When Lightning Strikes

I provide interactive videoconferences for schools all over the country.  My programs are listed and available to request on the web site for the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC).  I do a variety of programs; one of my favorites is teaching a class of students how to brainstorm.   

Click here to see my program description on CILC

First I explain that in my session-and in brainstorming-there are no wrong answers.  I assure them that when they brainstorm for their own ideas it is quick, painless and best of all, no one will see their ideas or grade their brainstorming session.  It is only for them and will help THEM.  And I really mean it.  

Brainstorming is a prewriting skill that with minimal effort produces maximum results.

Once I explain how easy brainstorming is to do, I tell them why brainstorming helps.  It is simple:  the point of brainstorming is to come up with a unique angle for your research paper (or book or article in the case of writers.) 

In these sessions I model brainstorming and lead them along with me.  The way I teach brainstorming is to tell them to jot down things you know about the topic AND things you don’t know—in the form of questions.  You don’t have to know the answers to the questions.  Sometimes it is the questions from a brainstorming session that gives you the angle of your research paper.

The key is to just let thoughts about the topic develop naturally and let one thought go to the next.  The first few thoughts on any topics are usually about the basic things that everyone knows.   The “good stuff” and by that I mean unique ideas- are never those first few ideas.  The best ideas are the fifth or sixth or later ideas that you consider once you think a little longer about the topic. 

As my session continues, I get them to participate in on the spot brainstorming.  Soon they start giving suggestions.  I remind them there are no wrong answers or silly answers-it is all just loose thoughts.  No pressure. 

Once they get the hang of that, we move on.  We brainstorm again and this time I ask them to give me some ideas on possible angles for a research paper.  They can do it.

In less than an hour, many of these students seem to really grasp the benefits of brainstorming.   The feedback I get from teachers for the session make me think that for some of these students, they have a good grasp on a brainstorming as a useful tool in their prewriting toolbox. 

Carla Killough McClafferty

Morguefile.com

Scribble Scribble Joy Joy! (apologies to Ren and Stimpy)

   Being last to blog on a topic is tough stuff.  Everyone has said what I was going to say, and all my reasons sound incredibly selfish.

   Hang in there with me.

    Writing is where I find my joy. I am never so happy as when I am in the "zone," writing away, forgetting where I am. (Conversely, I am never so miserable as when I am stuck in a world of my own creation, trying to write my way out without a map.)

    Many of my students come in the door loving writing.

    And a lot of them don't. Parents no longer mistake my writing camps for an ESOL class or remedial grammar.  What I do get are kids who are afraid to put a complete sentence together. Thanks to the "testing" system of "teaching" writing, students are terrified to take chances. Maybe they'll make a mistake. Maybe they'll spell something wrong. Maybe they don't know the right word in English for what they want to say. Their regular year teachers are focused on the five paragraph essay, because that is what is tested.

     There is no test for creativity.

     What I try to give my students is the joy of writing. The rules for writing a five paragraph essay are not the "rules" of creative writing. There are no "rules." (There really are a few, but I sneak them in as creative "suggestions" during revision.)

      I give them "permission' to write whatever they want (barring the obscene or racist). Someone always tries to test me.

     "So I can write about zombies?"

     "Sure, just so long as you aren't re-writing an episode of The Living Dead. I will know." (And I will, too. I don't watch TLD, but my daughter does.)

     "I can write about soccer?  Hockey?"

     "Why not?"

     Once they are "permitted" to use their imaginations, I try to give them the Joy of Discovering Just the Right Word."  English is a difficult language to learn, but the vocabulary...so many words, so little time. (By the way, we never use the word "vocabulary."  We talk about finding "better words.") Why use a worn-to-the-ground word that doesn't really say what you mean, when you can find a ripe, plump, juicy one that is EXACTLY what you are trying to say.  The thesaurus (which I can never say without stuttering, lisping or both) becomes their best friend. I discourage them from using the thesaurus from whatever writing program they on their home computers. They offer a paltry selection, usually of the overused variety. Think the McDonald's Dollar Menu vs the one at The Cheesecake Factory. (If you aren't familiar with CF's menu, the last time I was there it was 32 pages of small print. Plus inserts. And specials. And of course....cheesecake.)

