Not just writing correctly, but writing interestingly!
We tell students to "show, not tell" in their writing, but this advice isn't effective until they experience the difference. In this video, we'll put a famous character (of students' choosing) into a mundane situation and develop a fun scene to show off their main traits.
Part 1 of Ways To Start Sentences
"Add more variety!" I'd say to my class. But I never really knew what this actually meant. Suprise! This bad advice never improved students' writing. In these videos, students learn nine specific ways to add variety just by changing the beginning of their sentences. This was easily one of my students' favorite writing tools - because it actually helped them.
Part 1 of Mixed Up Paragraphs
Want students to understand how a paragraph fits together? Explode one and make them reassemble it using the clues in each sentence! I even wrote a little app to bust a paragraph up for you.
Part 1 of Fancier Figurative Language
We'll start with the cliché "as cold as ice" and go somewhere much more interesting.
Want something to do during the holiday season that is both fun and involves thinking? Get students writing about what a snowman would think about Halloween or what a ghost would think about Thanksgiving.
We'll take two seemingly unrelated pieces of content (say volcanoes and the human body) and then build analogies to connect the two ideas. In the end, students can create a skit, comic, or story relating the two concepts.
Context clues lessons can be a disaster. Here, we expose students to a delightful classic packed with nonsense words ("Jabberwocky") and ask them to decipher the meanings and parts of speech. Then, it's only natural for students to write their own nonsense poems.
Part 6 of Writing About Art
Your students will turn the iconic painting The Scream into a vivid, sensory poem.
Part 4 of Writing Better Stories
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.
Ever ask students to create research questions? Were their ideas a bit… blah? My own students had a very hard time writing questions they didn't already know the answer to! This video is how I solved that problem: upgrade research questions with depth and complexity.
Sure, Dr. Seuss wrote for young students, but can older students analyze his writing and learn to mimic his style? THEN, they can produce Seuss-style poetry about any topic: Ancient China, the electromagnetic spectrum, Pride and Prejudice, and (yes) fraction division!
What if an inanimate object could express thanks for a special person in your life? What would it write?
What if... Edgar Allen Poe wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?
In a sentence, punctuation may seem meek when compared to those mighty words, but punctuation has incredible power over the meaning of a sentence. Students will try re-punctuating sentences to find new meanings - without changing a single word!
Let's write a summary. A very short summary. With VERY strict rules.
Part 1 of Writing Better Stories
We open our unit on narrative writing with a big idea: "structure increases creativity." I show how this is true by bringing in examples from across all disciplines.
Part 5 of Writing Better Stories
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.
Part 3 of Writing Better Stories
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…
Let's take a classic Christmas poem and remix it to work with another holiday!
Pi can go beyond circles! What if you wrote using the digits of pi as your guide?
Can your students come up with a one-syllable word to sum up their time away from school? And then rewrite The Beatles' song Help!?
Let's see how propaganda techniques can make even something great seem bad.
Upgrade compare and contrast writing with just a couple of key words.
Did you ever notice that the structure of an essay is very similar to the structure of a paragraph? Hmm…
Part 2 of Ways To Start Sentences
We'll show students how to add more variety to their writing by starting sentences with a reason, a prepositional phrase, and a simile.
Let's write from multiple perspectives using an old timey holiday photo!
Part 2 of Writing Better Stories
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.
What if Kylo Ren wrote a love letter to Abe Lincoln or the Sahara Desert wrote one to the Moon?
What happens when a pronoun could refer to more than one noun? Big problems!
What happens when we switch out a "but" with a "so"? An "and" with a "for"? How can such tiny words make such big differences?
Part 1 of Emoji Prompts
Click up an interesting, visual writing prompt suitable for any grade or purpose.
Can you write directions so clear that a group of kids can put a toy together with no illustrations?
Part 5 of Fancier Figurative Language
When students learn about alliteration, it's hard to steer them away from goofy tongue-twisters. Certainly, there must be more powerful and practical ways of using alliteration. In this lesson, I draw on delicious examples from Shakespeare to show how a very advanced writer used alliteration. Then, I break those ideas down so students can try them out.
Let's go roller skating in a Halloween costume! What could possibly go wrong?
Ready to push kids beyond the boring, old ABAB rhyme scheme and into something a bit more complex?
Part 3 of Ways To Start Sentences
We'll show students how to add more variety to their writing by starting sentences with gerunds, participle phrases, and absolute phrases.
Rather than just demand that students "write clearly," we'll explore the hazards of poorly written sentences… and maybe create one of our own!
Students will read three paragraphs about the same topic, decide what makes each one different, and then create a super-paragraph!
Put a grumpy character next to a joyful one and they make each other stand out even more. Opposites are powerful!
Starting with an old-timey photo, students will write from a particular item's point of view.
Part 2 of Fancier Figurative Language
Let's start with "As cold as fire."
Imagine that Poetry and Prose meet for the first time at a party? What would they say to each other? How would they feel? In this video, I guide kids through the process of writing a script in which these two forms of writing interact.
n this lesson, students will not just fix passive sentences, but break active sentences as they learn to put the star of the sentence first.
