Prismatic Google Adds Waze's Crowdsourced Traffic Data to Apps Google Maps is already using data from its newly-acquired mapping service Waze to give users access to crowdsourced traffic reports and satellite imagery. Just two months after Google bought Waze for a reported $1.03 billion, it was announced on Tuesday that the two companies are already sharing data. From details about traffic jams and accidents to construction and road closures, Google Maps users can now submit traffic-related information to the app. SEE ALSO: 4 Reasons Google Bought Waze This feature, which has already been made popular by Waze, will be updated in real time.
13 ways to create compelling characters 1. Make the character exceptional at something. Give your character a trait or skill that makes him or her admirable in some way. It doesn’t have to be anything over-the-top. Maybe she’s an office manager…who is an amazing cook. Maybe he’s a rebellious teenager…who is unusually perceptive. As soon as that character is really good at something, the reader perks up. 2. This is so effective that screenwriters often use a “save the cat” scene (and the better the screenwriter, the subtler the scene) near the beginning of the screenplay to make the audience like and identify with the character. As soon as you show the character genuinely caring about the world, the reader starts to care. 3. Hands-down, one of the best pieces of writing advice I’ve ever received in my life. 4. I’m not talking about dialect or verbal tics or anything gimmicky. 5. Your characters might exist for the sake of the story…but you need to create the illusion that they don’t. 6. Passionate people are interesting. 7. 8. 9.
Supporting Student Comprehension in Content Area Reading Our lesson plans are written and reviewed by educators using current research and the best instructional practices and are aligned to state and national standards. Choose from hundreds of topics and strategies. More Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals. More Teacher Resources by Grade Home › Professional Development › Strategy Guides Strategy Guide Oftentimes, the support students get with a content area reading task is a list of questions to answer or terms to define. Offering students meaningful ways to respond to and make sense of what they’re reading can go a long way toward getting students to read with engagement and confidence. While all of these strategies enhance the possibility for meaningful engagement with text, none of them is likely to happen on its own.
My Virtual Bookcases in Evernote Some time back, I wrote a Going Paperless post called “Creating a Digital Version of Your House” in which I described how I use tools like Skitch and Penultimate to capture floor plans and measurements around the house that might be useful to have when I am away–say at the hardware store. While I was away on my Internet vacation, it occurred to me, as I was measuring my bookshelves, that it might be equally useful to have a digital version of my bookshelves in Evernote. With something like 1,100 books, I can’t always remember if I happen to have a particular book or not, and it might be useful to have a quick reference. Let me back up a moment and admit that yes, I still have paper books. The books on my bookshelves are part of a collection of books I’ve been growing since high school. My process for doing this was pretty simple, and highly dependent on Evernote to do much of the work for me. Take a picture of each shelf on my bookshelf. The results are pretty cool. Other uses
8 Pinterest Alternatives You May Not Know About Pinterest has garnered a reputation (whether incidentally or intentionally) as a website geared mostly towards females who need ideas for weddings, home décor, and recreation. Maybe you like the idea of Pinterest but not its subject matter. Maybe Pinterest just isn’t for you. Yes, there is. Juxtapost Juxtapost is a Pinterest knockoff but in a good way. The feature I like best in Juxtapost is the “More Like This” button. Use Juxtapost if you want to use a Pinterest-like site with many of the same features but presented in a different way. We Heart It If I had to describe We Heart It in one sentence, I’d call it the baby of Pinterest and Tumblr, and I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way. There’s an undercurrent beneath all of the We Heart It posts which indicates that this site is mainly used by teens and college girls. Dribbble According to Dribbble’s homepage, “Dribbble is show and tell for designers“. Not a designer yourself? FoodGawker Are you a foodie? Liqurious Manteresting Dudepins
Creating Stunning Character Arcs, Pt. 1: Can You Structure Characters? What if there were a sure-fire secret to creating stunning character arcs? Would you be interested in discovering it? If you care about connecting with readers, grabbing hold of their emotions, and creating stories that will resonate with them on a level deeper than mere entertainment, then the answer has to be a resounding yes! But here’s the thing about character arcs: they’re way too easy to take for granted. 1. 2. 3. That’s character arc in a nutshell. Turns out: a lot. (Featured in the Structuring Your Novel Workbook.) The Link Between Character Arcs and Story Structure Too often, character and plot are viewed as separate entities—to the point that we often pit them against each other, trying to determine which is more important. We often think of plot as being about structure, but our notions of character and character arc tend toward the more airy-fairy. Surely, right? Wrong, actually. The three acts of the [story] correspond to the three stages of the hero’s outer motivation.
