Cal State Northridge Writing Project

Cal State Northridge Writing Project

by | Jul 18, 2018 | Writing

When I started out as a writing tutor six years ago, I had a master’s degree in writing, a love of language and an enthusiastic, almost evangelical, energy about the subject.  Instinctively, I knew how important writing is to a child’s future. After all, even the most brilliant scientist needs to be able to communicate his/her ideas. In addition, our first impressions are made in writing today.  I don’t want this to turn into a listicle of the top 10 reasons why kids need to learn how to write; suffice it to say that writing is a critical skill.

    Thanks to the National Writing Project, I have gotten to spend the last two years studying the way we teach writing.  And yes, there’s a lot of science and data that goes into building writing programs. Two summers ago, I was a fellow in the Los Angeles Writing Project Summer Institute at Cal State LA.  Since then, I’ve taught in the summer camp and tutored in the Alhambra Unified School District. This summer, I was a fellow at the Cal State Northridge Writing Project and am now officially a teacher leader.  I look forward to continuing involvement with both branches of the Writing Project.

    Learning about pedagogy, using scaffolding and mentor texts has made me a better teacher.  However, I’m going to call myself a coach, tutor, or maybe a cheerleader, because I want my kids to think of themselves as writers, not students.

    Look for blog posts about creative spelling, writer’s workshops, 5 paragraph essays, and more.  

 

Have Some Sense

Have Some Sense

by | Mar 12, 2018 | Writing

It’s pretty hard to write a decent description without using your senses.

Sometimes the right smell will jolt you back in time.  The other day, I was walking along the coast in La Jolla, CA (I know, rough life!) when I was hit with a scent that rocketed me right back to childhood.  The area was beautiful, but it was also a protected sanctuary for seals and sea lions. I was admiring the beauty when the odor hit me like a wave. It was a cross between rotten fish and cat litter, and even though we were outside, it was extremely concentrated and pungent.

When I was a child, my grandfather used to take us to the Baltimore zoo every Sunday.  Every. Single. Sunday. We never got sick of the zoo because the playground had a rocket ship climbing structure. Before ipads were invented, rocket ship climbing structures were a pretty big deal!  Every, single Sunday my brother and I had a contest to see who could stay in the hippo house the longest. The hippo house smelled exactly like those seals, only it must have been much, much worse because it was indoors.

Hey, wait a minute!  It just occurred to me that I always won that contest.

Let’s play a little game. Head on over to the facebook page and describe the most disgusting thing you have ever smelled.