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I teach a class through WOW! Women On Writing about social networking for writers–but it could actually be for any small business owner or blogger. As I said last Wednesday, I know many of you, who read my blog to get ideas for the classroom, library, and home school, are also writers and bloggers. Here’s an interview that I did with WOW! Women On Writing executive editor, Angela, about social networking. (Reprinted from The Muffin, February 2010)

Angela: This was the first year WOW! branched out into social networking by creating Twitter and Facebook profiles, and it’s already done so much for our site. We get to interact with our readers, really get to know them, and obtain feedback instantly. Our traffic has increased from links coming from the networks as well, and it’s also a lot of fun!

At the head of our social media campaign is WOW! contributing editor, columnist, and instructor Margo L. Dill, who launched our campaign from scratch. She knows a great deal about using these sites to your advantage, so I caught up with her to ask her a few questions about her upcoming e-course “Social Networking for Authors: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more!” If you want to learn how to effectively use social networking platforms for self-promotion, there’s still time to sign up for her course, which starts next Monday (August 23).

Welcome, Margo! Who should take your social networking class? Is it only for authors?

Margo: My social networking class can help anyone who has something to promote–a blog, a website, a book, a magazine, or a newsletter. The class will give tips on how to find other writers on social networks; find clients, customers, or readers; and how to interact on these sites so people get to know the “real” you. This means, you are a real person with a personality sending out tweets or promoting your Facebook profile or fan page–not a marketer or a spambot!

Angela: That’s great to know. It sounds like it would be useful for freelance writers and small businesses as well. You teach your students how to use Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Why is it important to use all three platforms? What are the major differences?

Margo: In my opinion, each social networking site offers writers, or anyone really, a different audience, format, and way to connect with others. On Twitter, you can follow almost anyone who has similar interests as you, provides useful information, or makes you smile and laugh. In turn, anyone can follow you. People expect you to share information on Twitter about yourself and your work as well as share other useful tidbits you come across on the Internet and on Twitter itself.

On Facebook, you can connect with people whom you once knew, that you met at a conference, or through an online group as well as your family and friends. You can belong to writing groups on Facebook that provide information and allow you to network with other writers such as on the WOW! Women On Writing Facebook Fan Page. On your Facebook wall, you can promote your latest blog post or book just like you can on Twitter, but you do it with posts on your wall or status updates or fan pages. I get a lot of response from my family and friends on my blog from my Facebook page. These people wouldn’t know what I was up to if I didn’t have Facebook to tell them. I am reaching a different audience here and on an even more personal level than on Twitter.

LinkedIn is a completely different network all together. It is for professional connections more than personal ones. You can connect with others and find free

photo by nDevilTV www.flickr.com

The Wacky Wednesday post is back this week, and I’m excited about this topic! Being a full-time freelancer, step-mom, dog-mom to two dogs, wife, and pregnant with one on the way, this topic is near and dear to my heart. Even when I read, I’m usually reading for my blog or for my weekly column in the Sunday paper. (Although I do enjoy reading for a reason, too.) But anyway, here’s the topic that Sprint and JuiceBoxJungle asked me to write about today! I bet a lot of you busy, working parents and teachers can really relate.

Sprint has just launched Gaming on the Now Network™, bringing you the first wireless 4G network from a national carrier. Sprint and JuiceBoxJungle have sponsored me to write about what “ten minutes” a day means to me and what I do with a free ten minutes.

I have two main things I do with a “free 10 minutes.” And it’s a toss up on any given day what I choose to do. Drumroll please. . .I either take a power nap or watch reality TV. Okay, I’ve admitted it. Some days, I just need that power nap. I remember in college I told one of my friends that I needed a power nap–just let me close my eyes for 15 or 20 minutes, and I’d feel much better. She thought I was crazy! But then a few months later, she told me, “Hey, that power nap thing really works.” And it does–even if you just have 10 minutes. I like to lay on the couch, close my eyes, and tune out the world for a while.

