by Sharon Watson | Jul 19, 2021 | High School Prompts, Middle School Prompts, Sharon's Blog, Writing Prompts
SHARON’S BLOG
Celebrate the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics with us, happening in 2021. Here are three prompts and one BONUS prompt for your 5th-12th graders to enjoy as the festivities get underway! Some are light and fun. Others involve controversies and get your students thinking. Be sure to download the colorful worksheet in #1.
On your mark . . . get set . . .
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1. Let’s Pack
You’re packing to go to Tokyo, Japan, for the 2020 Summer Olympics (that are taking place in 2021), but you can pack only 26 things. It’s a good thing there are 26 letters in the alphabet because you are going to pack one item for every letter in it. What will you pack that begins with “A”? With “B”? With “Z”???
Download this colorful worksheet to help you pack. >>
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by Sharon Watson | Jan 28, 2021 | High School Tutorial, Middle School Tutorial, Sharon's Blog, tutorial
You’ve just read the title of this post and are laughing uncontrollably. I get it. Writing is hard. My students confirm this, and so do yours.
Many moms report that their students have ideas in their heads but can’t get them on paper. Let’s start fixing that today.
What creates this strange head-to-hand disconnect? One major reason is that students don’t organize their thoughts or plan their papers. Big mistake. They think it’s a time waster; but you know otherwise.
The following is a short activity on opinion writing, devised for success. Practice these four steps to writing with your students. They won’t actually be writing this essay, which is one of the reasons this activity works so well.
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by Sharon Watson | Jan 28, 2020 | High School Prompts, High School Tutorial, Middle School Prompts, Middle School Tutorial, Sharon's Blog, teaching aids, tutorial
SHARON’S BLOG
Okay. I’ll admit it. I abhor the nit-picky rules about citing sources and making a works-cited page. The rules are tedious. They’re boring. And they’re nerve wracking.
So, if it is hard for adults (which I like to think I am), what must our children and teens think of it? After all, writing a report is hard enough without all the “extra” stuff about citing sources.
On top of that, the rules change! About a year after The Power in Your Hands was published, with its lessons on citing sources and documenting a report, the Modern Language Association changed their rules.
What is a student to do?
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by Sharon Watson | Sep 17, 2018 | High School Prompts, High School Tutorial, Middle School Prompts, Middle School Tutorial, Sharon's Blog, teaching aids, tutorial
SHARON’S BLOG
Could your students use a little help creating outlines? And what does a bowl of salad have to do with outlines?
My husband tells me he always made his outlines after he’d seen what he had written. I imagine this is fairly common.
But is an outline necessary? Not exactly. You can read about my sticky-note method here.
What is important, though, is organizing the material, and that is where students have trouble. They do not want to take the time to organize their thoughts, ideas, or material before they write.
Personally, I benefit from even a casual outline. That way, I don’t have to start with the introduction and work my way down to the conclusion; I have the pleasure of beginning wherever I like, where I feel the most comfortable. Then I can fill in the rest of my article later by using the organized points in my informal outline.
Whether your students use sticky notes or a more formal outline, they’ll benefit from these familiar outline ideas. (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Jul 26, 2018 | Sharon's Blog, teaching aids
SHARON’S BLOG
“I can’t think of anything to write about.”
“This writing assignment is boring.”
Sound familiar? It did around my house as well. My three children and I hit the wall and almost gave up on writing because it became so tough on all of us.
But I saw value in my children learning how to write, so I worked hard to figure out how we could have a successful writing class. Here are the solutions I came up with—and they really worked! (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Jun 3, 2018 | High School Prompts, Middle School Prompts, Sharon's Blog, Writing Prompts
SHARON’S BLOG
Do your students ever have a hard time knowing what to say to people? Is small talk difficult? Is it easier for them to turn to an electronic device than to a real person?
Join us this week as we explore conversation starters, small talk, and communication.
Great for students in grades 5-12.
To print these prompts, click the Print icon at the bottom of this page.
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