Writing prompts

creative writing prompts . com ideas for writers 100 Exquisite Adjectives By Mark Nichol Adjectives — descriptive words that modify nouns — often come under fire for their cluttering quality, but often it’s quality, not quantity, that is the issue. Plenty of tired adjectives are available to spoil a good sentence, but when you find just the right word for the job, enrichment ensues. Subscribe to Receive our Articles and Exercises via Email You will improve your English in only 5 minutes per day, guaranteed! 21 Responses to “100 Exquisite Adjectives” Rebecca Fantastic list! How Wordless Picture Books Empower Children | SLJ Day of Dialog 2014 Wordless picture book creators Bob Staake, Raul Colon, Aaron Becker, and Molly Idle. Wordless picture books allow children to project their own imaginations upon a story and “own it,” as author/illustrator Bob Staake, along with Aaron Becker, Raúl Colón, and Molly Idle discussed during a lively panel at School Library Journal’s 2014 Day of Dialog. Bob Staake “It’s a marvelous thing to tell a story without words,” said Staake, creator of Bluebird (Schwartz & Wade, 2013). Because these stories are conveyed visually, children are free to interpret as they wish and project their own emotions, the panelists said. What’s the best way for an adult to “read” a wordless book to kids? “Pull back. Aaron Becker The panel was moderated by Cathryn Mercier, director of the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons College. Bluebird, with a primarily grey and blue palette and stylized, geometric illustrations, follows a lonely city boy home from school as he befriends a cheerful bird.

Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling | Aerogramme Writers' StudioPixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling These rules were originally tweeted by Emma Coats, Pixar’s Story Artist. Number 9 on the list – When you’re stuck, make a list of what wouldn’t happen next – is a great one and can apply to writers in all genres. You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it.

Passion Projects and Student Blogging | classroom chronicles My school’s homework policy is designed to ensure students only complete tasks that are meaningful, for the purposes of reinforcing classroom learning and building connections with home. This term Year 6 are once again completing Passion Projects. These projects are designed to be completed during the term, thus introducing them to tasks that take time. They are also designed to encourage reflection and to build their literacy skills. Our first Passion Projects were completed by last year’s students. This year our students are each using a student blog to document their learning. As yet our projects are only part way through and it is fair to say that some students are more engaged in the blogging process than others. If you are interested in Passion projects you can read my previous posts here and here. Image thanks to Charli who made an Adriano Zumbo Gingerbread house last year.

45 ways to avoid using the word 'very' Writers Write is your one-stop resource for writers. Use these 45 ways to avoid using the word ‘very’ to improve your writing. Good writers avoid peppering their writing with qualifiers like ‘very’ and ‘really’. According to Collins Dictionary: ‘Padding is unnecessary words or information used to make a piece of writing or a speech longer. Adding modifiers, qualifiers, and unnecessary adverbs and adjectives, weakens your writing. This post gives you 45 ways to avoid using the padding word ‘very’. Three Telling Quotes About ‘Very’ “Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. If you enjoyed this, you will love: Top Tip: If you want to learn how to write a book, sign up for our online course. by Amanda Patterson © Amanda Patterson

Kaizena · Give Great Feedback Exercises in Writing for Beginning Writers Instructor: Jim Manis Email: jdm12@psu.edu Exercises to Generate Creativity Copyright @ 2001 The Pennsylvania State University This site is devoted to offering as many exercises (and general good advise) for creative writing students who wish to avail themselves of them. The first rule to becoming a writer is to write REGULARLY. Keep a Journal: Many of us aren't sure what we should be writing about during that space we set up to write in every day. A journal can be physically made of anything that it is convenient for you to write in and carry around. Keep in mind that a journal is not a diary. Audience: Young writers sometimes make one of the two following mistakes: They either assume they are writing for everyone or that they are only writing for themselves. How then do you determine who you are writing for? Ready to try to some exercises? Click here to go to poetry. Click here to go to story writing.

5 ways we can apply Socratic Questioning to teaching language skills Welcome back to my third and, probably, last post examining the benefits of adopting the Socratic Method in our classes. Over my last two posts we’ve seen that, even though the Socratic Method is typically used in the teaching of law and philosophy, it can also prove to be a valuable tool in teaching English. Our learners can benefit from continual questions that force them to deepen their vocabularies, sentence structures and develops their confidence in using English. When we as teachers use the Socratic Method, our learners are placed in a position where they have to find new methods of expressing themselves, rather than simply relying on the same words and constructions over and over again. Basically, the Socratic Method is an excellent way to promote the practice of asking and answering questions among our learners, as they get to grips with the fact that there are different ways of responding to different types of questions. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Any more ideas?

12 Useful Websites to Improve Your Writing by Johnny Webber 1. Words-to-Use.com – A different kind of thesaurus. 2. OneLook.com – One quick dictionary search tool. 3. 4. 5. 750words.com – Write three new pages every day. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 4 steps to applying the Socratic Method in the language classroom In my last post we looked at the way that Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates used the a technique of questioning learners to facilitate learning and examined 6 ways that we can do the same in our English classrooms today. Through the Socratic Method, we as teachers constantly aim to elicit responses from our learners to lead them to logical conclusions: this is a technique we can actively exploit in language teaching. Learners are actively engaged and motivated to learn with this method. Here are four steps that we must consider to ‘Socratize’ our classes… 1. Because Socratic questioning requires the participation of both learners and teacher, it is considered to be an early, if not the earliest, example of active learning. In order to participate appropriately, learners must therefore listen to each other and know that their ideas are being heard. Looking back: think about ‘questions that probe for effects and consequences’ from my previous post 2. 3. 4. Moving on and up

6 Great ways to use Socratic questions in language classes It’s a silly question to ask if you’re all familiar with Socrates, the Greek philosopher credited with being one of the founders of Western philosophy. Nevertheless, we might not necessarily be aware of how useful Socrates’ pedagogy can be to us in our language teaching. The Socratic technique includes using a series of questions that ‘guide’ learners towards the answers to questions. Socrates and his learners would conduct discussions in the public square in Athens; you can do exactly the same in your langauge class! 1. These types of questions are used to dig deeper and prove the concepts behind a particular argument. “Why do you say that?” When to ask: Look at the typical comprehension questions you get with a coursebook reading text. 2. These questions are used to describe and discuss assumptions of what is said. “What generalizations can you make?” ‘We’re all in this together’ by Chrysa Papalazarou from #ELTPics 3. “What was the point of asking that question? 4. 5. 6.

Infographic: adverbs of frequency Today’s infographic focuses on the popular grammar point of adverbs of frequency. It is split into two parts. Firstly, it focuses on the common teaching point of ‘indefinite time’ adverbs such as often, always and rarely. The second focus is on the much less taught, but equally important ‘definite time’ adverbs like annually, daily and monthly. You can access and download the full size infographic here (800×2600). Alternatively, you can embed it using one of the many options from Flickr. Finally, feel free to share the infographic with the QR code on the right.