But my other love is reality TV. Yes, I am one of those viewers that many people think are ruining television program options. But I can’t help it. Some of my favorite shows are on TLC; and lately, I’ve been really addicted to Say Yes to the Dress. I have been trying to figure out why, and I guess it’s for a couple reasons. One, I can’t believe how much money some people spend on their wedding dresses. Good Lord, I went to Vegas with 40 people for my wedding and had a reception back in St. Louis, and the total cost was less than some people spend on their wedding dress on that show. Plus, it’s just a happy show. There’s just something about watching a bride find her wedding dress and seeing her face when she knows that’s the one.

So, there’s my 10 minute story. What do you do with 10 minutes of free time? Here are some other things you can do in 10 minutes:

photo by kissyface www.flickr.com

I once wrote an entire article on sportsmanship and how to fit it into daily lessons for Teachers of Vision magazine. We already have so much curriculum to cover in a year and state testing to prepare for–how can you add one more thing? But I think character education is as important as reading, math, and science, and so I am going to do a Wacky Wednesday series on this subject. These ideas and activities can be used in public, private, or home schools. Today, we tackle. . .

KINDNESS!

As you can see, one idea would be to have a kindness bulletin board like the one pictured with this post. This teacher posted on flickr.com that this board was used to announce when students caught other students doing random acts of kindness! I love it! (And it’s awful cute, too.) This could easily be done in any classroom at any age–maybe in high school you wouldn’t post it on a bulletin board with ladybugs, but teens could drop notes about people whom they caught being kind into a jar. Teachers could pull one of these once a week for a candy bar or homework pass or something teens at your school care about. At home, random acts of kindness can be posted on the refrigerator.

What does it mean to be kind to people? Teach children and teens that it’s not really that hard. Instead of snapping at someone when they run into him or her in the hallway, just smile and say excuse me. Help someone who dropped a book by picking it up and handing it back to him or her. Refrain from joining in when bullying occurs. Smile at the victim and say hi. Offer to give someone a ride home, help with homework, do the dishes for a sibling or parent, and so on. Make sure to give plenty of easy and practical examples to children and teens of how they can be kind in their daily lives.

Let students write about kindness–they could write poems, stories, personal narratives, or persuasive essays. Put kindness in the middle of a word web, and see what topics kids can come up with to write about. Publish these kindness writings in a book with a plastic binding or on a wall display.

Here are some books you might be interested in sharing with children:

What are your ideas for teaching kindness?

photo by D’Arcy Norman www.flickr.com

Today is one of those days when I can’t get caught up. That’s the reason why I am writing this blog post after dinner instead of this morning, and why it is going to be short. But I do have an idea that I want to share with parents, teachers, and librarians that I don’t think we do as much as we could–use author’s and illustrator’s websites with the books we share with children. I know I’m usually talking about “using books” on here, but today I just want to remind you that it is also important to use the free resources readily available to you. One of those great resources are the authors’ and illustrators’ websites.

For example, take award-winning author Kenneth Oppel’s website. WOW! It is super cool. If you don’t know who Kenneth Oppel is, he has written several books for kids including The Silverwing Saga ( a series) and Airborn and Skybreaker. On his site, he has a special link just for teachers, which includes novel studies for his books. Take a few minutes and explore his site (especially if you are an aspiring or published author and are looking for some website ideas).

So, my suggestion to you is when you are sharing a book with your child or your students that they really love or you are looking for some lesson ideas–and I haven’t covered the book yet on here, then do a Google search for the author’s name and check out their website. Authors will often post interviews and bios on their websites, too, in case your child has to do a report on the author. Finally, if your child or students are interested in art or you love a particular illustrator’s work, then Google that artist to see if they have a website where you will be able to discover more about their work. I L-O-V-E illustrators’ websites.

Do you happen to have a favorite author website? Let us know!

This week, I got a super-cool e-mail from the JuiceBox Jungle network (see their banner ad to the right–you can vote on some really fun issues.), informing me about the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE),which I had never heard of before. But now, I am so glad I have.