Desperately seeking the right word in thesaurus. 

Scribble, scribble, joy, joy!

 Kids who were stuck in a six word/noun/verb sentence pattern, branch out into other ways of writing. Sentence fragments. Run-ons. Single words. Made-up words (as long as you know what they mean, and so will the reader). It's all creative. Creative writing and a five paragraph essay have one thing in common: they use  words.

    So what do I like best about teaching--sharing the joy.  Watching their faces take on that other-worldly look as they scribble in their notebooks....putting the "right" words together, building their own special world.

    Because their joy rekindles mine. Teaching refreshes my own writing soul. Their enthusiasm and love reminds me of why I choose to write for and work with children.

    See, I told you. Purely selfish reasons.

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

  

Be Brave, Be Loud, Be Better

Photo by Cynthia Cotten

It is light, the world is awake
And the great night flees the dawn
That came
Scarlet,
A wild light
Casting a somber radiance on the world.
The red is the anger, blood and shame
In the eyes of awakened nations.

--Sandor Petofi, 1848.


Carmela started our discussion with Two Things I Love About Teaching Writing. Esther continued with the many ways she connects with her students and the resources she connects her students to, and April followed with how she likes to perform for her students. http://www.teachingauthors.com/2018/02/the-1-best-thing-about-teaching.html stating, “And that's what I like about teaching: the intangible, gloriously wonderful, unpredictableness of it all.”

What I like about teaching are the students. Their hope and courage to face the future. Because students change the world. And this week reflects that certainty of that more than ever. Once again, students march to change the world.



Sandor Petofi was a Hungarian poet and student, whose poem “Nemzeti dal (National Song) inspired the Hungarian war for independence from the Hapsburg Empire in 1848. Over a hundred years later, in 1956,  at the height of the Cold War, his poetry inspired the students of Budapest to demonstrate Soviet-led policies. The students led the way to the collapse of the Soviet-indoctrinated Hungarian People’s Republic .





 Set against the backdrop of economic and social changes sweeping post-Mao China, students led a march in 1989 against Chinese political corruption in a fight for democratic reforms, the freedom of the press and freedom of speech. A million people gathered in Tiananmen Square, facing down military tanks. This iconic David and Goliath-esque photograph reflects the pivotal moment as one student's extraordinary courage ultimately stopped the onslought.



In our own history, more than 4000 school children marched in 1963 through Birmingham, Alabama,  known as the most segregated city in America at the time. The Children’s Crusade became a defiant and defining moment in the Civil Rights Movement. Even as soldiers and police pounced upon the students, jailing as many as 1000 the first day, the students still came out in droves, chanting “Freedom.” The world was watching, and judging, as images of young children march up to snarling police dogs, police club women and use high pressure hoses to sweep the children aside. For more information, see Teaching a People’s History/ Zinn Education Project. 





Once again, students are changing the world. Poets and students inspire their teachers. They teach us to be brave, and be loud, and be better than we thought we could be. To be better than what we are.

 

Never Again

(for Emma Gonzalez)


Be brave, be loud,
stand tall, stand proud,
and make your voices heard.
Enough’s enough—
stay strong, stay tough,
and keep on, undeterred.


Ignore those who
discredit you,
who doubt you’ll see success.
To them we say,
“You’ve had your day,
and now we call ‘BS!’”


So, carry on
until you’ve won.
Reform is overdue.
Shrug off those hacks—
we’ve got your backs.

We stand, we march with you.


--©Cynthia Cotten  2018. All rights reserved. 

Bobbi Miller

The #1 Best Thing About Teaching

.
Howdy Campers and Happy Poetry Friday! (links to PF, to my poem, and to my autographed Passover book are below)

Shhh!  Come sneak into the TeachingAuthors' Teacher's Lounge and eavesdrop as we consider what we like most about being teachers.

