SECTION I

Instructors Manual

to Accompany

JUMPSTART: A Sentence-to-Paragraph Worktext with Readings

The Philosophy Behind Jumpstart:

A Sentence-to-Paragraph Worktext with ReadingsJumpstart: A Sentence-to-Paragraph Worktext with Readings is aimed at helping basic writing students achieve the level of proficiency necessary for success in their college courses. The text focuses on sentence-level concerns and whole discourse, as well as laying a solid foundation for academic success by infusing instruction with academic content. Unlike other workbooks that focus on sentence proficiency, it connects learning to writing in other classes, so students understand its importance across the disciplines. Also unlike similar texts, it offers abundant support for multilingual students.

In the current major revision of Jumpstart: A Sentence-to-Paragraph Worktext with Readings, the mission of the text has been expanded. New reading and study skills features, a cross-curricular emphasis, exercises derived from textbook excerpts, and writing applications across the disciplines now prepare students for the kinds of reading and writing they will do in college. In addition, this edition engages a tech-savvy generation by offering guidance in the use of computers, expanded opportunities to learn from the Web, and writing assignments that integrate visual and verbal rhetoric. In short, because Jumpstart: A Sentence-to-Paragraph Worktext with Readings is aligned with the interests of college students and all aspects of college-level work, those who use the book will be poised for a successful transition to college writing and to writing competence in all their courses.

An Overview of the Text

Jumpstart: A Sentence-to-Paragraph Worktext with Readings is organized to provide students with on-going, progressive instruction and practice in developing sentence-level skills while providing opportunities to write and to read. As in the previous edition of Jumpstart, every feature of this edition is designed to support and encourage students.

Whole Discourse and the Writing Process

Part One, Writing Paragraphs and Essays, emphasizes both process and product. A new opening chapter, Becoming a Better Writer, introduces the importance of writing in college and in the workplace.

A new chapter on revising and editing, Revising and Editing a Paragraph, gives emphasis to these important stages in the writing process.

An expanded chapter on writing essays supports students who are ready for more complex writing forms. Each of the four chapters in Part One closes with sequenced writing activities that move students from idea generation to whole discourse.Reading and Writing Supports for Students

Chapter goals are listed at the beginning of every chapter.

Abundant, varied exercises provide on-going reinforcement and practice, and review exercises are strategically placed for additional reinforcement.

Grammar Alerts, Spelling Alerts, and Punctuation Alerts highlight pitfalls for students to avoid.

Connect for Success is a new feature that addresses academic success by focusing on reading skills, study skills, and applying knowledge outside of the developmental classroom.

Composing at the Computer tips are designed to address to todays technological challenges and give students information on strategies for writing at the computer.

Troubleshooting tips in the margins point out common pitfalls and offer specific strategies for avoiding them.

A generous number of varied writing activities insure that every student can find a topic of interest.

If English is Your Second Language provides invaluable tips for non-native English speakers throughout the text.

Group Activities are emphasized in exercises that provide opportunities for collaborative work and peer review.

End of Chapter Features

Getting in Gear writing assignments based in academic content and cultural literacy materials and accompanied by visuals guide students through the writing process. Students have the chance, for example, to learn about and draw inspiration from Auguste Rodins The Thinker, Jesse Owens success at the 1936 Olympics, and Robert Frosts famous poem Mending Wall.

Weblinks in the Getting in Gear assignments send students to sites where they can learn more about academic subjects.

Recharge sections highlight the main points of the chapter for easy review.

End of Unit Feature

PowerUp consists of cumulative exercises that ask students to analyze the structure and grammar of textbook passages, as well as the content, and to write a response to what they have read.

The Exercises

A wide variety of exercises formats (one-third of all exercises are new to this edition) give students a range of practice and keep them interested. Exercise formats include whole discourse, continuous discourse, sentence combining, collaborative activities, and mix-of-error activities.

Exercises adapted from biology, art, education, speech, psychology, sociology, business, music, childcare, medical assisting, communications, history, and political science textbooks expose students to important academic content across the disciplines and help them become more comfortable with college-level language, information, and ideas.

A new appendix includes eight multi-paragraph exercises with a mix of errors so students can practice editing the way they should edit their own writing for more than one kind of mistake.

Chapter review exercises appear at the end of every chapter.

Unit review exercises focusing on multiple skills appear at the end of every unit.

Group activities are offered for collaborative learning experiences.

The Readings

The twelve selections, including 7 new essays, address a range of themes by diverse authors including Maya Angelou, Sandra Cisneros, and Amy Tan.

Chapter 30: Reading and Writing in Response to Reading includes an expanded introduction to reading which explains the importance of reading, the connection between reading and writing, and the reading process. It also includes instruction on how students can use context clues to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary.

A sample marked essay in Chapter 30 illustrates the active reading process.

On Writing marginalia point out previously studied grammar, usage, or rhetorical features in each selection.

New post-reading questions focus on critical thinking and students reading processes as well as on reading comprehension.

Responses to each reading are framed in a Getting in Gear writing assignment that includes a visual, weblink, and strategies for completing the assignment.

The Appendices

Appendix I provides an overview of the parts of speech.

Appendix II provides a review of word parts.

Sample Syllabus

A syllabus is a highly effective instrument that can be used by both students and teachers alike to provide organization and direction for a writing course. To be most effective, however, a syllabus should be a flexible and general guide rather than a carved in stone agenda for addressing the objectives of the course. Of course, it is the nature of basic writing classes to run out of term before running out of instructional opportunities, so remember to approach the following sample syllabus as a guide and adjust it as necessary to fit your classroom needs.

The sample syllabus is intended to encourage the flexible use of Jumpstart: A Sentence-to-Paragraph Worktext with Readings while maintaining a logical order for the presentation of course objectives. Its purpose is to provide support to those who perhaps are teaching basic writing skills for the first time and to suggest alternative course directions for more experienced teachers.

The syllabus is designed for a sixteen-week semester and is based on the fundamental pedagogical principles of sentence-level skill instruction and practice coupled with whole discourse activities.

