50 of the Best Websites for Writers There are tons of reference sites on the web that can help you find a job or write a poem, essay or story. Here is a list of the best 50 websites for writers. Reference Websites Merriam-Webster Online - Merriam Webster is the perfect place to look up words and find information. General Writing Websites Writer's Digest - Probably one of the best all-around websites for writers, Writer's Digest offers information on writing better and getting published. Fiction Writing Websites About.com - About.com publishes a Guide to Fiction Writing with general information about fiction writing and a number of community forums for both current and aspiring writers. Nonfiction Writing Websites Bella Online - This site offers a large collection of resources for nonfiction writers. Websites for Freelance Writers and Authors Media Bistro - This site is a good place to find freelance jobs online.
4 Ways High School Makes You Hate Reading I can't be the only one who feels like the schools pulled a sort of bait-and-switch job on us when it came to reading. When I was in elementary school, they went to a lot of trouble to make sure we thought reading was fun, with bookmobiles and read-a-thons and tons of fun books about mice and motorcycles and phantom tollbooths. I had confidence that I could go to the library and pull anything off the shelf except a Baby-Sitters Club book and I wouldn't be disappointed. Goodreads.comThis is one of those books that you could judge by its cover. That was the bait. So one summer you are reading A Wrinkle in Time or Fantastic Mr. GettyThis is when the flashbacks start. Let me be clear: I still love reading good books, but since experience has taught me that there's about a 95 percent chance that a random (adult) book I pick up is going to be unenjoyable, I spend more time researching a book before I read it than I spent researching my house before I bought it. #4. #3.
Quest - Write text adventure games and interactive stories Quest lets you make interactive story games. Text adventure games like Zork and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Gamebooks like the Choose Your Own Adventure and Fighting Fantasy books. You don't need to know how to program. Watch a quick screencast ...and you're free No restrictions. This means you can download and modify the Quest source code, and do whatever you want with it. You can sell the games you make with Quest. You don't need to ask for permission - you already have it. Get started quickly You don't need to know how to program to use Quest. Everything about your game is displayed in plain English, but the source code to your game is also viewable and editable for the more technically minded. A full tutorial is included, and help is always available on the forums. Ever wanted to... Ever wanted to create your own game, but were put off by complicated programming languages? Want to get into game writing, or prototype game narrative before turning it into something bigger?
10 of My Favorite Writing Craft Sites The writing journey is all about discovering what works best of for each of us as individual, and very unique, writers. Learning from others is valuable in helping us glean tips and fit together the puzzle pieces that will form our own writing processes. Today, I’d like to share with you ten of the sites that inspire, educate, and help me refine my process—plus, they’re run by a bunch of super awesome folks! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
All The Text Message Acronyms You Ever Wanted To Know Kids these days. Constantly with their noses in their phones, texting their friends who are nine feet away from them. And if you had to take their phone away from them, you probably can barely decipher what they’re saying. While some of the abbreviations are pretty mainstream and/or understandable (LOL has been around for ages, and K is fairly self explanatory to everyone besides my grandmother), other abbreviations definitely need some deciphering. So here it is: your fun post of the day – a guide to understanding the text messages your students send. For the record, I’m firmly in the camp of using actual words, but I will admit to using shortcuts on my iPhone. BTWITIAILWY: By the way, I think I am in love with youPOS: Parents over shoulderNTK: Nice to knowWFM: Works for meWDYT: What do you think? Want a hi-res PDF? Katie was a teacher, graduate student, and is now the lady who makes sure Edudemic is as useful as possible.
