by Donna | Sep 27, 2017
Whenever I start out with new students in a class (Character Quality Language Arts or Meaningful Composition), I always spend the a little time each week for the first few class sessions learning how to complete my Checklist Challenge (CC). Over ninety percent of the papers in all of my books utilize this editing tool, so I spend a great deal of time teaching it and helping students learn how to complete the CC tasks. It is worth it to really dig in and teach students the fundamentals of the CC—including strong verbs and describers, sentence structure and rhythm, word choice, and much more.
I thought you might enjoy another peek into my Live Online Writing class to see what week three of the CC instruction looks like—and I don’t like for people to watch the video without the document in front of them, so you can print that below also!
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by Donna | Sep 21, 2017
“[A]lways get to the dialogue as soon as possible. I always feel the thing to go for is speed. Nothing puts the reader off more than a big slab of prose at the start,” nineteenth-century writer P.G. Wodehouse commented. He is not alone among authors in emphasizing dialogue in writing, but teaching students how to use quotations can be so difficult.
So, I’d like to give you some tips on teaching basic quotation use and punctuation to your students. Also, check out the Tricky Tricks Sheet at the end of this post. It gives a concise summary of basic quotation rules. Additionally, Character Ink Press’s Meaningful Composition 5 I includes more info on using quotes, along with a number of other writing lessons.
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by Donna | Sep 13, 2017
To recite or not to recite? Most of us grew up with recitations, rhymes, jingles, songs, and mnemonics to learn the planets, math facts, presidents of the US, and more. But what about language arts and grammar? Do these “tricks” work well for a subject that needs APPLIED once it is memorized? I mean, once you learn the presidents, you can easily figure out where to fit in history. Math is all about facts and figures. But language arts/English/grammar recitations are different. Memorizing and reciting are not enough when it comes to parts of speech, punctuation, and more.
So how DOES recitation fit into language arts concepts? (more…)
by Donna | Sep 6, 2017
By Donna Reish & Zac Kieser
Welcome to another Punctuation Puzzle! Yep… a puzzle that you solve by putting in the correct punctuation and words/usage fixes—along with explanations and answers about each error!
Perfect for students and teachers alike!
Today’s Puzzle is about Pronoun Cases and Negative Words … and it uses an interesting sentence from one of our Write-for-a-Month/Write On books about _____.
Read More….
by Donna | Sep 2, 2017
My first Live Online Writing Class was a success! The students showed up and could see and hear me! I could see and hear them! They all had their books printed and highlighters ready. I didn’t get knocked off. It recorded properly. Yay!
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by Donna | Sep 2, 2017
By Zac Kieser and Donna Reish
Welcome to another Punctuation Puzzle! Yep… a puzzle that you solve by putting in the correct punctuation and words/usage fixes—along with explanations and answers about each error!
Perfect for students and teachers alike!
Today’s Puzzle is about Commas with Adverb Openers and Which Clauses at End of Sentence… and it uses an interesting sentence from one of our Write-for-a-Month/Write On books .
Read More….
