Monday, November 9, 2009

Books, Librarians, & Friends

As a presenter last week at AASL in Charlotte, I had the opportunity to meet media specialists from all over the country. I was deluged by librarians for my poster session on "Wikis, Red Font, & Revision: Ride the Revision Wave of the Future." Willing participants learned how to exercise muscle words: vivid verbs, specific nouns, image-driven adjectives, similes, metaphors, personification, onomatopoeia, and alliteration. I talked with dozens of people about using wikis to practice word processing and revision skills. I just about lost my voice.

On Friday, in my session on "Learn from the Masters: How Creating a Fictional Character and Setting Enhances Reading Instruction," I read selections from six mentor novels: Blue, Imitate the Tiger, Write Before Your Eyes, Double Helix, Cecelia's Harvest, and Milkweed. In small groups librarians enjoyed brainstorming characters FAST as well as writing sensory settings.



After the sessions, particpants told me they were excited about sharing these activities with the English teachers in their schools. Both days ended with pictures of me with my friends Margriet Ruurs, Joyce Hostetter, and of course...books. This sculpture is conveniently located across from the Charlotte Convention Center where the conference was held.

Teaching the Story sold out and I went home exhausted and satisfied. Two good days work.

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1 comment:

elysabeth said...

I so would like to get involved in some of these things you are involved in. I think my books would be excellent in the schools. Great posting. Glad you are doing well with all your events. See you in the postings - E :)

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