Sixteen-Week Semester Syllabus

Week

Objective

Activity

1

Diagnosis of Student Skill Levels

Comprehensive Diagnostic Test

Becoming a Better Writer

Chapter 1

Drafting a Paragraph

Chapter 2

Language Skills Evaluation

Chapter Tests

Writing Practice

Writing Activity

2

Revising and Editing a Paragraph

Chapter 3

Writing an Essay

Chapter 4

Language Skills Evaluation

Chapter Tests, Review Test Part One

Reading Skills

Reading Selection

Writing Practice

Writing Activity

3

Identifying Subjects and Verbs

Chapter 5

Eliminating Sentence Fragments

Chapter 6

Improving Sentences with Coordination

Chapter 7

Language Skills Evaluation

Chapter Tests

Reading Skills

Reading Selection

Writing Practice

Writing Activity

4

Improving Sentences with SubordinationChapter 8

Eliminating Run-On Sentences and

Comma Splices

Chapter 9

Language Skills Evaluation

Chapter Tests, Review Test Part Two

Writing Evaluation

Writing Activity

5

Progress Check

Student Conferences

Using the Present Tense/Subject

Verb Agreement

Chapter 10

Using the Past Tense

Chapter 11

Language Skills Evaluation

Chapter Tests

Reading Skills

Reading Selection

Writing Practice

Writing Activity

6 Using the Perfect Tenses and the Active

and Passive Voice

Chapter 12

Using the Progressive Tenses

Chapter 13

Eliminating Inappropriate Tense Shifts

Chapter 14

Language Skills Evaluation Chapter Tests, Review Test Part Three

Writing Evaluation

Writing Activity

7

Using Pronouns

Chapter 15

Achieving Pronoun Antecedent AgreementChapter 16

Language Skills Evaluation

Chapter Tests

Reading Skills

Reading Selection

Writing Practice

Writing Activity

8

Eliminating Other Pronoun Errors

Chapter 17

Language Skills Evaluation

Chapter Tests, Review Test Part Four

Week

Objective

Activity

Reading Skills

Reading Selection

Writing Practice

Writing Activity

9

Progress Check

Student Conferences

Using Adjectives and Adverbs

Chapter 18

Using Participles and Infinitives to DescribeChapter 19

Using Prepositions

Chapter 20

Language Skills Evaluation

Chapter Tests, Review Test Part Five

10 Achieving Parallelism

Chapter 21

Solving Special Sentence Structure ProblemsChapter 22

Varying Sentence Openers

Chapter 23

Language Skills Evaluation

Chapter Tests, Review Test Part Six

Reading Skills

Reading Selection

Writing Practice

Writing Activity

11

Spelling Correctly

Chapter 24

Using Frequently Confused Words CorrectlyChapter 25

Language Skills Evaluation

Chapter Tests, Review Test Part Seven

Reading Skills

Reading Selection

Writing Practice

Writing Activity

12

Using Capital Letters and Endmarks

Chapter 26

Using Commas

Chapter 27

Language Skills Evaluation

Chapter Tests

Reading Skills

Reading Selection

Writing Practice

Writing Activity

13

Using Apostrophes

Chapter 28

Punctuating Quotations

Chapter 29

Language Skills Evaluation

Chapter Tests, Review Test Part Eight

Reading Skills

Reading Selection

Writing Practice

Writing Activity

14

Progress Check

Student Conferences

Portfolio Presentations to the Class

Presentations

15Exam Preparation

Comprehensive Review

16

Final Examination

Final Exam

Using the Marginalia and Special Features

Jumpstart: A Sentence-to-Paragraph Worktext with Readings provides a variety of effective marginalia and boxed features throughout the text. They are designed to offer your students extensive supplemental instruction, activities, and cross-references to enhance the use of the text and the competencies under consideration. When you first introduce the text at the beginning of the semester, encourage your students to pay attention to the marginalia and boxed features as they read the text and to utilize them to heighten their understanding of the material and its applications. Marginalia

Troubleshooting

These tips offer additional information, helpful reminders, and cross-references. Be sure to call attention to the Troubleshooting tips marginalia in your classroom discussions, and take advantage of opportunities to reiterate other writing competencies through the cross-references. You may want to require your students to include the Troubleshooting tips most helpful to their own writing in their notebooks.

On Writing

The On Writing marginalia included with the reading selections point out previously studied grammar, usage, or rhetorical feature of the selection. Make the On Writing marginalia a regular part of your classroom discussions of the readings by looking at effective applications of grammar, usage, and rhetorical features. Doing so will help students understand the relationship of the competencies studied to effective communication and their own writing.

Special Features

Connect for Success

Connect for Success boxes are interspersed throughout the text and contain specific suggestions for how students can use what they are learning in Jumpstart to achieve success in other classes. Calling attention to these boxes provides an opportunity to show students how what they are learning in the writing classroom applies to other areas of their academic lives, and some of the practical ways in which what they are learning will benefit them and contribute to their success in college.

Composing at the Computer

Composing at the Computer tips describe efficient strategies for using a computer during all stages of the writing process. Even students who are very tech-savvy in terms of accessing the Web may not be familiar with all the ways they can use a computer to write.

If English is Your Second Language

These tips, which appear at the end of every chapter in Parts 2-8, provide instruction on issues of particular importance to students who speak English as a Second Language. However, the clear explanations of these topics are also of great help to many English speaking developmental students who have difficulty with the same concepts.

Using the Reading Selections

The twelve reading selections in Jumpstart include a range of themes by diverse authors. Basic writing students need to see that good writing is not just something they have to study in a writing class but is, instead, a means by which we all communicate ideas and experiences. Reading other peoples ideas and experiences helps to expand our boundaries and enhances our understanding of others, and the ideas and experiences in the reading selections in Jumpstart help students see the bigger picture of what they can communicate in their own writing.

Before assigning any of the reading selections, be sure to spend some time discussing the Steps for Critical Reading in Chapter 30. Encourage your students to read actively, not just for content, but also with an eye to effective applications of grammar, usage, and rhetorical features. You may find it helpful to discuss each selection first in terms of content, allowing for reactions to the readings and the exchange of ideas. Then move to examples of how the writer communicated his or her ideas and experiences through the effective use of language and rhetorical styles and encourage students to make their own writing more effective by example.

Each reading is accompanied by an interactive vocabulary feature, which appears in the left margin. Vocabulary words from the selection are given in bold and students are asked to write in educated guesses as to their meanings using context clues. Then they are asked to write in the dictionary meanings after they have finished reading the selection to see how they compare. Readings are followed by comprehension and critical thinking questions, as well as by Getting in Gear writing assignments accompanied by visuals which are designed to guide students through the writing process. Weblinks in the Getting in Gear assignments send students to sites where they can learn more about the topic under discussion. Use the writing assignments to encourage students to write about ideas and topics important to them and to enhance their understanding of how to tailor their writing style based on what they want to communicate.

Teaching Notes on Jumpstart Chapters

The following teaching notes on the individual chapters in Parts One through Eight include suggested approaches to the material and suggested methods of addressing typical student problem areas.

Chapter 1: Becoming a Better Writer Basic writing students need to be taught that writing is a form of communication and a skill that they will use throughout their lives. Students will also need guidance and modeling to learn that writing is the result of a process; good writing is the result of several steps. As they practice the writing process students should be encouraged to find strategies that they find most helpful to them as each writer develops his or her own approach to completing the process.

Basic writing students benefit from structured instruction that provides them with strategies and practice for each stage of the writing process. Students often see writing as a linear, one-shot deal and aim just to fulfill an assignment. Providing students with many practice exercises on the following topics will most effectively help them become successful writers: identifying a topic, considering the audience for their writing, employing written and graphic formats for developing a topic, writing drafts, and revision and editing strategies.

Chapter 2: Drafting a Paragraph

It is ironic that many basic writing students complain that they have nothing to write about, and yet, given the first opportunity, they respond to short writing activities by writing several loosely structured paragraphs or even an essay. While many of your students may balk at studying the characteristics of the paragraph and its parts, stating that they studied paragraph writing in elementary school, the fact is that many students are less daunted by the paragraph. You may want to remind your students that writing paragraphs offers them the opportunity to work with a manageable unit of writing while learning grammar and organization before moving on to larger essays.

An effective technique to use when studying the principles of good paragraph writing is analyze the paragraph structure found in professionally written and entertaining essays. The reading selections in Part Nine of Jumpstart offer excellent examples, and you may want to bring in paragraphs extracted from popular magazines. When students read these paragraphs and analyze their characteristics, they will quickly see that simple paragraph writing is not as easy as it first appears. Perhaps, more importantly, they will also recognize that the paragraph, though simple in form, is far from simplistic.

Chapter 3: Revising and Editing a Paragraph

Students often need encouragement to see that the time spent on revision and editing is worth their while. Including drafts in the grading of a final written piece is one way to emphasize the value of the process and provide motivation for students to use all stages of the writing process. Another strategy that will help students develop good writing habits that include revision and editing is to model for students how to organize a timeline for the revision and editing of a written piece. Many students think they can complete a writing assignment in one sitting. Creating a timeline will emphasize that revision and editing is most effective when you take a break from a draft before revising, that revision on a piece of writing should happen more than once, and that it is helpful to get feedback from objective readers on drafts.

It is helpful to teach students how to make positive but substantive comments on others writing so they can practice revising with one another in a meaningful way. Students also need to learn that revision is different from editing (focuses on content, organization and wording) and should be completed before editing (focuses on mechanics). Many students confuse editing with revision and lose the benefit of engaging in both processes before doing a final proofread on their writing.

Chapter 4: Writing an Essay

Although many students may try to pack too much into a paragraph, they are also apt to be overwhelmed by the thought of writing an essay. You can give them the guidelines they need by emphasizing the five-paragraph essay format. In the beginning, they will likely find reassurance in having a structure within which to fit their point. By allowing them to follow a prescribed format in the beginning, you also allow them to build the confidence necessary to branch out on their own later and let their point mold their structure.

