Writing Prompts for Inspiration

"It is by sitting down to write every morning that one becomes a writer."
Gerald Brenan

Writing prompts are a great way to get students writing on a variety of topics on a daily basis. This website was created by a teacher to share writing prompts and inspirations that he has come across over the past few years. There are about 200 hundred writing prompts if you go all the way back to the beginning. These prompts would work for a variety of grades and could easily be adapted to a variety of situations. 

Click here to preview the author's top 35 writing prompts.

Here are a few that I enjoy:

Maybe consider using a video instead. Here is one that could inspire some writing:

Comics in the Classroom

When you work with people whom you respect and whom you like and you admire because they're so good at what they do, it doesn't feel like work... It's like you're playing.

Stan "The Man" Lee

As the Dalai Lama of the comic book world, Stan Lee knows a thing or two about story writing. His words of wisdom serve two purposes here. First, this quote illustrates (pun intended) how I often feel about my job working with teachers across our district. Secondly, I would be amiss if I didn't mention Stan Lee in some capacity on a blog post dealing with comics in the classroom. 'Nuff Said.

Comics are an excellent option for students to express themselves when writing. They can be an effective tool for motivating students who do not take interest in "normal" types of writing. Even for ESL students, comics can offer a method of storytelling that requires less text and is more manageable. They can communicate their ideas through both text and drawing. Read this article or this blog for more information about using comics in the classroom or find more helpful links here.

While there are a number of pay for use comic sites for education, here are a sampling of my favourite free options:

Official Super Hero Squad Show - options to create a comic strip or a comic book with Marvel characters. Very customizable and colourful. When you are finished, you can either print or download as a pdf file.


ReadWriteThink - online comic creator with lesson plans for classroom inclusion. Simple to use and has an option to print when you're finished.

Witty Comics - comic strip creator where students can customize backgrounds, characters, and add narration. You have the option to save online and print afterwards.


Comics Master - graphic novel creator. Customizable page layouts, backgrounds and a number of characters to choose from. You can save and print your graphic novel.


StripGenerator - comic strip creator that allows you to make customized frames as well as select from a number of characters and items. You can print your comic strip when finished.

ToonDoo - Easy to use comic strip creator with tons of clip art. You also have the option of uploading pictures from your computer. Use Smart Notebook Screen Capture to save your pictures.


To save your comics as picture files, watch this video.

Web 2.0: Sharing your Pictures

You may have heard about Web 2.0 and wondered what is it all about. A quick search on Youtube will yield a number of videos showing people of all ages using blogs, wikis, and social networking sites. So, what is it all about?

Web 2.0 is a change in philosophy of the Internet. Gone are the days of the dotcom bubble when people used their ingenuity to make money. Web 2.0 has changed the internet to be more open, collaborative and social. For me, it is all about instant access to information, creation, and sharing.

There are many ways to share your pictures on the internet. We've all used email for this purpose and it works just fine if you want to limit your pictures to your contacts. Many people also use Facebook for this as well. But in the spirit of Web 2.0, people are now sharing their pictures with the rest of the world. One of the main picture sharing sites is Flickr.

After you upload your pictures to Flickr, you are able to edit them, add effects, organize them and share them with whomever you choose to. Add tags (key words) to your photos so that people can search for them (click here to give it a try). Find your family and friends on Flickr to see their photos and share yours with them. You can also specify on a globe where you took your picture or search by location.

So why use a public site like Flickr? First, it is a very effective method to have access to your pictures from anywhere since they are on the Internet. Flickr is also a very effective image search tool when doing research. Pictures are supplied by others so it makes sense to be a part of that community and add to the collection.

Check out my Flickr collection (which I'll be adding more to in the future):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cunningandy/

Below is a quick video showing you how to reduce the file size of your digital pictures. This will make it easier and faster to upload your pictures.