writing

it’s just something you do

November 22, 2011
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I went away for a writing retreat with friends this weekend. For years we’ve gathered at the coast, but this time we found ourselves on the backroads of Northern California. Instead of looking out over beaches, we had buttes. And a most changing landscape–for a landscape that at first seemed unchanging. We were astonished by [...]

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DIY home page, DIY learning

November 14, 2011
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So I have a new home page. Maybe you’ve seen it? You can check it out here, or by clicking about me in the menu above my header. The home page is at patriciazaballos.com, where the blog used to live. The blog now gets moved next door to patriciazaballos.com/blog. I’ve been assured that the change [...]

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three days of reading and writing: an incomprehensive list

October 28, 2011
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Oh, what  a crazy time it is. Mr. T turns ten today, and Lulu turns sixteen on Halloween. Multiple cakes and celebrations are involved. Also, I’m trying to fabricate a Thor costume primarily from duct tape. But that’s the sticky stuff of another post. I haven’t managed a post here in a few weeks. But [...]

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love reading today! love writing today!

October 14, 2011
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What would a teacher say about that writing posture? That pencil grip? The other day I read these words in a comment from Amy: “…So many of your suggestions for working with little (pre) writers and readers have wisely echoed in my brain right as I am about to pull the panic trigger and rap [...]

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how to encourage writing with the media kids love

September 20, 2011
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Mr. T conducts research for a Lego-themed writing project. (Really!) * * * “90% of teens enjoy the writing they do outside of school, a figure that is consistent between boys and girls as well as older and younger teens.” Writing, Technology and Teens, Pew Internet & American Life Project Ninety percent. That’s a pretty [...]

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the writing kids do on their own is real writing

September 7, 2011

“Today, students are doing an immense amount of writing—they’re blogging; they’re text messaging; they’re e-mailing; they’re updating their status messages, profile information, and live feeds on social networking and other sites; and others are “tweeting”… Perhaps most interesting in the midst of all this writing students are doing is that they don’t often call it ‘writing’. [...]

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distracted

August 18, 2011
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I’ve been a little distracted lately. By Mexican palms and Mayan ruins. By coconuts. And cenotes. The slightly loco part of all of this is that we flew to Mexico the same day that I gave my second homeschooling conference workshop. Which meant that the week before was a mash-up of preparing PowerPoint slides and buying sunscreen [...]

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