Category Archives: Teaching Tips

Best of the Blogs in #amwriting #writetips #yalit #teaching

Here are some of the posts by remarkable writers I’ve found for you this week from @suzannelilly. Here’s a listing in case you missed any of them on Twitter.

The Craft of Writing

Here’s the thing about independent editors… http://wp.me/ppJnZ-1KK via @behlerpublish #amediting

The 21 Best Tips for Writing Your Opening Scene  http://wp.me/pVquh-jH Another good one to bookmark. #amwriting #amediting

26 Tricks to Keep Readers Reading http://wp.me/pVquh-jQ I bookmarked this one. #amwriting #amediting

SEO and Social Media for Teachers and Writers

Writer’s Cramp: In the E-Reader Era, a Book a Year Is Slacking http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/business/in-e-reader-age-of-writers-cramp-a-book-a-year-is-slacking.html #amwriting

Fun Posts

#MyPastRelationships Taught Me This.http://pic.twitter.com/fb4uTgXE

While cruising Youtube, mostly to watch the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, (love those!) I came across the cutest video I’ve ever seen about a puppy and kitty in love. The dog has the most endearing expressions! It’s only a minute. Check it out here at the Honey Creek Books blog.


Best of the Blogs in #amwriting #writetips #yalit #teaching

I’ve tweeted bunches of great posts for you this week from @suzannelilly. Here’s a listing in case you missed any of them.

Young Adult Lit

That was a fabulous article. The YA Genre is Killing Itself http://www.fuelyourwriting.com/the-ya-genre-is-killing-itself #yalit #amwriting #fiction

The Craft of Writing

Watch this video! You Don’t Publish a Book, You Give Birth To It http://bit.ly/Hbt2RC #amwriting #bookbinding I loved this video of a reminder of how involved book publishing can be.

Have you read less than stellar #indie book? Where selfpub gets quality control, by @dirtywhitecandy http://tinyurl.com/83yrqqb #pubtips

A follow up to my #indie selfpub tweet: Vetting the Independent Editor. http://tinyurl.com/7sjmnob @writerbeware #pubtips

Character development: examples and practice from @StinaLL on the @querytracker blog. http://tinyurl.com/7gjb6nk #amwriting

SEO and Social Media for Teachers and Writers

How to create a coverphoto for your FB timeline. by @authormedia #SEO #techtips http://tinyurl.com/7oenhwh #amwriting

Headlines and Hooklines: Writing the Press Release @querytracker http://tinyurl.com/6q35czx #pubtips #writetips

Writing and Teaching Resources

You don’t have to be super smart to be super successful according to a Forbes article. http://tinyurl.com/797a2md #success

Best article I’ve read about e-book pricing. http://behlerblog.com/2012/05/07/e-book-pricing-what-are-you-worth/ From @behlerpublish #pubtips #ebooks #amwriting

Fun Posts

How do you dress your MC? Great post on designing characters. http://tinyurl.com/74vd4pz #amwriting #writetips

Mother’s Day #craft ideas for the #classroom. http://tinyurl.com/de4c2z #teaching

Best of the Blogs in #amwriting #writetips #yalit #teaching

I’ve tweeted bunches of great posts for you this week from @suzannelilly. Here’s a listing in case you missed any of them.

Teaching Tips

Candid advice on how to keep students engaged. http://tinyurl.com/cvzcmbs #teaching From Chronicle of Higher Ed.

Like Water for Horses: Why Even Good Students Don’t Do Multiple Drafts http://tinyurl.com/6r72keq #teaching #writing

The Craft of Writing

Six kinds of writers: Which one are you? On @querytracker blog.http://tinyurl.com/6nqvq8e #writetips #amwriting

Save your novel! Write yourself a 5 star review. by @dirtywhitecandy http://tinyurl.com/7a6agto #amwriting #amediting

5 stellar tips from a NYT bestselling author http://tinyurl.com/72yj4bq #amwriting #writetips #NYT

SEO and Social Media for Teachers and Writers

Why no one links to your best posts & what to do about it. via @copyblogger http://tinyurl.com/65gekp #blogger #amwriting

How to be agressive and not obnoxious in publishing by @bob_mayer tinyurl.com/789zphz #pubtips #writetips #amwriting

Writing and Teaching Resources

If you’re writing Celtic, here’s a resource article of Clan MacGregor. Great info! http://tinyurl.com/6t92xqu #amwriting #historical

Fun Posts

The Jump Project. Photos of, well, jumps. These photos rock!http://wp.me/p3xeT-DQ #jumpproject #storystarters #teenreads

Some of the best book titles that are the worst ever. Have a giggle when you read this list. http://tinyurl.com/7slvffh #nonfiction

Did you know…A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child inside! (Don’t try this at home) From @jessfortunato author of The Sin Collector. #YAlit

The Figurative Language of Simile and Metaphor: Which is Which?