The most effective means of teaching essay writing is to read good essays. Part Nine of Jumpstart contains excellent examples of essay writing. As you move through the reading selections, encourage students to read actively and to look for the components good essay writing. Point out the basic structure of introduction, body, and conclusion in the reading selections, and indicate how the writers have worked within but expanded that structure to communicate their ideas. Essay writing provides a good context for practicing the writing process.

Chapter 5: Identifying Subjects and Verbs

When discussing simple sentences, you may find that many of your students mistakenly believe that a simple sentence is a short sentence. A fun way to deal with this problem and to reinforce the parts of the simple sentence is to put a two-word sentence such as I drove on the board and, through class participation, continue to add to the sentence until it is quite lengthyand probably quite humorous. Of course, some students may call out additions that would cause the sentence to be compound or complex, but you can use those responses to reinforce the parts of the simple sentence by looking at ways to modify the responses to keep the sentence simple. Those responses are particularly helpful not only in studying the simple sentence but also in moving on to discuss compound and complex sentences and sentence variety.

Chapter 6: Eliminating Sentence FragmentsIt is not unusual for students to quickly recognize sentence fragments in other peoples writing while continuing to create fragments in their own. Therefore, testing students through error identification exercises addresses only one of the goals of this chapter. While error identification exercises reinforce the components of a complete sentence, it is essential also to incorporate practice in finding and eliminating fragments through student writing activities.

One problem that may arise as you discuss sentence fragments is that your students are accustomed to hearing fragments used in conversation. Since we often hear fragments without recognizing that they are incorrect, remind your students that reading aloud is not a good way to identify fragments in their writing.

Students may also be accustomed to seeing fragments used (sometimes effectively) in advertising, magazine articles, and best-selling books. Explaining exceptions to the rule can be challenging, but one way to approach occasional and purposeful rule-breaking is to compare proficiency in language to proficiency in a sport. For example, you must learn to hit a golf ball straight up the fairway before you can purposely and effectively slice it to the right. Of course, if you hit it to the right as a mistake, you may very well end up in the woods or in the lakenot an error you want to make.

Chapter 7: Improving Sentences with Coordination

Basic writing students need to be encouraged to use a variety of sentence patterns in their writing. As a result of their hesitancy to do so, they often end up with writing that sounds choppy and immature. Although you certainly want to recommend that students look for two or more short sentences in a row that they might want to make into one longer sentence through coordination, you may also want to remind students of the importance of building sentences according to the meaning they want to convey.

Perhaps one reason that students are hesitant to use coordination is that they fear longer sentences give them more opportunities for mistakes, particularly in punctuation. While teaching coordination, you may want to refer students to the chapter on comma usage, Chapter 27.

Chapter 8: Improving Sentences with Subordination

One question that students may have when revising sentences using subordination is, How do I know which idea to subordinate because it is less important? When the question does arise, it offers an excellent opportunity to reiterate the individual writers ability to create meaning through sentence structure.

Once again, students may be hesitant to employ subordination due to punctuation fears. You may want to refer to the chapter on commas. Be sure to remind students that if the dependent clause comes before the independent clause, a comma is needed after it, but if the dependent clause comes after the independent clause, no comma is needed. Usually an example using the same clauses works best, such as:

Because it was raining, I carried my umbrella.

I carried my umbrella because it was raining.

It is also a good idea to use an example such as this one using the word because since many students often mistake because for a coordinating conjunction and put a comma in front of it. Another subordinating conjunction students frequently try to use as a coordinating conjunction is however.

Chapter 9: Eliminating Run-On Sentences and Comma Splices

One of the most frequently occurring errors in students writing is the comma splice. In fact, students often create comma splices by trying to avoid short sentences that they mistakenly assume will be fragments. The problem gets worse when students create run-on sentences by trying to avoid comma splices.

As is true with fragments, students are more apt to recognize comma spices and run-on sentences in other peoples writing than in their own. Therefore, basic writing students need to deal with these errors through whole discourse exercises as well as through error identification exercises. In addition, be sure to advise students that however is not a coordinating conjunction and cannot be used to join two independent clauses; to do so will result in a comma splice.Chapter 10: Using the Present Tense/Subject-Verb Agreement

Although it is true that verbs, verb tense, and subject-verb agreement cause many students a great deal of difficulty, most students readily recognize present tense verbs. For that reason, the more difficult problem of subject-verb agreement is best handled along with a discussion of present tense verbs so that students can deal with what is often a difficult issue in conjunction with a simpler concept.

It is helpful to remind students who tend to confuse singular and plural verb forms that while nouns usually add an s to form the plural, regular verbs form the singular with an s. Given that, however, you may find that your students have more difficulty with singular and plural forms of to be, to have, and to do, often because of regular misuse in their conversational language. Therefore, it is important to remind students that they cannot always depend on what sounds right to them when selecting singular and plural verbs

Chapter 11: Using the Past Tense

Basic writing students tend to shift from the past tense to the present, particularly when narrating events in writing. Remind students that the first verb in a sentence and in a paragraph usually establishes the tense of subsequent verbs unless the time of the action actually changes.

Much of the difficulty with the past tense arises from the use of irregular verbs. You may find it helpful to have students make a list of the verb forms they regularly misuse, much like a list of frequently misspelled words, to refer to often when writing.

Chapter 12: Using the Perfect Tenses and the Active and Passive Voice

It is helpful to begin a discussion of the perfect tenses with a discussion of the past participle. As with the past tense, you may find it helpful to have students make a list of the past participle irregular verb forms they regularly misuse to refer to as they write. The perfect tenses tend to give basic writing students some degree of difficulty in terms of determining when an action takes place. Examples that remain basically the same in content but take place in different times are most helpful for showing students the uses of the perfect tenses.

Present Perfect:As of today, James has completed one semester.

Past Perfect:

At the end of the year, James had completed one semester.

Teaching active and passive voice can be tricky. Often, basic writers believe passive voice structures sound more complex and sophisticated and tend to sprinkle their writing with such structures. The result is, unfortunately, a stilted and unnatural style. Remind students that active voice is typically the most clear and natural structure, and encourage them to strive for the majority of their sentences to be in the active voice.

Chapter 13: Using the Progressive Tenses

Just as an understanding of the past participle is essential to dealing with the perfect tenses, the present participle is essential to the progressive tenses. However, students tend to have an easier time with the concept of progressive tenses than with the perfect tenses because of the -ing identifier. Even so, you may find it necessary to use a number of examples to help students see the differences in the time of the action in present progressive and past progressive verb forms.

Once again, examples that remain basically the same in content but take place in different times are most helpful for showing students the uses of these tense forms.

Present Progressive:Juan is writing his paper.

Past Progressive:Juan was writing his paper.

Chapter 14: Eliminating Inappropriate Tense Shifts

Tense shifts are common errors in students writing, and special care needs to be paid to Chapter 14 to help students identify when and why they are likely to make these mistakes. Most typically, students shift back and forth between past and present tense, especially when the action should be expressed almost exclusively in the past tense.

You may find it helpful to encourage students to read their writing aloud to identify tense shift errors since they are more likely to hear problem shifts than to see them. In addition, sometimes students get too good at recognizing shifts and place every action in the same tense. You will need to remind students that sometimes shifts in tense between sentences and even within sentences are called for to indicate changes of time.

Chapter 15: Using Pronouns

To help students understand how pronouns can be used as subjects and objects, you may want to review the discussion of the subject in Chapter 5 You may also find it helpful to refer to the discussion of prepositions and their objects in Chapter 20. You may find that students have the most difficulty with these forms of pronouns when choosing subject and object pronouns in compounds. It is helpful to remind them to check their usage by isolating the pronoun to see if it makes sense alone. Another area of difficulty arises with choosing subject and object pronouns in comparisons, so you will want to remind them to check their usage by mentally adding implied but unstated words.

Chapter 16: Achieving Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Like subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent agreement is a problem area for many basic writing students. The problem, in part, arises from the regular misuse of pronoun number in conversational English, especially in the use of they for a singular antecedent. Students need only to listen to the radio or watch television, even news shows, for a few minutes to hear the pronoun they used several times to refer to one person.

