This paper presents the concept of silent discussions and offers insight into how the method can support linguistic autonomy, accessibility, and student accountability. It also outlines techniques used to improve discussion outcomes in secondary and other classrooms. Silence, while seemingly counterintuitive in classrooms and other spaces where…

Especially since the implementation of T-TESS, it has become imperative for Texas English teachers to examine ways to incorporate student-centered instruction and activities in all areas, including the writing process. This article provides techniques and examples for English teachers who desire to work smarter and more responsively to meet the…

Using the educational social media platform Edmodo, teachers at multiple sites developed and implemented instruction that gave their high school students a chance to talk to students across the nation about the texts they were reading and to work collaboratively to develop writing related to their understanding.

Discusses problems with freshman research paper assignments. Describes how one teacher has adapted cooperative learning techniques to research assignments, allowing students to work together in "base" and "expert" groups. Describes four structured writing assignments on a single subject of general public interest that lends itself to specialized…

Describes the methods and means by which composition teachers can successfully create, train, and maintain writing groups (peer response groups, writing circles, or writing workshops) within the English classroom. (HB)

Describes a unit which used storytelling as a vehicle to get eighth-grade students involved in a study of myth, legend, and folktale and which involved cooperative learning groups and oral presentations. (SR)

Offers descriptions of three class activities involving collaboration between basic composition and freshman composition classes, involving magazine production and peer response. (SR)

Suggests that special education students do well in writing process classrooms that use a variety of approaches, such as cooperative learning, reciprocal learning, and multisensory teaching. Views the writing process classroom as a place where teachers and students respect different learning styles. (TB)

Explains how a computer-based basic writing course relied on small group communication and cooperation to surmount fears of the computer and of writing. Argues that the course helped students work through the "I-You" polarity, the disparity between the author ("I") and the writer ("You"). (TB)

Describes a castle-building exercise in which students first learn about castles and then, using a map of the school, show on paper how they would convert the school into a castle. (TB)