No, I do not have hero-worship of Neil Gaiman. (Liar.) Ever have one of those units of study that just globs along in the back of your mind? Well, after reading aloud this week* this thought inspired me: Why not create a mini-unit of writers reading their reading? I am constantly stressing to my students that [...]

We are the hero of our own story. Mary McCarthy Sometimes I seriously wonder what I am thinking. In our Journey of the Hero unit, I ask students to do a free write on their own ‘fatal flaws.’ Really? What fatal flaws could a 13 to 14 year old have? But boy, do I get a range. Everything [...]

What would Zeus do? Those are the questions you’re asking as you analyze a character. There are many ways to analyze a character.    Ask yourself: What do you look like? What is your day like? What is your status in the world? What relationships do you have? What symbols or tools would represent you? Do you have any special gifts or training? What ...

What if you want to talk to someone, but they’re far away, or maybe not even around anymore? What if you don’t know what to say? What if you know they can’t or won’t talk back to you? I imagine a conversation between this tree and the moon – what do you think they would [...]

http://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Explorer-World-Portable/dp/0399534601  You know me. I like to be creative. Think. Make art. Write. Read. I really appreciate what Keri Smith put together in her book about exploration. For example, on page 144-145, she writes: Thought Experiments: Einstein used “thought experiments” (questions that can ...

Check out this website:  http://www.squidoo.com/writeprompts   Authored by blog0rama. Hosted by Edublogs. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fblog0rama.edublogs.org%2F2009%2F07%2F15%2Fyee-haw-word-wrangling-writing-prompts-round-up%2F'; addthis_title = 'Yee-haw%21+Word+Wrangling%21+Writing+Prompts+Round-Up%21'; addthis_pub = '';