Note: Often I read articles written for adults and think, hey, I wish they had written this for kids! I started this blog is to present really important (and cool) information about learning to kids. If your parents are interested in reading the adult article that I based this blog entry on, you can send them this link. No need for you to read it, though, unless you want more details than I offer below.
It used to be … Read the rest!
Some famous stories that have trick or twist endings are O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi,” Shirley Jackson’s “Charles,” and Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.”
People love it when stories trick them.
Or do they?
Sometimes when people read stories that have a trick ending, they get mad. They feel like they’ve been cheated. Why?
Here are some rules to think about when you are tempted to write a trick … Read the rest!
One thing that happens a lot in education is that kids get stressed out.
Some kids get stressed by the school environment. Maybe you’re at a school that has a lot of competition and you don’t like competition.
Some kids get stressed by certain types of activities. Common activities that can be stressful are public speaking and test taking.
Some kids get stressed out by social interactions. Maybe you haven’t found any friends at your school. Maybe you’re … Read the rest!
I started blogging in 2009 and quickly discovered I loved it! Here are some reasons to love blogging:
Blogging is creative
There are no hard rules about blogging. You can make your blog be whatever you want it to be.
Blogging records history
When you write things down, you are more likely to remember them. And years later you can look back and see what your thoughts were in the past. That’s pretty cool.
Blogging creates community
When you start … Read the rest!
“Learning to live with your biology?” you may ask. “What could that possibly mean?”
Before I had kids of my own, I didn’t know much about the brain, learning, and education. But then having my kids led me down this path to learning more about those subjects, and I learned something surprising:
The way your physical body is made has a lot to do with how your brain works.
Maybe that just sounds obvious to you, … Read the rest!
The first time I taught an essay writing class, one of my students raised her hand as I was talking.
“Excuse me,” she said. “But what does S. A. stand for?”
Like I always tell my students, there is no stupid question. But that question was surprising to me at the time!
Now I realize why people haven’t heard of essays: because they don’t see a need for them in their daily lives.
In reality, though, essays are not only … Read the rest!
Are you in charge of your own learning?
Well, to start with, you might say that you can’t be in charge of your own learning because the adults in your life tell you what you have to learn.
If you go to school, perhaps your teachers tell you what to learn.
If you’re homeschooled, maybe your parents tell you what to learn.
But there is something you can do to take charge, here’s what it is:
Don’t be a sea … Read the rest!
When we speak casually with other people, we make lots of grammar errors. We say things like “I’m gonna go” and “lay down in bed” and “he got less cookies than me!”
But when we write, all of a sudden you’re supposed to write in a more formal way. Why?
I like to use a clothing metaphor:
When you’re in bed, you might wear pajamas…or nothing at all.
When you’re hanging around at home, you probably wear really casual … Read the rest!
You know how sometimes you finish reading something and you say, “Wow, that was great”?
Why is one piece of writing good and another not so good?
Well, to a certain extent, everyone likes different things. For example, I like Harry Potter, but I’m not terribly fond of Percy Jackson. That’s what we call “taste.” I can’t really explain it, because those are both well-written book series.
But aside from taste, there are some things that make writing “good.” … Read the rest!
I will be that you’ve heard this before: it’s really important that you learn how to write well.
But why? What’s the point of writing when we have so many other ways of communicating in modern times?
History
First, I’m going to give you a little history. Human beings tramped around the Earth for many years before they learned to write. They figured out how to make stone tools, hunt animals, and even farm before they learned how to write.… Read the rest!
