Knowledge of Conventions

Students should demonstrate their knowledge of the following: common formats for different kinds of texts; genre conventions ranging from purpose and structure to tone and mechanics; methods of documenting borrowed information; and conventions of edited syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Lesson Ideas & Plans

Introducing Genre (Nate Wood)
Building students’ reading in Mindful Writing, in this lesson students explore how genre is defined and engage in simple analysis of familiar genres to pull out conventions and expectations.

Introductions and Conclusions (Erica Larsen)
This lesson plan helps students understand how and why effective introductions and conclusions work in a piece of writing.

Paragraphs and Flow (Erica Larsen)
This lesson (also a practice in revision) asks students to attend to the flow or logical profession of their writing.

Three ways to style your Conference Paper (Katie Johnson)
This lesson looks at the old/new contract, reducing word count, and other techniques to help students focus on the style and flow of their writing.

Principles of Design (Katie Bullock)
Students learn some of the conventions of visual design in this lesson by analyzing poor examples of visual design.

Conventions (Becca Purse)
Students incorporate style academy principles in their writing. 

Genre (Shaila Bringhurst)
Students define genre and identify/analyze  common genres.