Carmela started us out with Two Things I Love About Teaching Writing, Esther continues our theme with the many ways she connects with her students and the resources she connects her students to, and today I'm up to bat.
..............................

First, may I say that this is a somber (and an important) time to think about teachers. And students. And about how much we as a people value them. I had originally planned to post a funny poem about revision and how scary it can be, but the images were inappropriate at this time in our country.

..............................
.

Okay. Here's what I like about teaching:.

I like to perform.

But I particularly like when I am most authentic, when I forget myself, when my light reaches theirs.

drawing © 2018 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved

JUST FOR ME
by April Halprin Wayland

At the end of class she says,

"Write something you want,

something about yourself you want to change,

or something you worry about."


Heads down, pens flying, we write.

I use my purple ink pen.

Then we all look up at her,

expectantly.


"Now," she says,

standing by the windows in shiny black heels,

"rip it into a thousand pieces and throw it away."

Someone gasps.


"Don't share

what you wrote

with anyone."

Our eyes widen.


"That's right: this idea is yours.

To think about. To live.

Not to post on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat.

Not to tell a soul."


We ceremonially

rip 

our revelations

to bits.


We file

out of class

in silence;

in shock.


I can't tell you what I wrote. I won't.

But I can say that it's

written in purple ink


inside me.
poem © 2018 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved

Here's what I wrote to fellow TeachingAuthor Esther Hershenhorn one night:

Just home from teaching. I was really dreading tonight's class... Revision is a hard topic to get through--how much work it takes to revise and rewrite. But it turned out to be a gloriously wonderful class... So I guess I'm a teacher after all.
.
It may have been the best class I've taught in years.  Funny how that happens.

And that's what I like about teaching: the intangible, gloriously wonderful, unpredictableness of it all.

Thank you for hosting PF today, Liz at http://elizabethsteinglass.com/blog/

And one more thing...Passover is March 30-April 7th this year, so...

...if you're looking for AUTOGRAPHED copies of my picture book, More Than Enough ~ A Passover Story (Reviewed in the New York Times!) call the fabulous folks at my local independent bookstore, {pages} a bookstore, 310-318-0900 to pre-pay (+tax & shipping) and specify who it’s for. Gift wrapping available on request.

Or buy at it your local independent book store!

(If there are no indies near you, that’s another story. Then by all means buy it here.)

posted with hope for teachers and students everywhere by April Halprin Wayland with help from Dropsy, a particularly contemplative goldfish in our pond.

Only Connect: One TeachingAuthor’s Mantra

What do I   best about teaching?

Like Carmela, I, too, love learning alongside my students and watching them grow and bloom as writers.
I love putting forth and sharing my Journey, so students can learn from my travels and shorten theirs.
I especially love making learning easier, because it can never be easy when it comes to learning how to write for children.  To me the nouns “facilitator” and “teacher” are synonymous.
Best of all, though?
I love my role as “Connector-in-Chief,” believing firmly as I do in MARY POPPINS author P.L. Travers’ advice to “only connect.”

Pamela Travers borrowed the famous epigraph from E.M. Forster’s HOWARD’S END for a Library of Congress address. The words underscored her belief that we must connect with our worlds, with each other and with ourselves if our stories are to connect with our readers. “Only connect” took its rightful place in the world of children’s books when Sheila Egoff borrowed Travers’ theme to title her collection on children’s literature readings.

I delight in connecting my students and the writers I coach to their Children’s Book World.
To fellow writers and classmates,
     the residents, including the gatekeepers,
     the professional communities, in Real Space and online,
     the publications,
     the markets.
As for the existing body of children’s literature, I adore gifting a writer and or class with a relevant book or author or publisher or illustrator, with a genre, a format, a possibility.
Our world is there, welcoming and accessible, a bounty of rich resources.