ereadingworksheets | Free Reading Worksheets The Best Books: The Top 100 Novels of All Time - Listmuse.com A contemporary list, with an international flavour and a respect for the classics, The Best Books: Top 100 Novels of All Time list contains many of the great works of fiction you'd expect, but with a few surprises to add a little spice to the collection. Which books would you omit and which would you add to our list? Please let us know in the comments section below. 1. By Aldous Huxley "Aldous Huxley is the greatest 20th century writer in English." 2. By Fyodor Dostoevsky Crime and Punishment is one of the most important novels of the nineteenth century. 3. By George Orwell Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. 4. By Leo Tolstoy Published to coincide with the centenary of Tolstoy's death, here is an exciting new edition of one of the great literary works of world literature. 5. By J. A modern classic, this early novel by Nobel Laureate J. 6. By Joseph Heller 7. By Arthur Koestler 8. 9.
10 Websites Guaranteed To Press Your Buttons [Weird & Wonderful Web] We humans are naturally curious creatures. We see something, almost anything, and we want to reach out and grab it, touch it, feel it, and interact with it. Which is all good as long as the thing we’re reaching for isn’t going to bite us or trigger a nuclear holocaust. Contrary to popular belief, the latter isn’t as easy as pressing a big red button. But if it was that easy I’d bet my right arm that none of us would be here now. NB: If you hate Adobe Flash then you should probably stop scrolling right now. Make Everything OK Life sometimes sucks. It turns out such a button does exist, and it’s sitting unloved on the Web, just waiting to be pressed. Nooooooooooooooo Star Wars is never going to go away, especially now that the fun factory that is Disney owns the franchise. Also not going away are the stupid decisions George Lucas has made over the years. Enter The Hatch Will You Press The Button? Will You Press The Button? Either way, you’re then presented with the results so far. Bored Button
English 50 Exercises for Story Writers English 50 – Intro to Creative Writing: Exercises for Story Writers Basic Theory: What is a short story? As soon as someone delivers a definition, some good writer will write a story that proves the theory wrong. About the only thing we can say for sure is that short stories are short and that they are written in what we call prose. Short stories have a narrator; that is, someone tells the story; have at least one character in them; have some action occur (or perhaps fails to occur); take place somewhere; that is, there is a setting for the action; and someone either learns something or fails to learn something (theme).With these five characteristics in mind, we can create an almost endless supply of exercises to help sharpen our techniques of story telling. Narrative Voice Twenty or so years ago, voice was the "rite of passage" into a successful writing career. NOTE: It is quite common for writers in the early stages of their careers to imitate the writers they are reading or admire most.
Seven Strategies to Teach Students Text Comprehension 1. Monitoring comprehension Students who are good at monitoring their comprehension know when they understand what they read and when they do not. Comprehension monitoring instruction teaches students to: Be aware of what they do understand Identify what they do not understand Use appropriate strategies to resolve problems in comprehension 2. Metacognition can be defined as "thinking about thinking." Students may use several comprehension monitoring strategies: Identify where the difficulty occurs "I don't understand the second paragraph on page 76." 3. Graphic organizers illustrate concepts and relationships between concepts in a text or using diagrams. Regardless of the label, graphic organizers can help readers focus on concepts and how they are related to other concepts. Graphic organizers can: Here are some examples of graphic organizers: Venn-Diagrams (29K PDF)* Used to compare or contrast information from two sources. 4. Questions can be effective because they: 5. 6. 7.