Left Brain/Right Brain Characteristics

Via: Online College Advice

Homophone Game

Here’s something for other writing teachers out there – a homophone game!

This game will work with 1 to however many students you have. One student might keep a tally of how many answers he gets right in a round. Multiple students can compete against each other, or you can use a group elimination approach as I describe below.

I was cleaning out my shelves and ran across Susan Anthony’s Spelling Homophone book and was looking through how I might use it in my classes next year. Some students really struggle with they’re/there/their, to/too/two, and your/you’re/yore, etc. mistakes, so instead of making a bunch of boring worksheet handouts, I thought of a game to play instead.

I use handheld dry erase paddles in my classroom*, so kids will write their answers on those, but iPads or even pieces of scratch paper, would work. The game would also work well in the chat box of a webinar class.

Here’s how the game goes – a combination of Elimination and 20 Questions:

1. Introduce one homophone group on the board, and give the kids some tips on how to remember which is which.

For example, there has the word here in it, meaning in a place.

They’re = they are, so substitute they are in the sentence. If they are fits, use they’re.

or

The principal is your pal, a person. The other principle means value or belief.

or

The number two (say “tuuuuuuu”) is spelled with a W (say “double uuuuuuuuu”). Over-emphasize and make it rhyme.

or

Piece has the word pie in in, and you would definitely like a piece of pie!

Peace-lovers eat peas.

There are 20 sentences on each page of Anthony’s Homophone book. You could easily think of your own sample sentences if you don’t have the book. Click here for a list of easily confused homophones.

2. Slowly read one sentence at a time. If the homophones sound exactly the same, read the sentence with the homophone in it. If the words sounded slightly different, like were and where, read the sentence with a “blank” in it.

3. The kids write the correct homophone on the paddle and lift it up when cued. Anyone who gets it wrong has to surrender their paddle to the “constable” (a volunteer student or classroom helper). Whoever is left with a paddle at the end of the 20 questions wins! I hand out out treat tokens (I actually use old puzzle pieces) that the kids collect to trade for mini-candies after class.

To keep kids from gleaning from faster writer/thinkers, use a “write it, hide it, SHOW IT!” process within the game. The kids write their answers on the paddles and hide their answers until everyone is ready. They only reveal their answers when you see all kids are ready and you call out “SHOW IT!” This approach also lessons the stress on kids as they concentrate on how to spell the correct answer – there’s no rush.

There you have it! Enjoy the Homophone Game!

*Although I bought my dry erase paddles from Trainer’s Warehouse, I have seen even cheaper options at Oriental Trading as well as the Dollar Aisle at Target. Kleenlsate also has a sturdy classroom option.

Top 15 Online Grammar Mistakes

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It was only a matter of time…

before someone did a case study on me!

I have used a service called Wufoo to make my registration forms for my online email courses for years. Compared to some Wufoo users, I’m small beans and barely use half of what Wufoo offers, but what I do use is easy to manage and makes me look like a computer genius. (OK, all you REAL computer geeks out there, hush now!)

Just recently, I decided to make checklists for students to use when they upload their assignments. What a difference it has made! I was so excited about the results that I tweeted about it, and my message caught Wufoo-central’s eye. So they used my website contact form and asked to hear my Wufoo story.

Nurture that Inner “Spellist”

When I work with high school students in my writing classes, I see tangible improvements in grammar and punctuation usage. I see the ability to compose a paragraph come to life. I also see timed essays worth scores of 5 and 6 but for one thing: spelling errors galore.

Is it common for students to make great strides in grammar, punctuation, and other writing skills but still not be able to spell their way out of a wet paper bag? It certainly is. Spelling occurs in a specific part of the brain. Handwriting has its part, and composing (getting thoughts on paper) has its part. Structuring sentences, choosing words, using punctuation, typing, and so on, each use a different part of the brain. Insisting that the act of writing, including spelling, is one big skill that a kid can master simply by writing more is one of the worst forms of educational malpractice out there.

