Why is the term Unity Statements ™ so valuable in teaching writing? Well, students will not understand topic sentences, thesis statements, or even organization in writing until they understand Unity Statements ™. To understand Unity Statements ™, students need to...
Unity may be the most crucial concept in writing. Unity directly relates to this question: What’s your point? We must ask that question at multiple levels of thinking: What’s your point in that sentence? What’s your point in that paragraph? What’s your point in that...
Have you heard of the Six Traits of Writing? The truth of teaching writing is that it’s not as simple as just six traits. Although the Six Traits of Writing is a practical and effective assessment and evaluation tool, it falls short as an instructional tool. Put...
Teach students to stop worrying and instead harness the power of reflective thinking and unconscious processing to come up with great and powerful ideas for writing, decision making, problem solving, achieving goals, and creating a great life. Have you ever told...
Are you familiar with the Six Traits of Writing? Initially developed as a writing evaluation model, it has evolved into a popular framework for writing instruction. It’s composed of these six traits: 1) Ideas, 2) Organization, 3) Sentence Fluency, 4) Word Choice, 5)...
In Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books, logical and calculating Reacher famously says, “Details matter.” Reacher does not say “supporting details” matter. He doesn’t say that because he means that the details matter—the specifics matter. Calling all details supporting...
Creative thinking is essential for creating success and tackling life’s toughest challenges. It’s valuable in all areas of life, including personal, professional, academic, and artistic. We use it in planning, problem-solving, decision-making, increasing productivity,...
What is creative thinking? What is it good for? We could define creative thinking as using our imagination or daydreaming, but that’s not what we discuss here. We are talking about creativity as a life skill. We are talking about the ability to use creative thinking...
Have you heard of Howard Gardner’s model of Multiple Intelligences? In Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983), Gardner proposed that intelligence is not a single entity but rather a set of distinct abilities or intelligences. His model now...
The Six Traits of Writing is a framework used to assess and teach writing skills. It focuses on six key qualities (aka traits) that are essential to effective writing: 1) Ideas, 2) Organization, 3) Sentence Fluency, 4) Word Choice, 5) Conventions, and 6) Voice. In...
Are you a writer? A communicator? A thinker? A problem solver? Do you need to come up with great ideas? Yes, you are. Yes, you do. Let’s learn how to find these great ideas! Please note that this page indeed discusses getting ideas for writing. However, as a whole,...
It’s time for students and all writers to take control and ownership of their writing! You can do this by expanding your world of ideas. You can also do this by understanding the power of statements. Yes, I said statements, aka declarative sentences. I know. You...
Understanding essay writing is critical for teachers, students, readers, and writers. Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), a famous essayist, defined an essay this way: “The essay is a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything.” That’s a great...
This may be the most informative page ever on topic sentences. You will learn a mountain of topic-sentence theory and advice from five classic books on writing well. However, I also analyze the paragraphs from these classic books to see if they follow their own...
In one of my favorite informal experiments, Professor Arthur A. Stern removed the paragraph breaks from a section of text from “Fundamentals of Good Writing” (1950) and had English teachers reparagraph it. Only 5 out of 100 teachers reparagraphed it as the original...