Because the overuse of the singular he or she is awkward, you may want to encourage your students to change antecedents that would require the repeated use of the singular pronoun he or she to plural antecedents requiring the smoother sounding they.

Students can also be reminded to look at other factors within their sentences to determine singular or plural pronoun usage. For example, if the subject and verb are plural, it is likely that the pronoun will be plural as well. Many students, in fact, benefit from a review of subject-verb agreement when studying pronoun-antecedent agreement, so you may want to go back to Chapter 10 to look at agreement. In addition, identification exercises in paragraph form requiring students to choose correct subject-verb agreement as well as pronoun-antecedent agreement can be most helpful here.

Chapter 17: Eliminating Other Pronoun Errors

Person shifts are common problems for basic writers, particularly shifts to you and your when the reader is not being addressed directly. You may want to try having students read their writing aloud to a partner, with the partner paying special attention to determining whether the writing is addressing him or her in particular or an audience in general. If, in fact, the writer uses you or your when the audience is actually general, the partner will be quick to point out the shift.

Another typical problem involves unclear reference in pronoun use. Again, putting writers with a partner to read their writing aloud is effective here. Unclear references typically occur because the writer knows what he or she means, but the audience has no way of knowing without reading the writers mind. The partner will again be quick to point out the area of confusion, and this is a perfect opportunity to reinforce the writers responsibility to say what he or she means and not leave it to the audience to try to figure it out.

Chapter 18: Using Adjectives and Adverbs

Collaborative paragraph work can be an effective exercise in helping students to see the power of adjectives and adverbs. For example, you may want to try composing a simple paragraph containing no modifiers, distributing copies of it to groups of students, and asking them to add appropriate adjectives and adverbs to it.

A collaborative effort can also be effective in teaching the use of comparative and superlative modifiers. Ask groups of students to work together to write a paragraph in which they compare and contrast two simple things, such as two foods, two college courses, or two makes of automobiles. They will find that they must work carefully to use the correct comparative and superlative forms of their modifiers.

As with subject-verb agreement and pronoun-antecedent agreement, much misuse of adjectives and adverbs stems from the fact that students may be accustomed to hearing the colloquial use of adjectives as adverbs. Although such habits are difficult to break, students need to be reminded that they cannot always rely on what sounds right to determine correct adjective and adverb usage. You may also find it helpful to review linking verbs in Chapter 3 to help students determine when adjectives are used as subject and object complements.

Chapter 19: Using Participles and Infinitives to Describe

When using participles and infinitives to describe, students often inadvertently create dangling modifiers. You will want to caution students to check every sentence they write that begins with ing and -ed verb forms (participles) and with to + a verb (infinitives) to be sure that the participle or the infinitive is closely followed by a word it sensibly describes.

Once students understand the concept of participles and infinitives as modifiers, you can reinforce the problem of dangling modifiers with group activities that are both fun and instructional. You may want to try having groups of students write sentences with dangling modifiers that are especially absurd in the images they create. This is one case where understanding what not to do may best teach what should be done.

Chapter 20:Using Prepositions

Once students can easily identify prepositions and prepositional phrases, they need to understand how common expressions with prepositions vary with usage as these expressions are commonly misused. Ask students to keep a list of idioms they find in speeches and in published writing for sharing with the class. You may want to center some of your discussion on the fact that the idiomatic use of many prepositions is often a matter of custom and discuss some little known or unusual expressions.

You will want to be especially careful that your ESL students understand how prepositions are used in English. In some languages, the use of prepositions is handled very differently than in English.

Chapter 21: Achieving Parallelism

The issue of achieving parallelism takes on greater significance when we teach not only how disruptive faulty parallelism can be but also how powerful a rhetorical device effective parallel construction can be. You may want to find and share with your class examples of powerful parallel constructions from magazines and newspapers. In particular, Martin Luther King, Jr.s Letter from Birmingham Jail is an excellent example of how parallel structures are both emphatic and cumulative in power.

Chapter 22: Solving Special Sentence Structure Problems

You are most likely to find examples of subjects and verbs that do not make sense together in your students writing when forms of the linking verb to be are used. A reminder that linking verbs cannot be used to connect things that are unequal may prove helpful.

In addition, illogical combinations of subjects and verbs tend to occur when students open sentences with explanatory words, such as The flu is when. . . or A recession is where. . . or The reason is because... In these cases, you will want to encourage students to eliminate is when and is where and is because from their writing.

Many students find it easier to hear their mixed constructions than to recognize them on paper. For this reason, try suggesting that students read their writing out loud, either to themselves or to a partner, to edit for sentence structure problems.

Chapter 23: Varying Sentence Openers

Basic writing students often find that their writing sounds choppy, not because of a lack of sentence combining, but because too many of their sentences in a row begin the same way and they tend to use few sentence patterns. Students are particularly fond of subject-verb-object patterns beginning with the word The. Suggest that students examine their sentence openings carefully and try rewriting several sentences that open in the same way and to mix up sentence constructions.

Of course, solving this problem is also another example where editing aloud can be helpful. Students are more apt to hear the repetition of sentence openers than to see the problem on paper.

Chapter 24: Spelling Correctly

Although Chapter 24 works well in its placement in the overall organization of Jumpstart, you may decide to work on spelling problems earlier in the term. If so, Chapter 24 can be dealt with at any time, including interspersing it with other instruction throughout the term.

If your students use spell checkers, be sure to remind them that these devices dont actually find mistakes but, rather, they find character strings they dont recognize. For example, if the student typed too when he or she should have used to, a spell checker will recognize too as a word and fail to identify it as an error.

Because spelling is such a frustrating problem for so many students, you may need to remind them repeatedly that they should not let concern about spelling interrupt their drafting process when writing. Encourage students instead simply to underline words that they think may be misspelled as they draft as a reminder to check them during the editing process. Of course, this reminder serves double duty in that it also reinforces the progression of the writing process.

Chapter 25: Using Frequently Confused Words Correctly

As is true with Chapter 24, you may want to incorporate Chapter 25 throughout the term of your course rather than to address frequently confused words toward the end of the course. One way of handling the list of frequently confused words is to break it into manageable units of five-to ten-word groups per week for discussion, practice, and testing.

Chapter 26: Using Capital Letters and Endmarks

Capitalization is another area you may want to incorporate earlier in your instructional term, as the self-contained nature of all the chapters in Jumpstart allow you to do easily. Whenever you choose to approach capitalization, however, your lesson might best be served by a quick review of common and proper nouns.

For the most part, students do not have a great deal of difficulty determining when to use periods and when to use question marks, but they may misunderstand the role of the exclamation mark and overuse it in their writing. Remind them that exclamation points are rarely appropriate in college writing except when writing dialogue and that, even in less formal writing, the overuse of exclamation marks gives writing a tone of immaturity.

You may want to incorporate Chapter 26 throughout your course, especially when studying independent clauses, fragments, comma splices, and run-on sentences. In addition, you can reiterate the importance of the writers responsibility in conveying meaning through the selection of appropriate end punctuation.

Chapter 27: Using Commas

The study of comma usage can be handled at any time during your course. You may find that some students are so focused on comma usage that you need to address it as soon as possible, particularly in conjunction with coordination and subordination and with fragments, run-on sentences, and comma splices.

Many basic writers either over-compensate for their confusion and pepper their writing with far too many commas or under-compensate and use as few commas as they can. It is helpful to remind students that even professional writers must stop from time to time to look up certain comma usage rules.

Many students mistakenly believe that they should place a comma wherever they pause in a sentence. Breaking this habit may be difficult, but remind them that the comma should actually be the readers signpost to know when to pause, not the writers proclamation that he or she paused. The writer may have paused to think or simply rest his or her hand.

One common comma usage error that may need your special attention is the habit of many students of always putting a comma before and, regardless of its function in the sentence. Remind students that the only time they will place a comma in front of and is when it is used as a coordinating conjunction joining two independent clauses and when it precedes the last item in a series.