The NFTE is an organization that through education helps students from low-income families build skills and “unlock their entrepreneurial creativity”. According to their website since 1987, the NFTE has helped “more than 280,000 young people, and currently has programs in 21 states and 12 countries. NFTE has more than 1,500 active Certified Entrepreneurship Teachers and is continually improving its innovative entrepreneurship curriculum.” The way they try to reach their goals is by creating engaging curricula and tools, training and supporting teachers and youth leaders, partnering with schools and community-based organizations, recruiting volunteers, linking the educational and business worlds, providing services to program graduates, and building public awareness.

Success stories are showcased on their website such as high school senior Kimberly A. from South Carolina who started iCare Magazine, written by local teens who want to showcase their talent. She has plans to attend college in the fall. There’s also Avingston A., 17, from Los Angeles, who started the business Scrump-Didly-Umptous. This business is all about those yummy buffalo wings–complete with secret sauce. Avingston says, “My business will make a difference in the community; it will provide jobs and a safe place for teenagers to spend time.” You can read more success stories here.

Currently, NFTE is trying to win one million dollars in the Sam’s Club Giving Made Simple Campaign! Here’s what NFTE says about this program: “From April 8th to May 2nd, Sam’s Club members can log on to samsclub.com/giving once a day and cast their vote for NFTE as part of the Giving Made Simple Campaign. At the end of the campaign, one winner in the youth education category and one winner in the entrepreneurship category will be awarded $1 million! Look for NFTE in the youth education section.” So, if you are a Sam’s Club member, you can help out this organization that is busy empowering our youth and teaching them how to prepare for their future. If you aren’t a Sam’s Club member, you can still help by tweeting about the opportunity or telling your friends on Facebook.

If you are interested in starting a NFTE program in your community, there’s information on the website about this, also. You can start a program in your area if you work with teens or you can check out if your area already has a program office here. Here’s a book some teens might enjoy if they have that business-savvy spirit. This book has real-life examples of teens who have had success in the business world.

by OakleyOriginals www.flickr.com

You and your students (or children if you are home schooling) probably have spring fever. Most parts of the country have been experiencing warmer weather, and you probably see some flowers and trees starting to bloom. This might also be the time when you are preparing to take state standardized tests, and spring fever and testing do not go hand-in-hand. So what can you do to buckle down and prepare for tests or finish those last few important units in math and science before it’s time for summer break AND still enjoy the nice weather? If you are at home, how can you keep your children focused when their swing set is calling to them in the backyard? Here are a few ideas:

*Read one of the many books you can find on Amazon (or any online book seller) by just typing in Spring Fever. You will be amazed–and they have books for any age group. Here are a few I found:

*Make a schedule with your child or your students that includes outside time on good-weather days. Show them that if they work hard in the classroom, they will have plenty of time to play outside at recess. Children thrive on schedules.

*Reward good behavior with reading or seat work time outside. This can be challenging if you are a classroom teacher and have a large class, but you know your class and what they can handle. If you have silent reading time every day, talk to your class about having it outside and what type of behavior you expect for this special treat. If you are at home with your children, you can even take your books to the park.

*Plan science units about plant cycles, habitats, the four seasons, and so on during spring. This way, some of your lessons and/or experiments can be conducted outside, and you are still meeting your objectives.

*Open the windows and let in the fresh air!

Talk to your P.E. teachers about physical activities that can be done outside and are still working on some of their objectives for the school year. On days you do not have P.E., take the kids outside at the end of the day and work on these skills. Physical health and development is also an important part of education!

Do you have any ideas to share for spring fever for classroom teachers or homeschoolers?

photo by pink sherbert www.flickr.com

Clara Gillow Clark is holding a writing contest for students in grades six through ten. The contest goes until April 9. To enter the contest, you write a 250-word entry to one of these prompts from a book called Spilling Ink by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter:

Writing Prompt #1: I DARE YOU Rewrite a scene from your life. Think of something that happened today. Something that wasn’t perfect–maybe something that was even downright mortifying–and rewrite it as you would have wanted it to happen. (Tip from Clara: Remember that scenes have a beginning, middle, and end!)

