Microfiction Story "Broccoli" Published in Crack the Spine

Today my microfiction story "Broccoli" was published in Crack the Spine, an online literary magazine. Click "Read Issue 265" and navigate to my story. 

I wrote this very short piece during Creative Writing class last year, when my students were sending 50-word horror stories to a contest. At the time I didn't enter because I don't like competing against my students. Now my story has found a home elsewhere.

Meanwhile, my school has entered its second period of quarantine this fall, and all of us teachers are busily creating assignment packets for our students. It seems like every family I know has its burdens now. There's a lot to pray about! Thank you for lifting up and encouraging students, parents and guardians, teachers, and administrators during this school year.

All the best,

Amy

Love crafts? Here's a happy little coupon from my affiliate, Arteza. This deal expires November 5.

Autumn Crafting Sale - 15% off w/code CRAFTY15

"The Bleak Wood," a short story, now online in Barely South Review

Writing mild horror fiction may seem like an odd side hustle for a Christian teacher, but what can I say? The imagination is a beautiful creation.

The spring issue of Barely South Review is out, and you can pop over there right now and read my short story, "The Bleak Wood" (if you are brave enough!). Basically, if ticks and other creepy-crawlies freak you out, this piece might not be to your taste. Other than that, it's appropriate for middle school on up.

Barely South Review is the literary journal of the Creative Writing program at Old Dominion University, and I'm thrilled to have my work appear in its pages. Hope you stop by and check it out!

Honorable Mention for my flash fiction story "A Backward Tragedy"

Stop by Maura Yzmore's site to read a collection of flash fiction stories that won or placed in her "Quarantine Quanta" writing contest. Maybe the best part is that you can download the ebook and enjoy all the top stories during your "abundant" free time! My "drabble" (a 100-word story) "A Backward Tragedy" received an Honorable Mention. This story is appropriate for high school age and up.

Visit Idaho Coaching Network's blog to read my new post on intentional reflection

Hop over to idahocoachingnetwork.wordpress.com to read my guest blog post, "Intentional Reflection: Why and How." I hope it will take you from "Of course I reflect on my teaching. . .in my head. . .sometimes!" to intentional, daily journaling. While taking just a few minutes out of your busy day, reflective writing will give back to your teaching in many vital ways (I list twelve in my post).

The Idaho Coaching Network builds teacher efficacy across the state of Idaho. Visit their Web site for unit plans and resources on text complexity and more.

Seeking Guest Bloggers for Fall 2019

Have a great idea for a blog post for teachers? I'd love to hear from you. Guest blogging for Christian Teacher, Public School may be a great way to get your idea out there and build community with other teachers. Here's what we'd most like to see:

• Posts that discuss the everyday life of teachers who hold to the Christian faith while teaching in the public school. This could be in the form of a journal, a how-to, or any structure that works for you.

• Technology, art, music, and other special focus areas of education. Give us your takeaways from a recent conference, a book you loved, or a class you took. Inspire fellow teachers to hone their craft and be the best they can be.

• Devotionals for teachers. How has God been working in your life recently? What Bible passages has He laid on your heart to share with other teachers? Share ideas for how to pray for students.

• Posts that show us first-hand how you or an interviewee build rapport with students and parents.

• Posts that help teachers understand IEPs, 504s, and how to both relate to special needs students and help them grow academically and emotionally.

• Book reviews of recently-published books for teachers. You could also do a roundup of readalouds, multicultural novels for middle grade readers, or other books for the classroom library. Have you written a book for teachers? We'd like to know.

• Posts that show us first-hand how you or an interviewee teach a lesson, build a unit, organize a field trip, rock a fundraiser, or other practical how-to article.

• Posts that round up resources for Christian teachers in public schools, especially freebies, helpful organizations, teacher hacks, online tools, and basically anything practical for daily teacher life.

If you write about students, be sure to change names and any identifying information. Follow FERPA! And get any necessary permissions from people you interview or photograph.

Some guest blog submissions may be declined, usually because they're not quite what I'm looking for. Follow the above bullet points, and you'll be more likely to have your idea accepted for publication. Feel free to submit more than one idea!

There's no pay for guest blogging with me, but I'll generate buzz through Instagram @amyballardwriter and here on my blog. You'll spread the word to your friends, and our combined readership will get your ideas out there to a wide network of teachers. I hope you'll consider sharing your awesome-teacher insight on Christian Teacher, Public School this year.

All the best,

Library-Themed Book Giveaway Coming This Week: Shhhh. . .Murder!

Shhhh. . .Murder!

The fall book giveaway is just five days away! Stop by Christian Teacher, Public School from Thursday, October 25 at 12 a.m. EST to Saturday, October 27 at 12 a.m. EST to enter for a chance to win a paperback copy of Shhhh. . .Murder! The anthology features librarians in sticky situations, trying to solve "Cozy crimes in libraries." Some stories veer more toward noir, while others are solidly cozy reads. It's the perfect fall book pick, with twenty-four mysteries by various authors, including me, Amy Ballard.

In my story, "Bookish Dreams," assistant librarian Emma and her English bulldog Billy help solve a murder in the old library building across town. There's a smattering of romance, a pile of old National Geographics, and plenty of small-town charm for cozy mystery readers who like a happy ending.

Also don't miss Michael Bracken's "Mr. Sugarman Visits the Bookmobile," a cozy mystery with characters that feel so real they could be your neighbors. After I read this one, I just had to send the author fan mail via his Web site. Michael was kind enough to reply! I know you'll love the story as much as I did.

