Hello!
As a former teacher (31 years!) I love to connect with students and teachers, and I spend a lot of time doing just that via classroom visits and teachers’ conventions, as well as through this website. On this page you will find a number of resources you can use with your students, including a free novel study unit. Also, I’m currently offering free Skype visits* to anyone who does Space Cadets as a read-aloud with their students. If you’re interested, just contact me via the form at the bottom of the page. (In general, I am mindful of tight school budgets, and keep school visits very affordable, even if you’re not doing a read-aloud).
This site is fairly new, but I hope to expand this section over time. I’ll be adding to Writing With Robin (Ideas and Tips for Young Writers), which your students can access directly, or may give you some ideas you can implement in your writing lessons. You can also access the various short stories in the Cool Stuff section and build reading lessons around those. And, coming soon, I’ll have a YouTube channel will all kinds of short videos for kids relating to reading and writing.
*or Facetime, Google Hangouts, Facebook Messenger, etc.
Free Downloads
Space Cadets Novel Study
Includes chapter summaries, discussion questions for each chapter, themes and a bank of activity/lesson ideas.
What Could Go Wrong?
This writing unit will help students generate and develop story ideas in a way that will aid their understanding of basic story structure.
Writing 101
Teachers’ Convention Presentation
Space Cadets Novel Study (printable)
Includes chapter summaries, discussion questions for each chapter, themes and a bank of activity/lesson ideas.
Story Organizer
For use with “What Could Go Wrong?” writing unit
How to Get Your Students Writing
Teachers’ Convention Presentation
Life After Teaching
Teachers’ Convention Presentation
Plot Structure Graphic
Shows and describes the basic parts of a story.
Creating Characters
40+ common character traits your students can use to help them create unique, interesting characters
Living a Great Story
Teachers’ Convention Presentation
Writing With Robin
Ideas and Tips for Young Writers
Writing With Robin, #4: Characters
Think about your favourite stories (including books, movies and TV shows). There are probably a bunch of reasons you love them. How many of those reasons have to do with the characters? You can tell a story with boring characters, but it won’t be a very good one....
Writing With Robin, #3: Defeating Writer’s Block
Have you ever sat down to write, but just couldn’t think of a good idea? It’s called writer’s block, and it’s an ugly beast that every writer has had to battle at one time or another. There are many ways to conquer this monster, but today I’m going to tell you about...
Writing With Robin, #2: “The Adventures of Baby Edwin”, and the Importance of Feedback
If you haven’t read The Adventures of Baby Edwin #1: The Great Escape, this post will probably make more sense if you do that first. So I got this idea for a series of stories about a toddler who escapes his crib at naptime and has ridiculous adventures. Funny,...