Writing Prompt #2: I DARE YOU Think of two people you admire. Now think of the thing you admire most about each of them. Combine those two qualities into one person, and write about that person in the following situation: She or he is walking down the street, and a strange man hands your character a small sealed carton and says, “Don’t let anything happen to this!” Then the man sprints away. What does your character do next?

Here are the prizes that tweens/teens can win:

First prize: $25 gift certificate to the bookstore of the winner’s choice, a guest spot on Clara’s blog, and his/her choice of any one of Clara’s books

2nd prize: a gift certificate for $15 to the bookstore of the winner’s choice, a guest spot on Clara’s blog, and a choice of one of Clara’s books.

3rd prize: A guest spot on Clara’s blog and choice of one of Clara’s books.

To find out more details & rules, how to enter the contest, and to check out Clara’s blog, go here.

Here’s the book, Spilling Ink, if you want to check it out. It’s perfect for students grades 5 to 9 (according to Booklist):

As other Wacky Wednesday posts pointed out this month, it will soon be National Poetry Month 2010 (like tomorrow–it starts). My past Wacky Wednesday posts had some ideas for elementary and middle grade students. For teenagers, poetry that they write can often be filled with teenage angst and focus on very dramatic topics such as lost love, peer pressure, or drug abuse. In a high school classroom, you could challenge students each week during National Poetry Month 2010 to do a different form of poetry. For example, week one instead of writing haiku like younger students often do, ask them to write a tanka. The next week, challenge students to write a villanelle. Maybe the third week, you will give them a certain rhyme scheme like ABAB ACAC and so on. The last week, challenge students to write a sonnet.

Throughout the week, give students several examples (modern, too, if possible) on the form of poetry you are requiring them to write. They should write more than one rough draft and then choose one to take through to publication. It’s not important which forms of poetry you choose as long as you choose a specific form, and don’t just allow free verse. Free verse is what most teens naturally write!

Do you have any poetry ideas for teens?

by Sister72 www.flickr.com

I don’t have a lot of experience with junior high students, and so I’m not going to tell you what you should do to teach your middle school class or your kids in your home school about poetry during National Poetry Month 2010. And I’m in Florida on vacation, so I am looking at this post as more of a guide for anyone who wants some great resources for April, poetry month, and teaching kids poetry (especially junior high students). That’s right, I’m going to let someone else tell you what to do for once.

So, here you go:

A great and wonderful resource that you should be viewing (if you’re not) is Bright Hub (www.brighthub.com). Bright Hub has hundreds of educational articles and lesson plans on all sorts of subjects from K-12, preschool, special education, and language learning. But I digress–back to junior high poetry.

There’s a series of articles on there by Trent Lorcher about teaching poetry and sharing poems with older students. Here are three of the articles and links:

*“Poems for Teaching Imagery”

*“Poems for Teaching Similes”

“Strategies for Teaching Poetry”

At the bottom of each one of these articles, there are other links to articles about poetry for older students. Like I said, Bright Hub is a wonderful resource for teachers, parents, and home schoolers.

You could also try consulting an “anti-poetry textbook,” meaning it’s not dull like normal poetry textbooks. This book below gets rave reviews on Amazon, and it has won some indie contests for YA. So, check it out. You might just reach some tweens and teens with it!

National Poetry Month 2010 is almost here. Are you ready? BTW, if you have a great poetry idea or exercise for junior high or senior high level students, please share it with us here. Same for resources! Thanks!

I talked about this book last week, too, for one that is great to share during National Poetry Month 2010 or any poetry unit you do with elementary students. More Pocket Poems edited by Bobbi Katz is a sequel, of course, to Pocket Poems. So, actually, either one is nice for sharing poetry with young students. Today, I wanted to point out some poems from More Pocket Poems and activities you could do with them.

