Big Brain Club

Intellectual Peer Pressure

This is the very essence of The Big Brain Club, and occasionally I'll write a new column to address the issue. This particular article is directed at teachers, librarians, and parents, and helps to explain the pressure that kids feel to dumb down.

To read a PDF version of the article, just click here.

Teacher Forum: Writing Prompts

I have been hosting writing workshops at schools and libraries for several years, and I put an emphasis on the word WORK. As far as I'm concerned, the best way for kids to improve their writing skills is to actually work at it.

Some of the best feedback I get from teachers involves an exercise I do with writing prompts. If you'd like to try it in your classroom, here's what I do...

April, 2008 Assignment: Second Chance

How many times have you done something, or said something, and later wished you could go back in time and get a "do over." That's the seed for this month's creative writing assignment. Here are the details...

Writing Tip: Character Biographies

Your characters obviously supply your story with most of its emotion, which means you're putting a lot of responsibility in their hands. The question is: Do you know your own characters that well? Here's a tip to help you understand not only what your characters look like, but what makes them tick...