This process works in classrooms with only one computer, in non-networked classrooms, and with disk exchanges as well as with networked computers. It can be done at a distance with e-mail as well. Both the poetry and argument versions can be adapted for classes in any discipline and are especially valuable for focusing students' attention on audience, use of concrete details and examples, and coherence among words and ideas. The creativity of writing a poem about geology or sonography or history helps students examine those concepts in a different framework. Editing and revision steps can also be incorporated.
Students then revise and edit both their own work and others'.
The process can be effectively adapted for a variety of types of writing across the curriculum, for example, developing arguments by adding support, adding opposing views, adding refutations, adding source citations, adding titles, adding conclusions. Write a thesis that is a clear statement of a position on an issue related to the assigned topic. Move to another computer and at the top of the document, write one or two sentences to precede and lead into the thesis. Move to another computer and write the first two or three sentences of a new paragraph as a supporting point for the thesis. Move to another computer and write one or two more sentences to complete the paragraph.