Chapter 28: Using Apostrophes

Students all too often mistakenly form plural nouns with apostrophes. You may want to use a number of examples of the differences between plural nouns and possessive nouns to reinforce the role of the apostrophe. In addition, you will want to caution students to be especially careful not to confuse contractions with the possessive forms of personal pronouns, such as whos and whose. Thus, a discussion of apostrophes ties nicely to a discussion of frequently confused words in Chapter 25.

Chapter 29: Punctuating Quotations

Students may display some degree of confusion over punctuation when using direct quotes. Encourage your students to become familiar with the chart in Chapter 29 that deals with quotation marks, comma usage, end punctuation, and capitalization in direct quotations and to refer to it often.

In addition, because of the subtleties of wording, students may more readily discriminate between direct and indirect quotations when they read their work aloud. You may also want to caution students to watch for wording such as said that... as signals that what follows is likely an indirect quotation.

The Role of Grammar in the Composition Classroom

Basic writing students often enter a composition class with misconceptions about writing, misconceptions that, if not addressed immediately and throughout the term, may lead to further confusion and frustration. All too often, such students view. English and composition as two separate and distinct entities: they expect to study grammar, punctuation, and mechanics in an English class; they expect to learn how to write papers in a composition class. It is often a rude awakening, therefore, when they suddenly discover that in a composition class they actually have to know and be responsible for English stuff.

It may also be a rude awakening for us, their instructors, to discover that a composition class for basic writers requires the inclusion of both language and writing skills. How do we fit it all in? we may ask. How do we help students to be better writers when they dont understand the basics of the sentence?

Jumpstart is specifically aimed at helping you to address these special needs of your basic writing students by focusing on both sentence-level concerns and whole discourse. Also, because basic writing students need regular practice in expressing themselves through writing activities, Jumpstart provides opportunities in every chapter to tie the sentence-level concerns to numerous short, specific writing activities.

We can, obviously, help basic writers by providing simple and regular examples of how grammar assists us as writers to communicate and as readers to comprehend. However, often the role of grammar in composition needs to be addressed before we actually engage in sentence-level activities. It is a good idea, therefore, to introduce an example of how grammar affects meaning as part of our introduction to the course in an attempt to set the tone for the entire term.

Try the following activity as introductory material for the role of grammar in composition. Select one student from your class. Tell her that you are going to pretend that you own a business and that she used to work for you. Now she has applied for a job in another city, and she has listed you as a reference. You have been asked to write a letter of recommendation to the person who may hire her. You are happy to do so because she was an excellent employee and you hope to help her get the job she wants. In your letter you have written,

Maria Sanchez performs her job.

While it is true that you have written a sentence that is grammatically correct, you have not written one that conveys what you mean. For example, by using the present tense, performs, you have indicated that Maria still works for you. Since she is a former employee, not a current one, you have communicated the wrong message about her employment.

Furthermore, it is unlikely that Maria hopes that you will simply say that she did her job; in fact, to do so indicates that you cant find anything good to say about her. Therefore, you add to your sentence to give it more specific meaning using adjectives and adverbs to describe how she did her job.

Maria Sanchez performed her job fairly honestly and conscientiously.

Using your modified sentence, you can now explain to the class how other language skills, in this case punctuation, also affect meaning. Ask another student if he would hire Maria based on this sentence. The answer will likely be, No because the sentence says that Maria did a fair job of being honest and conscientious. In other words, Maria was somewhat honest and somewhat conscientious; these are not the characteristics we want in an employee.

This is the perfect opportunity to show what two simple commas can do to the meaning of a sentence. Write your sentence again as,

Maria Sanchez performed her job fairly, honestly, and conscientiously.

By adding two commas, you not only changed the meaning of the sentence from a somewhat negative one about Maria to a very positive one, but you actually changed the meaning of a word. By putting a comma after fairly, you made it a strong adverb describing how she treated people equitably in the performance of her job instead of a negative adjective describing how she was somewhat honest and somewhat conscientious.

This example shows students in a rather dramatic fashion that it is the responsibility of the writer to express meaning clearly and correctly, using grammar, punctuation, and mechanics as signposts.

When basic writing students understand that grammar, punctuation, and mechanics are not just English thingsthat is, they not only have to do with correctness but with meaning as wellthen those students are more likely to approach language skills as tools for making their compositions better, not just something they have to learn to pass the test. It is helpful to remind students that they can compete better in the work place and in school by learning and using the dialect taught in Jumpstart.

Teaching Tips for the Basic Writing Course

If, as the basic writing course requires, we are teaching language skills, testing language skills, teaching the writing process, making writing assignments, and grading those writing assignments, perhaps for several classes, how are we to handle all of it? The following suggestions address this dilemma in a manner that creates a positive learning environment for your studentswhile helping you to manage the workload.

Tip 1: Making Writing Assignments Specific and Clear

Basic writing students may be easily confused by instructions to write a paper. Does a paper mean a paragraph, several paragraphs, an essay? What is the difference between an essay, a composition, and a paper? Basic writers tend to respond more positively and with greater confidence to specific assignments such as write a paragraph or write a letter. It is especially appropriate in basic writing courses to work with shorter pieces of writing such as paragraphs and letters rather than with longer essays. By doing so, we reinforce the students understanding of the components of good writing in manageable units.

Tip 2: Evaluating Consistently

While basic writing students become frustrated with vague writing assignments, they become even more frustrated by vague evaluation standards. Students should know up front that although you maintain some degree of flexibility in evaluating their writing, you also maintain certain standards that are appropriate for effective writing.

You may find it useful to provide your students with a standard evaluation chart that lists the components of effective writing and that indicates a system of points deducted for errors. Although the chart provided on the following page is by no means the only one of its type, you may find it effective for using in its entirety or for adapting it to your requirements. You may also find that the chart serves as a specific revision and editing checklist for students.

Students should also know that learning to write better is a cumulative experience and that your evaluations of their writing will demand more of them as they learn more. It is a good idea to point out to them, for example, that you will be far more aware of subject-verb agreement in their writing after they have studied Chapter 9 than before they have studied it. Besides reinforcing chapter objectives, this evaluation technique also results in returned writing assignments that are not covered in red (or preferably, green) ink.

Paragraph Evaluation Guide

Structure and Content = 50%

Paragraph Development: Each error deducts 5 points from the total grade.

1. Topic sentence (The main idea of the paragraph is clearly stated in a topic sentence.)

2. Transition (The paragraph contains smooth movement from one thought to another.)

3. Unity (All ideas in the paragraph are related to the topic.)

4. Adequate detail (The detail shows; it doesnt just tell.)

5. Conclusion (The paragraph is brought to a satisfying end in the closing.)

Sentences: Each error deducts 5 points from the total grade.

1. Variety (Monotonous, short, choppy sentences are avoided; a variety of sentence patterns is used.)

2. Form (Coordination is used to combine ideas of equal importance; subordination is used to combine ideas not of equal importance.)

3. Sentence Structure (Problems with sentence structure and parallelism have been eliminated.)

4. Conciseness (Wordiness is avoided.)

Grammar, Punctuation, and Mechanics = 50%

Group I: Each Group I error deducts 5 points from the total grade.

1. Subject-verb disagreement

2. Error in principal parts of verb

Group II: Each Group II error deducts 2 points from the total grade.

1. Inappropriate use of subject, object, reflexive, and intensive pronouns

2. Incorrect pronoun-antecedent agreement

3. Inappropriate person shifts or tense shifts

4. Unclear or unstated pronoun reference

5. Incorrect use of adjectives, adverbs, and articles

6. Incorrect use of participles and infinitives to describe

7. Inappropriate use of prepositions and prepositional phrases

Group III: Each Group III error deducts 1 point from the total grade.

1. Capitalization errors

2. Punctuation errors (other than commas, including ending sentences and punctuating direct quotations)

3. Incorrect apostrophe use

4. Inappropriate use of comma

5. Inappropriate word choice (frequently confused words)

6. Misspelling

Tip 3: Dealing with Students Frustration

You may find that many of your basic writers quickly become frustrated after having their written assignments returned with corrections and suggestions. Of course, you will want to remind students that writing is an on-going process, one that involves particular attention to editing and revision. In addition, the following suggestions are intended to discourage students frustrations and to encourage their efforts.

