Have you heard of Malcolm Gladwell? He’s written five New York Times bestsellers. I first became aware of him with his 2001 bestseller, The Tipping Point. A few years back, a friend was raving about a Malcolm Gladwell book he had just read and was unsuccessfully...
What is an essay? If you cannot answer that question concretely and competently, you are lost when it comes to fully grasping writing and literature. Understanding essays and essay writing is critical for students, teachers, writers, and readers of all ages. I have a...
Imagine it’s your job to tell the story of what happened in the Super Bowl football game. Naturally, the more you know about the game of football, and the more you know about the players, the better your story will be. Also, you’re going to want to choose the right...
Mind reading is the key to understanding the types of narrators and points of view in narratives. Narrative story is the one way a person can enter the mind of another person. That’s one reason we read stories. I use the term “mind reading” to explain to students how...
As a rule, I use the term narrator for narratives, and the term speaker for most other types of writing, especially academic writing. Although the narrator is always the speaker in a narrative, the speaker is probably not narrating (i.e., telling what happened) in...
Congratulations! You have found the ultimate 6-Traits of Writing master checklist and cheat sheet! Be sure to review all six categories and start guiding your students to true writing excellence! 1) Ideas / Content, 2) Organization, 3) Sentence Fluency, 4) Word...
By the end of this page, you will be an expert on folklore stories! Here are the eight topics we will discuss: 1. Folklore Stories and the Oral Tradition 2. How to Classify the Story of George Washington and the Cherry Tree 3. Folklore Stories: Qualities and...
What genre of story are you reading or writing? To answer this question, you must understand the characteristics and qualities of genre. In other words, what kinds of ideas, subject matter, characters, techniques, and strategies are used in the story? Below you will...
Are you interested in world mythology, legends, folklore, folktales, folk heroes, tall tales, fairy tales, hero tales, animal tales, and fables? If so, you have just found an extremely valuable treasure-trove of resources. I explain the purpose of this collection of...
What’s a narrative? What’s a story? Aren’t they the same thing? These are the questions that will be answered here. We will examine and compare five types of narrative and discover how they relate to story. We will look at narrative stories, personal narrative essays,...
Narrative is one of the more important words in the English language. It’s how we make sense of the world; it’s also how we see and understand ourselves. Narrative story is so powerful that Plato (circa 427 BC—347 BC), one of history’s greatest minds, banned...
What is descriptive writing? The real question is this: How do student writers use descriptive writing effectively in real writing? When teachers can answer this question, they know how to use their time wisely to teach descriptive writing. I mention this because the...
How do you teach young minds to write persuasive arguments? It’s easy! You teach your students strategies, techniques, concepts, and vocabulary. Then your students prewrite, write, and rewrite. After your students finish writing, how do you know if your students have...
The Common Core State Standards (hereafter CCSS) use Three Text Types: 1. Informational/Explanatory Writing (Expository) 2. Narrative Writing 3. Argument Did you know that writers can blend together these three text types to create original and effective...
