The Big List Of Class Discussions
Teachers Writing Writing15 formats of structuring a class discussion to make it more engaging, more organized, more equitable, and more academically challenging. If you have struggled to find effective ways to develop students' speaking and listening skills, this is your lucky day.
Lessons From a Teacher of the Year
Teachers Writing WritingAs 2018 Georgia Teacher of the Year, John Tibbetts explains sometimes teachers learn from students in unexpected ways and amazing ways. He tells the story of a struggling students who confesses that she was the first person in her family to graduate from high school.
Three anti-social skills to improve your writing - Nadia Kalman
Adults WritingYou need social skills to have a conversation in real life -- but they're quite different from the skills you need to write good dialogue. Educator Nadia Kalman suggests a few "anti-social skills," like eavesdropping and muttering to yourself, that can help you write an effective dialogue for your next story.
In on a secret? That's dramatic irony - Christopher Warner
Adults WritingYou're in a movie theater, watching the new horror flick. The audience knows something that the main character does not. The audience sees the character's actions are not in his best interest. What's that feeling -- the one that makes you want to shout at the screen? Christopher Warner identifies this storytelling device as dramatic irony.
Situational irony: The opposite of what you think - Christopher Warner
Adults WritingLeaps and bounds separate that which is ironic and that which many people simply say is ironic. Christopher Warner wants to set the record straight: Something is ironic if and only if it is the exact opposite of what you would expect.
How misused modifiers can hurt your writing - Emma Bryce
Adults WritingModifiers are words, phrases, and clauses that add information about other parts of a sentence-which is usually helpful. But when modifiers aren't linked clearly enough to the words they're actually referring to, they can create unintentional ambiguity. Emma Bryce navigates the sticky world of misplaced, dangling and squinting modifiers.
How to build a fictional world
Adults WritingWhy is J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy so compelling? How about The Matrix or Harry Potter? What makes these disparate worlds come alive are clear, consistent rules for how people, societies -- and even the laws of physics -- function in these fictional universes. Author Kate Messner offers a few tricks for you, too, to create a world worth exploring in your own words.
Are Elvish, Klingon, Dothraki and Na'vi real languages?
Adults WritingWhat do Game of Thrones' Dothraki, Avatar's Na'vi, Star Trek's Klingon and LOTR's Elvish have in common? They are all fantasy constructed languages, or conlangs. Conlangs have all the delicious complexities of real languages: a high volume of words, grammar rules, and room for messiness and evolution. John McWhorter explains why these invented languages captivate fans long past the rolling credits.