Remind students that their mistakes are not indications of failure but, rather, are opportunities to improve their writing.

Encourage students to build on what they already know about writing and language skills by recognizing their strengths and fashioning their writing in such a way as to enhance those strengths.

Work with students to set intermediate goals rather than to aim for perfection in their writing. By doing so, you will help students to understand better that the process of writing involves slow, steady gains rather than dramatic turnarounds.

When evaluating student writing, consistently highlight areas of improvement in addition to problem areas. By doing so, you remind students that they are, indeed, moving forward and becoming better writers.

Emphasize the value of students ideas by making positive comments about what they have said. By praising their ideas, you set the stage for encouraging them to make their ideas clearer through improved language and writing skills.

Publish students revised writing, without evaluation comments, in booklets to be distributed throughout the class (and perhaps among classes) several times each term. Students respond favorably to seeing their ideas and words in print.

Tip 4: Highlighting Jumpstart Chapter Objectives in Written Assignments

In order to avoid separating the sentence-level concerns of Jumpstart from the actual writing process, especially from the students perspective, you may find it helpful to evaluate writing assignments with two different colors of pens. For example, when you make a writing assignment while studying Chapter 6, Eliminating Sentence Fragments, you may want to identify any sentence fragments with purple ink and identify other errors and make general comments with green ink. By doing so, you will have emphasized the importance of all the issues of effective writing while maintaining a specific focus on the objectives at hand (in this case, fragments)

Tip 5: Using Regular Student Conferences

Student conferences are an ideal way to provide special attention to your students individual writing strengths and weaknesses. Conferences are particularly effective with basic writing students because less confident students are more prone in a one-to-one situation to ask the questions they hesitate to ask in front of their classmates. In addition, you are able to point out and work to solve a students problem areas in a conference without the student feeling he or she has been singled out. You may find that the most economical use of your time is to conduct individual conferences while other students work at their desks on work sheets or writing assignments. Even so, it is a good idea to call students to your desk one at a time for conferences so that your conversations can be private.

One of the goals of student conferences should be for you and the student to lay out periodically all of his or her work to that point and to examine the progression the student is making. All too often, basic writing students tend to make the same mistakes over and over in their writing and complain that they can never get it right. Through conferences, however, you can point out areas of progression and encourage students not only to improve areas of weaknesses but also to continue to build on the strengths they have and the progress they have made. Therefore, conferences are an ideal time to work with students on individual progress logs so that they can actually see in black and white how far they have come and can recognize their trouble spots.

If your schedule permits, student conferences are most effective when they are scheduled on a regular basis and as an integral part of the composition course. During the conference, it is best to deal with a students content in a piece of writing before addressing sentence-level concerns. In that way, you have the opportunity first to compliment the student on what he or she has said and then provide direction, if necessary, for saying it better through more detail and through correct grammar, punctuation, and mechanicsin other words, to reinforce on a very personal level the process and point of writing.

A sample student progress log for use in student conferences is provided on the following page for you to use or modify according to your needs.

WRITING PROGRESS LOG FOR ________________________________

(students name)

Date and Title

of WritingStrong PointsAreas to Improve

Assignment

Tip 6: Involving Students in Peer Review

Incorporating peer review into the composition class reinforces the need for students to be attuned to an audience in a far more realistic setting than when instructors alone read and evaluate their writing. In addition, peer review allows students the valuable opportunity to see how other students handle writing tasks.

Peer review is perhaps most effective when used with ungraded writing assignments in order to allow students the opportunity to practice good writing, revision, and editing skills. However, peer review can also be used as a part of the revision and editing process of writing assignments that will be graded in order to encourage students always to be aware of writing for an audience. Regardless of when peer review sessions are conducted, students should be reminded that these sessions offer them a chance to consider incorporating the revisions suggested by their peers; they should never feel forced to make changes that they feel are either incorrect or inappropriate.

Peer review can be handled in a number of different ways, from using revising and editing partners to using group peer review sessions. You may want to share your own writing periodically in group sessions and discuss the process of your writing. Another effective technique is to publish students works-in-progress for class discussion and review, leading the remarks from the class in positive and helpful directions. Once reviewed, students may revise and rewrite their assignments to be published without evaluation comments in booklets distributed to the class.

Regardless of how peer review is handled, students need to understand from the outset of the course what to expect as writers from peer review sessions and what is expected of them as reviewers. One way to ensure that student writers and editors alike understand their roles in the sessions is to provide them with response sheets that keep them focused on the task at hand. Typical peer review response sheets are provided on the following pages for you to use and adapt according to your needs.

PEER REVIEW SHEET

Writers Name________________________________

Reviewers Name___________________ Date______

In addition to identifying and marking problems with sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics, please respond to the following questions.

1. Can you easily tell what the topic of the writing is? If so, what is it?

2. Are you interested in reading about this topic? Why or why not?

3. What do you like best about this piece of writing?

4. Do any points go unproven or unsupported? If so, which ones?

5. Is there anything you do not understand? If so, what?

6. Does any detail stray from the topic? If so, what?

7. Does the writing come to a satisfying conclusion? If not, how do you suggest concluding it?

8. Do you have any advice for the writer that is not covered by the previous questions? If so, what?

Source for Peer Review Sheet: Adapted from Barbara Clouse, Working It Out, p. 140. copyright 1993. Used with permission.

WRITERS RESPONSE SHEET TO PEER REVIEW

Writers Name________________________________

Reviewers Name___________________ Date______

In addition to analyzing, correcting, and/or letting stand sentence-level concerns that your peer editor marked on your paper, please respond to the following questions.

1. Did you restate the topic of your writing? If so, how?

2. Did you attempt to make your topic more interesting. If so, how?

3. Did you build on the identified strengths of this writing? If so, how?

4. Did you attempt to further prove or support any points? If so, how?

5. Is there anything you attempted to clarify? If so, what and how?

6. Did you delete any detail that strayed from the topic? If so, what?

7. Did you change the conclusion in any way? If so, how?

8. Did you incorporate any other advice of your peer editor? If so, what?

Tip 7: Staying on Top of the Paper Load

No one is going to tell you that handling the paper load in a basic writing course is an easy task. However, everyone will tell you that basic writing students need timely responses to their work. Although handling the paper load can be time-consuming, you can lessen the impact of the number of tests and written assignments that you have to grade with a little preparation and management.

Take advantage of the Jumpstart Test Bank that has been designed to free you from the time-consuming task of creating individual chapter tests and review tests.

Use peer review sessions to handle practice writing assignments, freeing you to concentrate more of your time on graded assignments. You will, of course, respond to practice writing assignments, but your responses may be more about how students revised and edited papers to express themselves better rather than on specific sentence-level concerns.

Tape-record your responses to a students writing rather than fill the paper with corrections and suggestions. Tape-recorded responses that the student can listen to provide a more personal touch to the evaluation process and are the next best thing to face-to-face conferences.

Mark only one or two kinds of errors each time you grade a writing assignment, emphasizing the course and text objectives just covered.

Instead of marking every error, write brief summary comments of chief strengths and weaknesses of the writing. Students are often overwhelmed by too much feedback.

If you are using a computer-based writing lab, take advantage of the opportunity to enter and store comments on the students disks containing their writing. If you are somewhat computer-proficient, you can even store often used comments in macro files to call up and insert in your students writing where appropriate. Of course, if you do use canned comments, be sure to add a personal touch to your comments by responding to specific issues pertaining to the subject of the piece of writing.

Use student conferences to grade some pieces of writing with the student in front of you so that he or she gets immediate feedback to the assignment and so that you can explain your comments more completely than if you write the comments on the paper itself.

Tip 8: Using a Writers Journal

Even with our best intentions to encourage students to express themselves, we often find that basic writing students are reluctant to do so. In fact, it is not unusual to find basic writing students progressing in their use of language skills and organization while failing to develop a natural tone or their own voice. It is difficult for them to see the purpose of their writing when they find little of themselves in it.

