PENCIL TIPS WRITING WORKSHOP

CHALLENGE YOURSELF

2012-02-20T17:00:00.000-05:00

It happens to the best of us. We sit and stare at the blank page, wondering if we will ever come up with another great story idea or artistic masterpiece.

As easy as it would be to give up when we hit a wall like this, sometimes taking small baby steps towards the bigger picture helps to get the wheels turning.

For example, last November I participated in “PiBoIdMo” or “Picture Book Idea Month” an on-line challenge started by children’s author Tara Lazar. The premise of the challenge is to motivate both published and unpublished writers to come up with one picture book “idea” a day for one month. Not a whole manuscript, but a title, unique character, or a rough outline…just a little something written down that might jump start a future story idea. It seems like a daunting task, but just taking minutes a day, I was surprised at how much you can accomplish. Of course not all these ideas will be worth pursuing, but the hope is that one or two, or a combination of several of these ideas will eventually become a polished manuscript ready for submission.

http://taralazar.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/piboidmo-official-sign-up-starts-today-right-here-right-now/

Another challenge (going on right now), is the 12 x 12 in 2012: Picture Book Writing Challenge. Participants are challenged to write one picture book manuscript for each month of the year in 2012.

http://writeupmylife.com/2011/11/30/12-x-12-in-2012-picture-book-writing-challenge/

If Novel writing is more of what you are interested in, consider participating in National Novel writing month, another thirty day challenge: http://www.nanowrimo.org/

For those wanting an artistic challenge, you can participate in “Illustration Friday.” A weekly word prompt is given out and participants may then post their work each Friday in an on-line gallery. This is a wonderful way to experiment using a different style, medium, or technique, as well as a great way to freshen up a portfolio with new work.

http://www.illustrationfriday.com/

Many of my colleagues have also given themselves a self-imposed challenge of a small illustration or sketch a day (based on a particular theme) for one month. Each illustration is then posted on Facebook, sometimes with a contest at the end of the month to win a piece of original art. It’s a great way to build a following while giving you the push to create new work. Some themes I’ve seen featured are monsters, fairies, and Christmas doodles during the month of December.

Participating in a challenge like one of the above could also be adapted for use in the classroom. Both writing and artistic challenges could be conducted for a week instead of a month. At the end of the week, have students choose one story idea or one illustration to develop further for the final project.

The next time you are faced with that blank page, challenge yourself one step at a time. Those baby steps just might lead you to the right destination!

http://www.joanwaites.com/

SHARING MISTAKES

2012-02-13T17:00:00.000-05:00

by Mary Amato

Illustration by Max Amato

One of the greatest teaching tools and gifts that you can give a student is to share mistakes that you have made. Did you fail to proofread a memo to your boss and discover later that you made a grammatical error? Show it to your students. Did that fancy dessert you made for a potluck turn out horribly because you did the math wrong when you doubled the recipe? Laugh about it with your students. Did you get sudden stage fright on karaoke night and forget the melody? Replay it for your students. Did you have to revise your latest poem twenty-five times to get it right? Dig those 25 crumbled sheets out of the trash can and display them.

Whenever we are learning something new—whether we’re a kindergartner learning how to write the alphabet or a 50-year-old newbie taking beginner piano lessons—we assume we’re the only ones making mistakes. Sometimes new learners will give up rather than face the multitude of mistakes that are required to learn a new skill. Help your students to embrace their mistakes by sharing yours. Remember, the only real mistake is not trying.

www.maryamato.com

THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY

2012-02-06T21:10:00.005-05:00

by Alison Hart

The last blog I wrote on the difficulties of writing discussed how incredibly complicated writing is for my pre-college students. During one semester, they must write six essays, including a literary essay on a novel. Most of them arrive with below average skills, yet in sixteen weeks, they need to understand and craft essays using correct spelling, grammar, sentence construction, punctuation, different writing purposes and modes, paraphrasing, thesis statements, topic sentences, engaging description, supporting details, and essay format. Since texting and commenting on Facebook are about the only writing they do, they are surprised that “c u latr lol” is not acceptable. Many do not make it through the semester.

The number of skills needed to write is mind-boggling, and what I have discovered is that even at the college level the biggest obstacle is language. Students with a limited vocabulary can master skills, but rarely do their essays rise above an elementary level. Writing requires words—descriptive, specific, fanciful, precise--to convey meaning to a reader. Without the right ‘words’, writing is simply black print on paper. Yet teaching vocabulary without context is useless, and since most students who struggle with writing don’t read widely, it is difficult for their vocabulary to grow.

Along with not reading, the second problem at all levels is: how often do students get to tell stories and use words in school? With twenty students and more in a class, teachers don’t have time to listen to every kid’s (big or small) tale of what happened on the way to school. My students have incredible stories of divorce, DUIs, foster care, immigration, jail time and death. Sometimes I read about their hardships in disjointed essays. Rarely do I listen.

When I first taught in the 80s, the LEA (Language Experience Approach) was big. Students recited stories to volunteers and aides who wrote them down. The kids saw their words and thoughts on paper, and when they reread them, the stories had correct spelling and punctuation. At the college level, I have used a type of LEA for not only my EL students, but for those who find that getting ideas from their heads onto paper is a daunting task. During the edit stage, I can ask questions to help each writer draw out or add details. It then gives the student a model and shows the connection between thoughts and words.

In my lowest writing class, I do an exercise on sensory description. I bring in spices to smell and food to taste. Students work in groups using an online thesaurus and dictionary to find words to describe their sensations. They love the exercise, but it is not enough. It is never enough.

In all my classes, my students brainstorm why vocabulary is important. When they are done writing their ideas on the board, I hit them with this fact: the one proven indicator of success in a career is a rich and useful vocabulary. As employers and employees we need to be able to successfully communicate, direct and inspire with words.

I would love to hear ideas on building vocabulary at all levels, and would like to share them in the next post. In the meantime, when a student wants to tell you a story, I hope you will take the time to listen. It is an important link to writing.

www.alisonhartbooks.com

DIALOGUES AND TWO PERSON POEMS

2012-01-30T17:00:00.001-05:00

by Mary Quattlebaum

Have you ever read dialogue that feels rambling and flat? (Ha, sometimes I’ve written such dialogue and then, of course, had to revise.) To help students think more carefully about the point of and voices in a piece of dialogue, try this:

*Have students make up one big and one very small character (for example, seagull and tiny crab, child and ant, cat and mouse). One wants something that the other has (for example, the gull might want to eat the crab; or the ant might want child’s cupcake crumb). What do they say to one another? How are their voices different? (For example, the gull might be rude and the crab very polite. Or the ant, though tiny, might be very bossy and the child apologetic.) What happens and how does the dialogue end?

*Once students have written and revised their dialogues or two-speaker poems, have them pair up with someone in class and speak/perform the part of their two characters. Have fun!

Below is an example of a two-speaker or dialogue poem. In “Encounter,” a girl and firefly have an imaginary conversation about their different experiences of firefly being caught by girl and then released.

Encounter

Girl Firefly

Quick leap,

turned wrist.

Bright dot

in my fist.

Night wide—

sharp snap!

I flicker

in a trap.

Gliding spark,

quiet flash:

go forth,

go fast.

Sudden window

opens high;

warm wind

whispers “fly.”

--by Mary Quattlebaum, Cricket magazine

www.maryquattlebaum.com

TIPS FOR USING TECHNOLOGY

2012-01-23T17:00:00.001-05:00

by Jacqueline Jules

Recently, I visited a third grade classroom, at the request of his teacher, for an individualized writing conference. Cameron (fictitious name) and I sat down in a quiet corner of the room with a laptop.

“Can you log in to the computer for me?” I asked him.

Cameron’s face went blank.

“Do you know your login?”

“I think so.”

My school, like many, gives each child his or her own login, so everything created is stored on personal server space. This works fine as long as the child remembers how to access his or her information or there is a teacher available who does. Unfortunately for us, there was a substitute in the classroom that day. Without his login, Cameron couldn’t even open up a word processing system. We ended up logging in under my name and starting a new story that day, which I stored on his grade level server space. I showed him where it was on the S drive.

“Do you think you can find this tomorrow to continue your story?”

“I think so,” Cameron answered tentatively.

On several occasions, I have seen students spend more time unloading and loading the laptops from a mobile cart than actually writing. Not only does it take time to remove the computers from the cart, it takes time to get the computers functioning. Elementary students make typing mistakes, creating a need to attempt login more than once. And a networked computer can take several minutes to boot, not to mention shut down. Precious little time is already allotted to writing workshop. Should it be spent logging on and booting up? And what about the need to share the mobile cart between classrooms? The demand is high and teachers must adhere to a rigid schedule so everyone gets a turn. Just when your students are settled in and feeling their words flow may be the moment when computers must be shutdown and put back in the cart for the next class to use.

Writing time should be devoted to trying to make a story work, not a computer. Efficient use of technology is essential. Here are a few suggestions:

· Teachers lucky enough to have classroom workstations should assign a classroom helper to boot up and log in the computers first thing every morning. Classroom computers should always be ready to go when a student has a piece ready to type.

· Teach students to save their work on a shared drive. This means that students don’t have to log in individually to access their work. This also allows teachers to review work in progress and write conference notes to students. It is often difficult to reach all students in person who want to conference each week. Give yourself another option for the student you didn’t have time to meet with in class.

· Backup work on individual flash drives. If students can’t purchase their own flash drives, petition the PTA to purchase them. When each student has a flashdrive, work cannot only be backed up, it can be taken home to finish.

· Allow students to finish typing pieces at home. Thirty minute writing workshops do not provide adequate time for a mini-lesson, composing time, and typing time. Students need to learn how to compose a story on a computer. This requires the ability to type. Typing is a skill that takes hours of practice. We don’t have hours at school, particularly on the elementary level, for any activity. Allowing students to type at home gives them the practice they desperately need in an unrushed environment without the distraction of friends. Many teachers are reluctant to allow students to work at home because they are afraid the product will have too much parental involvement. While I will accept that this is a real concern in some households, it is not the case in most. Schools do not have to be like the airports which require us all to suffer through security hassles for a terrorist minority. Just because a few parents will take over student writing projects doesn’t mean that all children should be robbed of the opportunity to practice writing at home. Besides, parental help can be helpful. My mother taught me to punctuate. She insisted I correct my papers before I turned them in. After seeing numerous students in grades 3-5 pass in stories absent of any punctuation at all, I sometimes wish more parents were like my mother. Teachers don’t have time to do everything. And we must acknowledge, as Alison Hart so aptly discussed in her introductory Pencil Tips blog, writing is complicated. It takes the acquisition of many skills. We need to give our students the opportunity to practice writing skills at school and at home.

http://www.jacquelinejules.com/

Personification: Making a Poem Breathe

2012-01-16T17:00:00.014-05:00

by Laura Krauss Melmed

A few months ago, I had the good fortune to attend an amazing production of the play, Warhorse, on Broadway. The horses, main characters in the story, were portrayed by life-size puppets, each made of a wire armature with three people, clearly visible, operating it. The way the puppeteers moved the horses, including making them breathe, brought them absolutely, convincingly to life. In poetry, the device of personification performs a similar function by breathing life into inanimate objects or forces of nature through the use of words, usually including evocative verbs.

A lesson on personification should begin with reading some poems that utilize this device. In the following poem excerpts, three poets have used personification to describe “night,” each in a fresh, original way.

from Taking Turns

by Norma Farber

When sun goes home

Behind the trees

and locks her shutters tight –

Read the lines and ask the students questions such as the following: What occurrence is Norma Farber writing about? What images did her words created in the mind’s eye? How does she manage to describe something that happens every day all over the world in such a unique and vivid way? Which specific words or phrases give the excerpt its strong imagery? The poem is called "Taking Turns" because once the sun has gone home, other things begin to show up in the sky. Can you guess what they are? What do you think Norma Farber has to say about them

The next two poem excerpts can be similarly read and discussed, and all three compared:

from Night Creature

by Lillian Moore

I like

the quiet breathing

of the night,

The tree talk

the wind-swish

the star light.

from The Night

by Myra Cohen Livingston

The night

creeps in

around my head

and snuggles down

upon the bed . . .

Once the students have caught on to the concept, let them have a try at writing their own poems utilizing personification. First write three headings on the board or on three pieces of chart paper: Action Words, Places and Nouns. For Action Words prompt the students to come up with a large variety of verbs by asking them what actions different parts of the body can do, what actions various animals might perform, what sounds different animals make, etc.) For Places, have students throw out a bunch of settings, such as city, forest, beach, meadow, swamp, mountain. For Nouns, elicit various inanimate objects and phenomena that might be found in those places. Now have the students chose a season and a place for the title of their poem. They can then choose from the nouns and verbs to write a four line poem, as in the following example (although in the quoted examples the poets used rhyme, you should not require this of your students). Here is an example I wrote:

Summer in the City

The sun glares angrily

At the sweating sidewalks,

As they lie there dreaming

Of a day at the beach.

Your students will have fun making their poems breathe!

P.S. You can find the poems from which these excerpts were taken in Talking Like the Rain, A First Book of Poems, selected by X.J. Kennedy and Dorothy M. Kennedy, Little, Brown, 1992 ("Taking Turns" and "The Night"), and Sing a Song of Popcorn, Every Child's Book of Poems, selected by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, Eva Moore, Mary Michaels White, and Jan Carr, Scholastic, 1988 ("Night Creature").

http://www.laurakraussmelmed.com/

RESOLVE TO WRITE

2012-01-09T17:00:00.001-05:00

by Pam Smallcomb

It's a brand new year, and like many of you, I am taking stock of myself and my writing habits. One bad habit I have seems to stand out (I am speaking of creative habits, since all my bad habits would take up far too much time to discuss), and I am betting at least some of you share this with me: I have trouble plowing through to the end of the first draft.

I'm gangbusters on the beginnings, and then somewhere mid-story, I stall. I stare at the ceiling. I think about my story. I ponder my characters. I wonder if they are believable. I outline my story (again). I stare at the ceiling. You get the picture. I've been reading about this problem, and talking to other writers, and I thought I would pass on some things that might help. I know I need all the help I can get.

1. Set a daily word count.

I've read that Stephen King recommends writing a minimum of 1000 words a day, six days a week. Ernest Hemingway supposedly kept to a strict schedule of 500-1000 words a day. Hemingway also said he liked to end the day while he was on a writing streak, so it would be easy to pick up the story again the next day.

Bottom line: set a word count goal (I'm going with 1000), and stop while your story is still fresh. Face it, if you write 1000 words a day you will eventually get to the end of your story. At the very least, you will feel like a writer, because you are writing!

2. Don't go back to the beginning each time you sit down to write.

Here is one of my biggest problems: every time I sit down to write, I start by reading the story over again. I fiddle with the wording. I delete sentences, and then add them back in. By the time I get to the new part of the story I should be writing, I've lost steam. Frankly, I'm a little sick of the story. It's not fresh when you have read the beginning a thousand times. I've discovered I'm not alone in this. A few writers have mentioned that they only let themselves read the last chapter (or even the last paragraph) they completed before beginning to write new pages.

3. Try not to think your story to death.

I am the first to admit that I love the comfort and direction that comes with an outline. But just as re-reading your pages begins to numb your enthusiasm toward your story, plotting a story too carefully can, well, make it boring to write. If you know exactly what is going to happen on every page, where's the fun? Sid Fleischman, who won the Newbery for his novel, The Whipping Boy, said in an interview with Reading Rockets:

“I don't plan my novels in advance. I've tried that, I find that I can't do that very well and that my best procedure is just to get a beginning with a few characters that give me some hope of conflict or story, just start and then improvise, as we improvise our daily lives. And I improvise the story day-by-day, never knowing the ending.”

