Congratulations to Sandra Warren who won "JUST FLY AWAY" from last week's giveaway. ******** Some of you have seen my previous blogs about how I'm getting involved in the arts community in my new hometown, Greenville, SC. Today you'll get a glimpse into an amazing arts integration program sponsored by the Metropolitan Arts Council. When I… Continue reading SmartARTS: Art Integration in Greenville, SC
Science, poetry, and short stories. You might not ordinarily put those three together in the same sentence, let alone in the same curriculum. Here is a suggestion that could be used in your language arts or science classroom. On a recent drive at dusk from North Carolina into Tennessee, I saw beautiful gray clouds that… Continue reading Science in a 17-Syllable Setting
There are books that you read and wonder, "Why didn’t I think of this?" Thinking out Loud on Paper: The Student Daybook as a Tool to Foster Learning (Heinemann, 2008) is one of those books. Used in all grades, the daybook is a marvelous way to hook students in all subject areas to "think out loud" through writing. I… Continue reading Thinking Out Loud on Paper
One of my popular workshops at teachers conferences is "Writing Across the Curriculum: How Short Fiction Supplements Science and Social Studies Instruction." In one hour I review the main elements of short stories and read from mentor texts which exemplify well-written characters and settings. We discuss how language arts teachers can collaborate with social studies… Continue reading Reading & Writing Across the Curriculum
What could be a more engaging way to reinforce science and social studies facts (and to simultaneously stretch under-used imaginations) then to teach students how to write short stories that incorporate either scientific, historic, or cultural data into fiction? Yesterday at NWRESA, I taught a group of North Carolina teachers how to create and use… Continue reading Wikis & Writing Across the Curriculum
Karen Hesse, known for the award-winning free verse book, Out of the Dust, used the same poetic style to write this poignant description of the effects of World War II on the Aleutian Islands. As a fan of historical fiction, I probably wouldn't have considered using poetry to tell the story of the displaced Aleut… Continue reading Aleutian Sparrow
Last week my husband and I biked the Tunnel Hill trail, visited the Cache River State Natural Area, toured the Barkhausen Wetlands Center and ended by walking along the Heron Pond Boardwalk through the wetlands swamp of Southern Illinois. This past week, 1100 miles away, we walked along a boardwalk through the wetlands by the… Continue reading A Tale of Two Swamps
Two weeks ago I was in Cullowhee, NC for the NCCAT seminar; today I'm in Kiawah, SC presenting at the South Carolina Council of the Teachers of English. Believe it or not, it is colder along the coast of South Carolina than it was in the mountains! Such is the unpredictability of Carolina weather. Highlights… Continue reading From the Mountains to the Sea
Not only am I addicted to writing and blogging, but apparently I have a growing hobby of talking about literacy with the person sitting next to me on an airplane. Today, as I flew to San Antonio to visit family, I met a professor who formerly taught business management and business statistics at Northeastern Oklahoma… Continue reading On the way to San Antonio