Recently, I’ve been thinking about writing. I’ve been reading research about writers and thinking about how it relates to the writing students do in schools—virtual or otherwise. Of course, there are many kinds of writing students need to learn, much of it used to express their ideas in various domains: essays about history, reviews of … Continue reading
I’ll admit it—sometimes social media can by a mystery. A friend shared a wonderful vocabulary resource called “Wheel of Words” via Facebook. Hoping for a bigger version I searched for it the image, found it, and was led to the source page—because, of course, I wanted to give credit where due. The problem is, though … Continue reading
As soon as Halloween is past, it is time for Dinovember! Dinovember started in 2012, when Refe and Susan Tuma spent the month convincing their children that their plastic dinosaurs came to life at night, just for the month of November. Their photographs are glorious. Dinovember became a media sensation in 2013, leading to a … Continue reading
I always seem to think about scary-story writing at Halloween time—when it is too late for many teachers to get it into their planning. If you want some tips for writing traditional spooky stories, see the link above. But, early for a change, let me also introduce another variation of the genre: two-sentence horror stories. … Continue reading
I love a book that sets me laughing in the aisles of a bookstore. Recently, I had that experience with Jay Sacher’s The Amazing Story Generator: Creates Thousands of Writing Prompts. The story generator’s pages are divided in thirds, to be mixed and matched at will. The top third sets up a situation like “Upon … Continue reading
At a recent conference, I had the wonderful opportunity to hear Newbery Award-winning author Laura Amy Schlitz talk about her writing. She is a story-teller at heart, so just listening to her was a delight, but my favorite moment came during her account of how she came to write Good Masters, Sweet Ladies, the book … Continue reading
I love the stream of imagination that comes out of Google. Recently I came across yet another great classroom resource: Google Story Builder. The original Google Story Builder allowed users to create a story as a series of Google searches. This version allows us to create a video conversation among characters as if they were … Continue reading
I live in a houseful of cats, so when I spotted a small book with a cat on the cover and the title, I Could Pee on This I was more intrigued than appalled. Then I picked it up and started laughing out loud mid-bookstore. The book is all-too-real to cat owners, but also a … Continue reading
David Wiesner’s classic picture book Tuesday is a delight, and inspiration for creativity from preschool to graduate school. Tuesday is an almost wordless tale that begins “Tuesday evening, around 8:00.” It uses a series of wondrous watercolors to recount the story of swarms of toads and flying lilypads as they adventure through the night. Here, … Continue reading
April is National Poetry Month! Have you written a poem yet? There are Poetry Month activities that allow budding poets of all ages to exercise their creativity. Older students and bloggers might want to participate in NaPoWriMo.net’s write-a-poem-a-day challenge. Check the NaPoWriMo’s blog for prompts and examples throughout the month. Or try something simpler. One … Continue reading
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