Moral? Well, maybe that if you think too much you will end up 'reasoning' your story to death. I think there is something to be said for giving in to the story. Let your characters drive the bus and see what happens. Don't reread your entire book every time you sit down to write. Just finish your word count, and go have a cup of tea. You've done your job for the day. You've written. Even better, you've edged that much closer to the end, and won't that feel good when you've reached it? Yes, yes it will.

http://www.pamsmallcomb.com/

AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR FOR THE DAY

2012-01-02T17:00:00.005-05:00

by Joan Waites

One of the most frequent questions I am asked as an illustrator of children’s books is “how does an author get you to illustrate their book?” Most are very surprised to learn that for the majority of picture book projects, (but not all), the author and illustrator do not communicate and collaborate on how the illustrations should look. The publisher contracts a manuscript from an author and then chooses an illustrator they feel would best suit the story. There are several reasons for this, but mostly because a picture book works best when each creative half is left alone to bring their own vision to the story without restrictions. As I have mentioned in a previous blog post, the illustrator’s job is to add something more to the story that is not just a reflection of the written word.

I was recently explaining this relationship between author and illustrator to a school representative who has arranged for me to participate in an artist-in-residence program in the coming year. While we were brainstorming activities for the children to participate in while I am there, I suggested using the exercise from my Pencil Tips blog post More Story Starters. Using that idea, we came up with a plan to break the children into smaller groups, one half to be designated authors, the other half illustrators. Authors will be given the task of creating a short manuscript using the story starter prompt cards. Each designated illustrator will then have time to create the illustrations for the manuscript they have been assigned. Then the group will switch roles so each child gets a turn to be an author or illustrator for the day.

When complete, students will share their books with the group. Some sample questions to ask are:

Are the illustrations successful for this manuscript?

Do they add something new and exciting to the story?

Do the characters come to life in the illustrations?

Do we get a better sense of place and time when looking at the illustrations?

Is the author happy with the way their story has been illustrated?

Is there a way the story could be edited to allow for more exciting illustration opportunities?

Since I'm trying this exercise for this first time, I am excited to see what the students will produce. I’ll be sure to report back in a future blog post!

Wishing all our readers a very happy, healthy, and productive New Year!

http://www.joanwaites.com/

Writing is Complicated

2011-12-19T17:00:00.001-05:00

by Alison Hart

Since I am new to Pencil Tips, I want to shout out a cheery “hello” and a rousing “thank you” for inviting me to put in my five cents about writing and also to introduce myself. I have been writing and publishing children’s books for, ahem, decades and teaching even longer. For twenty years I taught special education classes in Maryland both elementary and high school. Since 1995, I have been teaching pre-college reading and writing classes at Blue Ridge Community College in Virginia. My classes are hugely diverse. I have students from countries all over the world including Iraq, Cuba and

Mexico

; teens straight from high school; military vets and active duty soldiers; and adults returning to college for retraining and new careers. They all have one thing in common: their reading and writing skills need improvement so they can succeed in a college program.

If you do the math, you will see that I have been teaching students who have difficulty with reading and writing for, um—let me get out my finger calculator—thirty-nine years. For all of those thirty-nine years, I have also been searching for new ideas, new methods, and ‘ah ha’ moments on how to be the best teacher possible. My techniques and materials have changed and evolved, and yet, I still don’t have answers. How to successfully teach and motivate all students to be better writers remains a mystery.

One revelation I have had is that writing is incredibly complicated. For example, if you task-analyze how to write alliteration, which is only one poetic device, students would need to understand many skills before successfully crafting their own. (See Laura Krauss Melmed’s terrific blog on “Amazing Alliteration.”) For some students, alliteration will fly naturally from their brains and onto their papers with creative joy. For other students, alliteration will be a “woeful, avoid-worthy, writing wreck.”

If a fun device, such as alliteration, can be daunting, how can a student ever craft a well-researched, college-level essay with cited sources? The list of needed skills to write is endless. Not only must students have a knowledge of grammar, sentence construction, punctuation and vocabulary, they must understand the nuances of narrative flow, paraphrasing, crafting a thesis statement and topic sentences, point of view, description, supporting details, and the reader as an audience (to name just a few). No wonder the acquisition of writing skills seems mind-boggling to most of my students, who have had limited opportunities in logical thinking much less writing and-even worse--who rarely read. Which leads me to my second revelation: the Pencil Tips blog is MUCH needed because writing is incredibly complicated, but it is also incredibly important. I am excited to join in, be inspired, share ideas, discuss problems, and keep communicating and learning about this important skill.

Thank you! Alison

http://www.alisonhartbooks.com/

WRITING THAT FORGIVES

2011-12-12T17:00:00.005-05:00

by Mary Quattlebaum

During this season of peace and good will, I am reminded of the power of words, not just to assert but to connect, not just to hurt but to heal.

Do you ever provide a prompt that evolves into a powerful writing experience for your students—you can tell by that hushed, charged feeling in the room—but for which you never see the pieces? Sometimes the piece that allows students to move to a new level of awareness, risk, and connection with their writing may well be the one that the teacher does not review.

This exercise was inspired by This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness by acclaimed poet Joyce Sidman. This is a lovely book to keep in the classroom—or to give as a gift. The book is divided into two parts. In the first section a person apologizes to a specific other for a transgression (breaking a glass keepsake, eating all the brownies, saying something unkind); and in the second section, the person addressed has a chance to respond.

*Talk about some of the poems with students, asking them to mention ways in which others were hurt. Ask them to imagine how the hurt person might react to the poem-apology and then read and discuss the corresponding poem of forgiveness in part two.

*Ask students to close their eyes and think about a time when they hurt someone or something.

*Have them write a letter to the person in which they tell what they did and apologize. First assure students that this piece of writing will not be looked at by you (teacher) or shared with others. They might wish to share it with the person to whom it is addressed—but that is up to them.

*On certain days, allow the page to be a safe place for students to write out their feelings and secrets without worries that this will be reviewed or graded. You might set aside a time, perhaps monthly or biweekly, for such writing explorations.

http://www.maryquattlebaum.com/

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WHAT DID YOU LEARN? CREATING THOUGHTFUL NARRATIVES

2011-12-05T17:00:00.003-05:00

by Jacqueline Jules

Personal narratives are a big part of any elementary writing curriculum. Primary school students not only enjoy writing about their personal experiences, classmates enjoy reading each other’s accounts of birthday parties and play dates, especially when they find themselves mentioned.

However, sometimes accounts of vacation trips and holiday gatherings can read like an uninspired and rambling list. Do we really need to know every item ordered by every family member at a restaurant? And a sequential list of every television show watched in a 24 hour period will definitely put a reader to sleep. How can we encourage students to write personal narratives with memorable details and thoughtful reflections?

Ask students if a vacation gave them an opportunity to learn how to do something new. Was it the first time at the beach or on an airplane? Did something amusing happen? For example, one student’s writing discussed a trip to a high rise hotel. After paragraphs of many mundane details about the taxi cab ride, checking in, and unpacking, the student discussed what happened when the family went to explore the hotel. The two children ran ahead of the parents and went up in the hotel elevator alone. Could the story be rewritten to highlight this incident? How did it feel to be in the elevator with your younger brother, going up to the 25^th floor? Did you worry your parents while you had a fun adventure? Did you learn anything from the experience? Expanding one event, often buried in a blow-by-blow description of a family vacation, can turn a rambling narrative into an intriguing read. To begin the transition to more focused personal narratives, ask students to identify the most interesting part of their story and then begin a new narrative, describing just that part in more detail. Remind students to include their own feelings, observations, and lessons learned.

After students have identified the most compelling moment in an existing narrative, ask them to concentrate on a single incident for the next story. Do you remember a time in your childhood when you did something your family found amusing or particularly annoying? One of my students remembered a time when he climbed onto a dining table to examine a bowl full of apples. He took one bite out of each apple and put it back in the bowl. A description of his actions and then subsequent surprise at his mother’s reaction was great material for an amusing story. Another student decided to write about her mischievous baby brother. Rather than listing one childish misdeed after another in a story that could potentially go on for ten pages, the student decided to zero in on the time her mom left her purse within the baby’s reach. The toddler took out Mom’s lipstick and smeared his entire body with it. In that story, Mom learned a lesson!

Another strategy is to focus on a problem or obstacle and how it was overcome. Were you afraid to go off the diving board? Did you hate a certain food your family wanted you to try? Did you fight with a sibling and resolve the conflict in a creative way?

Encourage your students to begin their narratives with a clear idea of what they want to convey to the reader. Is this a story about your first experience with something? Is it a story about a lesson learned or problem solved? Is it a funny story? Ask students to identify the emotion they want the reader to feel. Do you want your reader to laugh? Empathize? Or simply nod his head in agreement?

Even the youngest student can be encouraged to add insightful comments to personal narratives. Rather than ending the piece with “then we went home,” ask students to tell the reader how they felt about the experience. Would you want to do it again? Did you learn anything? Would you recommend this experience to others?

Personal narratives are a powerful form of writing. Inspire your students to harness that power with personal reflections. It will help them grow as writers and as individuals.

http://www.jacquelinejules.com/

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Win a signed copy of What's New at the Zoo? by Joan Waites
To enter, leave a comment on a Pencil Tips blog post.
Random winner announced December 15th.

“This cheerful package of images and information delivers intellectual nourishment in the guise of a tasty treat for the eyes.” --School Library Journal

AMAZING ALLITERATION

2011-11-28T17:00:00.001-05:00

by Laura Krauss Melmed

This is the first in a series of planned posts on poetic devices. I’ll start with alliteration, the repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables. Of the various poetic devices, or purposeful ways of using sounds and words, alliteration is probably the easiest and most fun for children to understand and experiment with.

It’s easy to find examples of alliteration that kids will relate to. A Wikipedia article on alliteration points out that the names of many book characters are alliterative. In the Harry Potter books, for example, the four wizards that founded Hogwarts were Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. Among the professors are Severus Snape, Minerva McGonnagall, and Filius Flitwick, while the students include Luna Lovegood, Cho Chang and Moaning Myrtle. Other literary examples abound: how about Willy Wonka, Peter Pan, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and Tiny Tim? Cartoon characters across different studios include Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald, Daisy and Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and SpongeBob Squarepants. Sports teams often “sport” alliterative names such as the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Pirates. And authors sometimes use alliteration for book titles, the way I did in Moishe’s Miracle; Hurry! Hurry! Have You Heard? and The Marvelous Market on Mermaid. Start by offering examples such as these to your students and then have them come up with others.

Why is the use of alliteration so common? Alliteration is fun. It trips off the tongue, or sometimes trips it up, as in “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.” Poets use alliteration to enhance the sound and sense of what they’re saying. In the opening lines of my picture book, Jumbo’s Lullaby, I used repetitive, soft, “sh” “f” and “l” sounds to express Mama Elephant’s tone as she tries to lull her restless baby to sleep:

Susha, susha, Mama’s darling,

Stars are twinkling up high,

flickering like little fishes

in the river of the sky.

In their midst the moon is floating

Glowing with a gentle light,

like a pearly water lily

that has blossomed in the night.

Susha, susha, little Jumbo,

Mama’s love will hold you tight.

In Valerie Worth’s poem “Snake” from Animal Poems, the poet summons her subject’s sinuous slither with sibilant sounds:

Spilled to

A liquid

Silt, a

Slurry of scales..

while in Monday’s Troll, Jack Prelutsky bloviating, bragging blowhard of an ogre describes himself as follows: I’m Bellow the ogre/I bluster and boast…

Prelutsky also uses alliteration to conjure up a week’s worth of truculent trolls:

…Friday’s troll is great and grimy

Saturday’s is short and slimy—

But Sunday’s troll is crabby, cross

And full of sour applesauce.

Other examples abound for the quoting. After students get the hang of it, ask them to come up with a zany or funny alliterative sentences of their own, the more outrageous the better, which they can then write out and illustrate on large sheets of paper. Astute students are assured of finding this an amusing avenue for activating alliteration!

http://www.laurakraussmelmed.com/

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ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS

2011-11-14T17:00:00.000-05:00

by Pam Smallcomb

I remember when I decided to focus on my writing, and I attended my first SCBWI Writer’s Conference. It seemed to me that at each presentation, I was given this advice:

“Show, don’t tell.”

I looked around at my fellow attendees and saw them nodding sagely. In my head I was thinking, “What in the heck are they talking about?” Since I was obviously the only one who didn’t ‘get it,’ I sat quietly and hoped to break this super-secret code on my own some day.

Eventually, I figured out that what these writers and editors were saying was that the actions of your characters should reveal their character traits and flaws (not to mention the plot itself). But how do you check for ‘telling’ in your own work? One way is to take a close look at your adverbs and adjectives, and consider each one a candidate for the old axe.

For example, the sentence “She looked at the box carefully.” doesn’t really tell you how she went about examining the box, nor does it reveal anything about her character, her emotional state, or the plot.

Instead you could write, “Her hands shook as she turned the box over and over in her lap.”

This sentence could convey nervousness, or excitement, or even fear (depending on what is in that box!).

Another way to check your own work is to keep an eye out for the verbs ‘is’ and ‘are’ (and the past tenses ‘was’ and ‘were’).

For example:

“David is charming.”

How is he charming? Does he remember everyone’s birthday? Have a smile that can melt ice cream? Perform magic tricks spontaneously? How does his particular charm manifest itself?

In other words, if I were to watch David in action, what would he do that would cause me to think of him as charming? ‘Showing’ instead of ‘telling’ is what draws your reader into your story, and makes them bond to the characters. It allows your reader to become the character. It forces the reader to watch the characters and deduce what their actions mean. It doesn’t spell everything out the way ‘telling’ does. It’s a less passive experience all around.

An exercise that students can do to help them see the difference is to first make a list of adverbs and adjectives, then write two sentences: one ‘telling’ and one ‘showing’.

Ex. Loudly:

I watched Rosi clap loudly when Ralph won first prize.

When they announced Ralph had won, I glanced at Rosi and covered my ears.

Ex. Grumpy:

Sid was pretty grumpy when I woke him up.

Sid slammed me in the side of the head with his pillow when I woke him up.

I recently watched the BBC version of Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit. More importantly, I watched the characters. The actions and mannerisms of each character were unique: from the servant Flintwinch’s gruff behavior, to Amy Dorrit’s gentle and kind-hearted manner. You knew Amy Dorrit was kind-hearted not because everyone pointed to her and said, “Now there goes a kind-hearted girl!” but because Dickens shows us. He shows Amy saving part of her lunch to take back to her father in debtor’s prison. He shows her taking care of people. He doesn’t tell us to think of her as kind. We begin to think of her as kind, as we watch her actions.

When trying not to ‘tell’ your story you can remember the old adage, “Actions speak louder than words.”

http://www.pamsmallcomb.com/

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Why Did Humpty Dumpty Have a Great Fall?

2011-11-07T17:00:00.005-05:00

by Joan Waites

While planning out an upcoming class session, I pulled out many of my favorite picture books, fairy Tales and Mother Goose collections for inspiration. The class is titled “Story Art” where students will learn about the art of children’s book illustration, and how to illustrate an original story of their own.

The job of an illustrator is to not only depict what is written in the story, but to offer the reader a visual surprise-a twist, a hidden element or another parallel story happening in the illustrations so the child will want to come back to the book over and over again.

Using the above concept, have your students try their hand at illustrating a short Mother Goose rhyme. In most classic Mother Goose books we see an image of Humpty Dumpty sitting perched on a wall, or perhaps broken in pieces after he tumbles down. But how and why did he fall? Was he pushed? Was he dancing a jig on the ledge and slipped? Trying to ice skate? There are limitless possibilities for your students to imagine and have fun drawing.

What about Little Bo-Peep? Where did those sheep go when she was trying to find them? What were they doing? Why did Jack jump over the candlestick? What was he trying to reach on the other side? Are the characters in the rhymes human or animals?

Expanding on this idea even further, have students write an original story to go along with the art they have created for the rhyme. A perfect example of this is the picture book And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel Harcourt Children's Books; 1st edition (May 1, 2001). Each night in the story, the rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle is performed. Dish and Spoon return after they run away, and the characters complete the rhyme in the same way over and over again. But one night, Dish and Spoon run away and don’t come back, leading the other characters on a desperate chase to find them. We are lead through this humorous tale of what happened to them and how their friends come to the rescue.

Have students share their illustrations and stories with the class. Perhaps the mystery of why Humpty Dumpty had a great fall will be revealed!

http://www.joanwaites.com/

ENTER THE PENCIL TIPS GIVEAWAY:

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Knowing When to Quit & Move On

2011-10-31T17:00:00.002-04:00

by Pamela Ehrenberg

There's a character in Camus' novel The Plague who spends several hundred pages writing a novel. He writes the first sentence . . . then writes the first sentence again . . .then writes the first sentence again. Hundreds of pages later, he's still working on the first sentence of his novel.

