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By LitCraft, April 27, 2010 9:45 am

So many of us have goals that get back-burnered. The result is that a year goes by, and we still have the same list of goals, but no accomplishment.

Meeting goals means sticking to a habit until it leads to a result. The habit might be music practice, shooting hoops, or eating healthy. Each of these habits can lead to a successful result: music fluency, making the basketball team, or losing weight.

The first step to creating a habit for success is to define your habits very clearly. You do this by determining what steps are necessary for achieving your goal. Most people can tell you what their goals are. Some people want to learn a language, some want to paint more, and some want to be better writers. The key is to list the steps required to complete the goal. These steps become your habits.

Figure out what habits you need to create to meet your goal. Here’s an example goal: In two years time, I will be able to play 25 pieces of intermediate music on the harp .

These are the steps you’d outline for that goal.

To learn 1 new song each month by practicing 2 songs at a time for 2 months.

Habit 1: Every day I will play drills and exercises for 15 minutes, and play a segment of each of that months two musical scores for 20 minutes.

Three days per week, I will study music theory for 25 minutes. I will repeat each lesson until it’s learned.

I will tune the harp at the beginning of each week’s practice session during the drill and exercise time.

I will practice at 8:00 pm daily except for Tuesday and Friday. On those days I will practice at 10:00 pm.

These are very specific habits that can be evaluated before trying to implement them. Once you have your list of habits, you can tweak it so that it fits your schedule and resources better. You might want to revise your goal to become proficient in 3 years instead of two. You could also define proficiency as 50 songs, or just 15.

The point is that you must determine which steps are necessary, before you begin walking the path to success. Otherwise, you’ll wander and your goal will be on the back burner forever.

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By LitCraft, April 25, 2010 7:48 am

With the American Library Associations Celebration of personal freedoms coming up (May 2nd -9th), let’s take a moment to reflect upon those books that were banned.

Some of these are objectionable to some of us, but who would sell their personal freedoms to prevent  something from being in print?

Here’s a list of books that have made feeble minds choose to be subjects of a state rather than citizens of a state.

Of Mice and Men  -  John Steinbeck

To Kill A Mockingbird   – Harper Lee

Twelfth Night    - William Shakespeare

A Wrinkle in Time    - Madeleine L’Engle

The Witches    - Roald Dahl

The Color Purple   –  Alice Walker

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest    - Ken Kesey

Our Bodies, Ourselves   –  Boston Women’s Health Collective

Celebrate your freedom. Read something from the banned book list this week.

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By LitCraft, April 23, 2010 12:00 pm

Here’s a quick exercise to help students get a handle on syllables.

It’s a motion exercise, so have everyone stand while they do this. It will engage their natural sense of rhythm and their pattern recognition skills.

Sing a children’s nursery rhyme and clap to the syllables as you sing them. Slow songs are ideal for this. Jazz it up too much and you may loose a few learners on the back-beat.

When everyone’s got the hang of things, get the spelling words out and clap those. Clap louder on the accented syllables.

This will merge pattern recognition skills with language learning skills. The motion and rhythm will also build stronger memory.

The exercise is a dialogue instead of a monologue. It allows learners to move and express themselves. It’s interactive, so learners usually enjoy it.

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By LitCraft, April 22, 2010 4:01 am

Here’s a great exercise for today’s Earth Day lesson.

With this exercise, you’ll use food to illustrate the importance of agriculture and resource management.

You need one apple. The apple represents earth.

Slice the apple into quarters.  75% of the earth is covered by water. Three of those four slices represent the water. Set them aside.

The remaining slice of apple represents dry land. Half of that land is high altitude, frozen, or desert. Cut the slice in half and set aside 1/2.

The remaining 1/2 of that slice is equal to 12.5 % of the apple. 12.5 % of the corresponding earth’s surface is too swampy, rocky, steep, or infertile to grow crops. Cut 40% of that slice off and discard it.

Now you have 4.8% of the apple left. Pick up that tiny bit of apple, and peel it. Compare it to all the apple pieces that you’ve set aside.

This peel represents the portion of land available for housing, infrastructure, landfills, malls, car lots, power plants, shopping centers, and of course, agriculture.

