7 steps to creativity - how to have ideas A guest post by Simon Townley of WriteMindset As a writer, having ideas is one of the most important parts of your craft. But often it seems like one of the most difficult and challenging parts of the whole process. How do you keep ideas flowing? How do you create a wealth of ideas to choose from? Some people like to wait for inspiration to strike. Luckily, there is a formula for producing ideas on a consistent basis. But if you need to produce strong and creative ideas regularly as part of your writing career, then it pays to know the formula, and how to use it. First of all, what is an idea? “An idea is nothing more nor less than a new combination of old elements.” So how do you combine old elements into new? “The capacity to bring old elements into new combinations depends largely on the ability to see relationships.” Young says the ability to see relationships between facts is the most important factor in coming up with ideas. How do you cultivate it? Step 1 – Gather your information
OWL Coming Soon: A new look for our same great content! We're working hard this summer on a redesign of the Purdue OWL. Worry not! Our navigation menu and content will remain largely the same. If you are having trouble locating a specific resource, please visit the search page or the Site Map. The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue. For more information about services for the Purdue University community, including one-to-one consultations, ESL conversation groups and workshops, please visit the Writing Lab site. Mission The Purdue University Writing Lab and Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) assist clients in their development as writers—no matter what their skill level—with on-campus consultations, online participation, and community engagement.
Free Online Reading Comprehension Websites – Peppy Zesty Teacherista Are you a teacher that struggles with finding quality reading passages? This post will give you over ten websites that you can sift through to find reading passages with comprehension questions, FREE for you to use in your classroom! This if for K-12 educators. This is my favorite resource to use. This site contains passages for grades 3-5. This site contains reading passages for grades K-7. ReadTheory is a K-12 online reading comprehension program that presents assessments to students at a “just right” level. This has a ton of passages! English Worksheetland Center for Urban Education Great Schools I have already filtered the site. K12 Reader Click to filter by grade level. Teachers Pay Teachers Yes, you can use Teachers Pay Teachers to find free reading passages! Don’t forget about all of these great websites once you finish reading! Written by Amber Calderon
Good Paragraph Writing This lesson will give you the basic tips on paragraph writing. You should follow the same structure that you would for writing any paragraph when you write an IELTS paragraph, though it may be shorter because of the limited time that you have. This limited time and space means that you have to get your ideas across as clearly and succinctly as possible. If you have planned well before you write, then you should be well on your way to being able to write your paragraphs quickly and clearly. The following has all the components of a good paragraph. Read it through and identify why this is. The Three Parts to Good Paragraph Writing The 'text book' structure for a paragraph is as follows: Topic sentence Supporting sentences Concluding sentence 1. The topic sentence states what the paragraph will be about. topic controlling idea Studying abroad has two main benefits 2. Supporting sentences explain and develop the topic sentence. 3. Unity and Coherence 1. 2. (a) Logical Order (b) Transition Signals
Writing The Perfect Scene: Advanced Fiction Writing Tips Having trouble making the scenes in your novel work their magic? In this article, I’ll show you how to write the “perfect” scene. Maybe you think it’s impossible to write the perfect scene. After all, who can choose every word perfectly, every thought, every sentence, every paragraph? What does perfection mean, anyway? Honestly, I don’t know. But structure is pretty well understood. The Two Levels of Scene Structure A scene has two levels of structure, and only two. The large-scale structure of the sceneThe small-scale structure of the scene This may seem obvious, but by the end of this article, I hope to convince you that it’s terribly profound. Before we begin, we need to understand how we keep score. Your reader is reading your fiction because you provide him or her with a powerful emotional experience. If you fail to create these emotions in your reader, then you have failed. Large-Scale Structure of a Scene The large-scale structure of a scene is extremely simple. GoalConflictDisaster
Welcome to LEO: Literacy Education Online April A Poem Each Week (FREEBIE) - Notes from the Portable The Free April A Poem Each Week has arrived! Poetry is great for read alouds and introducing and reviewing standards. This month we are looking at four spring themed poems. From baseball to dreams, you will have a great addition to your April literacy center. (* Please note that some links are Amazon Affiliate Links) These discussions and activities give students a chance to connect the poems to themselves and the world around them. Want more poetry lessons? Click the image to read more about teaching poetry. Save this post for later? Parts of a Paragraph - Writing Tips Topic Sentence What is the topic sentence?The topic sentence is the first sentence in a paragraph. What does it do? How do I write one? Example: There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. Supporting Details What are supporting sentences? What do they do? How do I write them? Closing Sentence What is the closing sentence? What does it do? How do I write one?
Characters - The Attributes of Age Characters: The Attributes of Age By Melanie Anne Phillips Introduction Writers tend to create characters that are more or less the same age as themselves. On the one hand, this follows the old adage that one should write about what one knows. But in real life, we encounter people of all ages in most situations. In addition, there are many considerations to age other than the superficial appearance, manner of dress, and stereotypical expectations. The Attributes of Age People in general, and writers in particular, tend to stereotype the attributes of age more than just about any other character trait. Anatomical vs. Before examining any specific traits, it is important to note the difference between anatomical and chronological age. Jargon Far too often, characters are portrayed as speaking in the same generic conversational language we hear on television. Characters, therefore, tend to pick up a basic vocabulary reflective of both their ethnicity AND their age. Outlook Comfort Symbols
Writing Typing Practice Touch Typing Free Program that lets you exercise and learn Touch Typing Peter's Online Typing Course A set of free online typing lessons and exercises Type Racer The global typing competition. Increase your typing speed while racing against others Writing Exercises for Beginners Jumbled Sentences 200 Exercises for beginners to practice creating English sentences Beginners' Dictation 100 dictation exercises with 500 sentences Verb Tenses and Scrambled Sentences Practice creating sentences in different verb tenses For Educators | Florida Center for Reading Research Grades 4-5 (2007) Frequently Asked Questions about the K-5 Student Center Activities Introduction During the spring 2004 Florida Reading First school site visits, staff from the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) determined that teachers may benefit from classroom materials that would be immediately useful in implementing independent student center activities. In 2004-2005, a team of teachers at FCRR reviewed current research, collected ideas, and created materials for use in kindergarten and first grade classrooms. In 2005-2006, a team of teachers at FCRR reviewed current research, collected ideas, and created materials for use in second and third grade classrooms. In 2006-2007, FCRR reviewed current research, collected ideas, and created materials for use in fourth and fifth grade classrooms. The 4-5 Student Center Activities include three books and one DVD: The first two books contain Activity Plans and Activity Masters ready for immediate use in classrooms.