Contrast this character with Gary Larson and Bill Watterson, who in 1995 each announced that they were retiring their popular comic strips The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes, respectively, both wanting to go out on top before their life's work became stale and predictable.

How do you know when it's the right time to quit writing something and move onto something new? Here are some things that don't tend to serve as reliable barometers for me:

--length of the work

--length of time I've spent on it

--number of people whose feedback I've incorporated

--how hard the writing is, though this comes closer than the others

But if those measures don't work reliably, how do we teach students to listen to their intuition and say "when" on a particular project?

For some students, it's a matter of accepting writing as an imperfect medium: the story on the page might never live up to the story in their head, but it has the immutable advantage that it can now live in others' heads too. The science fiction writer Holly Lisle says (in her One-Pass Manuscript Revision: http://hollylisle.com/one-pass-manuscript-revision-from-first-draft-to-last-in-one-cycle/): "the definition of a writing career is: Write a book. Write another book. Write another book. Nowhere in that description is included: Take one story and make it a monument to every idea you ever had or ever will."

With that in mind, I have two suggestions for how to help students say "when" on a project and move into something else:

1) Celebrating what they've accomplished, to help them say farewell to their former project in style. Food helps--even Goldfish crackers and fancy grape juice can elevate a "sharing our work" session to a real celebration. Published writers have book launch parties for lots of reasons, including selling books of course. But book launch parties also feel something like graduation parties or bar mitzvah celebrations, marking a transition from a "before" to an "after." They're all rites of passage, and food helps to emphasize the "rite."

2) And jumping right into the next project celebrates the "passage." It's a fine line, of course: if students are too excited about whatever's coming next, there might be some who refuse to finish the current project at all--but with no inkling of what's on the horizon, some might be understandably reluctant to leave the comfort zone of their current work-in-progress. Introducing just a hint of the next project around the edges of the current work can help students--and us, as teachers--to know when to say "when."

Personal Note:

On the topic of leaving one's comfort zone, I've had some big transitions this year as a writer and teacher of writing. Now that my daughter is six and my son is about to turn three, I've gone back to full-time work in a non-teaching arena in order to support my writing (and family). While I look forward to working with schools and presenting at conferences and workshops, I'm planning to shift my writing energies away from regular blogging in the coming months. I have so much gratitude to my fellow bloggers for the opportunity to participate in Pencil Tips, and to all of the Pencil Tips readers who gave me something to participate in. I look forward to continuing this learning and these relationships long after saying "when." I hope you will join me in welcoming Alison Hart, a teacher and author of over 20 books for children and teens who will be joining the Pencil Tips bloggers in six weeks. To learn more about Alison, please visit http://www.alisonhartbooks.com/

Best,

Pamela Ehrenberg

http://www.pamelaehrenberg.com/Site/Home.html

HOPPING OFF HISTORY

2011-10-24T17:00:00.001-04:00

by Mary Quattlebaum

As writers (and teachers of writing), we’re all familiar with that old adage “write what you know.” Sometimes, though, that advice can limit or just plain bore a writer. How might we challenge students to try writing what they don’t know or, in other words, to write to discover more?

One approach might be to have them explore the intersection of family history with larger historical events. How was my family involved in the Civil Rights era? What did Grandpa do during the time of the Vietnam War? Why and how did Lola emigrate to the United States?

This approach works especially well for ages 12 and up, and is one I’ve used with advanced and adult writing students.

1. Share children’s and YA books that portray young people involved in historical events. Some of my favorites encourage readers to take a closer look at an era or event not widely known or studied in school. Many include author’s notes about the author’s tie to the story and how she came to research and write the novel.

* The Great Migration by Eloise Greenfield. A series of poems about African Americans, including the author’s parents, who left the South between 1915 and 1930 for the greater freedom they hoped they would find in the North.

* The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Shang. Contemporary novel, set in America, about a smart, funny 12-year-old girl who learns about China’s Cultural Revolution from an elderly relative.

* The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez. Historical fiction about two Cuban children who emigrate alone to the United States as Castro clamps down on their middle-class parents in the early 1960s. Based on experiences of author’s parents and mother-in-law.

* A Troubled Peace by L. M. Elliott. Historical fiction focused on the chaotic years in Europe just after World War II. Inspired by the author’s father’s experiences as an American pilot during the war.

2. Encourage students to choose a relative and think about what they would like to ask him or her. Have them jot down questions about a given 5-year span in the relative’s life. What was your favorite item of clothing? Food? What did you and your friends like to do? What was your favorite book or TV show? Why? What did you like best about living during that time and in the place you did? What did you like least? What was the biggest lesson you learned? What were three historical things that happened during this time and what do you remember about them? Is there something you can show me (photo, memento) from that time period?

3. Have students interview their relative and write down the answers. Then have them shape their material into a coherent piece of writing entitled something like “What Grandpa liked about this time period” or “Grandma comes to the United States.”

4. Share pieces with the class and have students discuss what they may have learned and been surprised by.

www.maryquattlebaum.com

WHAT IF? and WHAT ELSE?: Helping Young Writers Expand Their Stories

2011-10-17T17:00:00.004-04:00

by Jacqueline Jules

What if your character was pursued by a wolf? How could she save herself?

What else could you add to make the reader feel your main character’s fear?

“What if?” and “What else?” These two short questions can help young writers get into the habit of expanding and resolving their fiction stories. Post them with a cute graphic and remind your budding writers to brainstorm throughout the creation of their stories, particularly when they find themselves stuck in the middle. Young writers are often unable to end their stories because their main character doesn’t have a problem to solve. Asking WHAT IF—the character wanted something, the character was afraid of something, the character was in danger, etc.—naturally leads to a problem in need of resolution.

The question WHAT ELSE? opens the conversation about adding details.

A great picture book for modeling this process is The Plot Chickens by Mary Jane and Herm Auch. In this book, Henrietta, a book-loving chicken, writes a story with the help of her three chicken aunts. Together, they brainstorm an adventure entitled, “The Perils of Maxine,” about a hen who ventures into the woods and is pursued by a wolf. Henrietta follows a set of “Writing Rules” which includes the very wise advice of developing your plot by asking the question, “What if?”

After reading The Plot Chickens with several groups of students, I’ve had a humorous frame of reference for asking the question “What if?” during writing conferences. Brainstorming should never be restricted to pre-writing. It is an essential part of plot and character development and the best way to move a stalled story forward. Questions fuel stories like gasoline powers cars. Help your students keep their pencils moving by asking “What if?” and “What else?”

http://www.jacquelinejules.com/

WRITERS AS READERS AND VICE VERSA

2011-10-10T17:00:00.006-04:00

by Laura Krauss Melmed

From Reader to Writer, Teaching Writing Through Classic Children’s Books by Sarah Ellis provides a fascinating glimpse into the childhood experiences and reading choices of seventeen well known children’s writers past and present. Ellis describes a childhood incident from each author’s life and then shows how that author might have been influenced by the books he or she loved as a child. She suggests short writing exercises and longer-term projects for children to tackle after reading one of the author’s books. For further reading, she also gives annotated reading lists of books by other authors in the same spirit or genre.

In the first chapter we learn that Robert Louis Stevenson’s fragile health as a child often confined him to the house or even to bed, while his fertile imagination carried him far afield. “He could make a whole world out of anything—a toy theater, lead soldiers, Bible stories, tales his nanny told him, his own terrifying nightmares.” With his cousin Bob, Stevenson constructed imaginary kingdoms called Nosingtonia and Encylopedia. Not surprisingly, his favorite book was The Coral Island, a castaway story inspired by Robinson Crusoe.

Years later and all grown up, Stevenson was vacationing in a small cottage with his wife and stepchildren. When bad weather confined everyone to the house, nerves began to fray. Stevenson produced some watercolor paints and suggested that his stepson draw a map of an island. To keep the child company, Stevenson made a map, too. This exercise so kindled his imagination that it became the springboard for a fifteen-day writing marathon producing the first fifteen chapters of Treasure Island.

Ellis gives detailed suggestions for having students envision and describe their own imagined island. For children not ready to tackle Treasure Island, or for additional reading, there is a list of other books set on an island, including Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Goats, Jacob Have I Loved, The Secret of Roan Inish, and Baby.

Chapters follow on other writers such as P.L. Travers, C.S. Lewis, Katherine Paterson, Susan Cooper, Louisa May Alcott, and L.M. Montgomery. Many of these were authors I was drawn to as a child and who clearly influenced my own work. My love of writing in verse was nurtured by a well thumbed copy of A Child’s Garden of Verses illustrated by the Provensens, a favorite from which my mom often read to me at bedtime. The mystery and magic of (the pre-Disney) Mary Poppins helped nurture a love of fairy tales that led me to write The Rainbabies, Moishe’s Miracle, Little Oh and Prince Nautilus. Jo March and Anne Shirley, Louisa May Alcott and L. M. Montgomery respectively gave me two imaginative, high spirited, resourceful girls I could admire, identify with, and draw inspiration from.

Sarah Ellis writes in the introduction to From Reader to Writer, “(This) group of classic children’s writers that I have come to know through their essays, journals, letters, memoirs and autobiographies…are excellent company, and they can provide for children a pageant of variety—variety of motivations, method and personality.” Good jumping off points for any developing writer!

http://www.laurakraussmelmed.com/

PIECING TOGETHER A MYSTERY

2011-10-03T17:00:00.003-04:00

by Pam Smallcomb

Kids love mysteries. I love mysteries, too. It’s one of the first genres I latched on to when I was young, and it has followed me into adulthood. In many elementary schools, children study the mystery genre and try their hands at writing them as well. It’s not easy to explain to kids how to go about writing a mystery. It’s a rather mysterious thing, when it comes right down to it.

At its core, a mystery is a puzzle. Just like a puzzle, a mystery story has pieces. A mystery starts with a question. The more puzzling the question, the better. This question will be what you solve in the story.

For example:

Who took the jewels from the sealed tomb?

What if my best friends stopped talking to me and I didn’t know why?

And of course, the traditional…

Who is the murderer and how did they do it?

Another piece of your mystery is your main character. He is the one who solves the mystery. He is your detective (whether amateur, accidental or professional). He’s the one who will figure out the clues in your mystery. In other words, he’s your hero.

When developing your main character, consider giving him/her unique character traits. Set him apart from the pack. Eccentric habits are great. Remember, Hercule Poirot was a fastidious neat freak who loved his waxed moustache, and Sherlock Holmes played his violin to relax.

Kids can have eccentric habits, too (as we parents well know). For example, your main character could:

Chew gum constantly.

Never go anywhere without her stuffed yellow cat.

Talk to his pet tarantula about the clues in the mystery.

Another way to "build" your detective/main character is to give him special skills.

Maybe your hero:

Knows baseball history inside and out

Plays the piano brilliantly

Likes to collect coins

But how can you use this special skill when you write your mystery?

If you know the ending of your mystery - what your hero/detective is searching for - what he needs in order to solve the mystery, you can go back and lay in a special skill that will help. A special skill that will be useful in solving the mystery.

Here’s a simple example: let’s say that your mystery involves a valuable coin (maybe a rare penny!) that has been stolen. The bad guy takes the coin and stashes it in a penny jar where he hopes to come back and get it later. Make your hero a coin collector. He is the one that recognizes it from all the coins in the jar. Use your hero’s skills to help solve the mystery.

Expertise in a subject is just one kind of special skill. Here are a couple of examples of different special skills from other authors:

Cam Jansen:

Her photographic memory comes in very handy when she has to solve a mystery. She can remember everything she sees, including all those visual clues.

A Series of Unfortunate Events:

Each Baudelaire orphan has a special skill, even little Sunny with her strong bite. Sister Violet is an inventor; brother Klaus reads everything he can get his hands on, and remembers what he’s read.

Artemis Fowl:

Artemis is an Irish child prodigy and a ruthless master criminal who has amassed his family’s fortune using his special talents in crime. He is an eccentric anti-hero.

You might want your hero to have a sidekick as well. The advantage of having a sidekick is your hero can discuss the mystery with him. Best friends make good sidekicks. Lots of times sidekicks can be funny. They can comment on the action in your story. But remember, your main character must solve the mystery in your story. Dr. Watson just helped out.

Of course, there is a lot more to writing a mystery including: victims, villains, clues, suspects, alibis and motive. Beginning your mystery with an intriguing question and a protagonist that has eccentric habits and special skills will give you (or your student) two important pieces of the puzzle.

To find out more about writing mysteries (and fill in some of those other puzzle pieces), take a gander at Writing Mysteries: A Handbook by the Mystery Writers of America by Sue Grafton. There is a specialties section that focuses on mysteries for young people and short story mysteries.

OUR SEPTEMBER BOOK GIVEAWAY WINNER IS: M.G. King. I’ll contact you soon about sending you the signed copy of I'm Not.

http://www.pamsmallcomb.com/

Constructive Critiques

2011-09-26T17:00:00.011-04:00

by Joan Waites

Seasoned writers and artists know that one of the most helpful ways to improve your work is to receive critiques from trusted colleagues and critique partners. Having a fresh “eye” to evaluate a project you have worked on in solitude for days, weeks, months or even years can bring to the surface glaring mistakes you have overlooked, along with some new ideas for improvement.

Learning how to evaluate your own work or someone else’s in a way that offers positive help is the essence of a constructive critique. Offering only positive comments, (for example: “that’s great!”, “terrific!” or “wonderful!), so as not to hurt someone’s feelings, does not contribute anything useful. Offering only negative comments, (“I don’t like it”, “It’s just bad”, or “It will never sell”) without any suggestions for improvement also offers nothing to concrete.

Engaging students in a constructive critique session can be a useful teaching tool. Students will hopefully learn how to accept criticism graciously, as well as offer suggestions to their fellow classmates in a positive way.

Have students begin the critique with a positive comment. If critiquing student artwork, some suggestions for comments are as follows:

Do they admire the artist’s skill?

The choice of colors?

The subject matter?

The composition and perspective?

Does the work leave an emotional impact?

Next move on to how the work could be improved, instead of asking for negatives. For example:

What different color choices, subject matter, composition or perspective might make the artwork more visually appealing?

What changes could be incorporated into the existing piece without starting over?

If critiquing student writing, break the class into smaller groups and have them critique each other’s work. Depending on the age and level of the students, comments can be simple or deal with more complex concepts.

What did they like most about the story?

Did the story have interesting and believable characters?

Is there a clear story arc?

Was there a satisfying ending?

Next, ask how all of the above could be improved upon instead of offering negative remarks.

Have the students write down some of the comments they received in their critiques. Ask them to take a few days to really think about what was said, then revisit their artwork or writing and incorporate some of the suggestions. Have the students present their revised work to the class and talk about what comments they found helpful, what changes were made, and if they decided not to change something, explain why.

Learning how to accept constructive criticism as well as give it is an important lesson for students of all ages to learn. Criticism is sometimes bitter medicine to swallow (and to give out), but if the dose is given with a pinch of sugar, it’s a lot easier to take!

http://www.joanwaites.com/

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CRAFTING STORIES TOGETHER

2011-09-19T17:00:00.003-04:00

by Pamela Ehrenberg

We're all social creatures—even, or maybe especially, writers. I remember this each time I see the other Pencil Tips bloggers and a few dozen other "book people" at meetings of the

Children's Book Guild of Washington, DC. The social hour at the beginning of each meeting looks something like a bee hive: dozens of authors, illustrators, and librarians, otherwise content to putter away on their own, are suddenly set free in a room buzzing with social energy, and we need to absorb enough to last through the coming weeks of solitary creation.

For young writers, various types of group story exercises can channel some of that social buzz, directing it in a way that's productive for writing and helping writers build enough trust to feel comfortable giving and receiving feedback. Writopia workshops, with three to six participants each, use this form of the group story exercise to create fiction stories:

First, participants brainstorm several possible settings and several possible problems for the story, selecting one of each. Together, they flesh out the characters, making sure to choose the same number of characters as there are workshop participants. They think through what each character looks like, what each character wants, and what the characters are likely to do to try to get what they want. The students determine an outline of the plot, along with beginning and ending lines for each section—then each person writes a section of the story, from one character's point of view.

