Suzanne Lieurance - Writing Coach and Freelance Writer

Wait Time – Just Give Me a Second

admin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:59:30 +0000

by Amy M. O’Quinn

Impatience. It’s something most parents and teachers struggle with every now and then. And instead of giving our children or students a few seconds longer to formulate or search their brains for the correct answer to our queries, we jump in a little too early to ‘help’ them. Honestly, for educators, the silence can be uncomfortable and we may feel frustrated by the lack of an immediate response.

In fact, according to an excerpt from the book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Success as a Teacher © 2005 by Anthony D. Frederick, “Classroom observations reveal that teachers typically wait less than 1 second for students to respond to a question. Teachers often conclude that students don’t know the answer to a question if they don’t respond quickly. And when they do respond, they usually use knowledge-level responses.”

But is this really the most beneficial strategy for students? Learning to use wait time, even for a few extra seconds, can yield amazing results!

Why Children Hesitate
There may be many reasons why children hesitate to answer questions quickly. They may be afraid of being laughed at by other students if they are wrong. They might not want to disappoint the teacher (or parent) by not knowing the answer. Or, in many cases, they may simply need just a few more seconds to ponder the question before they formulate or verbalize their answer or explanation. Young children, especially, and even ESL students do better if they are given ample opportunity to process information and mentally rehearse before trying to give their responses.

What is Wait Time?
Wait time is defined as the pause between asking the question and soliciting a response. Providing additional wait time after a student response also allows all students to reflect on the response prior to further discussion. Increased wait time results in longer student responses, more appropriate unsolicited responses, more student questions, and increased higher order responses.

Studies beginning in the early 1970s and continuing through the 1980s show that if teachers pause between three and seven seconds after asking higher-level questions, students respond with more thoughtful answers and that science achievement is increased. This finding is consistent at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels and across the science disciplines.

Just Wait A Second — Or Several
By practicing this strategy, parents and teachers might just discover that wait time is one of the best teaching tools—ever. However, it does take diligence and patience, as it goes against most of our natures to sit in silence for several seconds, waiting for an answer. But it works, and students will feel more successful as well. They might not always know the answer, even after several seconds of wait time, but at least they have the opportunity to try before being cut off prematurely.

So remember, when your student doesn’t immediately answer a question, take a deep breath, bite your tongue to keep from jumping in with the answer, and wait. You might just be surprised by the results!

Visit Amy at amyoquinn.com.

Meet Marie-Grace – This Friday on Book Bites for Kids

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:39:05 +0000

Listen to Book Bites for Kids on blogtalkradio this Friday, January 27th, 2012, at 2:00 CST, when the guest will be author Sarah Masters Buckey.

Masters Buckey will talk about her new book Meet Marie-Grace, which is the first book in a new series of American Girl Books.

To listen to the show, just go online to www.bookbitesforkids.com at 2:00 CST on Friday.

To call in to ask a question or to make a comment, call 1-646-716-9239 during the live show.

Book Bites for Kids – This Friday, January 13, 2012

admin — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:02:28 +0000

Listen to Book Bites for Kids this Friday, January 13, 2012, on blogtalkradio when my guest will be literacy specialist Carol Fraser Hagen.

Hagen will talk about her upcoming book, How to Help Children Learn to Read – A Handbook for Parents and Teachers.

To listen to the show, on Friday at 2:00 p.m. central, just go to www.bookbitesforkids.com.

Journey to Gameland – How to Turn Your Favorite Children’s Book into a Board Game

admin — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:35:50 +0000

Here’s something that will help your children build reading skills in a variety of ways. They can create board games from their favorite books! How cool is that?

About Journey to Gameland
Take a journey through your favorite book and transform it into a board game! Choose your characters, design your board, and create obstacles and other fun activities all according to what happens in your favorite book. Learn how to take the joy of reading to another level and discover your own creativity.

Eleven-year-old Ben Buchanan, who created a board game based on the popular Harry Potter books, provides advice for all children who would like to turn their favorite book into a board game. Along with his co-authors, he offers a step-by-step process, with suggestions for parents, librarians, and teachers, on how to help children transform their favorite book into a board game.

The book shows how you can have hours of fun creating the board game–and then have lots more hours of fun playing!

Journey to Gameland encourages children to develop their own creativity.

