Congratulations to Rosi Hollinbeck, who won The Last Cherry Blossom. I think of Rosi as my west coast counterpart. She reviews and gives away books on her blog, as well as provides great links to other writing sites. ***** I was fortunate to attend Summer Camp at Highlights Foundation and in upcoming posts will share many of the… Continue reading The Power of Social Media: Summer Camp at Highlights Part I
Thank you to those of you who entered last week's giveaway. Here are the winners: Sally Spieckermann won Katie Monnin's ebook: Teaching Graphic Novels: Practical Strategies. Brynn Speer won Katie Monnin's ebook: Teaching Early Reader Comics and Graphic Novels. And last, but certainly not least (I think she may be my number one winner of books… Continue reading And the winners are….
I’ve often compared writing and publishing a book to pregnancy, labor, and birth. Within the context of that simile, if I help a friend or student write or publish a book I either feel like a midwife or grandmother. When I received my copy of Steven Johnson’s book, Digital Tools for Teaching, I definitely felt… Continue reading Digital Tools for Teaching
If the subtitle of this book won’t grab your students’ attention, then the blurb from the back of the book will: “Featuring facts about stuff that’s slimy, mushy, oozy, crusty, scaly, and smelly!” Open the book and you’ll find scientific, historic, and gross facts about everybody’s secretions, smells, and scabs. Barf, burps, dandruff, farts, and… Continue reading This Book is Really Gross!
Along the way I have discovered a variety of resources that can help you in your classroom or in your own writing. Here are a few. Let me know if they help you as instructors and writers. For teachers and homeschool educators: If you look above this blog heading, you'll see that I just created a… Continue reading Reading & Writing Resources
The title of this homeschool conference says it all. Don't all educators-- both home and public-- wish that their students would "love to learn?" The student and adult participants who came to my two workshops last Saturday demonstrated this desire. I was pleased that several attendees learned how to use muscle words (click on this link and… Continue reading Love to Learn
Last November when I taught at NCCAT, I met Rebecca Quick who had taken a workshop from me at the North Carolina Middle School Conference. I was delighted to find out that she had been using my book and asked if I could interview her. Now, seven months later, here is the interview. (Scroll down… Continue reading Teaching the Story: A Middle School Teacher's Testimonial
After quoting one of Brod Bagert’s poems in a previous blog, I decided Hormone Jungle was worthy of its own post. This collection of 50+ poems is “written” by 11 fictional characters, the self-proclaimed “Digital Poets.” The book is presented in the form of a scrapbook compiled by the girl whose poem, “Middle School Payback,”… Continue reading Hormone Jungle
After my last blog post on Incognegro, my editor informed me that Maupin House has started a new blog for teachers for the forthcoming book, Teaching Graphic Novels by Katie Monnin. If this is a genre you use in your classroom, be sure to check out the blog and the book. Last night I was… Continue reading Monday Morning Mini-Blog
For days my fellow author, Joyce Hostetter, has been tweaking our newsletter, Talking Story. Writing the articles was the easy part. Putting it all together was another story. Although I moaned and groaned about the hours I spent editing and uploading addresses, to be honest, Joyce conceived the project and is responsible for how professional… Continue reading Talking Story is Live!