Let’s talk about trees.
Something interesting just happened to you. Right now. This moment.
When you read “trees,” an image of a tree or trees popped into your head. What was it?
When you write to describe something, you want to be specific. You DON’T want to write like this:
Read More
So you’re driving your taxi, and someone hails you from the sidewalk. In comes a man you eventually recognize, and you get so excited that you shout a phrase from one of his movies to him.
He laughs and joins in the fun. You drop him off, but that is not the end of the story.
Later, he sends you tickets to his latest Broadway show, and you go and even get to meet with him after the show in his dressing room!
You can read the whole, fun story about the taxi driver “Mr. Ferrari” and the famous actor
Read More
Here’s a free grammar lesson for your teens from The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School, 2nd Edition. It’s on gender-neutral language in writing—and it has the answers at the end! Keep reading to see this valuable lesson. Enjoy!
Incidentally, the subject of gender-neutral language is not related to the transgender movement or any biological issues.
Read More
In the mid-1800s, Samuel Morse helped create a code that was used in his new system of communication: telegraphs.
You may be familiar with the Morse code for “SOS”:
· · · ― ― ― · · ·
(or “dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot”).
The three dots stand for “S” and the three dashes stand for “O.”
In Frank Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey’s memoir Cheaper by the Dozen,
Read More
Today you get to be Shakespeare and write a sonnet.
A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines. The last two lines, however, are separate and either sum up the rest of the poem or provide a new twist, as does the sonnet below.
Let’s look at Shakespeare’s Sonnet 62. The letters at the end of each line are Shakespeare’s rhyme scheme, but ignore that for now. Take a few moments and read the sonnet. Then I’ll explain it:
Read More
Do you want to time travel?
What was it like when your ancestors first set foot on American soil? What did the Egyptian pyramids look like when they were first built, gleaming with layers of gold?
How did Jesus perform the miracle of healing the ten lepers? When you are twenty years old, what will the world be like?
One famous scientist, Stephen Hawking, believed people can time travel if they
Read More
“Within 30 years, we will have the means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.” -Vernor Vinge, in “The Coming Technological Singularity”
Raymond Kurzweil, a futurist, inventor, and author of books on artificial intelligence, believes that “we’re approaching a moment when computers will become intelligent, and not just intelligent but more intelligent than humans. When that happens, humanity—our bodies, our minds, our civilization—will be completely and irreversibly transformed…. Maybe we’ll merge with [the superintelligent computers] to become superintelligent cyborgs, using computers to extend our intellectual abilities the same way that cars and planes extend our physical abilities.” *
Read More
Reading descriptions can be super boring; you probably skip them when you read older books, especially if they go on and on.
Today’s writers know how to capture your attention and keep the descriptions interesting. What are their secrets? We’ll explore two today.
First, they use their senses. Here’s a fascinating verse about Jesus that the apostle John writes in the beginning of his first letter:
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life” (I John 1:1 NIV)
How many senses from the list below does he depend on to tell us that Jesus is real?
Read More
Is physical perfection possible?
If it is, do we really want it?
And if it isn’t, should we pretend to be perfect?
These are some of the questions teen Haleigh Hohman asks in her Facebook video after finding a very interesting button on her new phone that she calls the “magic button.”
Read More
When our oldest son was almost five years old, my husband and I met some neighbors in the hallway of our apartment building. After we introduced ourselves, one neighbor looked at our son and said, “So this is Hurry Up Benny!” It seems that the only thing we had ever said in that resonating hallway was “Hurry up, Benny!” on the way from our door to the car.
Do you have many activities that keep you rushing from the door to the car? Is your time being gobbled up by the restless speed of your life? Do you find yourself saying,
Read More
