Ecological Writing Walks start September 27th Join me on the last Saturday of the every month for a walk in Prospect Park to learn about plants, plant mythology, poetry, and stories. We will collect seeds for you to take home and plant. We will identify plants, write about, and draw them. There will be stories,Continue reading “Botanical Walks”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Freewriting
What we learn from facing the page Yes, I did read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I even got several weeks into it before I got distracted. For those of you unfamiliar with the text, if you don’t get anything from it, chances are you know about morning pages. These are three pages thatContinue reading “Freewriting”
An Ending and a Beginning
Writing in times of change I lead a bimonthly writing group with the Brooklyn Women’s Writing Group in Bushwick. It’s a wonderful time to work with adults on their writing – people who might have jobs besides writing, or they’re copywriters, or they’re just trying to get their writing projects completed. In these sessions IContinue reading “An Ending and a Beginning”
Finding Character in Comics
Looking at character development through the super hero origin story I know that reading graphic novels can seem “too easy” to readers in fourth and fifth grade who should be reading chapter books. When a page has mostly pictures, telling the reader how to understand character, plot, and setting. This labeling can be too heavyContinue reading “Finding Character in Comics”
Botanical Writing Program #3
The Flower and the Myth The botanical writing program ends with a book, or at least a culminating publication of the student’s work. And after many conversations and activities that can be completed inside, we will take this session to the outdoors. On the third day of the program look in pavement cracks where plantainContinue reading “Botanical Writing Program #3”
Botanical Writing Program #2
Stems and Leaves The natural world can sometimes feel like nothing more than a wash of green. It takes a trained eye to observe the differences between plants. But once we see these differences they can’t be unseen, the patterns of these plants become as ingrained and unique as the face of a loved one.Continue reading “Botanical Writing Program #2”
Botanical Writing Program #1
Most mythology, many fairy tales, some of our oldest stories discuss, or even center plants. It’s because plants have been some of our first companions. Whether it is moss, or the shaft of an arrow. Whether it is the food or we eat or that which clothes us, plants are, have always been there. InContinue reading “Botanical Writing Program #1”
Theater for Reading Fluency
For students who struggle with fluency, I usually implement a bit of theater. Around 2nd to 4th graders, readers go through a difficult period for reading. Between these years they go from reading middle grade, or lower, books to chapter books in the fourth grade. What is expected of students in terms of this periodContinue reading “Theater for Reading Fluency”
Placing the Bones
How to structure writing in a way that works for your scholar In school I never wrote outline. After researching or deciding upon what I was going to write, I let the words rush out. No apparent logic dictated the turns, no hand pushed the themes from one paragraph to the next – from oneContinue reading “Placing the Bones”
Writing in the Sun
2024 Spring and Summer Workshops with Bending Tree Teen Book Club Poetica Coffee, Last Sunday of every month (unless otherwise noted – check in the workshops page), 4-5pm, 251 Smith St. Brooklyn, NY, Free. Join Irene and Sebastian Sarti each month to discuss a new book of experimental fiction. These book clubs are for passionate andContinue reading “Writing in the Sun”
Bending Tree Education 