Support Building a Bookshelf, Inc.

admin — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:51:31 +0000

This past Saturday I was at Barnes and Noble in Oak Park Mall, here in the Kansas City area, signing my book The Lucky Baseball as part of an event for Building a Bookshelf, Inc..

Watch this video to learn more about this great charity to promote children’s literacy:

PBS KIDS Launches Its First Educational Augmented Reality APP

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:16:46 +0000

ARLINGTON, VA, Nov. 14, 2011 – PBS KIDS today announced its first augmented reality app for iPhone and iPod touch, FETCH! Lunch Rush, which is now available on the App Store. Available for free, the app uses the camera on iPhone or iPod touch to overlay computer-generated graphics on top of the physical, real-world environment. Extending PBS’s leadership in using augmented reality as an educational tool, FETCH! Lunch Rush opens a new world of learning by teaching kids ages six to eight math skills, like addition and subtraction, while blending the virtual and real world into a truly engaging experience.

“Augmented reality is becoming a popular marketing tool and a compelling feature for gamers, but no one has fully explored what this could mean for educating children,” said Jason Seiken, Senior Vice President, Interactive, Product Development and Innovation, PBS. “We were among the first to offer educational augmented reality kids content when we launched the DINOSAUR TRAIN Hatching Party online game last year, in which a player’s real world intersects with a virtual environment online to help hatch a dinosaur egg. We’re excited to expand our exploration of this space by launching our first augmented reality mobile app and continue PBS KIDS’s leadership in using new technologies to further learning.”

“The FETCH! Lunch Rush App is designed as a 3-D game, which helps kids visualize the math problems they are trying to solve,” added Lesli Rotenberg, Senior Vice President, Children’s Media, PBS. “At PBS KIDS our goal is to use media to nurture kids’ natural curiosity and inspire them to explore the world around them; we can’t wait to see what this new app will mean for furthering that exploration.”

The Fetch! Lunch Rush App was produced by PBS member station WGBH and is based on the PBS KIDS GO! series FETCH! With Ruff Ruffman, also produced by WGBH. In this multiplayer app, Ruff Ruffman has to collect the lunch order for his studio crew. The challenge is keeping track of how many pieces of sushi everyone wants using augmented reality “markers” (printable hand-outs) that prompt activity within the app. The app uses 3-D imagery to reinforce the early algebraic concepts, helping kids to make the connection between real objects and corresponding numeric symbols.

The FETCH! Lunch Rush App is available for free from the App Store on iPhone or iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore.

Developed in partnership with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and powered by a Ready To Learn grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Fetch! Lunch Rush is part of a new suite of games available on the newly launched PBS KIDS Lab website (PBSKIDS.org). Combined with online and interactive whiteboard games, this new app helps build a learning experience for kids that takes place across platforms, all with the goal of accelerating learning. In addition to FETCH!, six suites based on hit PBS KIDS series are available on the PBS KIDS Lab: THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT!, CURIOUS GEORGE, SID THE SCIENCE KID, FIZZY’S LUNCH LAB, SUPER WHY!, and DINOSAUR TRAIN.

To date, PBS KIDS mobile apps have been downloaded more than 1.4 million times. With a transmedia approach, PBS KIDS is increasingly serving children wherever they live, learn, and play – through mobile devices, as well as on TV, online, in the classroom, and through a new line of educational toys.

Parents in the Classroom – Teacher Offers Tips for Being the Best Volunteer Ever

admin — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:29:05 +0000

As states continue to slash education budgets to accommodate declining tax revenues, schools respond by trying to squeeze even more out of their beleaguered teachers: class sizes grow, planning periods are cut, each student gets less attention.

What can we do? Project Appleseed, a non-profit public education advocate, is asking parents across the country to lend a hand in their child’s school on Nov. 17, its 18th annual National Parent Involvement Day. Not coincidentally, it falls during American Education Week, Nov. 13-19.

“Volunteers and adult assistants in classrooms make a huge difference, especially with schools and teachers under so much stress,” says Paddy Eger, a veteran teacher, parent trainer and volunteer, and author of Educating America 101: Strategies for Adult Assistants in K-8 Classrooms.

“With a little training and a handful of strategies, most adults can effectively assist both teachers and students,” Eger says. “One hour a month or a week helping students is a small investment of time that has big returns.”