Hilarity often ensues. Surprisingly strong writing often ensues too. But most importantly, kids who didn't even know each other an hour earlier have now shared the intimate process of crafting a story—giving them courage to support each other as they move forward with their own work.

It can be a challenge for us as teachers, and writers, to break down our ideas of writing as a universally solitary activity. But exercises like group story can help students get their first tastes of what it's like to be part of a writing community. Now there's something worth buzzing about.

http://www.pamelaehrenberg.com/

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LOOPY LETTERS

2011-09-12T17:00:00.005-04:00

by Mary Quattlebaum

We tend to take the letters of the alphabet for granted. Face it, we’ve sung the ABC song umpteen times as parents or teachers. We use letters daily to construct words; we’re familiar with their basic shape.

But take another look. Letters are amazing! Check out the delightful “oo” sound and waggly tail of the round, capital “Q,” the explosive, breath-puff of “P,” which looks like a flag.

Letters and alphabet books might be a jumping off point for playful writing explorations for folks of all ages.

Sound and (Non)sense. In 1871, Edward Lear published an alphabet book that tickled the ear and the funny bone. Using Lear’s book as a model, you might have students each choose and embellish a favorite letter. For example, Lear’s poem for “C” reads “C was once a little cake,/Caky/Baky/Maky/Caky/Taky caky/Little cake” in An Edward Lear Alphabet by Edward Lear, illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky (HarperCollins).

Letters and Things. As a tot, my daughter loved the short rhymes and photographs of everyday things in John Updike’s A Helpful Alphabet of Friendly Objects, with photographs by David Updike (Knopf). After sharing this book with students, you might have them bring in a photo of something that begins with a particular letter and write a short poem or description. Updike’s “V for Vacuum Cleaner” begins with sound and action: “In goes dirt,/out comes noise!/Rumpling the rug/and scattering toys…”

Mischevious Alphabet Books. Tired of the staid, predictable “A is for apple” type of alphabet book? Shake things up with An Alphabet of Rotten Kids by David Elliott, illustrated by Oscar de Mejo (Philomel) and Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel (Roaring Brook). Such books encourage larking about. Students of all ages might write poems or silly descriptions of their own names or create a naughty human or critter character.

Who knows what wild, wacky, and wonderful writings these four alphabet books might inspire—for your students and yourself? Have fun!

http://www.maryquattlebaum.com/

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Hiking Through the Writing Process

2011-09-05T17:00:00.001-04:00

by Laura Krauss Melmed

The other day my husband and I climbed a mountain. It wasn’t a Himalayan peak or even part of the Rockies, but a 1,000-foot forested slope of the Allegheny range. The mountain, marked on a hiking brochure pulled from our “activities” file, is located not far from our vacation home in Western PA. Sure, the trail traversed a state hunting preserve, but we were (almost) sure August wasn’t hunting season, and the description of the hike promised lovely views along the crest of the mountain.

After a short and scenic ride, we located the deserted and overgrown parking lot where we left our car, grabbed our backpack, and started in the direction of the orange markers blazed on the trees. The brochure warned that we would soon come to an unmarked part of the trail; not to worry, though, because after traversing about three tenths of a mile of open forest, it would be easy to pick up the trail again. Well, maybe for some, but for these urban adventurers, things were to take (literally) a different turn. Not immediately picking up on the blazes again, we set forth fearlessly up the mountain. Unfortunately, we were traversing a thorn forest. Thorny creepers clutched at our legs. Thorny trees repelled our grasp. Undaunted, we persevered, slogging ever upward, but never actually finding the trail.

At last, shards of sunlight penetrating the dusky foliage above us indicated that we might be nearing the top of the mountain. Did I mention that all during this climb, we had been hearing intermittent gunshots in the distance? At this point it seemed prudent for me to lean against a tree and consult my Smartphone to ascertain the dates of hunting season in Pennsylvania. My husband insisted on climbing ahead to reconnoiter. Returning to me at my resting spot, where I had determined that hunting season was not yet in force (we surmised that the gunshots were those of a neighboring farmer taking target practice), he reported that the top of the mountain was indeed close above us but that he could not locate the trail along the ridge.

We decided to call it a hike and start down. After another thorny adventure, only this time going downhill, we made landfall on a farmer’s private property (not the one who was taking target practice, we prayed) and had to climb over a cow fence. My GPS then came in handy in locating the road along which we had parked our car.

The moral of this story is, maybe those extra fees for my smart phone are actually worth it. But beyond that, what does the story of this hike have to do with writing? Actually, a lot. Beginning a new story is the start of an adventure, much like undertaking a hike into unknown territory. The trail may seem to be clearly marked, if you have mapped out the story in your head or written an outline, but once you begin the writing process, you often go off the trail. This may be for the best, as it is the process of writing itself that points to sometimes thrilling new vistas and possibilities to which the writer must be open. But sometimes while working on a manuscript, I feel that I have gotten lost in the woods. Often a session of hard work may result in taking a path that leads nowhere, or to a place I don’t really want to be. Then it is my job to try to find the path that will lead me to the top of the mountain—a finished poem or story that shines.

If I don’t find that path, I may have to give up on this story for at least a while and start another. But it is important to keep sight of the fact that in the process itself, there are always lessons to be learned and skills to be gained. In climbing the mountain, my husband and I still had the chance to take a brisk climb together on a beautiful day in the woods. We had the feeling of accomplishment that comes with knowing that we ascended 1,000 feet. We had a shared adventure, and the most delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and fresh peaches waiting for us to devour at our post-hike tailgate picnic. Plus, this adventure gave me a subject for this blog!

In the same way, when considering your own work or your students, remember that losing one’s way is not always the worst thing that can happen. It can open new vistas, offer new lessons, and may even lead, eventually, to the top of the mountain!

http://laurakraussmelmed.com/

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Revision Advice from My Summer Reading

2011-08-29T17:00:00.000-04:00

by Jacqueline Jules

"Ultimately, the quality of a good piece of writing is determined by the amount of revision a writer is willing to do." —Marcia S. Freeman, Teaching the Youngest Writers: A Practical Guide.

Personally, I enjoy revision. It’s writing the first draft that feels like cutting the lawn, one blade at a time. Lots of authors agree with me on this. However, many students find revision extremely painful. How can we help? In my last post, I shared two famous revision stories and one of my own in the hopes of encouraging young writers that revision is well worth the effort. Now, at the beginning of the school year, I’d like to share some advice about revision from my summer reading. I read three books: Reflections by Ralph Fletcher from the Richard C. Owen Author at Work series, Drop Everything and Write: An Easy Breezy Guide for Kids Who Want to Write a Story by Linda Leopold Strauss, and Teaching the Youngest Writers: A Practical Guide by Marcia S. Freeman.

Ralph Fletcher in Reflections readily admits that sometimes he gets defensive when editors suggest revisions to his work. He wants to shout like a four year old, “I’m not going to change a single comma!” But after he settles down, he tries to find a way to “own the advice” as he works on the suggested changes. Fletcher says that more often than not, “seeing my story through another person’s eyes has helped me untangle a tricky plot or story structure.” Calling his editors “co-creators” of his published work, Fletcher says that his editors have strengthened his writing and taught him many things. Page 44 of Reflections has a nice example of an edited page from Fletcher’s memoir, Marshfield Dreams, complete with crossed out lines, suggestions, and sticky note that would be great to show to students.

Drop Everything and Write by Linda Leopold Strauss has a number of exercises that can help young writers add sensory details to their writing. One activity is a “Listening Walk,” in which the writer records all the sounds heard on the street such as shoes on the sidewalk or a car driving over a manhole. Her example of her own “Listening Walk” would be a great read aloud model in the classroom. With entertaining anecdotes, Strauss warns against letting subplots or minor characters overrun a story and distracting the reader’s attention. She defines many important writer’s terms such as flashback, transitions, black moment, and voice. In a chapter entitled, “Show, Don’t Tell,” Strauss explains the advantages of including details rather than summarizing the action. She encourages young writers to spice up their writing by describing an angry character’s actions rather than simply saying he was angry or setting a scene with images from all five senses. Finally, she says that stories benefit from “drawer time” and gives a checklist for polishing a draft that teachers and students should find very useful.

Marcia Freeman’s Teaching the Youngest Writers addresses the kind of revisions done on the primary level. She provides concrete advice on what teachers can reasonably expect from kindergarteners and first graders, accepting that emergent writers are more capable of adding material than reorganizing a narrative told out of chronological order. Young students are encouraged by the opportunity to share their work. This in turns leads to a consideration of the reader and incentive to revise. “A writer’s first responsibility is to his reader,” says Freeman. Teachers can word compliments with this in mind. For example, “Your readers will like the way you told about your sister.” Reinforcing the reader’s needs can also be used in suggested revisions, such as telling young students that the repetition of a word “puts the reader to sleep.” Freeman defines the important distinction between revision and editing. Revision helps the writer make sure his message is “clear and interesting” while editing is focused on conventions like grammar and spelling. But the reader is still important in the editing process, since punctuation helps the reader understand the text. Finally, while Freeman advises teaching the youngest writers to avoid seeing their work as something that can be finished in one sitting, she cautions against expecting perfection.

All three of these summer reading books enriched my own approach to teaching and writing. I hope they will be useful to you as well.

http://www.jacquelinejules.com/

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Writing Humor: Parallels with Advertising

2011-08-22T17:00:00.002-04:00

by Pam Smallcomb

Hello, my name is Pam Smallcomb, and I have been hitting my head against the writing wall for twenty years (even more, but that would make me feel really old to admit). I have the dents in my forehead to prove it. I work really hard at coming up with ideas that don’t make me cringe. Maybe some of you have that problem, too, or your students do. So, in the spirit of piggybacking on to Joan Waites’ great post about Story Starters, I thought I would share part of a presentation I did for an SCBWI workshop.

My inspiration for the workshop came when it occurred to me that writing a humorous picture book has some parallels to advertising. The original brain jiggling thought I had was this: advertisers cram a lot of story into a short amount of time and space.

Advertisers are highly creative and innovative. They get a message across in a fresh way. Advertisers love humor and are very good at it.

So how do they go about making their advertising magic?

First, they decide on their target market. They define who their product is for.

As a picture book writer, our target is a young child. But we have another target, too, because it is an adult that buys the book. Having something in your humorous picture book for a parent or an adult to chuckle over is a big bonus.

Think about Knufflebunny by Mo Willems. Both target markets are touched with this story. If you are a little kid and you lose your lovey, it’s like the world has ended. If you are a parent, and your kid loses his lovey, you know you are in for a rough ride.

Advertisers also focus on the message they want to get across.

As writers, we should think about our ‘message’ or theme, too.

Here are some things to ask yourself when developing the theme of your humorous picture book:

Is my story of value to a young child (will it resonate)?

What are the worries of young kids?

What are some things that parents have to help their kids with (sleeping through the night, etc.)

Is the humor something a child will ‘get’?

Did you leave a little nugget for that parent/adult who is reading the book to the child?

Another thing that advertisers do when they get a new project is to brainstorm ideas. We can brainstorm to generate ideas for humorous picture books as well. There are lots of ways to brainstorm. One way is to blend two unlike things.

Think of the Geico Caveman ad: cavemen and insurance. Not at all alike, which is why it is funny. Make two lists of items (just let your imagination run wild!). Then draw lines between unlike things. Connecting unlike things can help you find a jumping off point for a funny story. There is humor in incongruity. Take two things that are incompatible and build a relationship between them.

Here are some picture books that blend unlike things:

Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? by Audrey Vernick

This is a fun book about the first day of kindergarten with one's own buffalo. Buffalo and kindergarten – couldn’t be more different!

Todd’s TV by James Proimos

An affable TV takes over the parental duties of busy parents with hilarious results.

Shark vs. Train by Chris Barton

An humorous imaginary battle between a shark and a train. Two unlike things pitted against each other, and two things that boys will especially love.

So the next time you get stuck trying to come up with an idea for a funny picture book, break out a pencil, make two lists, draw lines between unlike things and see what happens! All our brains need a good jiggle now and then.

http://www.pamsmallcomb.com/

P.S. Don’t forget! To enter our book giveaway, just leave a comment here. A winner will be picked on September 30^th!

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- starred review Kirkus Reviews December 2010

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MORE STORY STARTERS

2011-08-15T17:00:00.000-04:00

by Joan Waites

Back in November of last year, I wrote a blog entry featuring a “story starter” exercise which used a single prop to jump-start story ideas. At a recent workshop weekend offered by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators ,workshop leader author David LaRochelle lead us in another “story starter” exercise that would work well for students of all ages, and can be adapted to use as an “art starter” as well.

Using index cards, ask students to write down on five separate cards the following:

A Character

(Example: spider, robot, 12 year old girl)

An Emotional Situation

(Example: losing your best friend, moving to a new country, not making the cut for the soccer team)

A Place

(Example: frozen lake, another universe, the top floor of a skyscraper)

An Object

(Example: sewing needle, lava rock, teddy bear)

Next, have students shuffle the cards and exchange 2-3 of the cards with a partner.

Finally, using the cards they have chosen, ask students to quickly write down ten ideas (one or two sentences) for a story based on the words on their cards. Pick one of these ideas and develop it further.

For a variation of this exercise, have students cut different pictures from magazines, newspapers, or junk mail. Ask them to find pictures of people, animals, places and objects and glue them to the cards. Have students exchange several cards with each other. Students will then draw a character in a location and/or with an object based on the cards they have chosen telling the story in their illustrations.

Using this exercise with either the written word or with pictures, students have endless possibilities to jump-start their imaginations!

http://www.joanwaites.com/

ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS

2011-08-08T19:43:00.000-04:00

by Pamela Ehrenberg

Last week I led a teen writing workshop in which participants--and the grownups who paid their registration--were promised that each writer would finish the workshop with a completed short story. The experience of looking over their shoulders all week (literally and virtually, using the document-sharing feature of Google docs) has me thinking a lot about endings--and about the helpful piece that Jacqueline Jules wrote about endings this spring.

One writer in my group stared at her screen for long periods of time between sentences, without apparent frustration but also without adding much to her story some days. Another writer began typing the minute she walked in the room, never stuck for ideas--but with each new character, nuance, and plot twist, I worried whether she would finish in time for the celebratory reading at the end of the workshop.

Teachers of reluctant writers face one set of challenges in helping their students complete a piece. But teachers of dedicated, lifelong, even gifted writers face a different set of challenges. These writers have so many ideas for their characters, and such high ideals for what they want to accomplish, that their story grows richer and more elaborate, in their mind or on the screen, without finding its way to an end.

To help the group along, I found myself gaining inspiration not from famous writers or notable teachers, but rather from my friend Holly who recently helped me plan and implement a kitchen renovation. We began by brainstorming from the big wide universe of possibilities, but to narrow down our ideas we had to look at what we could realistically accomplish in this particular space, on this particular budget, with this particular two-year-old living in the house. Limitations forced us to make choices, and choices helped us to break past indecision toward a soon-to-be realized goal.

So, did those two students finish their stories? I vote "yes," though both say they want to edit and polish more before their work appears in the workshop's online publication. As I think of the blinds and seat cushions yet to arrive in the kitchen--but more importantly, as I think of my novels, especially the ones already published--I can identify with the urge to tinker just a little more, and a little more, off into the sunset. But as another Holly, science fiction writer Holly Lisle , describes in her One-Pass Manuscript Revision, "Your career lies in writing a book, and writing another book, and writing a book after that. " For our students and for us, it's time to get finished so we can really get started.

http://www.pamelaehrenberg.com/

Writing and Wonder

2011-08-01T17:00:00.002-04:00

by Mary Quattlebaum

Kids are full of questions about the world: How do snakes shed? When do sharks lose their teeth? What makes rocks hard? Why is the sand white at this beach and beige at another?

Writing can be a place to explore, formulate opinions and theories, ponder facts and share ideas. One of the most helpful books on this subject is A Place for Wonder by Georgia Heard and Jennifer McDonough (Stenhouse, 2009, $20).

