Project Update

This semester, our Colloquium assignments have changed slightly. Instead of checking off a list of specific campus activities, we only have 3 assigned adventures: community service, and any 2 of the qualifying events from last semester’s list. Most of the work we do this semester will be on a project of our own choice.

My project is to write some really basic children’s books, designed for kids who’ve just learned to read, and to put them online for anyone to download and print.

I am supposed to invest at least 25 hours into this project. So far, I’ve spent about 7 hours. Most of that was spent learning things, and a little of it was actually spent writing.

First, I met with a local reading specialist, Lynette D’Avella. She is a previous elementary school teacher, and she now works as a reading tutor. Mrs. D’Avella knows significantly more than I do about reading, and I wanted to get a better idea of how to write these stories. What, in short, are the aspects of crafting a story that are most helpful to someone who’s just learning to read?

According to Mrs. D’Avella, children are more successful readers when they are involved in a hands-on and personal way. Pictures are useful. It’s also great if a kid can write or draw on a book. Contrived books are not helpful, because a kid can tell they’re contrived, and will lose interest quickly.

Length is important. Books that are too long will intimidate a kid and wear him out. Skill level is also important. The ideal book is not too hard and not too easy. Here, Mrs. D’Avella pointed out the usefulness of reading levels. The “ideal skill level,” varies, of course, from person to person. If a high-quality levelling system is used to identify a book’s skill level, it is much easier for a teacher to tell whether the book’s difficulty matches her student’s ability.

Including accurate reading levels in the books I write will be quite challenging, but I hope I’ll be able to include them nonetheless. I have spent several hours researching some different leveling systems already, and I would like to keep looking and learning. Mrs. D’avella sent me to several websites with information on different leveling systems.

http://bjh.dadeschools.net/assets/fry_complete_1000.pdf

http://www.readabilityformulas.com/free-readability-formula-tests.php

http://www.readabilityformulas.com/graphics/raygorgraphLG.jpg

https://www.fandpleveledbooks.com/

The font you choose can affect how readable your piece is as well. The ideal fonts are round, simple, friendly, and have a one-story “a” and “g,” since that’s most kids learn how to write a lowercase “a” and “g.”

Comic Sans is great for this.

There have also been several fonts designed for people with dyslexia. These fonts seek to reduce the symmetry between letters like “d” and “b,” or “q” and “p.” They also make the bottom of the letters thicker, as if to weigh the letters down, and keep them from swimming around the page.

Stories with accompanying audiobooks help kids read out loud, because hearing someone else read a book aloud helps the kid learn to read with a smooth cadence.

Finally, most of a kid’s success when reading a book depends on the way it is presented. Prereading, or picture-walking, helps a child become acquainted with the story before they read it. Reflecting on the story afterwards helps with reading comprehension. Because presentation is so influential, when I put this project online, I will include tips and some resources for any parents who would like them.

Goals for Writing

Last morning, I woke with the convicting realization that I had not written all year.

Dear readers, I can only tell you the truth. The moment my sock covered toes touched the floor of my bedroom, I headed for my laptop, yearning for the old aesthetic delights of a text-filled page.

It was an indirect route. I went to the kitchen first. I then realized that I had also not eaten waffles all year, so I sat down in a room full of syrup-covered brothers and ate several. I admired our blazing fire. I blew my nose. I presented my now 15-year-old brother with an unwrapped copy of A Tale of Two Cities.

Distractions? Ha. Of course not. These actions were deliberate. Useful. Productive. These actions were designed to awaken my creative tendencies and inspire me to write more eagerly than I ever have before.

When I did sit down to write, I had resolve, and I also had a fantastic inspiration:

I shall write about planning to write in the future.

The short-term goal I decided on in my last post was to “improve my writing skills by writing at least three times a week, and begin regularly tracking my writing progress.” I think I was supposed to work on this goal over break. Even if I was not supposed to, I am going to.

My lifelong dream is to be a writer. I have thought long and hard about how I plan to become one, and I have finally drafted an elaborate plan. To become a writer, I will sit down, I will write, and I will do it consistently.

To easily track my writing, I downloaded this fantastic excel spreadsheet, designed specifically to record the number of words written per day. 

I did not invent this spreadsheet, I only thought to look for it. The spreadsheet was free, and I found it from this website: http://svenjaliv.com/yearly-word-tracker-spreadsheets/ 

On this spreadsheet, I can articulate yearly, monthly, and daily word count goals, and throughout the year, I get to see how the records of my actual work line up with the goals I set. The work will still be work, but this spreadsheet will completely exploit my natural thirst for productivity, and makes the writing process more exciting.

I am not expecting to write every day, but my spreadsheet asks for a daily goal and a daily update. My daily goal is 274 words. (This goal seemed attainable and when you multiply it by 365 it equals 100,000.) I will shoot for writing every day, but in case I miss, I will at least be sure to write 3 days a week.

What will I do with all these words? Most will be devoted to fiction: stories I write for my brothers, a historical fiction project I started last summer, and a short novella I started just because I felt like it. But some will also be devoted to this blog. I did not begin this blog intending to put a lot of effort into it, but I have grown attached to it. I hope to make it a nice thing to read.

The Good Life and How I Plan to Get There

We talked about the good life this week in Colloquium. We split up into groups and made a list of the things the “good life” ought to consist of. Our assignment was to think about where we wanted to be in about 5 years, then come up with three goals, including one short-time goal, to help us get there.

The best life, I think, is one full of people I love and people who love me. This is such a precious gift, and I have realized over time that it brings more joy and satisfaction to me than almost anything else. I could be poor, I could be ill, or I could be drowning in work, but if I was surrounded by my family and by marvelous friends, I would consider myself blessed beyond all thought. Similarly, if I were rich and healthy, but walked through life all on my own, I do not think I could help but feel sorry. I would regret that my choices did not leave room for a family.

I am not extraordinarily ambitious. When I imagine what the good life should look like for me a decade from now, I like to imagine having a new little family. I would like to live in a two-story house, be relatively financially stable, and work on writing a book. I would like a flexible job so I can spend extra time with my kids, but I would also like that job to pay relatively well. I would like half of the walls in my house to be covered with bookshelves (to hold my family’s impressively massive collection of books) and the other half to be covered with windows.

If I am extra lucky, (and this is not a necessary part of the good life, just an extremely desirable one) I would like to be able to afford at least two skeins of alpaca yarn per year. And most notably, I would like to carry an improved attitude in all situations, regardless of my other circumstances. I would like to live by continually rejoicing in the blessings that I have. The good life, to me, means constantly growing in maturity.

I like to think, however, that I am already living the good life. I do not want to be married right now, or to have a house and children. Now, I am at college. I have a fantastic education opportunity, and the expenses have been provided for me. I get to see my family regularly, and I am making many friends while at college. I am glad to be where I am, and will look for the opportunities God has given me to glorify Him by placing me here.

The goals that I shall form, spur-of-the-moment, to connect what I am doing now with where I where I want to go are as follows:

First: decide what career to pursue

Second: graduate college with a degree that will enable a pursuit of that career

And third, which is my short-term goal: improve my writing skills by writing at least three times a week, and begin regularly tracking my writing progress.