Sometimes, however, the best-intentioned volunteers become yet another pair of hands tugging for attention on the teacher’s sleeve. Volunteers working with small groups of students, such as tutoring sessions, also risk wasting precious instructional time if they’re not prepared and don’t know how to manage the group.

In more than 20 years as a primary and intermediate grade teacher, Eger has developed a number of simple strategies that allow volunteers to both maximize their usefulness and minimize distractions to the teacher. Her suggestions don’t replace training provided by the school, since that’s tailored to the teachers’ needs, but they will greatly enhance time spent working directly with students.

They include:

* If you have questions for the teacher: Schedule a meeting that’s not at a time when students are in the classroom. Do not expect to meet with the teacher unannounced for “just a minute.” Also, if the teacher provides materials for an activity, don’t expect him or her to walk you through it. Take time to read the directions and gather supplies days before your classroom visit.

* Establish a consistent meeting place: If your group will meet regularly, ask the teacher before your first visit to help you establish a place that you can use every time you visit. Nothing kills an activity faster than spending valuable time looking for a place to work.

* Choose your seat wisely: Don’t sit at one end of a rectangular table. Sitting in the middle seat along one side allows you to see all of the students and reach out to touch their work. It also makes you part of the group, and allows you to speak in a softer voice. For round tables, sit so you – not the students – face nearby tables or other distractions.

* To help children become active listeners, don’t repeat questions: If the student says he doesn’t understand the question, ask him to repeat what he thinks he heard. If the student is still confused, ask another student to rephrase the question. Once again, ask the first student to repeat what he just heard.

* Be prepared for a change in plans: Have a “pocket activity” ready in case a schedule change means you’ll have less time with the children. This is a simple game, such as a math or spelling game, or a book or news article that can be started or stopped at any time without losing its value.

Assistants, especially those who’ve taken the time to prepare, can have a big impact in a classroom, Eger says.

“Assistants provide the extra hands and help to gather materials, lead small groups, prepare enriching activities and manage day-to-day tasks,” Eger says.

“While they can’t solve all of the problems associated with drastic budget cuts, they can help ensure students feel as little of the sting as possible.”

About Paddy Eger
Paddy Eger is a 20-year teacher from Washington State whose years as a trainer in the Parent Cooperative Education Program created the basis for her. She graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in elementary education. Visit her online at www.paddyeger.com.

Write a Middle Grade Novel in ONE Month!

admin — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 17:26:34 +0000

Learning how to write a Middle Grade (MG) novel is a big step on your way to success as a writer!

* It’s one of the easiest ways to experience breakthrough and get a book published in the children’s market.

* If you write for children, the strategies you’ll learn will help you write better Picture Books and Young Adult novels, too.

* If you write for adults, the strategies you learn will help you write better novels for the adult market. AND you can practice these skills here in a short project, which you’ll actually complete in just one month.

In this 4-session Writer’s Workshop:

*You will start a BRAND NEW Middle Grade novel.

Why?

Experiencing success as a writer doesn’t mean getting your one dream book published.

It means learning how to write book after book after book.

Starting a brand new MG novel for this workshop will get you off to a brand new start based on award-winning strategies Nancy will teach you. Then, after the workshop is over, you can go back and use the skills you learned to fix and complete a MG novel you already started.

* You will study plot, chapter-by-chapter, of two Newbery-winning MG novels.

* Nancy will teach you how to plan your story’s main plot along with 4 subplots for your own MG novel.

* Nancy will show you how to develop your cast of kid-appealing characters.

* Nancy will provide you with charts and handouts you will actually fill out during the workshop to help guide you through the process from beginning to end (there are over 25 handouts included when you register for this workshop).

YOUR Commitment

* Read two Middle Grade novels Nancy assigns to use as references during the workshop (both Newbery winners)

* Write one chapter each day, 5 days a week, during the 4 sessions of the workshop for a total of 20 chapters. (A chapter in many MG novels is just 3-4 typed pages. You can do this!!!!)