Part 3 of Fancier Figurative Language
What if we started a sentence with the simile?
Can your students help The Bard? We'll fix five Shakespearean run-ons in three different ways.
Part 3 of Writing About Art
Get your students writing some pretty darn impressive poetry based on Japan's most famous artist.
Students will read three paragraphs about the same topic, decide what makes each one different, and then create a super-paragraph!
Students will read three paragraphs about the same topic, decide what makes each one different, and then create a super-paragraph!
Part 2 of Writing About Art
Students will create a surprisingly good poem based on Monet's Impression, Sunrise.
Part 1 of Robot Writing
Read three pieces of writing from three different robots based on a beautiful painting and decide who wins!
Part 1 of Spice Up Your Writing
A specific technique to help students add some spice to their writing. We'll be contrasting two ideas using synonyms.
Part 4 of Writing About Art
Students will look closely at a piece of art and then write a structured poem about it.
Part 5 of Writing About Art
Students will write about a beautiful painting from Frederic Edwin Church.
What is bobbing for apples like… for an apple?
Part 3 of Spice Up Your Writing
A specific technique to help students add some spice to their writing. We'll be writing sentences with three dependent clauses.
Part 2 of Spice Up Your Writing
A specific technique to help students add some spice to their writing. We'll be using antonyms to describe the same topic!
Students will look closely at this old image and write a short, structured poem.
Part 2 of Robot Writing
Read three pieces of writing from three different robots based on a beautiful painting and decide who wins!
Part 4 of Fancier Figurative Language
Is your students' use of repetition limited to, "The girl was very, very, very fast."? Let's borrow some ideas from Shakespeare!
Students will read three paragraphs about the same topic, decide what makes each one different, and then create a super-paragraph!
Students will read three paragraphs about the same topic, decide what makes each one different, and then create a super-paragraph!
Part 4 of Spice Up Your Writing
Repeating words can be what you want, if what you want is an interesting effect. (Psst, that's an example of anadiplosis!)
Part 5 of Spice Up Your Writing
Have students mastered the art of anadiplosis: ending one sentence with the beginning of the next? Now it's time to take it to the next level!
Part 2 of Mixed Up Paragraphs
Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about earthquakes back into the correct order?
Let's write the cleverest Mother's Day cards you've ever seen!
Part 3 of Super Specific Similes
Let's make this simile even more specific.
What if your students rewrote Dickens in the style of Hemingway and vice versa?
Part 3 of Robot Writing
Read three pieces of writing from three different robots based on a beautiful painting and decide who wins!
Part 4 of Super Specific Similes
Students will make their similes super specific.
Part 1 of Writing About Art
Students will create a pretty darn interesting poem about Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons.
Part 4 of Robot Writing
Read three pieces of writing from three different robots based on a beautiful painting and decide who wins!
Part 3 of Mixed Up Paragraphs
Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about automobiles back into the correct order?
Part 1 of Super Specific Similes
Let's make this simile even more specific.
Part 7 of Mixed Up Paragraphs
Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about the coral reef back into the correct order?
Part 4 of Super Specific Similes
Let's make this simile even more specific.
Part 2 of Super Specific Similes
Let's make that simile even more specific!
Part 8 of Mixed Up Paragraphs
Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about rain clouds back into the correct order?
Part 2 of Emoji Prompts
Students will create a story about 🏰📚🔍🔐🚪.
Part 4 of Mixed Up Paragraphs
Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about Washington, DC back into the correct order?
Part 5 of Mixed Up Paragraphs
Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about trains back into the correct order?
Part 11 of Mixed Up Paragraphs
Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about The Great Sphinx back into the correct order?
Part 4 of Emoji Prompts
Students will create a story about 🤖💃🎵🕺🐔.
Part 6 of Mixed Up Paragraphs
Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about The Moon back into the correct order?
Part 10 of Mixed Up Paragraphs
Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about Pluto back into the correct order?
Part 3 of Emoji Prompts
Students will create a story about 🐻🎩🎙️🐰🤣.
Part 5 of Emoji Prompts
Students will write a story about 🚗🗺️🌋🐉🌉
Part 9 of Mixed Up Paragraphs
Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about great sloths back into the correct order?
Part 6 of Emoji Prompts
Students will write a story about 🛥️🏊🌊🐙🤝 .
Part 11 of Emoji Prompts
Students will create a story about 👁️🔮🌩️🚷🌲
Part 10 of Emoji Prompts
Students will create a story about 🕰️🎩🐀💎🕺
Part 9 of Emoji Prompts
Students will create a story about 🏟️🏹🍞🐦🔥
Part 8 of Emoji Prompts
Students will create a story about 🚚🤖📻🛸🌌
Part 7 of Emoji Prompts
Students will create a story about 🐌📬✈️🏛️ 📜
Part 12 of Emoji Prompts
Students will create a story about 🦁👑🐗🎶🌄