College and Career Readiness Standards for Individual Reading, Writing, and Speaking and Listening

Here's a report from the Gates Foundation about the importance of writing that's worth a read. Not only is writing a valuable skill unto itself, it's needed in all classes, and for college and career readiness.

This is what the foundation says about the report:

While the English classroom is typically seen as the proper site for students to learn literacy, teaching of this skill must extend to other fields of education. Students need to acquire the skills for comprehending challenging texts and developing knowledge in areas such as mathematics, the humanities, and social and natural sciences. This draft report from the Common Core State Standards Initiative defines the outcomes all students must reach to solve problems, share insights, and achieve college and career success.

Twitter Headlines

Here's an article at Copyblogger on writing great Twitter headlines: The Art of Writing Great Twitter Headlines.

What's old is new again. The art of writing headlines is cool again. Just when we thought online spaces would not confine editors the way print media did, we choose to limit the space even when we don't have to. Interesting.

An Armchair Traveler’s Tips on Writing a Gripping Adventure Tale

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting story about "An Armchair Traveler’s Tips on Writing a Gripping Adventure Tale." The story includes "fail-safe strategies" about narrative and prose.

Here's one example from the article:

3. Think about the great explorers and expeditioners throughout history: Sir Ernest Shackleton or Thor Heyerdahl and his rangy crew on the Kon Tiki, and on down the line from Hillary to Roosevelt. These were larger-than-life figures with outsize charisma and drive. Of the two main explorers in the book, Bill Stone is described as a narcissistic overachiever who continually placed the expedition before the safety of his team and Klimchouk was almost thrown into the narrative as an afterthought. Stone’s monomania — his entire life and seemingly every thought revolves around caving — is a professional asset but not much help to the reader.

Writing Essential for Kardashian Sisters Too

The Kardashian sisters are writing a book together:

The sisters are currently writing a book together that will be entitled, “Kardashian Konfidential,” reports People. The new autobiography will be “full of fun facts about their childhood, their beauty and style secrets, the wisdom they learned from their beloved father, and the street smarts they got from their mother that sustain them in life and in business,” reports publisher St. Martin’s Press.

Writing is definitely essential for everyone, even tabloid celebrities.

Using Scripts and Screenplays as a Way to Get Kids Writing

With "Toy Story 3" hitting theatres today, now is a great time to think about how using screenplays and scripts as a great way to get students interested in writing.

Here's a great book review on using literary ideas and scripts for young playwrights: http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/2153

Writing: A Ticket to Work . . . Or a Ticket Out

As advanced technology in the workplace plays a more significant role, good writing skills are increasingly valued by big business, according to the second report from the National Commission on Writing.

As one executive noted, "[T]he need to write clearly and quickly has never been more important than in today's highly competitive, technology-driven global economy."

The numbers back up that statement. According to survey responses from 120 major corporations affiliated with Business Roundtable, an association of prominent U.S. corporations, employers spend billions annually correcting writing deficiencies.

To prepare students for rewarding work in the future, the National Commission on Writing calls on schools and colleges to focus on writing across the curriculum and at all grade levels.

Download the full report.