Chicken Soup for the Soul in the Classroom - Middle School Edition: Lesson Plans and Students' Favorite Stories for Reading Comprehension, Writing Skills, Critical Thinking, Character Building

Chicken Soup for the Soul in the Classroom - Middle School Edition: Lesson Plans and Students' Favorite Stories for Reading Comprehension, Writing Skills, Critical Thinking, Character Building Review

'Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.'

—Martin Luther King, Jr.

As a teacher, you have the unique opportunity to teach and inspire your students to be goal-oriented, compassionate, confident, and ambitious. Anna Unkovich, a former teacher of thirty-five years, made a difference in her students' lives through the daily use of stories from the bestselling series Chicken Soup for the Soul.

For many years, Unkovich read these stories to her students and noticed remarkable changes in them, both academically and personally. Recognizing that today's teenagers have more challenges in finding positive role models, she teamed up with bestselling author Mark Victor Hansen and veteran teacher, inspirational speaker, and bestselling author Jack Canfield to create an unprecedented educational curriculum for teachers to use to empower their students in the same way that they have. Unkovich chose the most inspirational stories from the more than one hundred Chicken Soup books published. These stories, activities, and plans will enhance your existing curriculum. Designed to be read aloud to students, each story is accompanied by thought-provoking questions and exercises specifically designed and used by the authors.

Your students will identify with each of the powerful stories and will be encouraged to apply the lesson plans to their own lives, challenges, and situations, and at the same time improve their critical thinking and writing skills. More important, unlike other curriculums, Chicken Soup for the Soul in the Classroom educates and provides opportunities for open dialogue on real-life issues, including character building and self-esteem.

1,000 Character Writing Prompts: Villains, Heroes and Hams for Scripts, Stories and More

1,000 Character Writing Prompts: Villains, Heroes and Hams for Scripts, Stories and More Review

From the author of 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts, this 300 page, 150,000+ word reference tool can serve writers who need characters and need them now!

If character development is your problem, this detailed reference tool for any writer is the solution. Imagine if every time you sat down to brainstorm for your stories, scripts and more, you had a notebook full of character ideas ready to spring to life on the page. This time-saving, idea-generating tome can ensure that from protagonist to checkout girl, your characters are fully developed and captivating. Covering a variety of genres, time periods and styles, 1,000 Character Writing Prompts, adds nuance and depth to the typical character stereotypes many writers rely on.

The book includes the following archetypes:
• Superheroes, sidekicks and secret agents
• Monsters, demons and strange creatures
• Optimists, pessimists and screw ups
• Zombies, werewolves and vampires
• Lawyers, doctors and butchers
• Rebels, ninjas, actors, villains, pets, babies and many more!

Each of the 1,000 character ideas ends with a question or command to push you past your writer's block and into a creative flow state for your future writing sessions. This sequel to author Bryan Cohen's popular 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts can take your writing productivity to a whole new level.

Bryan Cohen is a director, a comedian and an author of several books on the art of writing including 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts: Ideas for Blogs, Scripts, Stories and More and Writer on the Side: How to Write Your Book Around Your 9 to 5 Job. His website Build Creative Writing Ideas helps over 240,000 visitors a year to push past writer's block and reach their creative goals. He lives in Chicago.

Authors - How to Develop a Character: Quick and Easy Tips for Writing Credible Characters

Authors - How to Develop a Character: Quick and Easy Tips for Writing Credible Characters Review

Authors – How to Develop a Character:
Quick and Easy Tips for Writing Credible Characters

7,000 words

You may have a compelling story and an engaging style, but if your characters do not resonate with your reader or viewer, be it a novel or a screenplay, your project will not come alive and be successful.

You can spends years taking courses, going to workshops, completing assignments and exercises and studying what has been written by professional writers, and that is all good, but there are times when what you need to get yourself in gear, in the flow, or in the zone as athletes call it, is a simple shift in perspective.

This booklet may be small – 7,000 words (about 35-48 Kindle pages) – but it can be a valuable aid in helping you bring your characters to life. After the book has been read or the movie viewed, what your reader or audience will take away with them is often the rapport, the care and concern, and even a feeling of bonding with your characters. They may not recall all the carefully constructed twists and turns in the plot but human beings are innately interested in other people and that is typically where their attachment will be. And anything that can help you create memorable characters is a tool worth having.

So whether you are working on a novel, a screenplay, short stories, or making your first attempt at fiction writing, try some of these quick and easy tips for writing credible characters.

Enjoy your writing!

