Author Bill Zimmerman's Treasure Chest
All you have to do to think more creatively and to imagine and dream is take a few minutes and let your heart respond to the question prompts below. They will encourage you to view your world differently, to see new possibilities, and make new choices. The first set of prompts are from my book, Make Beliefs: A Gift For Your Imagination. Please share your written Make Beliefs responses with us, some of which will be posted on this web site's BLOG With Bill Zimmerman page. You can also see Make Beliefs for Kids of all Ages and my NEW E -BOOK: Make Beliefs to Spark Your Writing. To order by mail, write to:
Writing Prompt Ideas to Inspire Young Writers
{photo credit} This post is written by contributing writer Becky @ This Reading Mama. Writing can be one of those dreaded subjects. Sometimes, kids simply don’t know what to write about. Let’s just keep it real- sometimes we as their teacher don’t know what to have our kids write either! Real-Life Experiences Thank You Notes or Cards One way to prompt some writing is through real life experiences. Practical Day-to-Day Writing Maybe you can inspire your child to write by integrating authentic prompts into your day. Field Trips Did you just take a field trip? Younger kids can write their favorite part of the field trip down or simply write predictable sentences based on this prompt, “On our trip, I saw…” Based on pictures that you took while you were there, kids can also retell the field trip by sequencing the photos and writing about them. Write About Yourself Encourage kids to keep a Writer’s Notebook or even a daily journal of the things that happen to them. Great Literature
Texas, Textbooks and Truth
It seems at least once a month we read a news story about dubious education practices that spawn national outrage. This week’s news featured pages from a geography textbook that identified Africans forced into the horrific transatlantic slave trade as “workers” and “immigrants.” Here’s the story: 15-year-old Coby Burren took a picture of a fishy page from the textbook and sent it to his mother, a former teacher and current Ph.D. student, with a text message: “[W]e was real hard workers, wasn’t we ☹.” Before talking about all that is wrong here, I’d like to point out two aspects of this story that should hearten us all. First, it shows that speaking up sometimes can effect change. Second, Dean-Burren raised her son right. As for the problems here, they’re complex and deep, and they go far beyond the Texas suburb where Coby attends school, and beyond McGraw-Hill, the company that publishes the textbook. We included the recorded use of that word in the film.
Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing
by the Writing Study Group of the NCTE Executive Committee, November 2004 Just as the nature of and expectation for literacy have changed in the past century and a half, so has the nature of writing. Much of that change has been due to technological developments, from pen and paper, to typewriter, to word processor, to networked computer, to design software capable of composing words, images, and sounds. These developments not only expanded the types of texts that writers produce, they also expanded immediate access to a wider variety of readers. With full recognition that writing is an increasingly multifaceted activity, we offer several principles that should guide effective teaching practice. Everyone has the capacity to write, writing can be taught, and teachers can help students become better writers Though poets and novelists may enjoy debating whether or not writing can be taught, teachers of writing have more pragmatic aims. Developing writers require support. Writing is a process
Teaching Authors--6 Children's Authors Who Also Teach Writing
Spotlight
Table of Contents to this Poetry Unit Poetry Lessons for Teachers and Students I have tried to preview all links; however, time constraints and constantly changing links create some uncertainly about all links being absolutely safe links at all times. Please understand links outside our address do not represent our work, but are here to provide other poetry resources. Proceed to these links with caution and guidance. Hint: Good introduction to poetry - Show the CD, "The New Kid on the Block." OBJECTIVES for this unit: .............. Here are some links that will help (several links are for locating images and sounds) introduce your poetry unit: Poetry is truth in its Sunday clothes. Joseph Roux (1834-86), French priest, writer. Introductory to Poetry *Please notice that many of these poetry lessons includes a lesson for students and a teacher lesson plan for help in delivery of the lesson. Lesson 1........Figurative Language for the student Lesson 1 .......Lesson Plan for Figurative Language
Rewriting History—for the Better
Illustration by Julie Flett It was pure coincidence that, during a recent trip to Northern California’s wine country, Kevin Gover, director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., stumbled upon a perfect illustration of what’s wrong with history instruction in the United States. He and his wife were visiting an original Spanish mission at the same time as a group of fourth-graders. Gover watched as teachers and chaperones dressed as Franciscan friars led the children, who were dressed as Indians, through a series of quaint activities. “They were making candles. They were spinning wool, weaving baskets. This kind of Eurocentric approach to American history will come as no surprise to many educators who work from scripted U.S. history curricula. To address this, Gover and his team at the Smithsonian are gearing up to unveil a program called Native Knowledge 360, a nationwide curriculum initiative to make comprehensive Indian education a priority.
WritingFix: prompts, lessons, and resources for writing classrooms
Grammar: Interactive Writing Activities
Global rating average: 0.0 out of 50.00.00.00.00.0 These sites feature interactive grammar and writing sites that are fun to use with SMARTboards. The online games and quizzes cover topics such as nouns, verbs, sentences, proofreading, capitalization, punctuation, plurals, and more. There are links to an eThemes Resource on writing prompts and to the eThemes index that leads to many more resources on grammar and writing topics. Grades Links Harcourt School: Grammar Practice Court Play these interactive games for third- through fifth-grade students. Education Standards Request State Standards