The most effective writing programs treat writing as a set of individual skills that eventually work together to put thoughts into words. The act of writing a simple story involves gathering ideas, breaking them down into separate groups and then sentences, putting them into a logical order, handwriting or typing words, putting the words in order, spelling them, adding punctuation, and so much more. The ability to do all of that at once is like commanding a rhetorical orchestra to perform. It’s like we have a little writing orchestra in our brains. Each skill that a writer uses is akin to a musician that plays a specific instrument. Together, the musicians create a moving symphony. Together, the individual writing skills create a story, a poem, an essay, or report. Just like each musician needs independent practice before playing with the whole group, a writer needs to practice different skills and techniques to perfect the parts that go into his story. To expect a whole orchestra to come together without such practice is absurd! It takes time and maturity for all those writing components to work in unison as well.

Because Writing Foundations trains those individual “musicians” with a variety of lessons and exercises throughout the year, handwriting, punctuation, sentence structure, vocabulary, and so on definitely improve. Writing Foundations doesn’t specifically address spelling skills, though. By the end of the year, spelling issues become the squeaky violin or crunchy cello in the third row.

Because most spelling programs are designed for elementary aged children, there is an unspoken assumption that the ability to spell should finally “be there” when a student reaches his teen years. That is actually another diabolical myth. Teenagers are chastised for being careless, lazy, or worse when they misspell words. But, just writing more doesn’t improve spelling skills. It doesn’t happen naturally from just reading more. Contrary to conventional wisdom, “just use spell check” doesn’t cut it, either. Despite all the spiffy apps out there, spell check is not always available, accurate, or even appropriate in some moments. Worst of all, a culture of ubiquitous text messages actually undermines a weak speller’s efforts to improve. If students, parents, and teachers are not aware of how a rhetorical orchestra truly grows, they might be tempted to despair.

Frequent spelling errors simply mean that the “spellist” in a writer’s mental orhcestra needs focused, independent practice outside of symphony hall for a time. The key is finding the right kind of practice for your student’s literary soloist. There are two crucial elements to look for. First, you need to know how your student’s brain works. There are various learning styles and lots of combinations, but when it comes to spelling issues, it basically boils down to your child’s strength in one of two areas: visual or auditory. Because spelling is mainly a visual activity, most workbook approaches for auditory learners do not work. Therefore, if your student has a profound auditory style, look for a program that has an audio component.

If your student has a strong visual learning style, a workbook approach will do fine, but only if it is designed properly, which leads to point number two. For all learning styles, an effective spelling curriculum needs to be built on phonics. The English language is founded on a code of phonetic rules, and the better one knows those rules, the better one can spell.

There are a plethora of wonderful phonetically based reading/spelling programs out there for primary students. Play-n-Talk is a timeless classic. Scaredy Cat Reading is solid, and the new All About Spelling through IEW has it all. However, for secondary students, it’s slim pickins for something that doesn’t insult a teenager’s intelligence. There are many remedial spelling programs out there, but most are designed by word families or frequency of misspelling rates which can end up being an aimless waste of time and money for some learners.

Throughout my career as a home schooling mother of seventeen years and a writing teacher of ten years, two spelling programs suitable for teens have risen to top of my list. One is ideal for strong visual learners, while the other works well for auditory learners and those whose strength lies in a combination of both learning styles.

For visual learners, I recommend Apples 1 Daily Spelling Drills and Apples 2 Daily Phonics Drills by Susan Kemmerer. The Apples workbooks introduce one spelling rule a week and give your student a variety of exercises in which to apply it. Kemmerer teaches students how to recognize when a word doesn’t “look right” and to fix it by applying the rule of the week. The lessons are simple but not juvenile, and they consistently include regular reviews of previous rules. Overall, Apples 1 and Apples 2 effectively give a student’s inner spellist the practice needed in about ten minutes a day.

