What made you decide to be an author?

I wrote my first book at age 35, Running Loose. It was an evolutionary process, and after finding the guts to write the first one, I realized by the third or fourth one that I was an author with a publisher and a deadline. It may have started in high school with two teachers that motivated me to write, not in the traditional sense, though. For English, I would knock off my essay in 15 minutes for the C-minus. It was my biology/shop teacher and the band teacher that inspired me to write. When I would get in trouble with either one of them, I had a choice – the wooden paddle or a 500 word essay. I chose the essay and would stay up until two o’clock in the morning trying to write something that would make them laugh. I wrote those just like I write now; I’d write it, I’d read it out loud, I’d fix it. I wrote it with the idea that I had something in mind, a purpose behind the writing.
Beginning as a Writer (1:44)

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For your students, that time drain is probably much larger.

What if there was a search engine that knew who you were, and what you were looking for?

Now there is.

http://education.iseek.com

Quietly revolutionizing the way students and educators search, iSEEK™ Education Searchblade™ turns the burdensome task of finding standards-based resources into an exciting and unique experience. It knows that you are student, educator, or parent, and it understands the meaning embedded in the questions you ask. Rather than returning thousands of irrelevant and untrustworthy results, (more…)

Following is the Teaching Tip written by Matt Daneker that was included in the last issue of MY Access!® Newsletter sent to all Home Edition users. As it has generated so much interest, and is applicable to all students, I thought it made sense to post here to make it available to a larger audience.

As I thought about this question, I had to reflect on an experience I shared with my daughter on our recent summer vacation. I am lucky to have a daughter who likes to read for fun. She is by no means a “bookworm,” but I sure don’t have to coax her to read once she has found a book or series that she enjoys. (more…)