The Discoveries of Youth

The Discoveries of Youth


MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

There’s an advantage to being very, very young. I’m talking about younger than you are now.

When you’re really little, you discover new things all the time, things that seem old or boring to you now. Everything is amazing; everything is new.

The following is a passage from The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. It’s about a woman remembering back to her youth, thinking about the first time she had discovered . . . well, I’ll let you read it: (more…)

Create a Character from a Photo

Create a Character from a Photo


MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

You want to create a character for your story, but you’re stuck. You can’t think of one.

Keep reading to find out one trick that will give you oodles of ideas.

As readers, we find out about characters by what they do and say, what others say about them, what they look like, and what they wear. For instance, if a character (more…)

Proofreading: Three Methods to Make it Easier

Proofreading: Three Methods to Make it Easier


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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The Talking Shoes


MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

personificationWhen was the last time your shoes talked to you?

Anthropomorphism is a word for “in the form of a human.” It’s close to the term personification, and if you mix them up, it’s okay by me.

Anthropomorphism means giving human attributes to something that is not human.  For instance, the Toy Story movies use anthropomorphism to give life to the toys, as do all the Transformer movies and any other movies or stories in which animals or objects talk, laugh, plan, and do other things humans do.

An example of someone’s shoes taking on the human characteristic of speech occurs in Alexander McCall Smith’s Blue Shoes and Happiness.  This passage comes just after the character believes she has made a terrible mistake with her fiancé and might have lost him: (more…)