Telling the difference between simile and metaphor isn’t as hard as you think. Why should we care? Simile and metaphor create imagery, a mental picture that makes our message clear to our readers. Figurative language isn’t just for poetry. It’s used in fiction and nonfiction. It can be especially helpful when explaining and writing about difficult concepts in the sciences.

When I teach figurative language to students, I make things as simple as possible. There is one short rule to help you remember how to tell if something is a simile or a metaphor.

  • Similes use” like” or “as” and metaphors do not.

That’s it! Now let’s have a bit of explanation and examples.

Structure of a Simile

Similes compare two things using the words “like” or “as.” Here are some examples:

  • Her smile is like a ray of sunshine.
  • Her acne is like a volcanic eruption.
  • Her sarcasm is as sharp as a porcupine’s quills.

What Makes a Metaphor?

A metaphor also compares two things, but it states that one thing is another. One well known example:

  • She is a thorn in my side.

Obviously, a person can’t be a thorn. The metaphor describes the pain and annoyance she causes.

More examples of common metaphors:

  • The sun is a big, round pizza pie.
  • The steak is shoe leather.
  • That boy is an eating machine.

In all of these examples, one thing is said to be another. That’s a metaphor.

Combination Figurative Language

Some descriptions combine both metaphor and simile. For example:

  • The boy eats like a horse but he is a bean pole.

Do you feel like an expert now? Here’s a short figurative language quiz to test your knowledge.

State if you think these are simile or metaphor. I’ll put the answers at the end of the post, so don’t peek till you’re ready to see if you got them right.

  1. Ugly as a monkey’s armpit. (This expression inspired a book title I wrote about on another blog.)
  2. He peeled out like a banana.
  3. Her face was as red as a baboon’s butt. (Credit for this one goes to one of my former students.)
  4. His car is a trash bin on wheels, spilling its contents whenever he opens a door.
  5. Her father is Silly Putty in her hands.
  6. The kelp is a graceful ballerina in the ocean current.

In review, simile and metaphor are both forms of figurative language that create imagery, or a mental picture, in a reader’s mind. They both compare two or more things. Similes use the words “like” or “as” and metaphors say one thing “is” another thing.

To use one last clichéd simile, I hope this helped make things as clear as a bell. Do you have any original similes or metaphors to share?

Answers to the quiz: 1-3 are similes, 4-6 are metaphors.

Tips for Writers – Finding Your Personal Writing Style

Moleskin and pen on desk for writing.

Image by Katcha on Flickr.

How do you write? There are as many styles for getting the words on paper as there are writers. Do you write quickly, mashing out several thousand words in a day? Or do you write more slowly, doing a little at a time and letting the words simmer? Are you a plotter, needing to have everything lined up, laid out, and every detail noted before you begin? Or are you more of a pantster, sitting down to write and letting the story come tumbling out willy-nilly?

How do you find out what kind of a writer you are?

This is the dilemma facing many new writers, and many seasoned writers as well. Hearing and reading about all the different ways to write can make it hard to decide what works for you.

The best way to find out what works is to try them all out. When I was a newer writer, I tried NaNoWriMo and wrote my first middle grade historical novel. I had a general idea of the story line when I began. I even found an agent for it. But the novel had serious flaws, and it never sold.

The next story I wrote, a middle grade adventure, I used a plotting style. I actually think of it as my plodding style. I wrote every day, each chapter as it was plotted. Before I moved on to the next chapter, I did a first draft edit on the chapter. By the time I made it to the end, the story didn’t need any major editing, as my first novel had, but it was certainly a long process.

Next up, I tried more of a pantster approach on an adult story. I ended up with a novel called Blooming with Hope, which is anything but. It’s a mess. I didn’t stay true to my voice, the characters are cardboard, and I don’t know if I’ll ever go back and fix all the plot holes in that one. It’s blatantly apparent from this disaster that I’m not a pantster.