One way to help students discover that they do, indeed, have something to say is to require a writers journal as a part of your composition course. Most instructors find the journal most useful when it is a place for students to practice the early stages of writing and, therefore, evaluate the journal based on the expression of ideas and the regularity of writing rather than on the correctness of language and organization. Thus, the journal can be evaluated periodically throughout the term based on the requirements of what kind and amount of writing should be included and how often the student should write, with the accumulated journal grade carrying the same weight as one test grade at the end of the term. Regardless of how the assignment is handled, however, the journal should always be a place where students feel comfortable writing.

Although journal writing is free and unstructured, basic writing students respond best to journal requirements when they come with some set of expected guidelines. Chapter 1 in Jumpstart provides your students with specific guidelines on how to keep a journal, including how often to write and how to set up the journal. You may want to add your own touch to these guidelines by explaining how often the journal will be collected and read, how long journal entries should be, how often (if at all) you will allow class time for journal writing, and how you will expect the students to use journal entries periodically to shape more formal writing activities.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle to overcome when requiring a writers journal is helping your students to understand that the journal is not a daily log of their activities. One of the best ways to help them understand the difference between a journal and a diary is to tell them to write about their responses, their observations, and their reactions to events, rather than to write about the events themselves. Basic writing students respond favorably to suggested lists of topics to write about. Such lists encourage students to write about the past and the future as well as the present and steer them away from entries such as, I woke up, I ate breakfast, I went to school, and nothing much happened. Some journal topics are provided in Chapter 1, and more are provided here that you may want to add to your own lists:

Additional Journal Writing Topic

Write about something that angers you, pleases you, or frustrates you.

Describe the best and worst features of your school.

Record your reactions to your writing class so far, and describe what you have found confusing and what you have found helpful.

Describe the sounds you hear in a ten-minute period in a crowded place such as a ballpark or a mall.

Try writing a poem or a song.

Think of the last argument you had with someone, pretend you are the other person, and describe the argument from that persons point of view.

Write about your ideal job.

Write about the worst job you have ever had.

Write a letter to a company praising one of its products (or complaining about one of its products).

Record quotations that mean something to you and explain why they are meaningful.

Obviously, the nature of some of the suggested journal topics may result in some very personal entries. Although the temptation to help students deal with emotional difficulties and problems may be strong, you should avoid taking on the role of personal counselor and, instead, make professional referrals when necessary.

Students should be encouraged to look upon the journal as a place to write independently and to explore, discover, observe, and experiment. It is a place to develop, refine, and rehearse ideas for composition. It is a place to practice writing as a means to learn. Most of all, it is a place where students can find their unique voice and feel confident that they do, indeed, have something to say.

Computers in the Composition Class

Using computers in the composition class creates an environment that encourages working through the complete writing process and that trains students in handling real-world and on-the-job writing situations.

Perhaps the most obvious benefit of using computers in the composition class is that computers tend to free students somewhat from their personal attachments to their papers by offering immediate opportunities for revision. For example, a student who has written a paper in longhand or who has typed it may be hesitant to revise or reorganize by changing words or moving entire paragraphs because such a revision entails the laborious task of rewriting or retyping the entire paper; however, using a computer, the same revision involves a simple deletion and insertion process or, in the case of moving paragraphs, a simple cutting and pasting procedure.

In addition, many computer and word processing features such as grammar-checks, spell-checks, thesaurus files, search and replace commands, and note windows not only make composing on the computer easier but also supplement instruction and support correct language usage. Many students who formerly found the entire revision process tedious now find it less daunting.

Of course, students should be reminded that grammar-checks and thesaurus files in particular offer suggestions for better writing, not necessarily corrections. By using such programs, however, students tend to look more closely at their writing and to gain valuable experience in analyzing not only how to say something but also how to say it best.

Composing at the Computer tips, which appear in a number of the chapters in Jumpstart, offer students helpful hints on writing on a computer. Instructors are encouraged to review these carefully with students and to provide them with the opportunity to write at least some of their papers with computer assistance.

In addition, McGraw-Hills writing program, All Write! 2.1 is available online through password access and on CD-ROM. All Write! 2.1 is an excellent interactive, browser-based grammar and editing tutorial program providing an online handbook, comprehensive diagnostic pre-tests and post-tests, and extensive practice writing. Using a self-paced system, All Write! explains basic grammar, punctuation, and spelling by using a full range of rhetorical and research topics and techniques. The program includes comprehensive diagnostic pretests and posttests, and it offers extensive practice sessions in over eighty objective areas. Diverse exercises include multiple-choice, error identification, and fill-in activities, as well as correction of discrete errors.

By using All Write!, students are involved in the active discovery of grammar principles and writing skills. The key word here is active; students do not merely watch screens of data pass by. Rather, All Write! includes high-interest animation and graphics that appeal to students and engage their interest. Best of all, grammar instruction is given in context. Many questions are in the context of a paragraph, making All Write! an excellent program for instruction in a realistic setting.

Additionally, McGraw-Hills Online Learning Center (www.mhhe.com/jumpstart) offers a host of instructional aids and additional resources for students, including self-correcting exercises with feedback for right and wrong answers, writing activities for additional practice, a PowerPoint grammar tutorial, guides to doing research on the Internet and avoiding plagiarism, and useful web links.

Of course, seldom in life do benefits come without some drawbacks. For example, computer-generated writing may look so visually appealing to students that they may fail to see the need to revise and edit. Students should be reminded that errors are errors, even when they are printed in a neat and clean fashion.

Perhaps the drawback of the greatest concern when using computers in the composition class is the tendency for students to misunderstand the role of the computer in the writing process. It is important to make students aware that the computer will only create what the students create. It will not find a topic and narrow that topic for them; it will not find the appropriate support for that topic; it will not guarantee a good paper. In other words, it will not think for them. It will, however, free them from some of the more time-consuming aspects of the editing and revision process and allow them more time for thinking through their papers.

Student Activities Using a Computer

The following lists of student activities require students to use computers while encouraging them to think for themselves.

Generating Ideas

Freewrite using the computer. With a full, blank screen, begin to write whatever comes to mind about your subject (or even your lack of a subject). Write as quickly as you can, allowing your mind to jump from one idea to the next as quickly as the connections are made. Do not worry about grammar, punctuation, coherence, or a grade. Just write! Tell yourself that you will write until the screen is completely full. That is about five or ten minutes, depending on your keyboard skills. Once you fill the screen, get a printout so that you can read what you have typed. Underline useable ideas. Perhaps there will be enough to get you started. If not, do a second freewriting focusing on the underlined ideas.

You may want to try blindfolded freewriting, especially if you find yourself stopping to correct errors when freewriting. No, you do not really blindfold yourself or even close your eyes; you just turn off the screen. Find the switch that controls the brightness of the monitor and turn it all the way down until the screen is dark. Then freewrite for five or ten minutes before turning the screen back on to see what you have written.

List by using the computer to generate ideas. Write the first idea that comes to mind. Put it in the form of a word or a short phrase, and do not censor yourself; write it down even if it sounds like a rotten idea. Then press the enter key, and write another idea. Repeat these steps until you run out of ideas. What you will end up with is a vertical list of ideas, much like a shopping list. Now use your delete key to eliminate ideas you want to strike from your list. Next study your list and decide what order is suggested. Try out the order using the copy-paste sequence that is part of your word processing program. Rearrange your list as often as you like until you have a suitable scratch outline to guide your first draft.

Outlining

Create a post-draft outline on the computer to refer to as you edit and rewrite. After writing your first draft based on your scratch outline, save the file. Then create a second copy of the draft by renaming the file with an .OUT (for outline) extension. Reduce this second copy to an outline by identifying the topic sentence of each paragraph and deleting everything else from each paragraph.