One of the first poems in the book is “March” by Emily Dickinson. It starts: “Dear March, come in!” Children could take any month they want to write about and follow Emily Dickinson’s format to write their own poems. For example, you could write: “Dear May, come in! How excited I am! I looked for you before. Put down your hoe, you must have worked, In the garden ’til you’re sore.” Or something like that. . .:)

Another poem in the book is “August Ice Cream Cone Poem,” and it’s two words long: “Lick quick.” This is a great one to discuss with students, starting with, “Why is this a poem?” and talking about how important poem titles are. Without this title, the poem would not make any sense. Children can try to come up with their own rhyming word pairs and then a title and illustration to create a poem.

The poem “The Taste of Purple” is filled with great imagery that makes you want to eat some grapes. Bring in some grapes while you enjoy this poem with your students; of if you home school, share some grapes with your children. Then ask them to write a response to this poem in their reading response journals. (Part of National Poetry Month 2010 activities can be writing and discussing poetry as well as creating some.) SO, in their journals, they should write if they agree with the author that her poem describes what purple tastes like. They should also discuss what they think other colors taste like. For example, children can pick their favorite color, think of foods that are that color, and then write a poem based on these thoughts.

Do you have any poetry activities you do on a regular basis in your classroom or at home to celebrate National Poetry Month 2010 in April or during a poetry unit?

photo by lululemon athletica www.flickr.com

To get ready for spring and April, National Poetry Month, I thought we should start having some Wacky Wednesday posts about teaching kids poetry. Whether you teach your kids at home or you are a K-12 teacher, your students can benefit from reading and studying poetry. The next two weeks, the Wacky Wednesday posts will target elementary school students, using a book called More Pocket Poems poems selected by Bobbi Katz and illustrated by Deborah Zemke. Then I’ll have a post or two for middle school and high school teachers and home schoolers. So, on to April, poetry month, and looking at poems. . .

Bobbi Katz wrote a poem titled “Put the World in Your Pocket.” In this poem, she talks about how it’s nifty to hold a quarter or key in your pocket, but that a pocket can’t hold really big things like summer, elephants, or the sea. However, and here’s the secret–if those things are in a poem, a pocket sure can hold them! This is the introductory poem in the book More Pocket Poems, and it’s a perfect starting point for teaching kids poetry and doing several poem activities during April, poetry month.

The rest of the book has poems by some very famous poets, and all of this poetry could easily fit in a pocket or two. For example, “March” by Emily Dickinson is included in this book with a cute illustration of hats flying in the wind–did students know they could carry March around with them? There are also “Skeleton Parade” by Jack Prelutsky and “Song of the Witches” from MacBeth by William Shakespeare. Bobbi and the poets take children through the four seasons, and the illustrations add to the poetry fun. Teaching kids poetry with this book might just be e-a-s-y or at least easier.

Once you have shared some poems from this book with your students, ask them to choose a poem either from the book or a favorite. They should copy it down; or if they are too young, you can make a copy for them. Ask them to illustrate it, fold it neatly, and put the poem in their pockets. (Maybe send a note home earlier in the week to make sure students can wear a jacket or pants with a pocket that day if you teach in the classroom–or bring some aprons with pockets in case anyone forgets.) At the end of the day, gather students around or put them into small groups and ask them to take out their pocket poems to share for April, poetry month, activities.

Stay tuned next Wacky Wednesday (3/17) for some poetry writing fun while teaching kids poetry. Also, don’t forget there’s a book giveaway going on this week. See yesterday’s post for a chance to win a copy of Aries Rising, the first book of a new contemporary YA series with some astrology mixed in! Contest goes until Friday at 11:55 p.m. CST.

photo by idovermani www.flickr.com

First, I want to apologize if this photo from Flickr.com makes you hungry for cookies and milk today if you are on a “healthy eating plan.” (That’s what I like to call a diet. ) But I won’t apologize for this great information I have to share today with parents, librarians, and teachers. I am so lucky to have great Facebook and Twitter friends, and they are often sharing links with me. This link was brought to my attention on Facebook last week–Milk + Bookies. First of all isn’t the name of the organization just the greatest? I love clever people. So, let me tell you about this site.