Though this volume is geared toward parents and teachers of grades K-3, many of the writing prompts—and certainly the spirit—can apply to older kids and adults as well. Indeed, some of the simplest exercises are the most adaptable—and profound.

With summer upon us, you might be eager for some “playful learning” approaches that stretch your kids, engage the whole family and fit in well with vacations, daycamps and the season’s more relaxed pace. Or as a teacher, perhaps you’re thinking through changes for next year’s lesson plans. Here’s an activity that can last the whole summer—and beyond.

Place of Wonder. Heard and McDonough designate an actual place in the classroom for children to write and post questions. Kids can read one another’s questions, share thoughts and think about where to find answers. You might designate a similar place in your home or have a weekly dinner where each family member comes with a question about the natural world.

Even reluctant writers can write down one question and reluctant readers are often galvanized to read if they think it will help them to discover what they want to know. Rather than simply doing a Google search, encourage kids to check out books from the library and to “teach” or talk about what they learned. They might make a poster, draw a picture or write a report, story or poem. This whole question-research-writing/drawing-teaching/sharing process often jumpstarts additional questions and investigations.

For adults, the Place of Wonder can be a powerful way to connect with what actually is around us. Techno gadgetry, general busyness and a certain “seen that-done that” attitude can work against us actually experiencing the small wonders of the world—which are anything but mundane. This summer, adult writers might set aside 10 or 15 minutes a few times a week to focus on something in the natural world—perhaps a plant, bird, stone or shell. Allow yourself to be curious, to ask questions, to seek out some answers, to write about the experience. Or perhaps, just stay quiet with that object for a while and wonder.

www.maryquattlebaum.com

REVISION STORIES

2011-07-25T17:00:00.001-04:00

by Jacqueline Jules

Did you know that in the first version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl wrote a story about a little boy who fell into a vat of chocolate and became a giant Easter present for a little girl? He rewrote it several times before coming up with the character of Mr. Willy Wonka and his distribution of The Golden Tickets. But then he got sidetracked by too many nasty children. His first draft had ten children taking the tour of Willy Wonka’s marvelous chocolate factory. Realizing that too many characters would make the story confusing, Dahl had to cut out five of them to make the story work.

Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar was originally titled A Week With Willi Worm. A savvy editor suggested that a caterpillar would be more endearing than a green worm who did not change. This prompted Carle to transform his story into the best selling classic it is today.

Sharing revision stories with students is an excellent way to demonstrate the power of rewriting. While A Week with Willi Worm might have been an okay story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar has been loved by several generations. The five child characters in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are all memorable. Would they shine in the same way if they had to compete in a crowd of ten?

During school visits, I like to talk about the revision process for Duck for Turkey Day, my Thanksgiving picture book about a Vietnamese-American girl who is worried her family is breaking the rules for Thanksgiving by having duck for their holiday meal instead of turkey. I show them my favorite scene in the book, a two-page spread set in an Asian market in which the protagonist, Tuyet, unsuccessfully tries to buy a turkey for her family’s dinner. This scene was not part of the original version of the story sold to Albert Whitman. My editor suggested this addition because she thought it would add more tension and action to the story. At first, I was afraid of inserting a whole new scene. Picture books have to be short, less than 1,000 words. Adding a new scene meant taking out an existing one. It was a challenge. But I am so glad I made the effort. The Asian market scene creates “the black moment” of the story—the point at which readers worry how Tuyet will resolve her conflict. Every time I read Duck for Turkey Day aloud, I think about how much better I like the story with this added scene.

It is not easy for any writer to go back and rework a story they have already spent hours writing. But that is what most published authors do. And most of them, like Eric Carle, use comments from friends, teachers, and editors to help them transform their worms into butterflies.

http://www.jacquelinejules.com/

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2011-07-18T17:00:00.001-04:00

by Laura Krauss Melmed

Midsummer gardens in my northwest D.C. neighborhood are splashed with day-glow orange lilies, sunny black-eyed susans and spikes of royal purple salvia. Following on Pam Smallcomb’s recent post inviting middle grade readers to a literary picnic, this glorious garden display suggests a good summertime (or depths of winter) writing activity for younger children, centered around the question, “How does your garden grow?” Two picture books serve as good jumping off points for such an exercise. They are My Day in the Garden by Miela Ford, lushly illustrated by Anita Lobel (Greenwillow 1999), and My Garden by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow 2010).

My Day in the Garden begins with, “Breakfast with the morning glories” and moves through “hide and seek with a toad, flower-counting with the butterflies, berry-picking with the birds,” and more. As evening falls, “fireflies come to say goodnight.” For a lesson based on this book, first ask the children to close their eyes for a few moments and imagine that they are spending the whole day in a lovely garden on a sunny summer day. What do they see? Smell? Hear? What might they feel with their fingers? With their feet if they took off their shoes? Are there fruits or vegetables growing in the garden to pick and eat? What do they taste like? What if a lawn sprinkler were suddenly turned on?

Next read the story aloud. Then take the students through morning, afternoon and evening in their own imaginary garden, asking them to come up with activities different from those in Ford’s text. Write their responses on chart paper or a smart board. Also invite the children to take a careful look at Anita Lobel’s illustrations. How did she bring her own element of surprising originality to the story? Why might she have chosen the colors she used? Point out that Lobel’s illustrations are highly patterned, explaining what this terminology means. Ask the students why Lobel may have chosen to decorate her illustrations in this way. How do her patterns relate to the theme of the story? How do they make you feel? Finally, have each child choose one of the garden activities described by the class and illustrate it.

In My Garden by Kevin Henkes, a little girl helps in her mother’s garden, which requires hard work, but imagines a garden all her own. In this garden, “There would be no weeds, and the flowers would keep blooming and blooming and never die…the flowers could change color just by my thinking about it… the rabbits would be chocolate” and “unusual things would just pop up—buttons and umbrellas and rusty old keys.” There would be tomatoes “as big as beach balls,” and strawberries “glowing like lanterns at night”. For a writing exercise based on this book, children could create their own six page “My Garden” book with a sentence and picture on each page describing the features of their own fabulous, fanciful garden.

For a craft activity to accompany either book, have the students create a Fanciful Flowerpot Garden. You will need a 5-inch clay pot for each child, acrylic paints, florists foam, three craft sticks painted green per child, construction paper, pages from old garden catalogs (optional), glitter, and an assortment of small decorations such as beads, candies, gold stars, etc. and glue. Have each child paint a flower pot decoratively. Then have them draw a flower, insect and vegetable on construction paper and cut them out, or alternatively cut pictures of flowers and/or vegetables from a garden catalog. Onto the tops of three sticks, have each child glue variously, a flower, a vegetable and an insect. Then have them decorate their sticks with glitter, stars, beads, etc. Fill each flower pot with florist’s foam. When the glue has dried, push the bottom of the stick into the florist’s foam. Your fanciful gardens are ready to be admired!

http://www.laurakraussmelmed.com/

A Literary Picnic

2011-07-11T17:00:00.001-04:00

by Pam Smallcomb

It’s summer now, and having a picnic this time of year is a piece of cake. But what about in the winter, when the weather is not quite so lovely, and you might be trapped inside with a group of antsy (no pun intended) kids?

Having a Literary Picnic might help to bring some sunshine into the room. What do you need to have a picnic? People and food. And of course, you’ll need a blanket to spread on the floor.

In this case, there will be two kinds of people at the picnic: the real ones (children) and their ‘guests’ (each child will bring a favorite book).

The book can be a favorite from when they were very young (Green Eggs and Ham), or one they have just finished reading (The Hunger Games).

While each child takes a turn introducing his guest at the picnic, the rest of you can nibble on picnic munchies. Food at a Literary Picnic can be as simple as crackers and juice (which is a bit plain, I have to admit), or if you get really energetic, you can ‘theme’ the food to match the books. You might even decide to go for that dish of Green Eggs and Ham!

Here are some questions each child can think about before they come to the picnic and introduce their ‘guest book’ to the other picnic participants:

Why did you pick this book to take to the picnic? Is there one scene that is your favorite?

Besides Frisbee, is there another game/sport your character would like to play at your picnic? (I’m pretty sure Harry would like a good game of Quidditch.)

Does the main character in your favorite book have a favorite food, or is food mentioned in the story? For example, in Alice in Wonderland, there are several different foods mentioned: treacle tarts, orange marmalade, and the small cake that spells out EAT ME in currents, among others. Harry Potter is chock full of food references and of course; Winnie the Pooh has his beloved honey jar.

Would the main character in your book want to bring a friend along to the picnic? Who are the character’s friends?

Is there someone your main character would not like to see at the picnic?

Where do the characters in your book go to eat?

In Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events there is a salmon-themed seafood restaurant called the Café Salmonella. It serves such delicacies as salmon ice cream, salmon pie, and salmon ravioli.

Illustration by John Tenniel

How does the author’s use of food add to the feel of the story?

I can’t think of a more enjoyable way to spend a cold or rainy afternoon than to eat snacks while discussing books (and food!). Besides, it’s always good to make some new literary friends.

http://www.pamsmallcomb.com/index.html

Creative Journaling

2011-07-04T17:00:00.001-04:00

by Joan Waites

School is out, summer is here, and if we are lucky, we have a little down time to devote to some creative projects we have been dreaming about doing all year. One way to jump start these ideas are to maintain a creative journal. Combining visual art with words can be a fun and satisfying project for any age.

An inexpensive journal can be purchased, but also easily made by folding blank sheets of paper in half and then covering the outside with construction paper or cardboard that can be stapled, glued or sewn together. Bring your journal with you wherever you go…the coffee shop, the park, the bus ride or on your vacation. Always be on the lookout for something that inspires you to sketch, collage, or jot down future story ideas. Don’t be afraid to try something new, or if every page isn’t a work of art. Record what you see in your travels, document a feeling, or try out new art materials and techniques. A few words may turn into a future story; a doodle may evolve into a finished illustration or painting.

A few ideas for your journal pages:

-Make a collage using materials such as photographs, newspaper clippings, movie tickets, maps or bits of fabric. Combine them with paint, pastels, colored pencils etc., and use a black ink or felt pen to write around or on top of your collage.

-Young children (who are not yet able to write) can make prints with leaves, acorn tops, or other found objects by brushing on tempera paint and then stamping the painted object onto the journal page.

-Use some of the story prompts and creative ideas my fellow bloggers have outlined in their previous posts.

Remember it is more about the journey and experimentation rather than having a finished or polished product. Enjoy the places your journal can take you!

http://www.joanwaites.com/

ENCOURAGING CRITIQUES

2011-06-27T17:00:00.002-04:00

by Pamela Ehrenberg

"I liked it."

"It's good."

Or, if you're lucky, "It's funny."

Such well-meaning but unspecific and ultimately unhelpful comments can leave writers feel like no one really read their work after all; perhaps their friends and critique partners were just trying to be nice? And writing teachers can feel equally frustrated when "critique sessions" are really just sharing sessions. Surely there are ways to point out the strengths in students' writing, and encourage them to do more of what's working.

In my first creative writing class in college, we began each critique session by having each person in our 15-or-so-person workshop identify something positive in the piece of writing. This worked well on a number of levels:

1) It helped us to become closer readers. If you were one of the final people to comment, all of the obvious strengths had already been identified. It forced us to read line by line, word by word, to find gems that the writer might not have recognized. (Depending on the age of the students, the length of the work, and the size of the critique groups, teachers might try having each critiquer identify two strengths--no repeats!--before moving on to suggestions.)

2) It helped us to become kinder human beings. Some people in the class wrote in genres I didn't usually read. Not every piece in freshman creative writing (certainly nothing I submitted) was worthy of major awards. But knowing that I would be called upon to identify something positive in this piece of writing shaped my development as a critique partner and writing instructor--not to mention commenter on other people's Facebook statuses and blog posts.

3) Of course, it encouraged us to keep writing. Each writer heard 14 specific, positive things about his or her work before hearing even one suggestion for improvement. That helped to foster an "I can do it!" attitude that made us (me) eager to work on the next piece.

4) And it helped us to become better writers. Some of this was the "keep writing" effect described above. Some was a greater willingness to address the critiquers' concerns and suggestions, fostered by the environment of trust. And some was that the ubiquitous, specific positive feedback helped us tune in to our individual strengths--"They seem to like my dialogue!" "Those sensory details really worked!"--and build upon our successes.

How do you help students to encourage and support one another? What successes and challenges have you encountered? Let us know in the comments below!

http://www.pamelaehrenberg.com/Site/Home.html

Costumes,Crafts, and Creative Writing Fun!

2011-06-20T17:00:00.004-04:00

by Mary Quattlebaum

Nothing says fun to kids like a party. Yeah, all we teacher-librarian-writer folks know that writing is good for students (like academic broccoli), but we also know that a playful touch can help create a truly memorable experience. Occasional cupcakes, costumes, and crafts can perk up classroom writing and reading. And your “book party” may well become the highlight of the school year.

Fellow blogger/author Pam Smallcomb gets the sparkly crown for her edu-taining ways. At events for her most recent picture book, Earth to Clunk, about space buddies, Pam has the kids make their own aliens. Her go-to spot for inexpensive craft items and doodads? Oriental Trading Company http://www.orientaltrading.com/.

Dressing up and doing a dramatic reading can help bring a book to life for students—and provide insights on creating dialogue and story tension. Okay, I admit it: I love dressing up as a “book buccaneer” for my picture book Pirate vs. Pirate. And at Maret School recently, librarian Lisa Triggs asked the children to dress as pirates—and did so herself. She decorated the library with homemade Jolly Roger flags and enticingly displayed other pirate books. Arrrr, we had a fine time, mateys, acting out the story, learning about the writing process (with a piratical plume pen), and writing a pirate poem.

And, oh, kids love a setting that mirrors a book! Librarian Jess Stork transformed Palisades Library into a pirate hang-out with treasure map and chest, gaudy bling, and wanted posters of the author. Refreshments added a celebratory note. (Ginger) ale flowed freely, and the Jolly Roger cupcakes were a welcome change from hardtack. “Captain Jess” sported pirate duds and helped the excited attendees to make their own spy glasses with the paper-towel rolls, markers, stickers, sequins, feathers, and glue arranged like jewels on the table.

Both Lisa and Jess bring a certain “magic” to their book interactions with kids. The key to the good times—and the learning--lies with them. Lisa and Jess get excited about writing—and communicate that by word and example to the youngsters. A big pirate huzzah to them—and to like-spirited teacher-librarian-writers!

Jess shares piratical decorating tips, activities, and photos at

DC Library: http://www.dclibrary.org/node/13751

Ink Spot Plot: http://inkspotplot.blogspot.com/2011/05/everybody-loves-good-pirate.html

My website www.maryquattlebaum.com has pirate writing exercises.

www.maryquattlebaum.com

MAKE YOUR OWN MAD LIBS

2011-06-13T17:00:00.004-04:00

by Laura Krauss Melmed

Leonard B. Stern, the creator of Mad Libs, passed away last Tuesday at the age of 88. Mad Libs, a popular and enduring word game, has been going strong since Mr. Stern invented it in the late 1950’s. According to its publisher, Price, Stern, Sloan, an imprint of the Penguin Young Readers Group, the series, now comprising 120 volumes, has sold more than 150 million copies to date. And yes, there are Mad Lib apps, of which, according to the New York Times, more than two million have been downloaded since 2008 for the iPhone and iPad.

The talented Mr. Stern was an Emmy Award winning T.V. writer for the "Sergeant Bilko” and “Get Smart” shows. He also wrote for “The Honeymooners” and “The Steve Allen Show.” In fact, he invented the game of Mad Libs while reaching for an adjective to describe Ralph Cramden’s boss’s nose! Obviously, this was a man who enjoyed both playing with words and making people laugh. The brilliantly simple game of Mad Libs, for anyone who has been living in a bubble, asks that players blindly fill in blanks in strategic places in a story, using designated parts of speech. The goofy result is then read aloud, usually to peals of giggles.

