Characters’ Faults Can Also Be Strengths

Strength and weakness are often two sides of the same coin. Students will explore how a character’s flaw can be a benefit.

Halloween Problems and Solutions

When we try to solve a problem, sometimes we end up creating new problems. Which lead to new solutions. Which lead to new problems.

St. Patrick and Other Legends

How would real people feel about the legends that have been created about them?

Comparing Characters’ Bedrooms

What item’s in a character’s bedroom would reflect their deepest desires? And what if they toured a similar character’s room?

Change A Story’s Genre

What if we rewrote a story’s climax into a totally different genre?

Holiday Emoji Story ⛷️

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Holiday Emoji Story 🍪

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Holiday Emoji Story ☃️

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Holiday Emoji Story 🎅

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Holiday Emoji Story 🚚

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Halloween Emoji Story 🎃

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Halloween Emoji Story 🌕

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Halloween Emoji Story 🕷️

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🦁

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🐌

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🚚

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🏟️

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🕰️

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 👁️

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🚗

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🤖

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🐻

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🏰

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🛥️

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Bobbing for Apples

What is bobbing for apples like… for an apple?

A Halloween Costume Gone Wrong

Let’s go roller skating in a Halloween costume! What could possibly go wrong?

Looking Closely at Holiday Photos

Let’s write from multiple perspectives using an old timey holiday photo!

Stories with the Same Problems and Solutions

Have you ever noticed that some stories have awfully similar problems? What if we looked for the most unusual way of solving a repeating problem?

A Lunar Survival Mission

A favorite of mine! This task is delightfully complex and ambiguous, forcing students to make choices without enough information and with no right answer. How will they survive on the moon for three days?

Story Starter: A Day At School

Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place at school.

Story Starter: Out To Eat

Students pick from 12 random phrases to create a story about an incident in a restaurant.

Story Starter: Amusement Park

Students use 12 random phrases to write a story that takes place in at an amusement park.

Story Starter: A Magical School

Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place in at a magical school.

Story Starter: Somewhere In Space

Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place in space!

Writing A Thanksgiving Letter

What if an inanimate object could express thanks for a special person in your life? What would it write?

Characters Dressed as Other Characters for Halloween

What if one character dressed up as another for Halloween? Would the Cat in the Hat pick Captain Jack Sparrow, because they’re both chaotic yet good-natured people? Would Elsa dress up as The Ice King since they are both lonely?

Do Narrators Have Too Much Power?

Imagine being a character in a story. Are you worried that your story’s narrator may inaccurately describe you? What if they reveal something you wanted to be kept secret? Do narrators have too much power!?

The Personalities of Rocks

What would an igneous rock be like? Would it get along with a sedimentary rock? Could they handle the hot personality of a metamorphic rock?

What Would Poetry Think About Prose?

Poetry and Prose meet at a party. What would they say to each other? How would they feel about each other’s style?

More Specific than “Smart”

When students are told that they’re “smart”, what does this word actually mean to them? (Psst. It isn’t what we intended.)

Identifying Author’s Voice

What if… Edgar Allen Poe wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?

Showing A Character’s Trait

We tell students to ‘show, not tell’ — but that advice is useless until they experience the difference. This lesson makes it click.

Elements of The Fantasy Genre

Every fantasy story has patterns hiding underneath the magic. Once your students see the elements, they’ll spot them everywhere — and use them in their own writing.

“Its Big Day” – A Children’s Story About Its and It’s

Let’s spice up a typically dull lesson about the difference between “its” and “it’s” by asking students to write a children’s story about the adventures of a critter named It.

Create A Creature

Create a new creature based on the adaptations of existing creatures from the same biome.

Better Stories Part 5: Plot Structure

Ever read a student’s story that was just event after event after event and then a very sudden ending? They lack an understanding of a plot’s structure. With the help of Finding Nemo, I break down how to set up a well-structured plot.

Better Stories Part 2: Types of Conflict

If your students’ stories are packed with endless ninja fights or arguments between frenemies, it’s time to expose them to a wider range of conflicts.

Better Stories Part 3: Literary Themes

A typical student narrative includes plot and characters but lacks a larger idea to hold it all together. This is where a lesson on themes comes in…

Better Stories Part 4: Character Archetypes

Are students’ characters a bit flat? Archetypes give them a strong foundation on which to build their own characters as well as a tool to analyze existing stories.