A woman in my writing group tried a method of writing in which you and a support buddy write twenty pages a day for two weeks straight. At the end of two weeks, you have a novel. In her words, “I’ve finally found my writing method.” This fast draft method of novel writing worked for her, and now she’s spending the next few months doing major edits and revisions.

If that sounds too intense, you might want to try Karen Wiesner’s method of writing a novel in thirty days.  Hers is more of a pre-plotted and pre-planned approach, leaving you to focus on the writing during the thirty day phase.

Personally, you just have to try as many writing styles or methods as you need to until you find the one that works for you. For me, the thought of editing 280,000 words written in fast draft mode is too daunting. My own style is the plodding fashion, with surface edits as the novel moves along. After the midway point, the story starts to pour out faster, and I drop some of the editing. When I get to the end, and go back to edit, the process is much less painful for me.

How about you? Do you have your own unique writing style you’d like to share with readers here?

In the end, whichever writing style you choose, there are just three things to consider. Are you putting a satisfying amount of words on paper? Is the story flowing? Are you enjoying the process? If you can answer yes to these questions, then you’ve found your own personal writing style.

Happy writing!

Tips for Writers, Be in the Moment, Even When You’re Not Writing

Yes, I know, “be in the moment” sounds very zen-ish. It’s also some of the best advice I’ve received about writing and about life. Don’t hurry to move on. Be in the moment. Savor the moment. Practice mindfulness.

Today I was testing students in reading fluency. I stepped over to talk to one of my young charges, and these are the things I noticed about him as we walked back to the table to read.

  1. He never looks directly at a person, but instead peeks at them through the corners of his eyes.
  2. His light, fluffy hair floats about his head like a freshly shampooed halo. Gravity has given up trying to hold it down.
  3. His recently washed clothes carry the perfume of laundry soap.
  4. He brags about being able to stand outside in the cold air with no jacket, his voice lilting up at the end of his sentence.
  5. He puffs out his chest with a young boy’s bravado and dares me to touch his arm to see how warm he is. His skin feels icy cold, but no goosebumps mar its smooth surface.
  6. His nose tip is red from the wind, mirroring his lips and cheeks.
  7. He walks with a bounce in his step, toes on the ground, heels a fraction of an inch above it, never quite settling onto the tile floor.
  8. Everything about him is radiant, as if he could float away on a cloud of happiness.

These are the types of details that can bring a character to life, the quirks that might endear a character to readers. Savor these things and then write them down.

Picture of ducks with halo of light in garden.

Image by Slurpiesandstraws on Flickr.com

The importance of writing things down was told to me in my first year of teaching. A veteran teacher kept a little notebook on her desk and wrote down things her students said and did. She didn’t want to forget any of the precious and funny things kids do. Later, another mentor advised me to be meditative about my teaching practice and keep records of the happenings of the day. These habits transcended my teaching and moved into my writing. They’ve helped me learn to be fully present in each moment.

Stopping to experience things and to allow the feelings and thoughts to sink in is one way for a  writer to develop acute observation skills. Noticing things and savoring them fills a deep reservoir of sensations to draw upon while writing. Don’t try to observe everything, just focus on one or two things, and remember them well.

I try to bring this principle into my heart and craft by taking time each day to stop and appreciate something happening right that instant. I notice the things my senses tell me; the temperature, the scents, the sounds, flavors, and how I’m feeling. I try to crystallize the moment in my mind so I can write it down later.

If you have the time, write down the sensations immediately. Create the best description you can of the moment. Of course, I realize most people don’t have jobs that will allow them to stop what they’re doing and write about it, (teaching certainly doesn’t allow any downtime,) but reviewing the day’s events and jotting down one or two special things at the end of each day can help build awareness that translates directly into more realistic writing.

If you carry a writer’s notebook, it will be quick to do. You can also write these notes on your phone text program and email them to yourself. I have an app on my phone called My Writing Spot that’s perfect for quick descriptions. Have fun with this writing, don’t let it become a chore.

Every few days you might want to choose one of your descriptions and expand on it. These can be used to develop realistic settings, build believable characters, and even to create plot twists. I find that writing a little bit about things I notice around me helps me learn to include all my senses and write better descriptions for my stories.

How about you? Do you have any special tricks for creating your best descriptions?

Sync Your Files Across Multiple Computers with Dropbox

How do you back up your teaching and writing files? See if one of these describes you.

