College Level Writing Skills for the Early-Adolescent Verbally Gifted: Philosophy and Practice

Hall Donald . Writing Well (Boston: Little, Brown, 1973). Unparalleled for verve and elan. Great for first year workshops. General approach to expository writing, with the author's gorgeous explications.

Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren . Modern Rhetoric (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979), 4th ed. All the details for a second year follow up of Writing Well. Best used as a resource book, since it put this author to sleep three times in one day. Student resistance is high.

“How to Write a Blackwood's Article,” Edgar Allan Poe. A great example of how to write bad. Fun form for students to follow, but a longer reading than modern essays.

“Shooting an Elephant,” George Orwell. See comments in article.

“On Familiar Style,” William Hazlitt. Itself outdated by current familiar style, this essay makes a clear distinction between pompous, dishonest writing and accessible, non-vernacular writing. Student-response essays tend to re-enact Hazlitt 140 years later.

Essays by Calvin Trillin and especially John McPhee in the New Yorker are useful to any writer making any point.

“Characteristics of Hebrew Poetry,” The New Oxford Annotated Bible, May Metzer , eds., (Oxford University Press: New York, 1973). Subsection labeled “Parallelism,” p. 1523, is a comprehensive approach. Parallelism can also be used to teach grammar, rhythm, repetition.

“When is an Indian novel not an Indian novel?” Reynolds Price, New York Times, November 10, 1974. Book review of James Welch's Winter in the Blood. Perfect example of the form described in Appendix A of Modern Rhetoric..

Ciardi John . How Does a Poem Mean? Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1960.

Fallows James . “The Tests and the ‘Brightest’: How Fair are the College Boards,” Atlantic, 245 (2), pp. 37–48.

Freire Paulo . Pedagogy of the Oppressed (translated by Ramos Myra Bergman ). New York: Seabury, 1973.

Getzels J.W. Jackson P.W. . Creativity and Intelligence: Explorations with Gifted Students. New York: Wiley, 1962.

Hugo Richard . The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing. New York: W. W. Norton, 1979.

Maeroff Gene . “University Aids Gifted Junior High Students,” New York Times, May 1979, “Science” Section, p. 1.

A Report Prepared in Collaboration with Marjorie Kirrie, The Chief Reader, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon: The English Composition Test with Essay. Educational Testing Service, 1979.

Stanley Julian C. “The Predictive Value of the SAT for Brilliant Seventh and Eighth Graders,” College Board Review, 106, Winter 1977–78.

Suchman J. Richard . “A Model for the Analysts of Inquiry,” Analysis of Concept Learning, Klausmeier Herbert J. Harris Chester W. , eds. New York: Academic Press, 1966.