An excerpt from the PREFACE. The English teacher, more perhaps than any other, is consciously aiming, not to give his students information, but to make them acquire capacity, -capacity, in this case, for expressing their thought to others. But it is only by writing that the student can learn to write well, though much writing may not teach this, and one of the difficulties which an English teacher has to meet is a no less fundamental one than the difficulty of getting his students to write at all-to write, that is, not perfunctorily, but spontaneously, for this is the only kind of writing that counts. This difficulty has its source, at least very largely, in the student's sense of the artificial character of his work. What is the use, he thinks, of writing about the birthplace of Hawthorne, or the character of Lady Macbeth? His teacher knows all about them beforehand, and besides, he isn't writing to his teacher, he isn't writing to anybody, he is just " writing a composition" that is to be corrected for spelling, punctuation, paragraphing; or for its lack of certain qualities, such as "clearness," "precision," and " unity." No wonder he finds it hard to write. We ourselves, when alone, do not usually talk aloud about the things around us, describe the picture before us, or the desk, or the view. We should feel "silly" to be talking to nobody. Why should we expect a child to talk to nobody on paper? He feels " silly" too, or at least uncomfortable. But give him somebody to talk to, a real audience, and a subject that his audience is interested in, and his whole attitude will change. Tell him to " describe a game of basket-ball," and he will be lifeless enough; but find some classmates who like football better, and tell him to describe the game to them so as to convert them, or let each side try to convert the other, with the class as judge, -then he has something worth doing. Evidently it is the subject, as well as the audience, that has been wrong; give a boy or girl something that he-not we-calls "interesting," and give him somebody who is interested, or whom he must make interested, and he will write for you. Not that "the character of Lady Macbeth" is in itself an unfit subject. Take a class studying Macbeth for college preparatory work and set them talking about the characters. Some will pity Macbeth and despise his lady, others will feel differently; discussion will arise, sides will be taken. Before they have reached a decision, tell each student to defend his opinion in writing; the results will be spirited, and the effect of the writing, when read to the class, will be eagerly watched, while if a little argument creeps into the exposition, no harm is done. All sorts of such devices can be found to provide the students with an audience, and of course it will be best of all if they feel that the teacher himself is a real, not a sham, audience; that he is listening for what they have to say, as well as holding himself ready to correct the way they say it. And when the students have got a little out of the old rut of "writing compositions" addressed to nobody, and have had some experience in writing to real readers, they will be able to imagine audiences for themselves, and write with vigor to these hypothetical hearers. They will describe a football game " to a boy who was on the team last year," or " to a gentleman who doesn't want his son to play, but may be persuaded to let him," etc., etc. In the following pages the subjects suggested for writing have not always had their specific audience thus defined, because this can often be better done by the teacher himself so as to appeal most successfully to the particular students he is dealing with. Supposing, then, that by various means the teacher has got some spirited writing from his students; this writing must be criticized, and how shall it be done without dampening their ardor and losing everything that has been gained?

Why you need a writing revolution in your classroom and how to lead it The Writing Revolution (TWR) provides a clear method of instruction that you can use no matter what subject or grade level you teach. The model, also known as The Hochman Method, has demonstrated, over and over, that it can turn weak writers into strong communicators by focusing on specific techniques that match their needs and by providing them with targeted feedback. Insurmountable as the challenges faced by many students may seem, The Writing Revolution can make a dramatic difference. And the method does more than improve writing skills. It also helps: Boost reading comprehension Improve organizational and study skills Enhance speaking abilities Develop analytical capabilities The Writing Revolution is as much a method of teaching content as it is a method of teaching writing. There's no separate writing block and no separate writing curriculum. Instead, teachers of all subjects adapt the TWR strategies and activities to their current curriculum and weave them into their content instruction. But perhaps what's most revolutionary about the TWR method is that it takes the mystery out of learning to write well. It breaks the writing process down into manageable chunks and then has students practice the chunks they need, repeatedly, while also learning content.

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Excerpt from A Course in Expository Writing The English teacher, more perhaps than any other, is consciously aiming, not to give his students information, but to make them acquire capacity, - capacity, in this case, for expressing their thought to others. But it is only by writing that the student can learn to write well, though much writing may not teach this, and one of the difficulties which an English teacher has to meet is a no less fundamental one than the difficulty of getting his students to write at all - to write, that is, not perfunctorily, but spontaneously, for this is the only kind of writing that counts. This difficulty has its source, at least very largely, in the student's sense of the artificial character of his work. What is the use, he thinks, of writing about the birthplace of Hawthorne, or the character of Lady Macbeth? His teacher knows all about them beforehand, and besides, he isn't writing to his teacher, he isn't writing to anybody, he is just "writing a composition" that is to be corrected for spelling, punctuation, paragraphing; or for its lack of certain qualities, such as "clearness," "precision," and "unity." No wonder he finds it hard to write. We ourselves, when alone, do not usually talk aloud about the things around us, describe the picture before us, or the desk, or the view. We should feel "silly" to be talking to nobody. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.