  1. You save your files to a thumb drive and carry it around with you.
  2. You email files to yourself for safekeeping.
  3. You subscribe to an online backup service.
  4. You backup your own files with an external hard drive.
  5. You’re going crazy trying to remember which computer, hard drive, thumb drive, etc. on which you saved a particular file.
  6. Some other method.

I did all of those except for #3. (Notice the use of past tense.) I use three different computers, my laptop, a desktop, and my work computer at school. I hate it when I’m at school, but the file I need is on a thumb drive at home. Last year, I washed and dried my thumb drive in the pocket of my pants. Gradebook, letters, lesson plans, everything for school was gone in the time it took to wash and dry. A friend of mine lost her thumb drive. It was like losing a diamond engagement ring. All the teachers at our school were hunting for it. It was never found.

Then I’ve had nightmares that I forget to take the thumb drive out of my computer and my house burns down, taking the novels I’ve worked so hard o into the ashes. Yep, that’s a nightmare.

That’s why, when I found out about Dropbox, it was as if the heavens opened up and the sun shone down. I actually heard the Hallelujah chorus. Well, maybe just in my head.

Dropbox is simple to use and takes about 1 minute to set up. You download the app from Dropbox, then move the files you want to save into a Dropbox on your computer. Then you download the app to all the computers you use. Now, whenever you use any of those computers, all of those files will be available to you. No more worries about thumb drives. No more worries about the house burning down and taking my computers with it, because you can also access your Dropbox online.

This has to be the best app for organizing a teacherwriter’s files since the thumb drive came along. Check it out. I think you’ll like it. Dropbox.

My Ten Most Popular Articles on Classroom Management Techniques

Red and green cards for classroom management.

Red Light, Green Light. It's more than just a game. It's a teaching strategy.

As the school year begins again, it’s time to review classroom management strategies and rev up for the incoming classes. To help you with that, I’m posting links to my most popular classroom management articles. If you’re a new teacher, they’re packed with ideas that really work. If you’ve been in the trenches for a few years or more, it’s good to see what other teachers are doing.

What’s the worst discipline problem you ever had and how did you solve it? I could tell you nightmares from my first year teaching. I wasn’t prepared for the vast and imaginative ways kids can disrupt a classroom. My second year, I was prepared with a plan, procedures, and routines in place. Since then, management has been a breeze.

How to Set up a Class

This article gives a plan of attack for getting the classroom ready for school in the least amount of time. Because who wants to spend two weeks setting up? You can do it in three days or less. Follow up with Three Things to Do to Set up a Classroom and How to Plan a Classroom Seating Arrangement.

Where to Get Cheap Student Whiteboards

Don’t buy whiteboards from a school supply that costs well over $100. You can get them at the hardware store for around $15 if you know what to do.

Classroom Ideas for Quiet Signs that Work

The name says it all. None of them involve shouting, thank goodness.

Five Strategies for Effective Classroom Management

Follow these five strategies and you’ll never have to worry about an out-of-control classroom.

Positive Classroom Discipline

This goes along with the previous article.

Curriculum Planning with Backward Design

When your building your curriculum map and lesson plans, think backward to see the greatest results.

First Day of School Icebreaker Activities

Have fun getting to know your students.

Back to School Activity Idea

Me bags are one of my favorite ways of finding out about my students.

There you have it. The ten most read articles about getting ready for the new school year. Have a great time getting ready for the new school year!

The Mozart Effect and Learning in a Fifth Grade Classroom

Statue of Mozart with staff note flower bed.

Photo/Wikimedia Commons

Does Mozart make you smart? My class of fifth graders decided to do an experiment to find out.

The Mozart Effect has been recognized since 1991, when Alfred A. Tomatis first gave a name to the phenomenon. Since then it’s been researched, study results have been published in medical journals, books have been written about it, and CDs have been sold under the name, The Mozart Effect.

My class is currently reading The 39 Clues, Book 2, The False Note, by Gordon Korman, in which Amy and Dan head to Vienna, Austria, home of Mozart, in search of more clues to find Grace Cahill’s fortune. That’s how the interest in the Mozart Effect began.

We randomly divided the class into two groups. I have the students’ names on cards, and I split the deck into two piles without looking, naming one group the music group and the other group the control group. I became nervous as I read the names of the students in the control group, for it was full of my top performing students, including all of my GATE students. I could have kicked myself, but it was too late. We had to go on with the experiment, although I thought the results might be skewed.

