Courage: Show, Don’t Tell
HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS “You can never cross the ocean until you have the courageto lose sight of the shore.” –Christopher Columbus Show, Don't Tell When an author wants to let readers know that a character is, say, courageous, she doesn’t write, “Chris was courageous.”...
Paragraph Chart: High School
HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS Many students tell me that after they do the hard work of coming up with an idea, they do not know what to put in the paragraph or even how to write the paragraph. Is this an issue for you as well? Could you use a little help in this area? {Looking...
In-text Citations for Middle School Students
MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS You want to avoid plagiarism in your writing. Yes. Yes, you do. Plagiarism is using someone else's quotation, facts, statement, idea, or story without giving them credit. So, how do you let your readers know that you borrowed the quotation, fact,...
In-text Citations for High School
HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS You're writing your essay and everything's going great until you realize you need to let readers know where you got a certain fact. You aren't using a bibliography, footnotes, or works cited page because this is just an essay, not a report or...
What Is in Your Backpack?
MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS Have you ever seen a man with his back pocket bulging from an overstuffed wallet? Do you know a woman who carries around a huge purse? Do you ever wonder what could be in there, like old rubber bands, ketchup packets, her kids' Legos, or a...
Be Prepared
Earthquakes. Fires. Tornados. Hurricanes. Super viruses. Breaking your finger before the big game. Using bleach instead of laundry soap on your favorite shirt. Losing your cell phone—again. Where am I going with all of this? Being prepared for an emergency is...
What Comes to Mind When You See This Picture?
HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS Once in a while, it's interesting to look at a picture and write whatever comes to your mind—no guidance, no rules. So, here goes . . . A little history on the picture: It was taken during World War II in Stalingrad (now called Volgograd) in the...
Proofreading: It’s Not Just for Cheerleaders
HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS Proofreading. What a pain. You finish your essay and think you're through with it, but, no. Now you have to proofread it. It turns out that writing and proofreading are two separate skills. In fact, they use two different parts of your brain and...
Stained-glass Butterflies and How to Write a How-to
SHARON'S BLOG Students will follow along as I guide them through my experience with making stained-glass butterflies. As they read, they'll be learning how to write a how-to and then insert transitions into the essay to move their readers easily through the process....
Why Not Drop Out?
Across the country, nearly 1 out of every 4 high school students is dropping out, according to boostup.org.
You can check the statistics on drop-out rates in your state here. You can read reasons why students drop out here.
Why do you think students drop out of high school? Why do you think they don’t graduate? Do you think they should stay in school and graduate? After all, David Karp, founder of Tumblr, dropped out of high school and recently sold his company to Yahoo for $1.1 billion. He seems to be doing okay, so what’s the big deal?
High school graduates are seven times more likely to own their own homes, will earn $260,000 more
Writing tools for all ages!
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