Perhaps you're a new grad student who has just been assigned three large sections of freshman composition. On the other hand, you might be a seasoned instructor looking for fresh approaches to an overly familiar course.

Or just maybe, once again, your students' textbooks haven't arrived on time in the bookstore.

Whatever the case, you may find something useful in this collection of tips, topics, and exercises for the first week of English 101.


The overall purpose of these seven short articles is to encourage students to think about their own writing habits, attitudes, standards, and skills. As they do, you'll have occasion to identify your own goals for the course and provide an overview.

Feel free to print these pages and make copies for your students. Simply click on the printer icon near the top of each page, and a fresh version of the article or exercise will appear--one without any distracting ads.

• The Write Attitude and Your Writing Goals
  Spend some time thinking about why you would like to improve your writing skills: how you might benefit, personally and professionally, by becoming a more confident and competent writer. Then, on a sheet of paper or at your computer, explain to yourself why and how you plan to achieve the goal of becoming a better writer.
• A Writer's Inventory: Evaluating Your Attitudes Toward Writing
  This questionnaire invites students to examine their attitudes toward writing. To encourage honest responses (rather than teacher-pleasing ones), you might want to assign the questionnaire at the start of the first class meeting.

• Your Role As a Writer
  This isn't a formal composition assignment but a chance to write a letter of introduction--to yourself. Nobody will be passing judgments about you or your work. You'll simply take a few minutes to think about your writing background, skills, and expectations. By putting those thoughts down on paper (or a computer screen), you should gain a clearer sense of just how you plan to improve your writing skills.
• Your Writing: Private and Public
  If you require students to keep a journal in your class, this article should serve as a good introduction to "private writing."
• The Characteristics of Good Writing
  Experiences in school leave some people with the impression that good writing simply means writing that contains no bad mistakes--that is, no errors of grammar, punctuation, or spelling. In fact, good writing is much more than just correct writing. It's writing that responds to the interests and needs of our readers.
• Explore and Evaluate Your Writing Process
  No single method of writing is followed by all writers in all circumstances. Each of us has to discover the approach that works best on any particular occasion. We can, however, identify a few basic steps that most successful writers follow in one way or another.
• Seven Secrets to Success in English 101
  English 101 (sometimes called freshman English or college composition) is the one course that almost every first-year student in every American college and university is required to take. And it should be one of the most enjoyable and rewarding courses in your college life.

Regardless of whether you use any of these materials, I wish you and your students all the best in the new academic year.

More Resources From About.com Grammar & Composition:

• Navigation Guide to About.com Grammar & Composition
• 400 Writing Topics
• Classic British and American Essays and Speeches
• A Style Scrapbook
• The Lighter Side of Language at Grammar & Composition