Recommended Supplies

Have these supplies handy as you listen to each session to get the most benefit from these workshops:

Your own personal copy you can write in of The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleishman and Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi

Spiral notebook

Expandable pocket folder with empty file folders

Zipper pencil pouch holding 6 highlighters of various colors (suggested: blue, pink, purple, green, yellow, and orange)

6 pens of various colors (suggested: blue, pink, purple, red, light green, dark green or black)

White-out, sticky note pad, paper clips, binder clips

The Workshop Sessions
Here’s What Will Be Presented and What You’ll Need to Do for Each of the 4 Sessions -

Session 1: Act 1, The Set-Up
* Establish setting
* Choose your Main Character, 1-2 Supporting Characters, and 1-2 Bad Guys
* Brainstorm ideas for your main story plot/problem
* Introduce the 3-Act Structure
* Identify Subplots
* Brainstorm key elements of a winning first chapter
* Plot Chapters 1-5 of your story
* After this session: Write Chapters 1-5, a total of about 15 pages

Session 2: Act 2, First Half
* Develop the conflicting middle
* Identify the turning point of your story
* Scene versus Narrative: Show, don’t tell
* Flesh out your characters
* Choose memorable names
* Develop character tags for your Main Character
* Plot Chapters 6-10 of your story
* After this session: Write Chapters 6-10, a total of about 15 pages

Session 3: Act 2, Second Half
* Write the turning point of your story
* Increase the stakes
* Confirm setting details
* Format first and second page correctly
* Determine page count
* Check for cliffhangers
* Plug in metaphors and sensory details
* Develop character tags for Supporting Characters
* Track your Background Characters
* Plot Chapters 11-15 of your story
* After this session: Write Chapters 11-15, a total of about 15 pages

Session 4: Act 3, The Conclusion
* Chart the main story plot for your novel
* Make your Main Character change in a significant and meaningful way
* Make subplots surface to influence main plot
* Wrap up the conflict in a satisfying way
* Plot Chapters 16-20 of your story
* Make To-Do List for finishing novel
* Tie up loose ends
* Discuss self-editing process to make your novel shine
* What to do next? How, when, and why to start your next MG novel
* After this session: Write Chapters 16-20, a total of about 15 pages, to finish your novel.

Register here now for this 4-session workshop and you’ll immediately receive the audio and handouts for Session 1. Then, a few days later you’ll receive the audio and handouts for Session 2. A few days later, you’ll get the audio and handouts for Session 3 and then, finally, a few days later, the audio and handouts for Session 4.

This 4-session Writer’s Workshop includes almost 4 hours of audio instruction and over 25 handouts! All for just $49.97!

Click here to register if you’re NOT a member of the Working Writer’s Club!

Click here to register if you ARE a member of the Working Writer’s Club and get a $10.00 discount!

Science Projects: Make a Homemade Ant Farm

admin — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 16:21:31 +0000

by Amy M. O’Quinn

What are the benefits of science projects?

Learning about science is fun for children. Our world is full of exciting opportunities to discover and uncover all sorts of wonderful things, and science projects are a great way to highlight and showcase topics of interest. Students learn how to make predictions, theorize, hypothesize, problem-solve, observe, work cooperatively, and explain results, even though they may not even realize that this type of learning is taking place. Children are just simply curious by nature, and science projects make for an enjoyable change.

Make An Ant Farm:
Ants are fascinating creatures to study, so why not consider having your students make an easy and inexpensive ant farm? There are all kinds of ant farms on the market that can be purchased. Ants can even be bought online as well! But making an ant farm is not hard at all and can be done with materials already on hand—thus stressing the importance of recycling as well.

Materials Needed:
1 (2-liter) plastic drink bottle
1 (1-liter) plastic drink bottle
Funnel
Tape
Black Construction Paper
Scissors
Soil (or sand)
Ants

What To Do:
Carefully cut off the curved tops of both bottles.
Put the 1-liter bottle down into the 2-liter bottle, securing with tape or glue. The purpose of the smaller bottle is to take up space so the ants will build their tunnels closer to the outside wall of the larger bottle for easier viewing.
Use a funnel to fill the space between the two bottles with soil.

Find an ant colony in the yard if possible. Use a shovel or spade and scoop up as many ants as possible; put them into a bucket. It’s best to get the queen ant and larvae. Do not use fire ants!

Wear gloves and carefully place (or funnel) the ants into the plastic bottle ‘ant farm.’ Do this step outside!

