Creative Writing Memberships – Coming Soon!

Great news! We’re creating a Writer Membership, exclusively for students and teachers contributing to the Journey through the Capitol series. This membership will address genre and background content for the lessons, to better support your assignment work and projects. For all our new students – if you’d like to join our free online writing group,…

Chapter Study Questions

A warm welcome to teachers and students! The Study Questions in this blog, are designed for classroom discussions, study groups or book clubs.  If you have extra questions to add, please contact us.  We welcome all suggestions. Students – please note that all your comments are public.  Comments are moderated.  Let us know, if you’d like…

Getting to know your students through Poetry

Where I’m from  ~ this is the title of a poem written by George Ella Lyon. The poem captures moments in the poet’s life that begin to tell us something about her history, her values, her cultural background.  You may not understand all the terms she uses, because they come from a particular time and…

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The Teacher-Writer

The Teacher -Writer by Christine M. Dawson, Robert P. Yagelski For those teachers struggling to add creativite writing into their lives, this book is invaluable. Very much a professional development resource, it describes the writing journeys of five colleagues and makes practical suggestions for developing your writing practice. Here’s an opening quote from Chapter 3:…

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Chapter One – Alternative History

Rebuilding Arcadia (book 1) is set in a steampunk universe.  This means history has taken a different course.  Events in the past have led to a radically altered future.  Take a moment to examine historic events, organizations and political entities while completing the task below.  Use reasoning, logic and your imagination to explore how this…

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Social and Environmental Issues in Mountain Regions

“Mountainous regions are labeled, in many languages, as wild, remote, “backwater” zones. The paradox is that this label can be both used disparagingly as an indication of social inferiority and with reverence to refer to sacred zones at the heart of cultures and religions. Mountain ranges are often the sites of violent contestations of national…

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Teaching Suggestions – War Poetry

HIGH FLIGHT  Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there, I’ve chased…

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Teaching Suggestions: Steampunk Architecture, Art and City mapping

In Chapter Three, the Capitol is promoted as an ecological marvel – self-sufficient and sustainable.  However, what evidence do we have that this is actually true, rather than an illusion created by the ruling military elite? What resources would you need to realistically sustain a city with several hundred inhabitants? Several thousand? Could the terrorists…

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