The control group was sent outside to relax in the grass and read a book for ten minutes. The music group stayed inside and listened to Serenade in G, K.525 “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” – Orchestral version, by Mozart for ten minutes with their eyes closed. Whereas normally the students groan when I put on classical music, on this day they enjoyed it.

After the music and reading, I gave the students a short puzzle about Benjamin Franklin. They had to fill in missing letters to reveal a fact about Ben. Every person in the group had to have the puzzle completed correctly in order to announce the group was finished. They were allowed to work together and share clues.

Results of the Mozart Effect, Experiment 1

Music group: Finished the puzzle in 7 minutes, 37 seconds.
Control group: Unable to finish.

I stopped the experiment after 20 minutes. The control group, (the one with the GATE students), complained that the other group had all the smart students in it. Interesting perception.

I told them we would do the same experiment with the same music, but a different puzzle the next morning with the groups switched. This time we did a puzzle about Mozart in which the students had to use a number letter code given to them to solve for a fact about the composer. The puzzle difficulty level was the same as the Benjamin Franklin puzzle.

Results of the Mozart Effect, Experiment 1

Music group (the control group of the previous day): Finished the puzzle in 5 minutes 35 seconds.
Control group (the music group of the previous day): Finished the puzzle in 8 minutes 15 seconds, with a great deal of whining, groaning, and moaning about how difficult it was.
The students are convinced. The music relaxed them and allowed them to think more creatively to problem solve. Even though it was entirely unscientific, it was very interesting. I’ll certainly be playing more classical music in the classroom in the future.

Next up: the students want to find out if the effect carries through with other types of music. I’ll have more on those results later.

Tips For Creating A Powerful PowerPoint

Let’s face it. Most teachers are not as adept at PowerPoint presentations as they could be. How many of us have suffered through a presentation that was full of annoying sound effects, words zipping across the screen, and a confusing layout?

When using PowerPoint to give a lesson, you want your audience to learn something, not just remember bright lights and cute sounds. This article by Ryan Round has some pointers for teachers wanting to use PowerPoint more effectively. There are plenty of advantages to using it in the classroom. Once a lesson is created, it can be used again and again or shared with other teachers, the lessons are simple to update, and most importantly, students tune in to on screen presentations.

Here are more tips on Using Audio-Visual Aids in a Presentation.

Dorit Sasson has some Lesson Plans Using PowerPoint.

Tips for Creating a Powerful PowerPoint
By Ryan Round

Tips For Creating A Powerful PowerPoint

In the hands of a skillful communicator, PowerPoint can be a great tool. Unfortunately, there are many who use PowerPoint poorly. A report in the online Wall Street Journal claimed that millions of dollars are being wasted each day due to bad presentations. Whether this is a realistic figure or not, most people have had to suffer through poor presentations at some stage.

The most common mistake in PowerPoint is using too many words. Research suggests that having lots of words on the screen to match a spoken presentation increases the cognitive load on the brain. The end result is that the message actually becomes less clear. Using lots of words can also tempt the presenter into using the slides as a teleprompter. If this is the case, it would be better to write the points on cards and not show them to the audience.

A related problem is using too many bullet points. Again, your key messages can become lost if you have a vast variety of bullet points. Some commentators suggest that you should have no more than six bullet points and the number of words per point should be restricted to a maximum of six. A good guide is to write your points as &quotheadlines&quot.

There are others who suggest that a presentation can be better with no bullet points at all. Because PowerPoint is essentially a visual medium, many advocate using one key message per slide mixed with the use of interesting and relevant images. In fact, slides which contain only an image or a collection of images with no text at all can often make a powerful statement. The beauty of PowerPoint slides is that they don’t cost anything, so you can use as many as you want.

A poor choice of background is another source of aggravation for audiences. If you are going to use text, it needs to be seen. A busy background or one that doesn’t provide enough contrast between it and the words can lead to text that is unreadable. Distracting backgrounds can be used if the text is placed inside a text box with a plainer background that allows it to be read. Another cause of unreadable text is using a font size that is too small.

Some people seem to be natural presenters. However, the good news is that the skills to construct a good presentation can be learnt. Even a mediocre presenter can shine if they put the effort into designing a winning presentation.

About the author

In addition to an interest in Powerpoint, Ryan also runs a site for internet marketers providing new private label rights products, master resell rights products, articles, training and much more. from http://www.FreeArticlesAndContent.com