The inimitable Barry Lane arrives in Eugene today to make a series of presentations this week. He’ll be sharing his wit, wisdom, and satirical self as he presents to teachers on writing as well as the state of education. For more information on Barry, check out his website at www.discover-writing.com. If you have any questions you’d like to ask Barry, shoot me an e-mail. He’ll be staying with me so I’ll have an inside track for querying him, and I’ll post answers right here.
Archive for Robert Young
More Pockets
I was interested to see that Abraham Lincoln had Confederate money on him the night he was shot. I wonder why, and where he got it, and when. What do you think that money tells about him?
I think that the things we carry tell a lot about ourselves and who we are. Pull a few things out of your pockets. Why are you carrying them, and not other things? What do they say about you? Write it down and share with others. This is a good way to learn more about yourself and other people too.
April 15, 1865
At 7:22 a.m. on this day in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died in a boardinghouse, across the street from Ford’s Theater, where he had been shot by John Wilkes Booth.
I was curious about what Lincoln had in his pockets the night he was shot, so I started researching. Here’s what I found out: http://www.history.com/videos/what-was-in-lincolns-pockets#what-was-in-lincolns-pockets.
What do you wonder about Abraham Lincoln?
Time Away
Recently returned from a road trip to Idaho, where I visited a high school friend and took some time away. Taking time away from writing can be a little unnerving, especially when you have some momentum built up and you’re in a wordgroove. Fortunately, not long ago I finished the draft of a picture book bio of Yogi Berra so taking this break was helpful. Oh, I did look at the draft several times and made some notes for revisions, but mainly I checked out and hung out.
Stepping away from writing is something I have found to be helpful over the years. It gives you a chance to see your work with “fresh eyes.” I’ve also read research that supports this practice in the classroom. That is, having students take some time “away” after writing a piece. It doesn’t have to be a week or a month; a couple days will work. Then have them do a self-edit on the work bef0re turning it over to a classmate. This can work wonders in improving writing, most especially when students have been trained to be editors (i.e. helpers). And it all starts with helping ourselves.
Now I’m ready to help myself with the Yogi book.
On the road to Idaho
Opening Day!
An historic day, when the first baseball game for the 2011 season takes place. Looking at the weather for east coast (snow possible), I wonder about past Opening Days and whether any were “snowed out.” Not quite. On Opening Day in 1907, the New York Giants faced off against the Phillies at New York City’s Polo Grounds after a heavy snowstorm. When the Giants fell behind, disgruntled fans began flinging snowballs onto the field, forcing the umpire to call a forfeit in the Phillies’ favor.
Spring break
Ahh, spring break, a week of fun, friends, and…no school! Okay, I admit it’s been awhile since I’ve been in school, even college, but I can still remember that great pause in the school year. It’s a time to realize that school is mostly over and that summer will soon be here. It’s a time of hope.
Most of my spring break memories are happy ones, sleeping late, hanging with my friends, getting a start on baseball season. But the most specific memories are are negative ones, like having to write reports during the week off. One year my report was on the countries of South America, another year I wrote about cement. Cement? That’s right, that gooey gray stuff that slides out of mixing trucks and makes driveways or sidewalks or patios. If you’re fast (and sneaky) enough, you can use a stone, a stick, or even your finger to make your initials in the cement before it dries. Don’t get caught, though. The guys who smooth the cement aren’t real thrilled about you messing in their work.
Anyway, the year I wrote the cement report – seventh grade – had the best spring break weather ever. Sunny and warm. Shorts weather. But there I was, stuck in my stuffy bedroom with the the C encyclopedia and booklets from a national cement company, wanting to copy word-for-word the text from those resources but knowing it wouldn’t be worth it. So there I sat, stood, and paced hour after hour trying to change the words around just enough so they would sound like they came from a kid, not a book.
It worked, pretty much. In the end, I finished the report and got a grade of B- on it, but I would trade all I learned about cement for those hours lost being twelve years old.
What about you? What’s something you remember about spring break?
Excuses, excuses…
It’s so easy to find reasons NOT to write. There’s work and there’s work around the house and there’s work in the yard. Lately, the challenge for me has been work, where we’re in the midst of developing a federal grant proposal around history education. Although we have experience with this, it still takes much mental energy to put together a program it and to budget it correctly. And, to do it in a timely manner. Fortunately, I’m working as part of at team of smart and experienced people.
Our proposal is due this week. We’re in fairly good shape at this point, but the week will be spent editing, revising, and making sure the terms are consistent and the narrative matches the budget. It reminds me of writing a novel, where consistency is essential. I don’t have a great amount of experience in that genre, but with the novel I did write some years back (still unpublished), it really helped to create character charts complete with personal and physical traits of each major character. I also created a map of the town where the story took place, and referred to it often as I wrote. As we finish up this grant, I have made a master list of terms used and I keep it on-hand as I review the text. It’s working quite well.
Despite the excuse of the grant, I continue to work on my writing each day and I’m hoping my number of writing days this month will exceed last month’s. One week to go in March, so we’ll see…
Author advice
Everybody and his brother (and sister) has advice for authors. Especially other authors (and their brothers and sisters). Came across this list from author Seth Godin the other day. The list is long, but will promote thinking. Check it out at http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/08/advice_for_auth.html
Enjoy! Then make up your own list…
Peer-Editing
Attended a workshop for teachers this week over in the Springfield School District. The topic was writing, particularly about kids editing each others’ work. I was impressed to see so many in attendance, and especially pleased to see interest in the topic. Of course, interest does not equal willingness to implement, but it’s sure better than disinterest or even hostility.
I think peer-editing is a key to having a successful classroom writing community, but it takes a lot of planning, preparation, and follow-through. You have to spend time explicitly teaching students what editing means, that it’s about offering help to others and not about seeing how many mistakes you can point out. It’s also important that peer-editors do more than focus on grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Helping others in the areas of clear ideas supported by interesting details, consistent organization, voice, choice of words, and fluency is needed too. Developing editing skills takes mucho practice, and offering up some of your own writing will be highly motivating. Not every student will become a great editor, but all can be good enough to support each other and to greatly alter your teaching role (e.g much less paperwork time).
Future of Books?
So, the venerable James Lewis gave me a newsletter containing an article on self-publishing written by Linda Nowak, an author and partner in Puddletown Publishing Group, a new e-book press. In her article, Linda cites stats about e-books: Two years ago e-book sales were 1/2 of 1% of all book sales. Last year, that percentage catapulted to 33% of all book sales!
Somethin’s happenin’ here, and what it is, is pretty clear. The question then becomes, how do we make the most of that reality as we proceed with our writing projects?
Thanks Jim!
