Reading & Writing Resources

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 new page, "Teaching the Story." If you click on it you'll not only find book reviews, but also several reproducibles from the CD that are now available on-line.
• The Maupin House blog is full of useful information and resources for teachers and homeschool parents. Several Maupin House authors and editors blog about subjects that interest them and you will receive input from a variety of professionals.
• Not sure about what book to recommend to your child? You can search my blog under "books for boys," "books for girls," "books for boys and girls," or "historical fiction." Or you can check out GoodReads and read other people's  book reviews.
• I blogged about Literacyhead before. It's worth repeating--this is a tremendous resource.
• National Novel Writing Month has a program geared specifically towards young writers. I'll be one of the featured "pep talkers" in November.

For writers:

• The Center for Writing Excellence is a part of the Institute for Instructional Excellence. The Center offers classes on Creating a Character Sketch and Developing Realistic Dialogue, a bi-monthly fiction contest (I'm one of the judges!) and writing services. Janie Sullivan, the director, has a very instructional blog.
• I have subscribed to Writer's Digest for years and it continues to educate and challenge me.
• Write2Ignite is a group that provides Christians writers with training, encouragement, and networking.  They organize an annual conference (I am teaching the teen track), have an ongoing blog, and lively weekly chats on Monday night.
• If you want to write for children, the most important organization to join is SCBWI. The NC and SC region is very active and I'd encourage you to visit the local website.
• One of the best ways to improve yourself as a writer is to get involved in a local critique group. For a great book on the subject, check out Becky Levine's The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide.
• National Novel Writing Month starts in a few weeks. If you have always wanted to write a novel, now is the time to get started!

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Kindred Spirits

L.M. Montgomery inscribed those two words in the minds of every reader who devoured the Anne of Green Gables books. I am fortunate to have several friends who fit into that category (you know who you are!) and today I connected with two organizations that also fit that description.

The first group is Literacyhead, an online magazine that is committed to encouraging creativity in the classroom by joining together writing, reading, and art. The team who publishes the magazine define a Literacyhead as "someone who is intensely serious about exercising creative literacy, making connections across multiple literacies, pursuing thoughtful literacy as an individual and as a teacher, and constantly searching for ideas. Literacyheads may have expertise in different areas of literacy, but all are committed to children's literacy, passionate about the arts, incessant thinkers, and display a propensity for having fun." (http://www.literacyhead.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=162&Itemid=55)

Page through their website and you'll find writing, reading, art prompts, essays, comics, coaching ideas, tools for your classroom, and titles of books related to the issue's theme. Look at this (partial) list of why this team created this magazine, and you will see why I am thrilled to find this resource:

• Because we wanted to help teachers nurture their creative lives while they meet the demands of high accountability to which they are subject.
• Because we love children's books and art, and the connections between the two make us positively giddy.
• Because we believe that the arts are a basic component of a healthy life, not an afterthought or a bonus if there is time or funding.
• Because we wanted to help teachers take care of themselves by lightening their lesson planning load a bit.
• Because we enjoy the challenge of camouflaging solid literacy research in lessons that appear to be just looking at and talking about art and literature.
• Because we want children to begin to think that they need and deserve beauty in their lives.
• Because we want to give teachers a springboard for extending their own creativity.

The second organization I connected to today was one I've blogged about before, National Novel Writing Month (or as participants fondly call it: NaNoWriMo). Today, the Young Writer's Program's new director, Chris Angotti, asked me if I would write a short advice article for the "Writer's Block" column.

Chris, a former middle school and high school English teacher, understands my concern that the testing environment which permeates schools squeezes out creativity. He believes that NaNoWriMo can help teachers who want to teach their students more than just how to be good test takers.  "I definitely believe in the NaNoWriMo program for young writers. Our surveys and anecdotes indicate, almost without deviation, that it has positive effects in writing fluency, time management, risk taking, and self-esteem. But these things aren't as easily measured on a standardized test. My goal is to think about how objective results CAN be seen, so creative writing programs like ours (and books like yours) aren't lost in the bureaucratic shuffle."

                         Kindred Spirits--Unite!

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