Game-Based Learning Units for the Everyday Teacher Game-based learning (GBL) is getting a lot press. It is an innovative practice that is working to engage kids in learning important 21st century skills and content. Dr. Judy Willis in a previous post wrote about the neurological benefits and rationale around using games for learning. She also gives tips about using the game model in the classroom. James Paul Gee has long been a champion for game-based learning in speeches, blogs, and books. Myths About Game-Based Learning First, let's clarify a couple things. Gee refers to teachers as "learning designers," and I couldn't agree more. Inspired by the work I've seen, here is an overview of components and structure for the everyday teacher to implement game-based learning Overall Structure: Individual Quests and Boss Levels A game-based learning unit should consist of both smaller quests and more robust boss levels. Boss levels are more rigorous missions that require students to synthesize the content and skills learned in the quests. Avatar
Welcome - Ommwriter 7 Ways to Send Group Texts to Parents and Students This week I'm taking a few days off to ski, play with my dogs, visit with friends and family, and generally recharge my batteries. If you're on vacation this week too, I hope that you're having a great vacation. While I'm away I'm rerunning the most popular posts of the year. The selections are based on pageviews during 2012. People, particularly teenagers, have an almost compulsive reaction to open text messages when their phones beep or buzz. So if you want to quickly deliver an important message to student or parent today, sending a text message is the best way to do it. Class Parrot is a service that enables teachers to send text messages to groups of students and parents. Class Pager is another service that teachers can use to send group text messages to their students. gText is a new service offering free group text messaging. Kikutext is a service for keeping parents informed about your classroom and or school through text messages. WeTxt offers free group text messaging.
GameSites NOTE: Click on any of the anchor links you find interesting, read more about them, then click the headings to visit the website! Kindersite- List of 100s of Games The Kindersite spearheaded by Joel Josephson (@acerview54) has 1000s of educational and fun content specifically designed for preschool, kindergartens, elementary, primary schools and special needs students. Register for free for full featured access, but it’s not required. The age level and themes are listed next to each game! ELT Digital Play- Blog highlighting 100s of Games - This blog lists reviews various games, describes their value and how to play them. Pumkin English- Virtual World for Kids to Learn English - Love this virtual world for children to learn English through cute characters accomplishing tasks and winning points! Brainnook- Virtual World for Kids - a free online virtual world for kids to develop math and english skills with children worldwide. English Story Time Wiki- Resource of Games by Theme Let's Play!
English words with disputed usage Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Legal. List of English words with disputed usage Some English words are often used in ways that are contentious between writers on usage and prescriptive commentators. aggravate – Some have argued that this word should not be used in the sense of "to annoy" or "to oppress", but only to mean "to make worse". barbaric and barbarous – Barbaric applies to the culture of barbarians and may be positive ("barbaric splendor"); barbarous applies to the behavior of barbarians and is negative ("barbarous cruelty"). can and may – Some argue that can refers to possibility and may refers to permission, and insist on maintaining this distinction, although usage of can to refer to permission is pervasive in spoken and very frequent in written English. deprecate – The original meaning in English is "deplore" or "express disapproval of" (the Latin from which the word derives means "pray to avert evil", suggesting that some event would be a calamity). See also
Design Your Class Like A Video Game How Video Games Have Mastered Learning Engagement Terry Heick Agreeing on how to best establish what a learner understands isn’t simple — if for no other reason than understanding isn’t simple. Gamification and game-based learning (which are different, by the way: the former uses encouragement mechanics to promote engagement, while the latter uses video-games as core sources of learning material or cognitive action) is one response. By embedding diverse achievements into activities and assessments, learning progress can be refracted infinitely. But video games have even more to offer formal learning systems. To be able to do this before moving on to that. Stifling the Fun Hated tropes in video game mechanics include “training” sessions, where players must prove to the video game that they can perform a basic function before moving on. Not much different than school, then. Most game designers have learned, however. Climb a mountain or slay a robot enemy? Takeaways for Learning 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
SimCityEDU | A game-based learning and assessment tool for middle school students covering the Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards. Stephen King’s Top 20 Rules for Writing | Margaret Langstaff As you know I in the habit of publishing “writing rules” from various well-known writers as I stumble over them on the web. They won’t write your books for you, but they are food for thought. For what it’s worth here are Stephen King’s. They are more discursive that some, but contain some pearls. Happy writing! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. This list was posted on Open Culture ( on March 16th, 2014. Like this: Like Loading... A lifelong critical reader with literary tastes, a novelist, short story writer, essayist, book critic and so on for many years...A consultant to publishers, providing manuscript critiques, a friend and supporter of others, admittedly a small group but my kind of people, interested in literary things and of writers who aspire to writing not just books (or poems, stories, novels, plays etc.) but literature.