I delight in connecting writers to STORY, to its construct, its elements, and the how-to’s of its telling to its readers, so they can make sure their stories’ parts are working harmoniously.
Books.
Webinars.
Workshops.
Blogs.
It’s my pleasure to share whatever helps my students hone their storytelling.

Connecting my writers to their stories, though – the ones they’re telling their readers and the writer’s story they’re living, gladdens me immeasurably.  Offering writers ways to probe and discover  the heart of their stories as well as continue their Journeys – no matter the hardships, no matter the rejection - is both my ultimate challenge and joy.

If I do my Connector-in-Chief job right,
“Oh!” my writers will respond,
“Wow!” they’ll remark.
Their stories will get told.
Sparks will fly and electrify.

Seeing and feeling those sparks to any of the above, that’s what keeps me keepin’ on,  grateful and honored to be doing what I love and loving what I do.

Happy connecting and learning!

Esther Hershenhorn

P.S.
How could I write about connecting and NOT share any connections?!
Click here to receive PW’s 2 Children’s Book issues at an SCBWI-member discount.
Click here to learn about Kwame Alexander’s new imprint Versify.
Click here to read Linda Ashman’s PictureBookBuilders post on what makes a successful read-aloud rhyming picture book.
Is it too late to start writing after 50? Click here for the answer.

Two Things I Love about Teaching Writing

Today, I kick off a new series of posts in which we TeachingAuthors share some of our favorite things about teaching. I love teaching! As a girl, I dreamed of growing up to be either a teacher or a writer, so I'm thrilled to be doing both. I could share a long list of the aspects of teaching that I enjoy, but in the interest of time, I'll limit it to two:

1) Learning alongside my students

I love learning, too. Teaching allows me to and expand my own learning. Even when I teach the same course I've taught before, I still manage to learn something new. In part, it's because I'm always looking for ways to make my classes better and more interesting. But it's also because I learn from my students, about the writing process as well as the craft of writing. Last fall, I blogged about Two Things My Students Have Taught Me, but there are many more.

2) Watching my students grow and succeed as writers

I love nurturing other writers. I believe we each have our own stories to tell and I enjoy helping writers find the voice to tell those stories. I have the privilege of teaching all sorts of writers, from nine-year-olds in my summer writing camps to retired adults in my Adult Continuing Education classes.  Unfortunately, I don't have any photos to share from my writing camps, but here's one from a writing workshop I taught as part of a school visit:

Students come to me with a variety of goals, whether it's simply to have fun, to get better at the writing craft, or to see their work published. I'm thrilled to facilitate the process of meeting those goals and celebrate with them when they do. One of the great things about having this blog, is that I can share some of those Student Success Stories with you, our blog readers. So far, we TeachingAuthors have shared twenty of our Student Success Stories here. I look forward to reading and sharing many more.

Speaking of teaching, I'm offering my Adult Continuing Education class in Writing for Children and Teens again this Spring at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL, Wednesdays, 7—9 p.m., April 18-May 23, 2018. See my website for details. 

I'm looking forward to reading my fellow TeachingAuthors' posts about what they love about teaching writing. I hope some of you, our readers, will share what you enjoy, too, whether you teach writing in a traditional classroom, on school visits, or elsewhere.

Don't forget to visit this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Check It Out.

And remember to always Write with Joy!
Carmela

A Spring Read Aloud

I don’t get the chance to read aloud to students very often.  But for a few years running I participated in a program that was part of the Arkansas Literary Festival where students from rural areas were bused into Little Rock for a read aloud the event at the Governor’s Mansion. 

Readers had a set amount of time to read to their groups, then the group moved on to another reader.  It didn’t matter much which book I read to them.  Since my own books are too long to read in their entirety, sometimes I’d show them photos from the book and read the captions.  Then I’d move on to read nonfiction picture books to them. 

Like in any group of students, some were engrossed in each book and hung on every word and others were squirming around.  But I hope in those few moments each of them captured a sweet memory of reading books on a beautiful spring day. 

Carla Killough McClafferty

www.morguefile.com