Place a top or cover on the bottle. This can be paper or cheesecloth, secured with a rubber band or tape. The ‘cut-off’ curved top of the 2-liter bottle can also be re-used as the top, but it will need to have tiny holes punched with a pin and secured with tape. Just be sure that the ants cannot escape!

Cover the outside of the bottle with a sleeve made of black construction paper and fasten with tape.

The ants can be fed/watered with a moistened cotton ball, tiny bits of fruits and vegetables, or small pieces of bread dipped in honey every two or three days. However, do not overfeed them; less is more.

Remove the paper to watch the ants at work. Replace the paper afterwards so that the ants will have a dark environment that simulates being underground.

Making an ant farm and watching the ants work is enjoyable. Ants are very social creatures, and students can learn much from their habits. This science project is a great way for students to find out how these tiny creatures form colonies, divide labor, communicate, eat, drink, and yes, even solve their own problems!

More Information:
Ant farms are easy to make, yet provide hours of educational entertainment. For more information on how to make an ant farm from plastic drink bottles, check out the ‘Howcast’ video at http://www.howcast.com/videos/222184-How-To-Make-an-Ant-Farm.

****************

Visit Amy at www.amyoquinn.com.

Kids Need to Read: For Readers Who Cut Their Teeth on Vampires – Maturing Kids Need Something More To Chew On

admin — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 16:07:06 +0000

Good parents try to stay plugged into their kids’ lives, and nowadays – for parents of teen girls, anyway – that’s likely to mean reading the Twilight vampire series by Stephenie Meyer and tuning into the hit teen TV drama, The Vampire Diaries, on The CW.

With the fourth in the series, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, opening in movie theaters Nov. 18, there’s plenty of bloodlust building, but how to keep whetting that appetite for books? As teens outgrow the high school drama and simple romance of adolescent fantasy fiction, they need something with the same allure – and a little more substance – to keep them reading.

Bravo to those 30-, 40- and 50-something parents who want to continue hanging with their kids, even if it’s only in the pages of books. Many of these adults have become vampire literates, though by now they’re hankering for something a little more substantive than Type 0 fantasy.

Paul Dorset, a father of five girls and boys ages 13 to 27 years old, says it’s important to keep kids reading – even if they’re 20-something “kids” – and when parents and children can talk about the books they’re sharing, that’s better yet.

“Kids have a short attention span these days,” he says. “It takes a really good book to get them focused. You really have to encourage kids to read.”

Dorset is the author of seven books, including fantasies for younger children and how-to’s for adults. However, he says it’s that middle ground of readers – ages 16 to 30 – that need special attention. In their world, the written word is all texts and Tweets, which can contribute to a short attention span and inability to absorb more complex written material. “Young people trying to get jobs need to be able to do the short and sweet – and the longer and more complex,” he says.

As a pioneer in the computing world (he was writing classified code for the British government in the late 1970s and early ‘80s), Dorset has an unusual insight into what clicks, literally, for young readers – and their parents.

His newest book, New Blood: Melrose Part 1, draws from his 30-plus years in Information Technology. Toss in a little paranormal activity (a graduation from vampires) and Da Vinci Code-style intrigue and you’ve got something older teens, young adults and their parents can sink their teeth into.

“I wouldn’t recommend it for my 13-year-old, but it’s perfect for my 16-year-old,” he says. “Even my 22-year-old loves it, and the guys like it as much as the girls.”

Dorset, a British native who lives near Seattle, Wash., says it’s important to give young adults books that offer readers something to chew on intellectually without being overly graphic, something that both parents and their young adult kids can have fun with and talk about – without blushing.

How does one do that? Hit on the themes affecting all of us today: layoffs and corporate reorganization; technology and the looming shadow of “big brother;” ambition and its costs.

“Add to that mystery, the paranormal culture and two people who must never get together and you’ve got lots of layers for any adult, or young adult, to peel back,” he says. “The more things that happen, the more you uncover.”

That should keep young people perpetuating a declining skill: reading.

About Paul Dorset
Paul Dorset is a 51-year-old father of five who has worked as a computer consultant for more than 30 years. His previous publications include fantasy novels for ages 12-plus and how-to books for adults. He incorporates his extensive experience in computers – and his insightful perspective on the possibilities therein – in novels that include layers of contemporary intrigue, romance and mystery. Visit him online at pauldorset.blogspot.com.