms of their uses in university writing courses. Summarizes teachers' experiences in implementing portfolios in departments that have not adopted portfolios. Reviews common complaints and questions writing teachers have about portfolios. Describes and gives examples of student portfolios. (RS)

Argues that student evaluations of faculty, sometimes used in personnel decisions, may miss the desired goal of improving instruction. Reviews research on student evaluations of teachers. Considers the ramifications and usefulness of student evaluations for writing teachers. (HB)

Discusses the use of lists and classification in poetry throughout history. Gives examples of lists in verse from Elizabethan to modern times. Offers some basic types and functions of the "list poem." Relates the lists poems of a fourth grade class. (PRA)

Discusses methods of effective copy editing that will help students develop as quality writers. (MG)

Offers a summary of a focus group discussion in which a small group of writers discuss samples of their students' work. (SR)

Investigates five writing centers from the viewpoint of English faculty. Describes these writing centers' history, the different concepts of their roles in community colleges and universities, their staffing, the politics of their structural organization and funding, the array of services they provide, and the direction of their development. (SR)

Describes the author's estrangement from her chosen field of rhetoric and composition. Attributes it to her appointment as Director of Composition, her felt need to use a writing textbook, and her inability to make sense of articles on composition theory. Relates her gradual reconversion to composition via remembering that ethos is everything. (SR)