This exciting practical resource is full of immediately usable activities to help children develop their literacy skills and creative writing abilities. The 'story strand' technique begins with one simple picture and by adding others to form a sequence, shows children how to build narrative in an enjoyable, creative and systematic way. Story strand activities help children weave their thoughts into a coherent pattern and so become more skilful writers. The activities are sequenced to increase the creative and intellectual demands on pupils, and can also be used individually to highlight different aspects of the writing process such as: Exploring the varied meanings of certain words through association webs Moving from simple to more complex sentences Learning how to enrich writing using strong, vivid adjectives, verbs and adverbs Understanding how to use connectives more insightfully to give narrative a greater logical consistency Creating narrative refinements such as subplots, flashbacks and 'cliffhangers' out of basic plot sequences A 'thinking skills' agenda underpins each story strand game, and many promote speaking and listening skills by encouraging discussion and collaborative exploration of the images. Supported by a companion website that includes downloadable images from the book, colour images and worked examples for the 'story string idea', additional activities and games, as well as links to the National Curriculum.

Over the last 15 years the Primary National Strategy and the standards-driven curriculum in teacher education have demonstrably improved the primary education of children in the UK. Yet there has been a growing awareness that creativity has been neglected. To address this, a range of initiatives have been launched to offer support for creativity in the primary curriculum. This book will provide teachers with a set of teaching strategies to provide children with a tool-kit of creative skills. This book suggests that a child, who might dislike a lesson on the correct use of grammar, will become excited by a lesson that involves using his or her own talents and experiences to create a story. Throughout the process of composing the story the child will attend to aspects of grammar in order to share their work with others. Results from the classroom research conducted using the exercises in this book suggest that the book has the power to enable teachers to engage pupils in writing lessons, who are often uninterested in classroom writing lessons. The book also includes: 20 creative writing templates for classroom activities A variety of exercises to help develop creative writing skills and build pupil confidence Detailed curriculum links Teaching Creative Writing in the Primary School is essential reading for all primary school teachers.

In reading comic books children are engaging with highly complex and structured narrative forms. Whether they realise it or not, their emergent visual literacy promotes thinking skills and develops wider metacognitive abilities. Using Comic Art not only motivates children to read more widely, but also enables them to enjoy a richer imagined world when reading comics, text based stories and their own written work. The book sets out a range of practical techniques and activities which focus on various aspects of narrative, including: using comic art as a visual organiser for planning writing openings and endings identifying with the reader, using different genres and developing characters creating pace, drama, tension and anticipation includes 'Kapow!' techniques to kick start lessons an afterword on the learning value of comics.

FOREWORD BY GUY KAWASAKI Presentation designer and internationally acclaimed communications expert Garr Reynolds, creator of the most popular Web site on presentation design and delivery on the Net — presentationzen.com — shares his experience in a provocative mix of illumination, inspiration, education, and guidance that will change the way you think about making presentations with PowerPoint or Keynote. Presentation Zen challenges the conventional wisdom of making "slide presentations" in today’s world and encourages you to think differently and more creatively about the preparation, design, and delivery of your presentations. Garr shares lessons and perspectives that draw upon practical advice from the fields of communication and business. Combining solid principles of design with the tenets of Zen simplicity, this book will help you along the path to simpler, more effective presentations.

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.

Surveys the online social habits of American teens and analyzes the role technology and social media plays in their lives, examining common misconceptions about such topics as identity, privacy, danger, and bullying.