Next, identify your thesis sentence and write it at the top of your outline. Now use Roman and Arabic numbers, capital and lowercase letters to sequence the sentences below the thesis into a formal outline. Study this outline and make any necessary adjustments. Then you can place your outline in a window and the original draft of your paper can be recalled and revised according to the insights gained from making the outline. If your word processing program does not offer a window, simply print the outline and use it as a revision guide.

Writing Your First Draft

Start writing your first draft on a full, blank screen with your outline in a window on the screen or beside you if your word processing program does not offer a window. Using your outline as a basic guide, begin writing. Do not worry during this stage whether your margins are set just so or whether you have your line spacing correct. This is the time to get your ideas down; do not worry whether they look pretty. Allow your draft to be rough by writing fast and not looking back and resisting the temptation to rewrite as you draft. Keep forging ahead to discover where your ideas will take you. You will be able to rewrite and polish the rough spots later.

Revising

If your computer allows you to split the screen, place a revising checklist in a window to refer to as you reread and edit your work. If you make up your own checklist, be sure to include reminders on content, organization, and expression. Of course, your instructor may have a revision checklist that you can use.

If you are unsure about parts of your draftif you do not know whether or not they should be changeduse the boldface function of your word processing program to highlight the areas in question. Then print out your draft and give it to two or more reliable readers and ask them to react to the parts in boldface type.

If you think your draft is too short, go through the draft on the computer, and before each of your main points press the insert key and then hit the space bar ten times. This should visually separate each main point and its support. Now you can study each main point individually to determine whether you can add an example, a story, or some description. After adding detail to develop the main points, rejoin your sentences to form a longer draft.

Use your word processing programs search function to find general words you are in the habit of using that may be replaced with more specific words. For example, you can ask the computer to spot where you have used general words such as very, quite, a lot, rather, really, great, good, bad, and some. Once the computer has located these words, you can decide whether to keep one or more of them or to replace them to be more specific.

Editing

Edit your work for sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics by placing an editing checklist in a window. Consult the checklist as you edit, paying special attention to mistakes you know that you are prone to make.

Try reformatting your text on screen with four spaces between each line. This way, you can edit one line at a time with less of your text entering your visual field to distract you from the words you are studying.

Look for sentence fragments in your writing by isolating every word group you call a sentence. Insert eight spaces before each capital letter that marks the start of a sentence. Then read each word group separately to hear if something is missing. Because each word group is now physically separated, finding fragments can be easier. When you are finished with this aspect of editing, reformat your text to draw everything back together.

Look for run-on sentences by using the search function to find the run-on warning words he, she, it, they, however, therefore, hence, as a result, then, thus, finally, in addition, moreover, furthermore, consequently, on the contrary, nevertheless, similarly, next, and for example. Once these words are identified in your text, check for independent clauses on both sides of these words. Wherever you find independent clauses on both sides of a warning word, be sure you have a period, a semicolon, or a comma and a conjunction before the word.

Check your use of pronouns by using the search function of your word processing program. First set the search to look for they, their, and them. Check to be sure that you have plural nouns for these words to refer to. Also, check to be sure that they has a stated noun to refer to. Next, use the search function to locate everyone, everybody, everything, someone, somebody, something, anyone, anybody, and anything. Check to see if a pronoun refers to each of these words. If so, use the singular form for formal usage. Finally, use the search function to locate every use of you. Then see if you need to change this pronoun because it is not really referring to the reader.

Of course, a discussion of computers in the composition classroom would not be complete without a sampling of useful Internet sites for basic writing students. The following sites are just a few of the excellent resources available for writing students on the Internet. You likely have favorite sites of your own to add to the list.

Guide to Writing a Basic Essay

http://members.tripod.com/~lklivingston/essay/The Nuts and Bolts of College Writinghttp://www.nutsandboltsguide.com/Paradigm Online Writing Assistant

http://www.powa.org/Paragraph Punch

http://www.paragraphpunch.com/Essay Punch

http://www.essaypunch.com/11 Rules of Writing

http://www.junketstudies.com/rulesofw/Purdue University Online Writing Labhttp://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/index2.htmlGuide to Grammar and Style

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/University of Richmond Writers Webhttp://writing.richmond.edu/writersweb/

Daves ESL Caf

http://www.pacificnet.net/~sperling/eslcafe.htmlMany instructors find it helpful to schedule some of their class time in classrooms outfitted with computers. Others find it more appropriate simply to encourage students to take advantage of the computer facilities of the college on their own time. Whatever the approach, using computers in the composition class provides a supplement to the total writing process and prepares students to take advantage of the benefits of an increasingly prevalent technology.

Source for Student Activities Using a Computer: Adapted from Barbara Clouse, Working It Out, chapter by chapter Use a Computer suggestions. Copyright 1993. Used with permission.

ESL Concerns in the Composition Class

Throughout Jumpstart you will find tips for students who are non-native users of English. These tips appear within the chapters under the heading If English Is Not Your First Language.

Perhaps what is most important to remember about ESL concerns is that they encompass more than just grammar. Many of the problems that non-native users of English face have to do with basic linguistic differences. For example, ESL students may have difficulty with English sentence structure, rhetorical patterns, and organization styles, not because they cannot understand them, but because language in their culture may not follow the linear patterns found in the English language.

Another problem ESL students often encounter is topic selection. While American students often choose topics that argue accepted ideas, ESL students often come from cultures where controversial subjects are considered rude at best, if not taboo. Getting these students to express their opinions without apologizing for them may not be a matter of avoiding weakness in writing style; it may actually run counter to their value systems. One way to handle this problem is to allow ESL students to concentrate more of their writing on informing and describing.

The most common English language problems ESL students encounter can be categorized in several specific areas.

Many languages use a phonetic alphabet. Spelling in English, however, is seldom as logical.

Word order in sentences may vary in some languages. For example, Arabic languages use a verb-subject-object pattern, whereas English uses a subject-verb-object pattern.

In some languages there are no plural forms of nouns and no variations in verb tense. In English, however, words often change their form according to context and function.

Adjectives and adverbs usually follow the noun they modify in Arabic, French, Spanish, and Italian whereas in English they usually appear before the nouns they modify.

In some languages, the use of prepositions is handled very differently than in English. For example, whereas a native English speaker might use the prepositional phrase different from, an ESL speaker is likely to express the same phrase as different to.

In languages such as Spanish, the subject does not have to be included in a sentence when the conjugated verb form indicates who is performing the action; however, such an omission in English constitutes a sentence fragment.

In many languages, passive sentence construction is not only common but more acceptable than active sentence construction; in English, however, passive constructions are more often considered a weak style.

Additional Writing Activities

While some students prefer to choose their own writing topics, many find topic selection a frustrating task. To help in this area, Jumpstart provides many writing activities for use throughout.

Sometimes, however, instructors and students alike prefer to have more choices than those provided in the text. The following additional writing topics may prove useful.

A big birthday bash is being planned for someone you respect and care a great deal for (you pick the persona friend, a relative, a teacher, a coach, a member of the clergyanyone you regard highly). You have been asked to write a one-paragraph character sketch of that person which presents and illustrates one of that persons best traits. Mention the trait in the beginning of your paragraph, and go on to give examples that illustrate the trait(s). The sketch will be photocopied and distributed to everyone at the birthday party.

Your audience, therefore, will be people who also know and care for the person.

Your role as writer is that of an admirer.

Your purpose is to praise the person by sharing impressions and experiences.

You are a member of the local Chamber of commerce, which is putting together a brochure to promote tourism in your area. Pick a spot in your area (a recreational spot, a historic area, an educational place, an amusement spot) and write a description of it to be included in the brochure. Your description should be one paragraph.

Your audience is the traveler looking for a place to spend some time.

Your role is that of someone who takes pride in the spot you are describing.

Your purpose is to persuade the reader to visit your area.

For the last week you have been home with the flu, and to pass the time you have watched a great deal of television. The programming aimed at children, you have noticed, is mind-numbing. Even worse, the shows and accompanying commercials are manipulative, aimed at getting children to pester their parents for toys and sugared foods. You become outraged and write a letter of protest to the networks.

Your audience is the person at the network responsible for scheduling childrens programming.

Your ro