The Answer Sheet: writing


Posted at 04:01 AM ET, 05/02/2013

Grading writing: The art and science -- and why computers can't do it
By Valerie Strauss
Writing is a fundamental human act. What really goes into assessing it?

By Valerie Strauss  |  04:01 AM ET, 05/02/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  A Quiz, First, Test Grading, Writing

Posted at 01:00 PM ET, 01/11/2011

Ravitch: The chutzpah of rewriting Mark Twain (and how it relates to "The Wire")
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch writes about the latest effort to cleanse Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" of hurtful words.

By Valerie Strauss  |  01:00 PM ET, 01/11/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  censorship, classic literature, diane ravitch, huck fin, huckleberry fin, the wire, william shakespeare, writing mark twain

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 09/29/2010

The new risk of plagiarizing college essays
By Valerie Strauss
There is a technology called Turnitin for Admissions, introduced late last year by iParadigms LLC, that can detect plagiarism in college application essays from numerous sites on the Internet. It is a version of Turnitin, which is used in thousands of academic institutions around the world to detect plagiarism in academics.

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:30 AM ET, 09/29/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  College Admissions, College Admissions, College Admissions | Tags:  cheating on college essays, college admissions, college essay plagiarism, college essays, how to write an essay, writing college essays

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 09/17/2010

How the ACT caught up with the SAT
By Valerie Strauss
For more than 80 years, the SAT has been the nation’s dominant, standardized college admissions exam. This year – for the first time – as many students in the high school class of 2010 sat for the rival ACT as took the SAT. How did it happen?

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 09/17/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  act, college admissions, crossing the finish line, fairtest, sat, sat act, sat or act, sat vs. act, standardized tests, test-optional colleges, test-optional schools, writing section act, writing section sat

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 08/26/2010

Why the National Writing Project should be saved
By Valerie Strauss
If Arne Duncan supports classroom teachers as he says he does, then why, a highly certified teacher asks, does he want to stop funding the National Writing Project, the best professional development program this teacher has experienced in nearly 30 years of teaching?

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 08/26/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  arne duncan, national board certified teachers, national writing project, professional development and teachers

Posted at 12:06 AM ET, 07/23/2010

From a list of ideas to an 11,200-word essay
By Valerie Strauss
In this letter a high school student details how he wrote a scholarly history paper that was published and what he learned from the experience.

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:06 AM ET, 07/23/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  History | Tags:  concord review, history, how to write a research paper, walter johnson high school, writing research papers

Posted at 08:59 AM ET, 05/15/2010

Literacy kudzu
By Valerie Strauss
Will Fitzhugh, editor of The Concord Review, questions, no, savages, the way students are taught to read in school.

By Valerie Strauss  |  08:59 AM ET, 05/15/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  best practices and reading instruction, how to teach reading, how to teach writing, learning, literacy, reading, reading instruction, reading wars, will fitzhugh, writing

Posted at 09:03 AM ET, 04/19/2010

How writing improves reading skills--study
By Valerie Strauss
It is often said that reading can improve a student’s writing. A new study says the reverse--that writing can improve reading skills as well as content learning--is equally true, and identifies three ways that teachers and even parents can help students make the connection.

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:03 AM ET, 04/19/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Reading, Reading, Reading | Tags:  new study on reading, new study on writing, reading research, study in reading, study on writing, teaching reading skills, teaching writing skills, writing research

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 01/21/2010

Writing for knowledge
By Valerie Strauss
By Will Fitzhugh. One major literacy study and report recently pointed out, in an aside, that the idea that reading books will do a lot for the literacy of students is sadly misguided. What students need, it was felt, is lots more technique and process classes, K-12, on “finding the main idea,” “identifying the author’s audience,” and all like that there. I would argue to the contrary. Not only does reading books contribute powerfully to the knowledge that students need in order to read more and more difficult material (such as they should face in high school and will certainly face in college), but, also, the work of writing a serious research paper will lead students to do a lot more reading and to gather a lot of knowledge in the process.

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:30 AM ET, 01/21/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  High School, High School, High School | Tags:  Will Fitzhugh, writing for knowledge

Posted at 06:45 AM ET, 11/03/2009

Question 1: How to write the college application essay?
By Valerie Strauss
College admissions directors respond to this: A new college admissions book, “You’re Accepted” by Katie Malachuk, advises applicants NOT to show their family or friends their college essays, and to be brutally honest about their experiences, more honest than they might be with their friends. Is that a good strategy?

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:45 AM ET, 11/03/2009 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  College Admissions | Tags:  college admissions, writing the essay