Story Starters Teaching Guide Overview Ready to get students excited about writing? Scholastic Story Starters activity serves up hundreds of creative combinations that take the writer's block out of creative writing for students. Set young writers loose with prompts that explore the themes of Adventure, Fantasy, or Sci-Fi. Students can also choose the Scrambler for random word combinations. Story Starters gives ideas for character, plot, and setting. Animated Help Guide For a step-by-step view of how Scholastic Story Starters works, click the help button on the activity home page. Objectives Students will: Discuss and identify what makes a story compelling. Scholastic Story Starters is a flexible teaching tool that can be used in a variety of ways to fit your classroom schedule and teaching style. Morning Activity Have Story Starters ready to go when students arrive in your classroom in the morning. Computer Lab Writing Time Story Starters is a great way to get your students motivated and enthusiastic about writing.
Inicio Biblioteca Digital Mundial Creative writing in the classroom: five top tips for teachers | Teacher Network 1. The rules of writing I always tell students that there are no set rules for writing and they can write whatever they like. I don't subscribe to the notion that all good stories must have, for example, an attention-grabbing opening, a turning point, a twist at the end and an extended metaphor. That said, there are two rules of writing that I encourage them to follow. For "show, don't tell", I display a selection of sentences that tell the reader something and ask the pupils to rewrite them in a way that shows the same information. When teaching "all adverbs must die", I concentrate on the importance of giving the power to the verb. 2. Not the most original method I'll wager, but this is tried and tested. Once pupils have thought about these characters, I ask them to complete the page in their jotter with as many pieces of detail as they can for their own character. 3. There's something a bit weird about the idea of being a writer; it's a vague, wishy-washy concept for students. 4. 5.
Notebook’s 7th Writers Poll: Fantasy Double Features of 2014 on Notebook How would you program this year's newest, most interesting films into double features with movies of the past you saw in 2014? Looking back over the year at what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2014—in theatres or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2014 to create a unique double feature. All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2014 fantasy double feature. NEW: The Two Faces of January (Hossein Amini, UK/France/USA)OLD: Shadow of a Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock, 1943) WHY: Hossein Amini’s The Two Faces of January was a modest directorial debut that saw a relatively quiet North American release this past fall. WHY: Experimental journeys through time and memory. NEW: Mr. or
Collaborative writing activities Collaborative writing Some teachers tend to avoid writing in class, perhaps feeling that as it is something which learners do individually and in silence, it is better done for homework. However, when writing is done as a collaborative activity, it can have many of the same benefits of a group speaking activity: Discussing the writing process obviously provides more opportunities for learners to interact in English, a benefit in itself. It can also help learners to develop their communicative competence by forcing the negotiation of meaning. According to Vygostsky’s theory of ZPD (zone of proximal development), working with others can provide the opportunity for learners to work at a level slightly above their usual capacity, as co-operating with others who know a little more can boost achievement. Collaborative writing has been shown to lower anxiety and foster self-confidence, compared with completing tasks individually (Johnson and Johnson 1998) Planning collaboratively Like this:
The Best Movie Posters of 2014 on Notebook 1. Frank Those of us who care about movie posters often complain about “big head” posters from Hollywood studios, but the design for Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank is the ne plus ultra of big head posters: a poster for a film about a big head. UPDATE: The designer, Nicolette Vilar, did get in touch with me and I have an interview with her here. 2. It is purely a coincidence that my second favorite poster of the year also harks back to 80s (and 90s) Northern Britpop. 3. Another riveting photographic composite. 4. Neil Kellerhouse’s ethereal design for my favorite film of the year is notably another big head poster, but also one in which the film’s star is again barely there. 5. In some ways Mara Diener’s shimmering watercolor for The Strange Little Cat, used for both the German and US releases of the film, seems to miss the Tati-esque precision and jagged edges of Ramon Zürcher’s sublime parlor game of a movie. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
The Psychology of What Makes a Great Story “Stories,” Neil Gaiman asserted in his wonderful lecture on what makes stories last, “are genuinely symbiotic organisms that we live with, that allow human beings to advance.” But what is the natural selection of these organisms — what makes the ones that endure fit for survival? What, in other words, makes a great story? That’s what the great Harvard psychologist Jerome Bruner (October 1, 1915–June 6, 2016), who revolutionized cognitive psychology and pioneered the modern study of creativity in the 1960s, explores in his 1986 essay collection Actual Minds, Possible Worlds (public library). In an immensely insightful piece titled “Two Modes of Thought,” Bruner writes: There are two modes of cognitive functioning, two modes of thought, each providing distinctive ways of ordering experience, of constructing reality. Bruner calls these two contrasting modes the paradigmatic or logico-scientific, characterized by a mathematical framework of analysis and explanation, and the narrative.
Reviews of Powell and Pressburger works Reviews of Powell and Pressburger works The reviews have been divided into the following sections: The Masters - Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger The Films - Listed by year then alphabetically The People - Actors, Actresses, crew Miscellaneous - Everything else Some articles may deal with more than one person or film, where this happens we have tried to cross reference them. The Masters: Emeric Pressburger Master Storyteller Michael Powell the man himself The Films: (Any reviews are liable to contain spoilers) The People: Note: I have only included the people that I have articles about. There were many more people involved in the making of these films. Michael Powell the man himself Emeric Pressburger Master Storyteller Miscellaneous: Sources for the contemporary reviews include: Monthly Film Bulletin (MFB) Monthly Film Bulletin was a monthly mag for cineastes, containing reviews of all films, no articles or photos.