Mad Libs is all about knowing your parts of speech, a skill that is necessary for good writing, not to mention coherent speech. In a tribute to Mr. Stern, whom I never met but wish I had, here is a “make your own Mad Libs” writing exercise designed to put a little fun into the dry business of learning how to tell an adjective from an adverb:

Find online and copy a few simple, familiar nursery tales such a “The Gingerbread Boy,” “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” or “The Three Pigs.” Reformat the tales in large font, double spacing between the lines. Give each child a copy of a tale, and some markers or highlighters. First, briefly review the parts of speech and their meaning. Then give each student a copy of a story. Ask the students to go through the story with their markers and mark a line through four nouns, three plural nouns, four adjectives and four adverbs, using a different color marker for each part of speech (at this point, you should be circulating to help the students do this correctly.) Now have each student list the parts of speech down the left side of a blank piece of paper, in the order they appear in the story. Each student should then pair off with another child and take turns filling in one another’s lists of blanks. Students should then write in the new words above the ones that have been lined out. Finally, have the partners read their silly stories to one another. A few volunteers can read their stories aloud to the class. Point out the ways that changing the words can change the sense, or make nonsense, of the story.

More writing lessons can be devised based on many other popular word games such as Boggle, Scrabble, or Apples to Apples. As Mr. Stern helped generations of kids to realize, playing with words can be fun!

http://www.laurakraussmelmed.com/

ACCIDENTAL PLAGIARISM

2011-06-06T17:00:00.000-04:00

by Jacqueline Jules

As part of a unit on following instructions, I read the picture book How To Lose All Your Friends by Nancy Carlson to a fourth grade class. Inspired by this amusing list of social mistakes, the students eagerly picked up pencils to begin their own how-to lists. The results we shared 25 minutes later were creative, funny, and highly original. Some of the students made a text-to-text connection to the middle grade novel, 101 Ways to Bug Your Teacher by Lee Wardlaw. Others wrote lists for annoying brothers or sisters. The two teachers in the room made up lists to annoy their students. Everyone had a great time.

Writing models also known as mentor texts are widely used in writing workshop. All writers benefit from studying and emulating the work of a favorite author. However, sometimes it muddies the waters between copying and doing your work. What do you say to a second grader who proudly shares a story entitled “Puppyzilla” with entire sentences lifted directly from Dav Pilkey’s Dogzilla?

It’s a delicate situation considering the young writer was encouraged to use Dogzilla as inspiration for her story. While students understand, even at a young age, that they shouldn’t copy answers on a test, the distinction between writing one’s own version of a story idea and plagiarism can be hard for young writers to grasp.

I tackle this problem by taking the student aside to compare the student’s work with the writing model. We identify sentences that were copied and acknowledge a mutual love of the story.

“You’re right! That is the best part of Dogzilla. But those words belong to Dav Pilkey, not you.”

Some of my own picture books were inspired by traditional folktales. I researched different versions of these tales in order to combine elements into an original synthesis. I also compared my own language to my sources to be sure I did not plagiarize by accident. Frequently, this pushed me to search for new ways of saying something. Writing models can provide both ideas for writing and a means for strengthening writing. Teach your students to carefully ask the following questions.

How is my story different from the mentor text? How is it the same? Have I used any of the same words? Could I choose words that sound more like me?

http://www.jacquelinejules.com/

PLOTTING A VIDEO GAME

2011-05-30T17:15:00.001-04:00

by Pam Smallcomb

As the mom of three boys, I know that getting a boy to read a book can sometimes be a challenge. Getting some boys to write, well, it might be easier to just go outside and move a mountain. I have found one topic that has never failed to excite interest when I talk to boys: gaming. I’ll go out on a limb here and say that most boys over the age of six are well versed in the gaming culture. They not only know the games out there, but are playing a good deal of them in their spare time.

So how can you translate this excitement for gaming into a writing experience, while limiting explosions, weaponry and other assorted violence?

How about having them design a game setting? Defining the setting as a stand-alone task has its advantages. It takes the narrator/character out of the writing (and the weapon temporarily out of his hands). By focusing the writing on describing the world of their imaginary game, they will learn the valuable skill of creating a story ‘bible.’ There are many appealing aspects to video games. Their scenes are richly landscaped. There are distinct cultures and hierarchies. Different realms operate by different rules. Just ask anyone who plays WOW (World of Warcraft, for the uninitiated).

Some questions to ask your students about their gaming environment could include:

Will there be any environmental obstacles that your characters will have to overcome?

What kind of lives do the different characters live (different professions, etc.)?

Do the characters live in different realms? What are they?

Are there any traditions? Taboos?

If I were to walk into a market or meeting place within your game setting, what sounds would I hear? What would people be eating?

What does it look like (the actual landscape)?

Where are we in time?

Do they have any magic? How does it work?

What scientific gizmos do they have? For example, can they teleport?

Within every game, there are groups of characters, or ‘tribes’ that need defining. Some questions about the general characters that inhabit the different gaming realms could be:

What do the different groups of characters look like? What is their temperament?

Any monsters among them? What kind?

Are some characters ‘more equal’ than others?

Are there grudges and prejudices among the different characters?

What skills are valued?

Are there rules that must be obeyed?

Are there boons to secure? Missions or quests to complete?

And the one they will like best: How do they protect and defend themselves?

Once the general game setting has been written, you can then ask your students to continue their gaming ‘bible’ and define the specific characters who will take the lead in their game, and of course, describe the point (or story) of their game.

As the student defines his gaming world, hopefully the story of the game will become clearer. If this sounds like the steps you would take to plot a fantasy or a science fiction novel, that’s because it’s very similar. But the good news is, your gamer doesn’t have to know that.

http://www.pamsmallcomb.com/index.html

FINDING INSPIRATION AT THE LIBRARY

2011-05-23T17:00:00.001-04:00

by Joan Waites

I hate to admit it, but until recently I had not been to the library for a very long time. In the days when my three children were younger, like clockwork, we would pull up in the old blue van every three weeks with our canvas bags, ready to empty the shelves of about 40 books, videos, and audiobook tapes. Before the days of internet research, I went even more frequently, gathering reference for my latest project. As a children’s book illustrator, I loved pouring over the large selection of picture books, probably even more than my children did. On a recent rainy day during spring break, it seemed the perfect time to revisit this old friend.

A lifetime ago, in a one room “library” housed in my New York elementary school, I eagerly waited for Wednesdays, when I could check out the next Nancy Drew mystery. My love of reading started there, and in each town or city that I have lived in since, the library has been an important stop. The hushed voices, hum of the air conditioner, moldy smell of the books, and the endless possibilities to lose oneself in a new adventure, mystery or biography was a welcome retreat from the hectic pace of everyday life. It is sad think that so many of our nation's libraries are facing closings, budget cuts, or cuts to their staff. Will the next generation of children get to experience all a library has to offer? Will they read only from electronic devices? Will a real live person guide them expertly to find just the perfect book?

As I stood in line to check out, I remembered fondly the days of putting those stacks and stacks of books on the desk, the clerk eying me suspiciously. The two teenagers I had with me now were many years beyond those young children I juggled while trying to manage our large haul. As the considerably smaller pile was being scanned, I happened to glance over at the display of children’s spring books, featured on a shelf by the desk. Much to my surprise, I noticed a worn and dog-eared copy of a book I illustrated, at least ten years ago. It had obviously been checked out many times, and one of the children’s librarian’s had thought it worthy enough of displaying with the other featured titles. Knowing it was appreciated by the library patrons as well as the librarians themselves made my day.

If you, your children or students haven’t been to the library in a while, take the time to make a trip. It will be well worth it to visit this old friend.

http://www.joanwaites.com/

Twenty Percent Off

2011-05-16T17:00:00.003-04:00

by Pamela Ehrenberg

In ninth grade, I had big puffy hair, braces, and stirrup pants. I read Stephen King and Sweet Valley High, dissected a frog, and really dissected the nuances of youth group dances. And I tried the 20 percent challenge.

Or was it the 30 percent challenge? The actual number doesn't matter: the point is to shorten a piece of writing by some arbitrary percentage with the goal of making it tighter, making every word work 20 percent (or 30 percent or 15 percent) harder.

The first time my teacher, Michael Bruner, assigned this challenge, he handed us a piece of writing from a former student and instructed us to shorten it by 20 percent. That was much less intimidating; it's easy to be ruthless with somebody else's beloved adverbs and meandering descriptions. Once we had the idea, it was easier to apply the strategy to our own writing, and soon we discovered the particular words and phrases that tended to creep in and weigh down our prose.

Writers coming of age in today's Twitterverse might grasp more instinctively than my generation the value of brevity. But they'll still be surprised at how even a draft they thought was "finished" can still be trimmed by 20 percent--and how much stronger the resulting prose will appear.

Over the past twenty-five years, I have made progress toward taming the puffy hair, and I have expanded my reading repertoire. But when I'm stuck on a revision and not sure how to improve a piece of writing, I still fall back on the 20 percent challenge. Some things, thankfully, are more enduring than stirrup pants.

***Can you shorten this blog post by 20 percent? Let us know in the comments below!

http://www.pamelaehrenberg.com/Site/Home.html

FRIENDSHIP POEMS AND WRITINGS

2011-05-09T17:00:00.002-04:00

by Mary Quattlebaum

The Beatles song says it all: “I get by with a little help from my friends.”

I certainly feel that way when I’m writing and teaching. Just recently I gleaned new insights from fellow bloggers Laura Krauss Melmed and Pam Smallcomb from their posts on using folksong and tall-tale prompts. Thanks much!

Another friend whose creative work is informing my teaching is Debbie Levy. Debbie’s The Year of Goodbyes (Disney Hyperion, 2010) is an exemplary novel in poems, perfect for writing teachers working with grades 4 through 9 and for college and graduate students interested in the form.

Debbie chronicles a year in the life of her mother, Jutta Salzberg, a Jewish girl growing up in Germany. It is 1938, a time of horrifying change for Jutta, 12, and her country. In free-verse poems, Debbie personalizes the sweep of historical events with details from her mother’s youthful perspective: the click-clack of Nazi boots, her father’s desperate pleading “like tears” for the visas that will allow the family to leave for

America

One of the few things that Jutta was able to take to

America

was her poesiealbum—an autograph book filled with the inscriptions, verses and drawings of family and friends. Each poem in the book is introduced by one of these inscriptions, and they offer a variety of voices (some soon to be silenced by the Nazis). These poesiealbum entries might be jumping off points for your own students’ reflections and writings.

The Poesieablbum Project at http://www.debbielevybooks.com/: Debbie’s website includes a discussion guide, video and writing project invaluable to educators who plan to share The Year of Goodbyes with students.

Beginning a Classroom Poem on Friendship: Everyone seems to have strong feelings about friends. Teachers might begin by having students talk about their reactions to Jutta’s friends and have them name some of the things the girls did together. Students might share their reactions to Jutta’s losses and their own experiences on losing friends whether to moves, different schools, changing interests, and death.

Writing the Class Poem: Teachers might have each student contribute one line about a friend or friendship. The line should not include the name of the friend. Before they write, first have students close their eyes and focus on the friend and some of the things they do together. Then ask students to think of and write about one time when this person was a true friend and why. Teachers can collect these lines, keep them anonymous, and arrange them into one long classroom poem, which he/she might read aloud and post on the bulletin board.

Individual Poems on Friends: In a journal or during private writing time, students might be encouraged to pen additional thoughts about friends or their loss. It’s important to honor the sensitivity of the topic and any students’ desire for privacy by not mandating that these pieces be read aloud.

The Friendship Continues: Students might also discuss the power of writing to connect friends, including their own texts, emails, and Facebook pages. It was Debbie’s article in the Washington Post that helped some of Jutta’s childhood friends (now women in their 70s) to find one another and re-connect.

Oral History Poem or Writing: Debbie’s blog http://www.debbielevybooks.com/ references her extensive research and the many talks she had with her mother as she tried to re-create Jutta’s story through poems. Students might “interview” an older family member about a childhood activity or incident and write this up. This might become a treasured piece of writing to share with other family members. Examples of questions:

What was your favorite activity when you were (same age as student)?
Who was your best friend? What kinds of things did you like to do together?
Tell me something that made you angry or sad when you were my age.
What was your favorite subject in school? Least favorite? Why?
Tell me about a time when you got into trouble.

www.maryquattlebaum.com

Stop To Cross The Street: Tips For Young Writers

2011-05-02T17:00:00.004-04:00

by Jacqueline Jules

As a teacher who regularly conferences with students during writing workshop, I find myself asking many of the same questions repeatedly:

Are you sure you want two lines of exclamation marks? Let’s count how many times you’ve used the word “then.” Do you think you could cut a few of them out?

Having the same discussion over and over again has prompted me to make a list of tips for young writers, modeled after the esteemed Jane Yolen. Last winter, at the New York conference of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, I heard her engage an audience of over a thousand with a clever list of guidelines. She began with “Eschew the exclamation point” and “Go easy on adverbs,” ending with a charge to all in attendance to go home and WRITE. In this spirit, I offer my own list for my students and young writers everywhere.

Tip Number One: Use Your Inside Voice. Limit your use of exclamation points and capitals. Ten exclamation points in a row and capital letters are like shouting at your reader.

Tip Number Two: Stop To Cross The Street. Watch out for the conjunction “and.” More than three “ands” in the same sentence can be a signal to stop and use a period.

Tip Number Three: Dare to be Different. Beginning every sentence with “then” or “the” can be dull for the reader. Rearrange your words to vary the sentence structure.

Tip Number Four: Play With Words, Not Fonts. Spend your writing time choosing the perfect descriptive word, not the prettiest font type or size.

Tip Number Five: Be Active. Use action words to describe what happened and avoid using “was” unless it is necessary to your meaning. For example, say Rapunzel “walked” across the street instead of Rapunzel “was walking” across the street. Repeated use of the word “was” weakens the action.

Tip Number Six: Break it Up. Divide your stories into paragraphs. Indent or skip a line at the beginning of each new topic. It can also be easier for a reader to follow dialogue when you begin a new paragraph for each speaker.

Tip Number Seven: Switch Places. Check to make sure your sentences are in the best order. Switching sentences or words around can make writing flow in a more logical manner.

Tip Number Eight: Remember the Reader. Too many parenthetical asides and distracting details can confuse your reader. Make things as clear for your reader as possible.

Tip Number Nine: Be Smooth. Use transitions such as “After we went to the mall, we went home,” rather than Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3 to indicate a change of time or scene. Chapters divisions are for novels, not short stories.

Tip Number Ten: Make a Pretty Picture. Your job as a writer is to make a picture in your reader’s mind. Make sure you have included enough color and detail for your reader to see the same story you see in your mind.

Jacqueline Jules

http://www.jacquelinejules.com/

WRITE A SING-ALONG

2011-04-25T15:15:00.002-04:00

by Laura Krauss Melmed

In previous Pencil Tips entries, Mary Quattlebaum blogged about crafting lessons based on fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Traditional folk songs are another fun medium that can be used for sculpting a workshop. As a child I was fascinated by an aunt’s big book of American folksongs. I would pore over the lyrics, especially the sad love ballads like “Barb’ry Allen,” although, since no one in my family played an musical instrument, I could not hear the tunes.

For the purposes of this workshop, however, the songs should be as light and silly as possible. Amazon.com lists many children’s songbooks of old American favorites, including The American Song Treasury, 100 favorites by Theodore Raph and I Hear America Singing: Folk Songs for American Families by Kathleen Krull, which comes with a 23-song CD. In addition, individual songs are readily available for downloading from I Tunes and on YouTube. For teachers who play guitar, this is a perfect opportunity to showcase your talent.

A lesson should start with listening to some tunes while encouraging a sing-along. Then guide the children in figuring out what elements, such as rhyme, repetition, choice of silly words and absurd situations, have made these songs appealing to successive generations. Have the students speculate, as I did when writing my picture book, The First Song Ever Sung, when and why people might have first come up with these songs: to allay boredom or set a rhythm while working in the fields, to banish loneliness while herding cattle, to put a child to sleep, to provide entertainment while sitting around a campfire in the days before a click of the mouse or the remote could bring instant entertainment, etc.

Then have the group sing “The Eensy Weensy Spider,” followed by reading The Eensy Weensy Spider adapted by Mary Ann Hoberman, illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott. In this zany adaptation, Hoberman comes up with all sorts of continuing adventures for the spider, including hugging a baby bug, going swimming, and shoe-shopping (now, that’s my kind of spider!). Tell the children that they are going to take part in a similar effort, as a group, using another song.