Here’s what they say on their website: “Milk + Bookies is a non-profit organization that teaches young children how great it feels to give back while celebrating the love of a good book.” It was founded in 2004 by Meredith Alexander, who has two sons and lives in L. A. She was joined five years later by Heidi Lindelof and Laura Zimmerman, also moms in L.A. When people hold Milk + Bookies events, children are given an opportunity to select, purchase, and inscribe a book for someone less fortunate. The events also have storytime, activities, and you guessed it–milk and cookies.

This is one of my favorite paragraphs from their website: “Milk + Bookies combines two essential and worthwhile efforts: LITERACY PROMOTION AND SERVICE LEARNING. While the book donations are imperative to our mission, just as important is instilling the seed of giving into each teenage host and their young guests, sparking feelings of importance, self-confidence and the desire to give and give again.” WOW! These ladies are brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

So, what can you learn and do by visiting this site? You can learn how to get teens and college students involved with this organization and information about helping them to throw their own Milk + Bookies event. You can visit the blog. You can view information about their first ever celebrity-filled Story Time Celebration and donate money to the cause.

I love to see organizations like this because reading is just so important–I mean how do you even figure out how to make macaroni and cheese without being able to read the directions on the box. If kids/people can develop a love of reading, it just makes their lives more fulfilled and easier, in my humble opinion.

So, grab some milk, cookies, and a book today while you check out the Milk + Bookies organization. If you know a teen or college student looking for a service learning project (or even a whole class), check out this website today!

Today, I am so happy to interview Ronica Stromberg, author of A Shadow in the Dark, which I featured in yesterday’s “Tuesday Tales.” Don’t forget you can leave a comment on this blog post or yesterday’s for a chance to win this tween (which is basically younger YA) mystery book with Christian themes. For more information on the other themes and plot of the book, please see yesterday’s post. You can leave a comment on either post for a chance to win the book. The winner will be chosen on Friday, February 26 at 11:55 p.m. (CST).

So, on to the interview. . .

Margo: Ronica, thanks so much for joining us today. I found your book refreshing and full of things that tweens would love. You have three books published by Royal Fireworks Press, including A Shadow in the Dark. Please tell us a little about Royal Fireworks Press and why their books are good for the school or home school market.

Ronica: Royal Fireworks Press produces fiction that can be used in the classroom and for enrichment, as well as for pure pleasure. It targets gifted and talented children and home schoolers. Many of the publisher’s novels are “edutainment,” books that engage children in a core area of the curriculum–such as history, science, or math–through story. These books offer inquisitive children something beyond the standard fare.

Royal Fireworks Press also recognizes that many parents and home schoolers seek wholesome reads for their children. The publisher is careful about the language, situations, and values portrayed in its books.

The publisher gives discounts to teachers when they buy classroom sets of 20 or more books. Anyone can order books online from Royal Fireworks Press at http://rfwp.com and receive a 20 percent discount. For my latest books, the direct link is: http://rfwp.com/series96.htm.

Margo: I’m so glad you shared information about Royal Fireworks Press and “edutainment.” Many of my readers who are parents/teachers and are also writers can use that information–and maybe submit some of their own work to the publisher. A Shadow in the Dark is part of the Kirsten Hart series. Can you give us a glimpse into this series and how it will be useful for educators and parents?

Ronica: A Shadow in the Dark and Living It Up to Live It Down are the first two books in a series about one teen girl’s journey of faith. Readers are given a rare peek into the lives of young teens to whom faith really matters. This book and its sequel, Living It Up to Live It Down, could be used in reading groups of middle schoolers or teens interested in discussing faith and other teen issues. (Questions are posted on my site at http://ronicastromberg.wordpress.com/questions-for-book-groups/.)

The books also fits with the multicultural curriculum in public schools. Recognizing diversity and building tolerance are key goals of multicultural curricula, and religion is undeniably a part of that diversity. In our own country, Christianity has tremendously influenced our culture and still does. These books can help students understand Christianity, the main religious influence on our society, and build tolerance.

Margo: I love that there are all these parent/child book club groups popping up and that you provided questions to help th