Before school ends, I want to send a shout-out to Bannockburn Elementary School in Bethesda, MD. We had the best time working on mystery writing. Thanks to Ms. Levenson and her colleagues for organizing and hosting this series of workshops.
Dolly Parton’s North Star Imagination Library in conjunction with the Berry Room of the Noel Wien Public Library presents Family Fun Night: Which Came First, The Chicken or the Book? A free evening of fun for preschoolers and their families! Come see a live chicken (weather permitting), make a chicken craft, hear the book The Chicken of the Family by Mary Amato, and enjoy more activities for preschoolers.
I won’t be there, but it sounds like so much fun and I’m thrilled that my book has been chosen as the read-aloud.
This program is presented by Dolly Parton’s North Star Imagination Library and Best Beginnings, with host location site provided by the Noel Wien Public Library.
Thanks to all the wonderful parent volunteers, teachers, staff, and librarian Mrs. Grosso for hosting my visit to Wayside Elementary School in Potomac, Maryland. Keep reading, Wayside!
If you want to learn something, one of the best ways to do it is to be conscious of what you are learning. That may sound ridiculously obvious, but life has a way of flooding the mind with too much information and sweeping the newly-learned or almost-learned stuff out to sea.
The best way for me to be conscious of what I’m learning is to literally write what I’m learning down. After every class that I teach (or take) I force myself to sit and write down at least one thing that I learned. Sometimes it’s easy; sometimes not. Usually, the act of writing helps realizations to occur.
I put myself through a course in humor writing by watching funny movies with an agenda: each time I watched, I had to write down at least one thing I learned about why it was funny.
If you’re taking a class, create a ritual for yourself (a mini notebook? a set of 3×5 cards? a dedicated blog?) to write down what you are learning.
Teachers, if you can’t access youtube, try teachertube.
Teachers and Librarians, if your school blocks youtube, you can see this on teachertube.
When I do workshops on revision, I often share an example from a draft and a revision to illustrate how I work. At the request of teachers, I have created pdf pages that you can download and print (or project onto your classroom screen) to share with students.
Example of Editing and Revising The Naked Mole-Rat Letters
Example of Revising from Invisible Lines
Example of Editing and Revising Snarf Attack, Underfoodle, and the Secret of Life
Example of Editing and Revising Edgar Allan’s Official Crime Investigation Notebook
Listen to Mary Amato sing one of the songs from her Riot Brother series and talk about how she writes her Riot Brother books.