For the writing exercise, pick a song having many variations on a single theme. It should be one in which only the chorus has end-rhymes, since requiring every line to rhyme would narrow the children’s choice of words as they devise their own verses. For example, for “She’ll Be Comin’ Around the Mountain,” the students could select a protagonist of choice, such as a sports player, a super hero, or for the sake of this example, a dragon. The chorus could still be “She’ll (or he’ll) be comin’ around the mountain.”

The verses might go,

“He’ll be breathing smoke and fire when he comes,

He’ll be breathing smoke and fire when he comes,

He’ll be breathing smoke and fire, he’ll be breathing smoke and fire, he’ll be breathing smoke and fire when he comes.

He’ll be roarin’ and a snortin’ when he comes, etc.

He’ll be stompin’ and a thumpin’ when he comes, etc.

For the “The Wheels on the Bus,” you could describe a venue other than the bus, such as your school itself or a vehicle like a firetruck or train. For “We’re Going to the Zoo” by Tom Paxton, select a different destination, such as the forest or ocean. For “I Had a Cat,” instead of barnyard animals, use jungle animals, woodland animals, animals found in your backyard. These songs present many opportunities to make up sounds and devise creative descriptions of actions. (Some research on your part or your own memory will no doubt reveal other songs that work well.)

Have the children create as many new verses for your chosen song as possible. When your group’s new version is complete, join together in a rousing group rendition. After this activity, older students may be given the assignment of choosing another traditional song and creating a variation all their own.

http://www.laurakraussmelmed.com/

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CHARACTERS

2011-04-18T10:00:00.002-04:00

by Pam Smallcomb

What is it that makes us keep on turning the pages of a book? An enthralling plot will certainly help, but interesting stories alone won’t necessarily keep our interest. What we need to keep reading is to become captivated by the characters in a story.

Movies and books are filled with fascinating characters. How did the screenwriters and authors develop them? One tool used in writing both screenplays and novels, is to create a character bio.

Students can write a character bio to get to know their main character, as well as his/her supporting cast, before they begin to write their story.

There are many different systems for documenting the scenes and characters in your story. Celtx is a screenwriting tool that is available on-line for free (which is a definite plus). Here is an example of the types of questions you will find there:

Character’s description?

Here you can write a brief summary about your character. I like to think of this as a high-level view, with little or no detail. You can start with something like “Sarah is a high school freshman, living in a small mid-western town. She is the only child. She’s shy. She loves singing.”

It’s a chance to put down anything and everything you can think of about your character. Don’t worry about the details. Just brainstorm. You will come back and update this later, to reflect everything you have learned about your character.

Detailed physical description?

This section includes a place for you to enter the character’s age, distinguishing features, hair color, eye color, height and weight. Now you know what your character looks like.

Key character traits?

When you are thinking of character traits, I think it’s helpful to start with the ones you know for certain, and see if they help you to think of others.

For Sarah let’s say these:

Shy

Musical

Obsessive

Fearful

Loyal

Caring

Sometimes one character trait will lead to another. If I decide Sarah should be obsessive (maybe about singing?) then she must have some fear as well (maybe she is afraid of losing of losing her dream? Maybe she has a fear of singing in public?). One character trait will often point you to the next one. If Sarah is loyal, then I think she should be caring as well. I’m starting to see she might be a good friend, or maybe she has always tried to be a good daughter. A small picture of Sarah is starting to form in my mind.

The next section is on motivation. Now things start to get interesting.

What is the goal of this character?

Go back and look at your summary paragraph. Mine said that Sarah was an only child, living in a small mid-western town. Maybe she feels stifled? Maybe Sarah’s goal is to break out of her small town life.

What is the character's plan to achieve the goal?

Once you figure out your character’s goal, you can decide how she is going to get there. What does Sarah have? She has her singing. Maybe Sarah wants to make it as a singer.

There are other sections that will help you to refine and get to know your character better: family background, habits and vices, education, personality, likes and dislikes.

Students can use this tool in another way: to analyze a character in a story. Filling in the different sections about a book character will help them see how the author used certain character traits, goals, and even physical descriptions to his advantage.

Developing complex and interesting characters requires some elbow grease and time (and it’s something I am always struggling with), but it’s time well spent if in the end you have yourself a ‘page-turner’.

http://www.pamsmallcomb.com/

EXPRESS YOURSELF!

2011-04-11T10:00:00.002-04:00

by Joan Waites

A fun exercise I often use during school visits is showing students how they can illustrate various emotions. If your character is sad, bored, scared or happy, how do you draw your character’s facial expression and body language?

Emotion can be determined by looking at the lines on three key places on the face:

1. The line of the eyebrows

2. The corners of the eyes

3. The corners of the mouth

Take turns with student volunteers and ask them to show you (and the class) and “angry” face, a “sad” face, a “happy” face and so on. Point out how the eyebrows, eyes, and mouth change with different emotions. Be prepared for lots of laughs!

Next, provide a template of blank circles. Under each circle, have the students write down different emotions and ask them to illustrate the facial expressions that correspond using the lines of the eyebrows, eyes and mouth.

Finally, have each student illustrate a character from an original or existing story, depicting one emotion. Talk about how the character’s body language combined with facial expression can also show how they are feeling. Would they stand up tall and proud, hunched over with head hanging low, or arms crossed tightly in front of them? Having small hand mirrors for students to look at themselves when working on this exercise is also helpful. Students can also pair up and draw each other.

Have fun and express yourself!

http://www.joanwaites.com/

Drop Everything and Write

2011-04-04T21:40:00.003-04:00

by Pamela Ehrenberg

I fidget. Put my feet on a chair. Cross my legs. Stretch. Drink tea. Realize that I'm slouching. Fidget more. And write.

Most of my students don't know this, but one group does: the ones from my "Lunchtime Writing Retreats" workshop. In this experience, we all--students and instructor alike--commit to five or six one- to two-hour retreats where we spend most of our time working on our own individual writing projects.

What does it look like when a writer writes? I shift back and forth between laptop, notepad, and printed-out draft. I tap-tap-tap, word after word after word . . . then I stare at the screen, finding it too great an effort even to change a punctuation mark.

This isn't how I imagine it goes for Anne Tyler, or Bobbie Ann Mason, or Allegra Goodman. I imagine my favorite writers unlocking their words with a magical key that allows everything to flow effortlessly on the page. I know better, but I imagine anyway. How do our students imagine it looks when a writer writes?

For years schools have had success with "Drop Everything and Read"--programs that acknowledge school might be the place in a student' s life that is most conducive to reading. And reading in the company of other readers--seeing what it looks like when a reader reads--gives students the confidence to realize that maybe however they're going about it is OK after all.

How wonderful when we can make time as well for our students to write in each other's company--and in our company as well, and the company of other adults at school. Perhaps the principal writes puns or the woman who lovingly serves lunch is also penning a murder mystery. Maybe the same benefits of dropping everything to read--progress made, intimidation shattered--will hold true for your students as they do for mine. If nothing else, the experience will shed light on what it looks like when a writer writes. And I'm guessing that we'll like what we see.

*For more information about upcoming sessions of Lunchtime Writing Retreats in the DC/Baltimore area, visit http://www.writer.org/

http://www.pamelaehrenberg.com/Site/Home.html

FRACTURED FAIRY TALES

2011-03-28T19:46:00.001-04:00

by Mary Quattlebaum

Fellow blogger Pamela Ehrenberg wrote recently about rituals that can help move us writers and our students more quickly into the act of writing. A cup of hot tea, a blue pilot pen, and a yellow legal pad tell me that it’s the “write time.” Writing prompts can also be helpful. A favorite of mine and my students is the Fractured Fairy Tale.

Like my Nutty Nursery Rhymes last month, the Fractured Fairy Tale exercise jumps off from traditional pieces of writing that are known to people of all ages. I’ve done Fractured Fairy Tales with third through sixth graders, college students, and MFA writing students. This playful exercise is especially helpful when considering/teaching point of view, plot, and development of story tension.

Share or read aloud some well-known fairy tales. “The Princess and the Pea,” “The Frog Prince,” “Snow White,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” and “Cinderella” are but a few popular examples.

Explore story development: What does the main character want? What are the obstacles in his/her path and do they increase in intensity? How does the character overcome them?

Explore point of view: What if the story were told from another character’s point of view (the frog in “The Frog Prince,” for example, or the stepmother queen in “Snow White,” or one of the mean stepsisters in “Cinderella,” or the bartered cow in “Jack and the Beanstalk)? How would the story be different? What might happen? What would a happy ending be like for this new character? [This gives students a chance to explore, too, how a story idea can be shaped in multiple ways, depending on point of view/main character.]

Explore setting/time period: What if the story took place in a different place and time? How might it change, for example, if Little Red Riding Hood was a contemporary girl in an American suburb? Or the frog prince lived in a large pond with other frogs rather than the palace well?

Write: Encourage students to write their own fractured version of a well-known fairy tale. They might tell the tale from another character’s point of view, play around with setting or time, and/or experiment with tone and humor.

Suggested books: It’s fun to look at the various versions of traditional and fractured fairy tales in print books and Disney films. Some of my favorites include (traditional) Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales and The Stories of Hans Christian Andersen, selected and translated by Diana Crone Frank and Jeffrey Frank; (fractured stories) Newfangled Fairy Tales (books one and two) edited by Bruce Lansky; (picture books) Cinderella’s Rat by Susan Meddaugh and Peeping Beauty by Mary Jane and Herm Auk; and (novels) The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale and Cloaked by Alex Flinn.

http://www.maryquattlebaum.com/

DON'T LEAVE RED RIDING HOOD IN THE WOODS: Helping Young Writers Find Endings

2011-03-21T16:59:00.001-04:00

by Jacqueline Jules

While looking over student writing in six different classrooms on the fourth and fifth grade level, I noticed that quite a few ended with TBC or To Be Continued. This troubled me. Were all the students writing sweeping sagas? In conferences, students complained, “The story is too big . . . I can’t finish it.” Looking over the stories together, we saw that they rambled in beginning mode, setting the scene and introducing characters without presenting a problem or conflict. More often than not, “To Be Continued” was another way of saying, “Too Tired to Continue.” Students may dream of creating a 400-page novel, but the classroom is not the right venue for it. I understand that teachers are reluctant to discourage creativity. However, as an author myself, I believe that a teacher can do more damage to an aspiring writer’s future by not demanding a beginning, middle, and end. Many successful writers begin with short stories. A budding novelist should learn how to create a satisfying story arc on a small scale before trying it across a multi-chapter format.

A classic fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood, is perfect for a quick mini-lesson on beginning, middle, and end. Classes will readily identify the beginning of the story as the part when Red Riding Hood takes the basket off to grandmother’s house. The middle of the story occurs when Red Riding Hood meets the wolf in the woods, and the dramatic end comes when Red Riding Hood is eaten by the wolf, then saved by the woodcutter.

Ask your class: “What if we left Red Riding Hood in the woods?” You will likely get a response on the order of: “That wouldn’t be too impressive.”

Most students realize they are giving up when they write “To Be Continued.” Don’t accept it. Help your students guide Red Riding Hood out of the woods to a happy ending with grandmother. Show them that all stories must have a problem (ie: big bad wolf) and when you conquer the wolf, your ending appears.

http://www.jacquelinejules.com/

FROM WORRY TO WORDS

2011-03-14T21:26:00.001-04:00

by Laura Melmed

In recent days we’ve viewed with horror and sympathy reports of the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Heartrending images such as these and the ones from Haiti last year can be especially disturbing to children. One way to deal with troubling emotions around such events is through writing.

By its nature, poetry can tap into, synthesize, and give voice to strong feelings. Helping children describe a forceful act of nature in the form of poetry could be a cathartic exercise. In a three part session, children can be guided to write poems using strongly descriptive language in a fresh, expressive way. The goal here is to write in free verse, rather than following a prescribed structure or rhyming scheme which can sometimes rein in the free flow of ideas and emotions.

The exercise might begin with your reading aloud some poems about the power of natural phenomena. One example, found at http://www.poets.org/ is The Storm, by Theodore Roethke, a masterly evocation of a hurricane gathering force. Talk with the children about the poet’s use of imagery and his choice of verbs. How does Roethke help the reader experience the buildup of tension that ultimately leads to the breaking of the storm? At the same website, Negotiation with a Volcano, by Naomi Shihab Nye, offers an evocative example of personification, as the unnamed narrators, living in the shadow of a mighty volcano, beseech it not to erupt.

2. The next part of the lesson is preparation for writing a group poem. Tell the children that together you will be writing a poem about a powerful force of nature they have probably all experienced: a thunderstorm. Have them think of words they associate with rain such as water, raindrops, pouring, teeming, streaming, drizzling, puddles, mud. Do the same with thunder and lightning. Ask them to describe how rain smells, how it feels, how it sounds. How does lightening look in the daytime; at night? How does thunder sound when it is far away? When it is near? Think of synonyms for wet, such as damp, moist, drenched, and soaked. Write the words on a White Board, Smart Board or large sheet of paper. Next ask them to come up with as many adverbs as possible and write those down as well (one way to elicit a good variety of responses for this is to ask the children to name actions that can be performed by different parts of the body. Then have them add adverbs to describe those actions.) You can also throw as many color words as possible up on the board. Now you are ready to write a poem!

3. In the final part of the exercise, you will guide the group in writing a group poem on another sheet of paper or board. Tell the group to choose from the words they have come up with and combine them in interesting and unusual ways to express what happens during a thunderstorm. The goal is to write a five line poem, but if the group is brimming with ideas, you can expand it.

Make sure you convey that it will be necessary to cooperate, and that everyone’s input is to be respected. Another stipulation is that in order to make the poem express the strong movement of the storm, the first three lines will begin with a verb. Now guide the children in composing the poem line by line, making sure they wrap it up with a zinger line at the end. The children will be delighted with their finished product!

Follow-up activities could include writing individual poems about another powerful phenomenon such as an earthquake, a volcano, a waterfall, waves crashing against the shore, or a rushing river. Or try an exercise about the quiet side of nature: a clear night sky, the coming of spring, morning in the country, a peaceful walk in the woods, or dusk.

http://www.laurakraussmelmed.com/

Writing Tall

2011-03-07T16:55:00.001-05:00

by Pam Smallcomb

In most elementary schools, students complete a study unit on tall tales. Many of these wonderfully funny stories came from our own continent. Some of these tales originated in Canada, and some in America. The heroes in these stories faced challenges and dangers that pioneers and the working class of the 19th century might have had to face in their own lives. Things like drought, or building a railroad across our country. However, the way the hero solved these problems was different. He used abilities that no normal human could possibly have. Today we might call those abilities superpowers.

In the beginning, many of these stories were based on real people. As the stories were told and retold, they became bigger than life. Perhaps gathering around a campfire, telling a story of a hero gave people the courage to try again the next day (or maybe they were just fun to hear).

When writing your own tall tale, it’s good to remember that there are some things that these stories have in common. Here are just a few:

1. Your hero should have an unusual childhood or birth story. For example, it’s said that John Henry was born full-sized. He was over 8 feet tall! He went to work on the railroad when he was just 3 weeks old.

2. Your hero should have a regular job. During our frontier days, Paul Bunyan was a logger, Pecos Bill a cowboy and John Henry a railroad worker. The tall tale hero in your story could have any job we have today: computer specialist, autoworker, plumber, etc.

3. Your hero needs a superhuman trait (of strength, size, etc.). He should have courage. Pecos Bill rode a tornado like a bronco. He used a rattlesnake for a lasso.

4. Exaggeration. There can never be enough in a tall tale. More is better. For example, it took five giant storks to carry the infant Paul Bunyan to his parent’s home. He was just that big.

