Explorations: The Ultimate Journal for Elementary and Middle School Students Early in my teaching career I read a book that said to call an activity, “Our Time.” Since the name “Our Time” had nothing to do with the activity, I thought it was a pretty ridiculous (and manipulative) idea. What I came to see was [...]
Using and Benefiting From Prewriting: Elementary and Middle School Students The benefits of mastering prewriting skills for elementary and middle school students are really quite profound. By learning effective prewriting techniques students can develop the skill of being able to see the big picture before they start an assignment or project of any kind. When [...]
First Off… Since calling a bottom on the stock market on March 5th, 2009 during one of the worst financial crises in history I’ve received quite a few emails from people that read my post at “The Elementary Educator” blog. They seem to be impressed. I’ve only brought it up in relation to “Pattern Based [...]
Mass Idea Generation: Another Important Trait from the Six Traits of Writing Along with organization, ideas are the other trait that Paul B. Diederich felt deserved greater weight. Good prewriting skills lead to good ideas. If students think the first idea that pops into their head is a good idea, it’s unlikely they [...]