FanFiction.Net - unleash your imagination

Have you ever found it difficult to engage your child in the writing process?

Do you find that you daughter or son is uninterested in expressing themselves and that finding their "voice" in the writing process seems so distant?

This website is a great tool to unleash the imagination.....

Students are raving about it!

Follow up:

My family has personally seen the impact that it has had on one of our budding authors!

Am amazing site where readers can go to write stories that go beyond the author...

Check this site out and share with budding student authors!

http://www.fanfiction.net/

http://www.creativetutors.com/

Categories: Book Reviews | Permalink | 1 feedback »

Comments:

Comment from: traci [Member]

05/14/09 @ 19:20

I think, generally, there exists a quiet and gradual awakening in the world of writing pedagogy in the last 15 years. Away from the old fashioned learn the five paragraph essay, and memorize the Holt Handbook approach,(yuck!) toward a more holistic, personal, and reflective approach to thinking with paper.

I was lucky enough to encounter Peter Elbows books in college, a well respected writing professor who taught "freewriting" exercises in books such as Writing With Power, Writing Without Teachers, etc. At the time I read the book his approach was still very novel even at the college level (and still is I am sure in some places), but by the time my youngest sister was into middle school it was normal to hear her talk about being required to keep a journal of creative writing or freewriting in her English class. Unheard of in my own experiences at the same school.

Peter Elbow encourages learning creativity inducing exercises first, developing passion about what you are writing about then worrying about the grammar, spelling punctuation and arrangement. Most of our curriculum has tended to do the opposite, rules first, and then teachers hope and pray for the creativity as the icing on the cake.

In the midwest where I come from, there is a strong creative writing community and I was very lucky to encounter avant garde methods of writing in college. When I went to a southern women's college for a while I was shocked to see how traditionally the freshman students approached their academic writing. The women in my lit class blew me out of the water with their ability to write perfect thesis statements, proper paragraph structures, and in text citation on command. Way better than me, whose own high teachers must have thought, "Well, your in Advanced English, you'll figure it out eventually." (I am still finding my way, I must admit)
Yet, in all my experiences reading fellow student essays, as one gets to do often in our group work oriented modern collegiate culture, I don't recall even half a handful of unique ideas. Most of these students can summarize a text with the best of them, but forget asking them to present a creative interpretation of the text. When the teacher did emphasis original ideas as well as polished presentation, as most good English teachers will at some point bravely and hopefully continue to do, you could feel the cluelessness grow into its own separate entity in the room.

I have struggled all of my life with poor handwriting and poor editing skills due to undiagnosed handicaps. Thankfully I had teachers who looked past that and saw my communicative and verbal and creative gifts. As my one of my favorite teachers in college told me when I was venting after class about my ignorance of the intricacies of grammar, "Hire and Editor. That's what they get paid to do."

Nn teacher has ever told me to hire an idea creator. It's not likely they ever will.

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Meet Jan Van Blarcum | Founder

In 1999, Jan Van Blarcum, Ph.D. founded Creative Tutors. As an educator, Dr. Van Blarcum understood the importance of personalized attention in a child's educational growth. Her passion for learning grew into a business endeavor that provides customized, one-on-one, in-home tutoring to children with a variety of learning needs. Every child receives personalized attention from certified/degreed educators. Jan has acquired invaluable experience through living abroad, teaching in many educational environments and has acquired business development experience. These unique experiences, coupled with her fervent desire to provide all children with the tools needed to achieve their potential in today's educational environment, led her to establish Creative Tutors and their sister organization Creative Learning 4 Kids, Inc. a 501(c)(3) company.

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