Eat the rest of your apple. As you do, consider the importance of the soil represented by that tiny sliver of apple peel. If we don’t keep that soil clean and healthy, we won’t have any more apples.

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By LitCraft, April 21, 2010 10:01 am

Reading and understanding aren’t the same thing. Some people can read, but their ability to process and organize information isn’t adequate for comprehension.

Here’s a quick reading game you can play with your child to determine their comprehension level.

Copy the pages of their favorite story book. If your child is a pre-reader, leave the pictures in. If your child already reads, cut the pictures off and just save the text. Shuffle the story pieces then ask your child to rearrange them.

Children with good reading comprehension and sequencing skills will be able to put the story back together in the correct order.

If they can’t do this, repeat the exercise 2-4 times each week. Let the readers draw pictures of their own to complement the text. Let the non-readers color on the pictures that are there. When you do this exercise, discuss what comes next. Share with them your thoughts about the sequence of events. Ask them to share their thoughts.

Make this a fun dialogue and they’ll continue to think about the order of text when they read on their own. They’ll learn to see individual words in context of the sentences and the paragraphs.

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By LitCraft, April 16, 2010 12:01 pm

Here’s a great exercise to increase a learner’s reading comprehension level. It’s called the “Virtual Vacation,” and it’s fun. Ask students to choose an unfamiliar destination for a week-long vacation.

When they’ve chosen their destinations, have them plan their trips. They can check flight schedules, print fake tickets, create a vacation budget, decide what tourist spots to visit, make a packing list, and an itinerary.

Ask them to create a scrapbook of postcards, notes, tickets, and tourist photos from their vacation. Pictures can be downloaded from the internet for these items. They can also draw event tickets to include in their scrapbooks.

This exercise teaches planning, problem solving, and critical thinking skills. It may also give literacy learners the courage to take their ideal vacations some day.

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By LitCraft, April 15, 2010 8:01 am

You’ve probably heard of a critique group, but have you ever considered being in one?

Here are 3 reasons to join a critique group.

1. Error recognition. It is much easier to recognize mistakes you read in someone else’s writing than it is to recognize the exact same mistakes in your writing. Once you’ve identified a problem in another person’s manuscript, it will be far more obvious in your own.

2. Impact recognition. Two writers whose text is having the same impact, or a lack thereof, will be able to discover why certain passages are working and why they aren’t. Their shared understanding will make them both better writers.

3. Good critique buddies will tell you flat-out what’s going on with your story. They’ll tell you what to keep and what to round-file.

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By LitCraft, April 14, 2010 7:01 pm

Are You In A Critique Group? Or has your prose never seen the light of day? Critique groups have a lot to offer.

Think about what you are willing to put into a critique group and what you’d like in return.

Group members can required to meet various criteria: screenplays only, fiction only, published writers only, 6 people max, 2 comments per person.  Minimum page submissions, and so on.

Look for a group that fosters your growth as a writer and helps you hone your skills.

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By LitCraft, April 14, 2010 8:01 am

If you’ve never been to a writing retreat, put one on your calendar now. I’m fortunate to have spent 3 days in the mountains with similarly minded novel, screenplay, short story, and non-fiction writers.

The buzz included mythology, social media, mysteries of Microsoft Word, $25.00 first sentences,  astronomy, and the amazing meals we ate.

Some of this may seem irrelevant to writing, but think tanks are like pools. You’ll swim better in one than on dry land.

Let me know what your writing retreats have been like.

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By LitCraft, April 13, 2010 8:01 am

Duet Reading, aka neurological impress reading, is the best way to improve a child’s reading level. One study showed a 2.2 grade level increase in reading competency after using this method for about 11 minutes per day for 2 weeks.

Sit next to your child with a book that she likes. Choose something slightly difficult for her. Point to the words as you read them and have your child point right along with you. She should also say the words with you -as soon as she hears what you’re reading.

This exercise is fun, but it can be tiring. Don’t overdo it or you’ll lose your reader’s interest.

This doesn’t have to feel like study time for your child. It can be a great way for grandparents to enjoy toddler time. The exercise also works well for differently abled readers, ESL students, or stutterers.