For auditory or combination learners, I recommend IEW’s Excellence in Spelling program called The Phonetic Zoo. The Phonetic Zoo introduces spelling rules in a sequential manner that build towards more complex words as the student progresses. To begin a lesson, the student and teacher briefly talk about the rule before the student listens to the lesson on CD. During the lesson, the student practices spelling the words on paper and correcting the words as the CD directs. When a student achieves 100% success on the list of words for two days in a row, he moves on. Like Apples, The Phonetic Zoo lessons take only about ten minutes a day.

As students grow older, weak spelling skills will become more noticeable. This can happen even when a trail of spelling programs litters a teenager’s educational past. Even though spelling ability has nothing to do with intelligence levels or a student’s basic writing ability, it does affect ones reputation and sense of confidence. We now live in an electronically interconnected world of eternally preserved emails, blog posts, Facebook entries, and Twitter messages. Like a melodious or discordant performance, how students communicate in writing plants impressions in an audience’s mind. Writers cannot depend on a squiggly red line to conduct them. A solid foundation of phonics is crucial for students who want to successfully shine in today’s rhetorical symphonies.

A Powerful Foundation Takes Time to Develop

When a student has had experience with IEW materials and/or has had successful writing test scores, I still request that an online student start with a Writing Summaries course, even though it comes earlier in the progression of IEW units (Unit 4). The Writing Summaries courses cover the nuances of the writing process, elements of paragraph structure, and variety in writing style that will be required for all subsequent courses. With the WOW Challenge and an editor’s ability to edit at different depths, there is plenty of activity in the course to challenge any growing writing level. If it is apparent that a student has a solid grip on what we are doing by the end of the first summary, I will gladly offer to move the student to another course at no extra charge. However, most families find that the Writing Summaries courses are very effective at detecting any weaknesses in a student’s rhetorical arsenal. Because I personally edit each student’s paper by hand, the Summaries Courses and even the Writing Basics courses progressively and comprehensively strengthen writing, thinking, and reading skills overall no matter where a student is coming from.

For example, every student must go through the Stage 2 stylistic lessons before their core lessons no matter what course they take. Sometimes these are pretty easy for experienced students. Sometimes they are not. Either way, if they are taken seriously, Stage 2 lessons expose and repair any weaknesses in a student’s writing style and bolster grammar and punctuation skills.

However, the one trouble some experienced writers have with the Stage 2 Technique Lessons is thinking they are so easy they don’t need to read the handouts or my comments on their submissions. Reading all the handouts and my specific edits is crucial for every student. These elements help writers know WHY their work is effective or not, what they have a firm grasp of, and how to manipulate words for different effects. When students know the “why” of their success or struggle, and learn how to manipulate certain techniques, even advanced writers gain more control over their writing skills. This process also gives your student a common language with me for discussing how to structure and revise their writing throughout the rest of the course.

If your student has had IEW experience or is just generally a good writer, don’t be tempted to jump ahead in the series of courses. I have had experienced students who have entered the race further down the writing road, and they do OK, but not as well as they might have if they had taken the time to start with an earlier course. Writing Foundations is called Writing Foundations for a reason. A solid foundation of powerful writing skills simply takes time to develop.

Writing exercises work on the brain like muscle toning exercises work on the body. A body may look slim and fit on the outside, but some skills or muscles can still be weak or out of shape, and running a marathon just yet would cause more harm than good. A student may enjoy writing and be creative, but some habits may be overused or dull, and writing that five-paragraph essay could actually be more enjoyable if certain skills had been fine tuned earlier.

Targeted toning exercises can firm and strengthen physical muscles over time, leading to a whole body that is graceful and balanced. In like manner, focused Writing Foundations exercises are designed to fortify organizational, thinking, stylistic, flow, voice, vocabulary, grammar, usage, and mechanics muscles and more. The early Email Courses offer personalized workouts that make sure that a student’s foundational writing skills are as strong and refined as they can be before they tackle the essay marathons of the future. No matter what experience they have had in the past, even good writers who start with Writing Summaries find the lessons well worth their time and money.

