by Sharon Watson | Jul 22, 2014 | High School Tutorial, Sharon's Blog, teaching aids, tutorial
SHARON’S BLOG
Today’s article comes to you from my friend Lily Iatridis of Fortuigence.com. Her article is a tutorial on plagiarism and how to avoid it. You’ll even find helpful links your students can use to create those pesky citations.
In addition, Lily shares a solid method for taking notes and for keeping track of all the sources. And check out her handy anti-plagiarism checklist at the end!
This is well worth the read. I won’t be surprised if you use this article often as a reference for you and your children throughout the school year.
You can find Lily’s online writing course Essay Rock Star here.
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by Sharon Watson | Jul 1, 2014 | High School Tutorial, Middle School Tutorial, Sharon's Blog, teaching aids, tutorial
SHARON’S BLOG
Proofreading is never easy. Anyone who says it’s easy is trying to sell you something or has never actually tried it.
If we can’t make it easy, at least we can make it easier for our troubled, weeping students. In fact, with these three tips, you can change it from a job that requires the strength of a backhoe to one that uses a garden trowel.
Many professional writers use the first two methods in their own writing, and so can your students. The third one is exclusively for students.
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by Sharon Watson | Jun 17, 2014 | High School Prompts, High School Tutorial, Sharon's Blog, teaching aids, tutorial, Writing Prompts
SHARON’S BLOG
If your writer is reluctant, writing opinions is a good place to start. Everyone has opinions, and most students like to express theirs.
Opinions are all about the writer: “I love . . . ,” “I think people should . . . ,” “I hate it when . . . .”
Writing to persuade someone else, on the other hand, is all about the reader. Your students make a shift in their thinking: What ideas and points do readers need before they will change their minds? A persuasion essay needs a few important tools. (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Jun 11, 2014 | High School Tutorial, Middle School Tutorial, Sharon's Blog, teaching aids, tutorial
SHARON’S BLOG
It’s easy for our students to make these common mistakes in persuasive writing. I’ve seen them in any number of newspapers and magazines in letters to the editor, and they abound in student essays. I’m guessing you have seen them as well.
I won’t keep you in suspense. Here’s the list: (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Jun 8, 2014 | High School Prompts, High School Tutorial, Sharon's Blog, teaching aids, tutorial, Writing Prompts
HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS
The Florida Everglades’ delicate and balanced ecosystem is being threatened by new species of plants and animals that have no natural predators. For instance, Old World climbing fern, which is not native to Florida, is smothering plants that grow naturally there and that are needed for food and protection to other species.
The Burmese python, which used to be imported to Florida for pet stores, (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Jun 3, 2014 | High School Prompts, High School Tutorial, Middle School Prompts, Middle School Tutorial, Sharon's Blog, teaching aids, tutorial, Writing Prompts
SHARON’S BLOG
Introductions can be boring. Super boring.
Young writers think they have to fight with a blank piece of paper for that first, amazing sentence before they write anything else, and so they get stuck.
Cue the tissues. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
A mom recently asked me to look at her son’s essay. He was entering a state-wide speech contest on the topic of responsibility and had written a solid essay—except for the introduction. He was going to put his listeners to sleep with it.
We were all sitting at his kitchen table. I turned to this teen and asked him, (more…)