5. A tall tale is written as if it were completely true and factual.

6. A tall tale often explains natural phenomena (like the Painted Desert or the Grand Canyon.)

7. A tall tale is a story that is told humorously, and the problem of the story is solved in a funny way.

Many tall tales do feature male heroes. For a look at some female heroes starring in their own tales, grab a copy of Cut From the Same Cloth by Robert San Souci. Tall tales are always a fun read, and a great way to teach kids about exaggeration, humor, and putting an upbeat spin on the hardships we face in life.

http://www.pamsmallcomb.com/

MEET THE ILLUSTRATORS

2011-02-28T19:44:00.001-05:00

by Joan Waites

One of my favorite art classes to teach to children is a class called “Story Art.” Each week of the session, we discuss a different illustrator and the books they have worked on. We talk about what medium they used, the colors they chose, and what style the art was rendered in, (realistic, whimsical, cartoon or a combination). We also discuss what the artists were like as children, and their path to becoming professional illustrators. Students always seem to be fascinated seeing photographs of the artist as a young child, and especially examples of artwork they created at an early age.

A few examples of books that contain information about well-known contemporary illustrators as well as photographs of the artists and examples of their art are the following:

Talking With Artists, (Volumes I, 2, and 3), Compiled and Edited by Pat Cummings, Clarion Books

Artist to Artist: 23 Major Illustrators Talk to Children about Their Art

Contributing editors: Patricia Lee Gauch, David Briggs, Courtenay Palmer and Kiffin Steurer, Philomel Books

Once we have discussed the featured artist, students then complete a project that uses the same medium or is based on a specific character from one of the illustrator’s books. The possibilities are limitless. Two examples of projects I have used are:

1. Making a “Rainbow Fish” character from the book The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

Using a piece of cardboard, cut out a simple “fish” pattern for each student. Have students trace the pattern on two pieces of heavy weight aluminum foil. Cut out each foil tracing. Next, glue the foil to the front and back of the cardboard and trim the edges. Using a Popsicle stick or pencil, have students etch a design on the front (and back if they wish). Lastly, use colored permanent markers to add colorful fish scales or patterns.

2. 2. Another project children really enjoy is making their own Eric Carle -like animal or creature. Begin by having students experiment with washes of watercolor, drips, and splatters on a piece of watercolor paper. After the paint dries, have students cut or tear shapes. Finally, have the students glue the shapes on a piece of colorful construction or tag board paper. A black marker can be used to add eyes or other smaller features.

Encourage your students to save some of their early art or stories they have written. Someday, they too may be featured in a book about their life and work!

http://www.joanwaites.com/

PENCIL TIPS WRITING WORKSHOP: RITUALS OF PREPARATION

2011-02-21T20:05:00.001-05:00

by Pamela Ehrenberg

Begin.

A deep breath. A certain chair. A shift of music on an iPod.

For a lot of writers, students and teachers alike, it takes some getting used to the idea that you can't sit around waiting for a Muse to inspire. We know that we need to begin writing for the Muse to understand she is welcome--but still the blank page stares back at us.

A particular notebook. A special pen. A header at the top of the page.

How does one begin without knowing what to say? In her book The Creative Habit, Twyla Tharp talks about "rituals of preparation," ways to signal to the brain that writing time has begun.

Closing one's eyes. Rereading the previous day's work.

The idea, says Tharp, is to make the process automatic, to train the mind to understand that a particular action or setting is invariably followed by creative activity, so you don't need to waste time worrying about what you will say. Set the brain on auto-pilot, and before you can stop to protest, you are already in a creative flow.

Unplugging the telephone. Sipping hot chocolate from a certain cup.

Students of all ages love ritual, as a means to find order in a seemingly chaotic world. Rituals need not be elaborate--or even perceptible to an outsider, as when Tharp suggests stomping her foot and shouting, "Begin!"

Teachers have long understood that rituals help in all sorts of classroom activities, from collecting lunch money to lining up for recess. It only makes sense that rituals can help writing flow more smoothly too.

What kinds of rituals--planned or unplanned--do your students use to prepare their minds for writing? How will you help them begin?

http://www.pamelaehrenberg.com/Site/Home.html

PENCIL TIPS WRITING WORKSHOP: NUTTY NURSERY RHYMES FOR ALL AGES

2011-02-14T18:02:00.001-05:00

by Mary Quattlebaum

My fellow bloggers are a wellspring of great ideas! Pam recently wrote about writing humor, Laura about crafting fairy tales with kids, and Joan about using props to create characters. My writing exercise uses pieces of all these ideas.

I’ve done Nutty Nursery Rhymes with kindergarteners, third through fifth graders, college poets, and MFA writing students. This exercise is a helpful way to loosen students up, encourage wordplay, and prompt thinking about and revising for plot and setting. It can be done as a group or individual exercise.

Added Bonus: Creating a Language-Rich Environment: One of the best ways to create a rich pre-literacy environment is to read poetry aloud to children, say literacy experts. The rhythms, rhymes, repetition, onomatopoeia, and language patterns of nursery rhymes help children to become familiar with language and interact with texts/books in a playful way.

Exercise for All Ages: Read aloud some well-known nursery rhymes: “Little Boy Blue,” “Jack and Jill,” “Hickory Dickory Dock,” and “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep.” Have class delight in and talk about the poems’ rhymes, refrains, onomatopoeia, and plot/what’s happening.

For Pre-K, Kindergarteners, and First Graders: Talk about the unfinished nature of “Hickory, Dickory Dock.” The clock only struck one! Have kids as a group brainstorm what the mouse might do when the clock strikes two, three, four and so on, up to ten. Write down the kids’ ideas/rhyming words, have kids draw pictures of their favorite rhyme/number, and post these on bulletin board. This class nursery rhyme will be lots of fun to recite over and over again—and to share with visiting parents.

With “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep,” brainstorm sounds, colors, and functions of other animals. For example, Moo, Moo Brown Cow/Have you any milk? Or Cluck, Cluck, Red Hen/Have you any eggs?

For Older Kids, College Students, and Poets: Work with “Hickory, Dickory, Dock” and “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” (as above) to help sharpen their poetry writing, wordplay, and rhythmical skills. Have them create a contemporary version of Little Boy Blue. (Might he be at a zoo? A city park? A swamp? What animals would he find?) Or a goofy version of Jack and Jill. (What different things might they fetch?)

Added Bonus for Older Kids, College Students, Poets: They’re often interested in the derivation and age of many nursery rhymes. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, edited by Iona and Peter Opie is a wonderful resource.

Books to Share: My favorite nursery rhyme compediums are A Child’s Treasury of Nursery Rhymes, selected and illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton, and Tail Feathers from Mother Goose, selected by Peter and Iona Opie, with pictures by such distinguished children’s illustrators as Maurice Sendak, Shirley Hughes, and Quentin Blake. Delightful picture-book take-offs on nursery rhymes include Spinster Goose: Twisted Rhymes for Naughty Children by Lisa Wheeler, and The Neighborhood Mother Goose by Nina Crews.

http://www.maryquattlebaum.com/Mary_Quattlebaum/Welcome.html

PENCIL TIPS WRITING WORKSHOP: SALT IN THE SOUP OR HOW I LEARNED TO WRITE

2011-02-07T20:12:00.001-05:00

by Jacqueline Jules

The more I work with student writers, the more I think about how I developed my own writing skills. When did I become careful about punctuation and spelling? When did I start making a conscious effort to add sensory details or to build a story arc with a satisfying conclusion? Looking back, I see that I learned to write the same way I learned to cook—by testing recipes and listening to advice.

As a young bride, I remember my mother-in-law tasting my soup and pronouncing it too salty to eat. You can bet that I followed the recipe more carefully the next time. I also remember a professor, my first year of college, who wrote in red ink, “Don’t bother passing in a paper with this many typos again.” My embarrassment over both incidents has changed to gratitude. Now I measure how much salt I put into my soup and I proofread my manuscripts carefully. Editors at publishing houses frequently admit that stories submitted with grammatical errors are tossed without reading. If I had never listened to that professor, I wouldn’t be the author of twenty-two children’s books today.

The first book in my Zapato Power series, Zapato Power: Freddie Ramos Takes Off, is dedicated to my writing group. Dedications like this are not uncommon. Authors frequently pay homage to the critique groups who made the suggestions that transformed a mediocre story into a publishable one. Editors are often thanked as well. Every time I read my Thanksgiving picture book, Duck for Turkey Day, I am grateful to my creative Albert Whitman editor, who gently but firmly guided me into writing an important new scene for the book.

Contemporary writing curriculums all urge educators to teach the writer, not the writing. While I understand that this advice is to discourage teachers from overwhelming young writers with too many suggestions at once, I still find the distinction puzzling. In my own experience as a writer, I know I have learned a great deal from the revision process of a particular piece, often guided by others who pointed out places in my story that didn’t make sense or fell flat. And I have seen my students come up with absolutely brilliant ideas for revision when I have questioned a sentence that confused me. I trust that my students will find that the lessons learned from fixing one story will carry over to the next. It is the recipe that guided me and most of the authors I know to publication.

Jacqueline Jules

http://www.jacquelinejules.com/

PENCIL TIPS WRITING WORKSHOP: PLAYING WITH WORDS

2011-01-31T19:56:00.001-05:00

by Laura Krauss Melmed

Debbie Levy, author of The Year of Goodbyes (Disney-Hyperion 2010) and Maybe I’ll Sleep in the Bathtub Tonight and Other Funny Bedtime Poems (Sterling 2010) recently encouraged aspiring authors “to play when writing. If a stream of words is running through your mind, you don’t have to channel it into something with a defined structure right away; get the words on paper (or on the screen) and see where they seem to want to go…whether writing fiction or nonfiction, consider using different formats and points of view. There’s no one correct way to shape a piece of writing!”

Many books and on-line sources present games designed to stimulate creativity and jump start the process of playing with words. It is also fun to come up with your own exercises. Here for starters are several suggestions:

Play with Cut-outs: Cut out pictures from online or hard copy magazines and newspapers, of subjects that you find compelling, and scatter them on the floor. Then, look out the window or at a blank wall for the time it takes to count ten breaths. Next, look down and pick a picture--do it quickly without giving yourself time to think. Put that picture on a mosaic board. Look at the pattern you've made from those pictures. What sort of mood do they evoke? What narrative do they bring into focus? Write a narrative weaving together the pictures you’ve selected. (Based on a tip from www.editingoffice.com)

Play Story Tennis (requires a partner): One of you writes a few paragraphs of a story. It can be about anything. You then pass it on to your writing partner (email is perfect for this) who then writes the next paragraph and so on and so on. (From the “One of Us” creative writing website http://www.oneofus.co.uk/index.php/writing_tips/writing_exercises/)

Play Doubles: To minimize the waiting time when Story Tennis is being played face-to-face, and for a real right and left brain challenge, how about having two stories going at once and using a timer to signal when to switch with your partner?

Play with Magic: For my picture book, Prince Nautilus, I imagined the consequences of a girl finding a magic seashell on the beach. Along these lines, author and artist Keri Smith, in How to Be An Explorer of the World, Penguin Group, 20008, suggests assembling a box of small objects (for example, a feather, a key, a mitten, a small figurine and a pinecone). Each student selects an object, ascribes a magic power to it, and writes about it.

Play with Dialogue: Alternatively, I might ask students to select two objects from the box and then write a dialogue between them.

Play with Poetry: Write a poem that incorporates all of the objects.

Lastly, here are two exercises based on games described in a YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaO7TYQJXqc by Jamie Cat Callen, author of The Writer’s Toolbox:

Play Pick-up Sticks: Write a bunch of interesting sentences on Popsicle sticks. For example, “No one knew how the cat with six toes got out of our house every night, but there he sat on the doorstop each morning, as regular as clock-work” or, “The ruby slippers were a little big on Darcy, but the minute she put them on, her heels began to click together involuntarily.” Have students line up the sticks randomly face down and then select three sticks. They must use all three sentences in a story.

Play Cards: To prepare, start with a stack of index cards of three different colors, say blue, green and yellow. On each blue card, write a description of a protagonist. On each green card write a description of a goal. On each yellow card, write an obstacle. Make all of these as wildly diverse as you can. To play, each student picks a card blindly from each pile and then writes a story based on the selected protagonist, goal, and obstacle.

Remember when using these or similar exercises that the object is not to produce a polished piece of writing, but rather to follow where your words take you. Above all, playing with words should be fun!

http://www.laurakraussmelmed.com/books.htm

PENCIL TIPS WRITING WORKSHOP: STORY IDEAS FROM FUNNY FAMILY STORIES

2011-01-23T22:04:00.001-05:00

by Pam Smallcomb

A common complaint from kids (and adults, for that matter) is “I can’t think of anything to write!”

Trying to help a group of kids come up with ideas for stories is a little like trying to catch smoke with a net. The more you try to explain the different ways to generate story ideas, the murkier things become. Looking out into the room, you can see their eyes glazing over.

A good exercise for elementary school aged kids is to have them write about their own childhood (as short as it may be!). That’s too general, of course, and so tightening their options is a good idea. One direction to go would be to have your students write about the funniest memory they have of their own family. The great thing about this exercise is that if they can’t remember a funny episode, they can simply make one up. By using their own families, each student has a cast of characters who are defined and ready to go. All they need to do is either ‘pretend’ that a funny event has happened in the past, or retell a real one.

Maybe their funny memory happened during a holiday (a Thanksgiving dinner disaster, perhaps). It could have happened on a family vacation. Remind them of those long car rides to DisneyWorld, or of family reunions. Many will have brothers and sisters, or dogs and cats. If they don’t, they can add one into their story and see what happens. It’s their chance to have the pet llama they always wanted for their birthday, but never got.

While they are writing their funny family memory, it’s a good time to remind students that when you write humor, exaggeration is your friend. If Aunt Ethel is tidy, she is super tidy. She is so tidy that she walks around the dinner table wiping the condensation from the water glasses so it doesn’t drip on the plastic tablecloth.

If Uncle Ernie snored through your big sister’s wedding, he was so loud the bride and groom couldn’t hear their vows.

When retelling a funny memory, exaggeration is like an amplifier. It turns up the funny volume. But if you use too much exaggeration, your reader won’t know where to focus. If Uncle Ernie is the star of your funniest memory, let his story build and climax, and make the best use of exaggeration when he snores through your sister’s wedding.

http://www.pamsmallcomb.com/

PENCIL TIPS WRITING WORKSHOP: CREATING BELIEVABLE AND AUTHENTIC CHARACTERS

2011-01-16T22:02:00.001-05:00

by Joan Waites

When presenting to students or adults about the art of picture book illustration, I’m often met with surprise when I describe the amount of research I do when working on any given project. “Don’t you just make it up in your head?” they ask. Oh, if only I could work that type of magic!

As you can see from the photo of my messy desk, taken at the very start of a new picture book project (due out in fall 2012), it is filled with art guidelines from the publisher, photographs, doodles, and even props. This particular book revolves around a main character who was a wealthy plantation owner, living in the 1700’s. But what did he look like? What did he wear? What did his home, his wife, his children and his plantation grounds look like? My job was to make the authors’ characters and story come to life on the page.

After reading the manuscript over and over again and collecting photographs, books on costume, hairstyles, food, and even pictures of children’s toys and plants that would be found at the time and location of the story, I began to develop a sense of who the main character was. His imagined facial features and body type, where he lived, and how he might have dressed was all incorporated into my preliminary sketches. Most often, I will also use live models to pose for me. Family, friends, and neighbors have all appeared and been turned into various characters in my books. Some illustrators have the opportunity to travel to a location to get a better sense of the story they will be illustrating, but of course that is not always possible. Surrounded by all the information on my desk, I can travel into the story and imagine myself there.

Whether the characters are actual historical figures or a fluffy bunny that lives in the meadow, giving the reader a sense of who that character is by written description or in the illustrations is essential. For example, the little bunny that lives in the meadow can be shy, fierce, or lazy. A shy little bunny might be described or shown wearing glasses hidden behind a tree with his nose in a book. The lazy bunny might be a bit overweight, snoozing in grass that is strewn with partially eaten carrots, while other bunnies are shown in the background going about their busy day.

Using these examples, have your students create a believable character using words or pictures. Older children can be assigned a true historical figure or someone fictitious who lived during a particular period in history. Younger students can use an imaginary character to describe and/ or illustrate. Have students collect photos from magazines or the internet, books and props that will give them a sense of who their character really is/was. Using a digital camera, students can also have their classmates dress up and pose for each other, using the printed photos as reference for their drawings.

Using some of these ideas among many others can be a great way to create believable and authentic characters that will come to life on the page!

http://www.joanwaites.com/