How the Institute for Excellence in Writing sparked the birth of Writing Foundations

I was the “18-page girl who wouldn’t shut up” when I was in high school. I received A’s on all my papers because I was so creative, poetic, and artsy; however, that didn’t help me much in college. I had never been taught how to write a focused report and received C’s and D’s on many papers. Although I had a love for writing, I did not understand the components of logical rhetoric and found very little help in writing workshops or in any of my teacher training. When I taught Humanities in a San Diego public school, my team teacher and I avoided assigning papers whenever possible because we didn’t know how to teach the kids to write well, and we didn’t want to suffer through piles of drivel.

All that changed after I discovered and completed the teacher training from the Institute for Excellence in Writing. I developed Writing Foundations with the principles I learned through IEW and the creativity that IEW unlocked within me as a writer and a teacher. I get a thrill out of breaking down writing skills into “Lego blocks” that any child can put together with success. I delight in making kids laugh, seeing them take on a manageable challenge, and rejoicing in their efforts. Today, my heart’s desire is to come alongside other parents and take the mystery and misery out of teaching their children to write.

How do these Email Courses work, anyway?

Writing Foundations Email Courses offer a great opportunity for students to develop independent study skills. Directions and modeling come from a combination of brief emails and downloadable handouts. Ms. B. edits with corrections, grammar rules, and encouraging suggestions and comments.

For students with greater auditory and accountability needs, Email Courses work wonderfully for parents who want lesson plans without the planning part. Everything a parent needs is included in the course. Parents can read through the handouts and directions with the student; the student completes and submits the work; and Ms. B. supplies the editing, commenting, scoring, and direction for the next lesson.

There are 3 stages to each Online Course:

Stage 1
After you register and pay for an online class, you will receive an email that provides the login and password for Handout City where your student can access the notebook handouts, score pages, and all the lesson plans for the course. After setting up the course writing notebook, students embark on their Stage One Banned Words Lesson, and the course officially begins.

Everything your student needs for the course will be found in Handout City – the teaching handouts, lessons directions, score pages, and upload links. Students need only to click on a link, download a handout, complete a lesson for that day, and upload it to Ms. B. who will edit, score, and make positive comments. Ms. B. promises to reply within 48 hours at the most. Supplementing with a grammar program such as Easy Grammar, English Grammar 101, or other program is a great way to fill in the “between emails” time.

Stage 2
After your student successfully completes the Banned Words assignment, Ms. B. will grant permission for the student to proceed to the 11 Technique Lessons. These progress one at a time, and students should be able to complete a lesson in about 30 minutes per day. Students should be able to complete all 11 lessons in about 3 weeks.

PLEASE NOTE: These Stage 2 lessons may seem extremely easy for advanced or prolific writers. The only trouble advanced writers have with these is thinking they are so easy they don’t need to read the handouts or directions. However, reading the handouts is crucial. The handouts help advanced writers know WHY they are good writers, what they have a natural sense of, and how to manipulate things for different effects. When students know the “why” of their success and how to manipulate those techniques, even advanced writers gain more control over their writing skills. These lessons also give the students and Ms. B. a common language for discussing how to structure and revise their writing throughout the Stage 3 lessons.

Stage 3
After successful completion of the Technique lessons, students will proceed to their core writing lessons. Students often take 1-2 weeks to complete each story/report as they send each step of the writing process – outline, best rough draft, revised draft – one at a time for Ms. B.’s review, comments, editing, and scoring. Again, students should be able to complete their writing work in about 30 minutes per day.

(Note: Writing Basics, Writing Summaries, and From the Brain include about 30 lessons per course. The Basic Essay takes 60 lessons to complete. Your student’s time frame may vary. A student has up to one year to complete each course.)

To learn more about the variety of Email Courses to choose from, see the Email Courses page on the Writing Foundations website. To sign up for a course, go to the Registration Page. Click on the Online course of your choice, and fill out the form. When you hit the submit button, the form will take you to Google Checkout where you can securely pay with a credit card. You will receive a notification of payment and your login information shortly after that.