Reading & Writing Chinese: Simplified Character Edition

Reading & Writing Chinese: Simplified Character Edition Review

This is a revised third edition of Tuttle's Reading & Writing Chinese.

This new edition focuses on the internationally recognized test of proficiency in Chinese, the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK). All 800 characters prescribed for Level A are covered here, and the 1400+ Levels B and C characters are covered concisely.

All of the prescribed vocabulary for Levels A-C of the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi is included among the example compounds. Knowledge of the 2,200+ characters and 5,253+ vocabulary items covered will equip students to take the test at either the Basic or the Elementary-Intermediate standard. Success in the top band of the Basic standard is sufficient to enter college in China.

The Eight Characters of Comedy: Guide to Sitcom Acting And Writing

The Eight Characters of Comedy: Guide to Sitcom Acting And Writing Review

At the core of this Hollywood howto guide is the concept of The Eight Characters of Comedy, the eight specific character archetypes used in sitcoms dating back to the advent of TV. Every actor can find a sitcom niche by identifying with one of these eight characters. Using past and current actors and sitcom personalities, Sedita describes in detail where these characters come from and how actors can play them truthfully. * who is normally cast as The Logical Smart One' * why do we love The Lovable Loser' * why is The Neurotic such a fun character to play' In addition, readers learn how to break down a comedy script, how to identify different types of jokes, how to deliver them with comedic precision, sitcom auditioning techniques, and how to market themselves.

Elements of Fiction Writing - Characters & Viewpoint

Elements of Fiction Writing - Characters & Viewpoint Review

Vivid and memorable characters aren't born: they have to be made.

This book is a set of tools: literary crowbars, chisels, mallets, pliers and tongs. Use them to pry, chip, yank and sift good characters out of the place where they live in your memory, your imagination and your soul.

Award-winning author Orson Scott Card explains in depth the techniques of inventing, developing and presenting characters, plus handling viewpoint in novels and short stories. With specific examples, he spells out your narrative options–the choices you'll make in creating fictional people so "real" that readers will feel they know them like members of their own families.

You'll learn how to:

• draw the characters from a variety of sources, including a story's basic idea, real life–even a character's social circumstances
  
  
• make characters show who they are by the things they do and say, and by their individual "style"
  
  
• develop characters readers will love–or love to hate
  
  
• distinguish among major characters, minor characters and walk-ons, and develop each one appropriately
  
  
• choose the most effective viewpoint to reveal the characters and move the storytelling
  
  
• decide how deeply you should explore your characters' thoughts, emotions and attitudes

Remembering the Kanji, Vol. 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters

Remembering the Kanji, Vol. 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters Review

The aim of this book is to provide the student of Japanese with a simple method for correlating the writing and the meaning of Japanese characters in such a way as to make them both easy to remember. It is intended not only for the beginner, but also for the more advanced student looking for some relief from the constant frustration of how to write the kanji and some way to systematize what he or she already knows. The author begins with writing because--contrary to first impressions--it is in fact the simpler of the two. He abandons the traditional method of ordering the kanji according to their frequency of use and organizes them according to their component parts or "primitive elements." Assigning each of these parts a distinct meaning with its own distinct image, the student is led to harness the powers of "imaginative memory" to learn the various combinations that result. In addition, each kanji is given its own key word to represent the meaning, or one of the principal meanings, of that character. These key words provide the setting for a particular kanji's "story," whose protagonists are the primitive elements.

In this way, students are able to complete in a few short months a task that would otherwise take years. Armed with the same skills as Chinese or Korean students, who know the meaning and writing of the kanji but not their pronunciation in Japanese, they are now in a much better position to learn to read (which is treated in a separate volume).

The Encyclopedia of Writing and Illustrating Children's Books: From creating characters to developing stories, a step-by-step guide to making magical picture books

The Encyclopedia of Writing and Illustrating Children's Books: From creating characters to developing stories, a step-by-step guide to making magical picture books Review

The latest in our best selling Encyclopedia of Art series now focuses on a popular topic for both writers and illustrators: how to make, craft, and sell children’s books. This practical book is a step-by-step guide to becoming a successful graphic storyteller, showing how to create exciting plots and engaging characters that will delight young readers.

Topics feature a wide range of genres, from fantasy and fairy tales to action-packed adventure, and offers guidance on how to tailor work to suit different age groups. The Encyclopedia of Writing and Illustrating Children’s Books also features a special section on the commercial realities of the children’s publishing industry, with tips on presenting and promoting work, and includes a gallery of inspirational examples from renowned children’s writers and illustrators.