Christmas is a wonderful time of year for student writing. There is a very high level of student motivation! Student interest and motivation stays high when they write about Christmas coming from different angles and with different purposes.
Here is a great list of Christmas essay and story writing ideas! Teaching your students to write using [...]
Do’s and Don’ts of Language in Report Writing: How to Use Formal Language
• Do Use Passive Voice – You the author stay hidden. Focus on the facts and issues of the subject you are writing about. What do you think about those facts and issues? Not important. However, the facts and issues are important. The cause [...]
Students need to be taught how to use formal language in report writing. You can add a little bit of variety and a little bit of fun to report writing if you treat it more like “formal voice.” After all, there are degrees of formality…
The term “voice” is used in the “Six Traits of Effective [...]
A Paragraph Beautifully Defined
A paragraph is a collection of sentences with unity of purpose. A paragraph handles and exhausts a distinct topic.
Alexander Bain – 1871
This description of a paragraph is about as good as it gets! Alexander Bain is also credited as having been the first person to have formally laid down the rules [...]
Teaching Sentences as Grammar VS. Teaching Sentences as Writing
Do you teach “grammar” when you teach children about sentences… or do you teach “writing” when you teach children about sentences? Let’s take a quiz. Read this sentence:
Do you still eat pizza every day?
Which of these four kinds of sentences is this?
• Declarative Sentence – Makes a statement.
• Interrogative Sentence [...]
Controversy in the World of Writer’s Workshop
Teaching writing… in the world of teaching… is “controversial.” So few teachers really feel they know how to teach “writing” well. Everyone feels they teach “grammar” just fine, but writing… This feeling of uncertainty creates defensiveness and high emotions.
But even in the world of teaching writing… just the mention [...]
(If your children or students are struggling with paragraphs… be sure to read “Teaching Children Paragraph Writing is Hard!)
The Different Kinds of Paragraphs
1. How-to Paragraph (Process Paragraph) – First, Next, Then, Finally
2. Compare and Contrast Paragraph – Eggplant is both good…and bad!
3. Descriptive Paragraph – It was a dark and stormy night, yet the moon had an enchanting [...]
Should You Teach Your Students to INVENT a Good Story, or to TELL a Good Story?
The truth is that there is very little difference between a personal narrative essay and a fiction story. After all, who doesn’t look at a fiction story and then look at the author and say, “Oh, I didn’t know…” And [...]