Using My Email Powers for Good

One mom asked me how in the world I might be able to inspire her reluctant writer son to enjoy writing through something as cold and complicated as email. Believe it or not, it is possible that this technology that spawns spam, spreads viruses, and tempts you to store your sledgehammer and chainsaw in the computer room can actually be used to equip your student to bring rhetorical light into the world.

Provided you have the obvious, like a decent virus program and an updated email program all on a computer built within the last 5 years, this is how I work with students who would rather do chores than write:

1. I take advantage of the fact that it’s email . Anything electronic/on the computer is tolerable to most boys and intriguing to most girls. Getting a personal email can be very exciting!

2. When working with new writers, I give small bites which lead to more mail - and that capitalizes on the innate delight we all have in getting non-junk, non-bill correspondence. Writing Basics 1, for example, uses Aesop’s fables – short-n-sweet, and often slap-stick tragic (think anvil falling on bunny’s head) stories. I give struggling students one step at a time such as:

- Read the story out loud. Tell me who you read it to.
- Outline the story like this (and I get a good chunk started for the student and then wean away as s/he gets stronger)
- Narrate to someone. Tell me who you narrated to in your next email.
- Draft the story.

Drafting can be handled in a number of ways depending on what works in your home. Parents can type as the student dictates. If handwriting is not an issue, a student can handwrite and then Mom can type it up exactly as it was written. MSWord will do its glorious job of decorating the work with green and red squiggles which many students feel empowered to fix with a simple right-click of the mouse.

On the other hand, my 9yo daughter HATES handwriting. She dictates and I handwrite for her. On good days, she does some, I do some. On other days, I am the full on secretary. She LOVES to type and will type up my handwritten draft with little problem. We continue to work on handwriting, but at this age, I do not fight over it with her when the focus is on writing a story (I know when and where to push). Handwriting, forming the letters, thinking of what to write, in what order, and how to spell to boot are all complicated developmental skills that can cause severe educational damage if not handled carefully while kids are young.

3. I introduce the stylistic techniques very slowly. For the very young, learning how to outline and draft and form full sentences is a huge skill. Style is icing on the cake at that age. An elementary writer may only learn decorative adverbs, verbs, and adjectives at the most in one round of a course.

4. I make lots of positive comments. If using smileys cost money, my debt would rival the US government’s.

5. I also give lots of suggestions and encourage kids to use them. That makes revising much easier. Imitation is not only the highest form of flattery, it’s the number one way that children learn!

6. And most of all, I use awesome clipart like this in my emails:

I know that learning to write can be difficult, and my heart goes out to those who struggle. Whether in my live classes or via email, my goal in life is to take the mystery and misery out of writing and put a little fun into it. Good writing skills take time, but with practice, patience, humor, and encouragement, it can happen.

Three Noteworthy Websites

I want to tell you about 3 websites I have recently discovered.

First, Quizlet is a site where you can create quizzes for studying anything that has vocabulary or a simple term for an answer. The funnest thing about it though, I think, is that you can invite your friends to join a group where your can virtually study together and even compete in a couple little games (I’ve emailed them, begging for more of those!). I’ve created a group called Ms. B’s Group for studying WOW word quizzes. So far over 12 kids from my live classes have joined, and we have been having a blast trying to outscore each other. There are a few students out there who can define this week’s WOW words in their sleep!

Second, English Grammar 101 is a site that takes the mystery and misery out of learning grammar. It is sequential, progressive, and comprehensive, starting with verbs and moving all the way into obscure clauses and phrases like infinitives and gerunds. It is free and so easy to use. I am having my own children complete 2-3 exercises a day. When they get 100% on an exercise, they print it, and we are keeping them in a notebook for posterity.

Finally, The Baldwin Online Children’s Literature Project is a gold mine for any student. Lisa Ripperton has been collecting classic works from the turn of the century that are invaluable history and literature sources. These sources are great as text books, writing sources, and just wholesome quality reading material.