Can't wait to read the collection? Get the Kindle edition for $2.99 or the paperback for $12.95. Like what you read? Leave an Amazon review. Reader reviews will help the book find more readers.

If you're a Goodreads user, you can add the book to your lists and follow Amy Ballard there, too.

Use the sharing buttons below to spread the word about the contest to book lovers and library lovers in your life!

More:

Landlocked: Poems by Amy Ballard
The Swans of Starlight Lake, a traditional fairytale by Amy Ballard and Reagan Ballard, .99 for Kindle
"The Ghosts of the Composers," a short story by Amy Ballard on Penultimate Peanut

Book Giveaway for Shhhh. . .Murder! Coming October 25th!

Shhhh. . .Murder!

Mark your calendars, mystery readers, because a fall book giveaway is headed your way! Tell your local librarian, too, because the stories in this anthology all feature "Cozy crimes in libraries."

The giveaway begins Thursday, October 25 at 12 a.m. EST and ends Saturday, October 27 at 12 a.m. EST. Be sure to stop by Christian Teacher, Public School during the contest to claim your entries! You'll have a chance to win a paperback edition of Shhhh. . .Murder!, featuring "Bookish Dreams" by Amy Ballard and twenty-three other stories.

In "Bookish Dreams," assistant librarian Emma and her English bulldog Billy help solve a murder in the old library building across town. There's a smattering of romance, a pile of old National Geographics, and plenty of small-town charm for cozy mystery readers who like a happy ending.

Can't wait to read it? Get the Kindle edition for $2.99 or the paperback for $12.95. Like what you read? Leave an Amazon review, and don't forget to follow Amazon author Amy Ballard. Your reviews help make this launch from Darkhouse Books a success.

If you're a Goodreads user, you can add the book to your lists and follow Amy Ballard there, too.

Tell your friends about the giveaway by using the sharing buttons below. Spread the word about the contest to the book lovers and library lovers in your life!

More:

www.amyballard.com
Landlocked: Poems by Amy Ballard
The Swans of Starlight Lake, a traditional fairytale by Amy Ballard and Reagan Ballard, .99 for Kindle
"The Ghosts of the Composers," a short story by Amy Ballard on Penultimate Peanut

Shhhh. . .Murder! Now Available

Buy

I just received my first batch of Shhhh. . .Murder! anthologies from Darkhouse Books. It's so exciting to see my story, "Bookish Dreams," in print! Though I've had short fiction published online and even as an audio recording, this is the first time I've held my published short story in my hand.

And mine isn't the only story in the collection. Twenty-four library-themed cozy crime stories fill the pages of this anthology, edited by Andrew MacRae at Darkhouse Books.

Learn more at darkhousebooks.com or on my author Website, amyballard.com. If you read the book, be sure to leave a review on the Shhhh. . .Murder! Amazon page!

I'm taking a year off blogging, but couldn't resist popping back in to post a link. My flash fiction story "The Ghosts of the Composers" is live in the current issue of Penultimate Peanut! The story has a Magical Realism flavor, which I hope you'll enjoy.

Blessings,

Amy

New Tab: Autism Resource Links

"I will give thanks to You, 

for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Wonderful are Your works,

And my soul knows it very well."

Psalm 139:14 (NASB)

April is Autism Acceptance Month!

We've added an Autism resource tab to the top of the Christian Teacher, Public School blog. This small effort won't lead to the most exhaustive list of Autism Spectrum resources on the Web. Instead, I hope it helps readers of this blog form connections at crucial times in their journeys with autism (whether as parents, teachers, or as people on the Spectrum themselves) and to help others along the way.

Interested in writing about autism in the public school setting? I would like to connect with guest bloggers who are teachers or who are parents of public school children on the Spectrum. On the Spectrum yourself? Even better.

Here are some tips on writing about Autism for Christian Teacher, Public School:

• Be clear: Who are you and why are your writing about this topic? What's your point? What are you helping/asking readers to do?
• Be current and accurate in your research, citing sources as appropriate
• Explain acronyms on the first use
• Be personal, revealing actual perspectives of real people on the Autism Spectrum, not assumptions
• Obtain permission, change names as appropriate, and be accurate in your representations of others
• Connect readers to resources (lesson plans, accommodations, blogs, books, local chapters of Autism organizations, support groups, conferences, etc.)
• Keep a positive and constructive tone
• Be original (only your own work that hasn't appeared online before)
• Keep the audience in mind. We exist specifically for Christian teachers who teach in public schools, although others may find us helpful. Our preferred content is uplifting, spiritually-relevant, and biblically-literate. We believe that God created all neurotypes as a reflection of His creativity, uniqueness, power, glory, and love. We celebrate autism as a gift from the creator. Not every article need express this perspective overtly, and "preaching" is not wanted. Just let your light shine.

How to Submit

Please query before sending submissions for consideration. Contact Amy Ballard by email at amy (at) amyballard (dot) com. Nominal payment may be available for quality content on Autism in the public school, especially if written by teachers or students (current or former) with Autism. We'd love to hear from you!

Triple Entry Journals for Character Analysis in Lord of the Flies

Need resources for Lord of the Flies? I've just created a character analysis tool that will get students talking and writing about the text. Triple-entry journals are fun and easy, and they put the focus where it should be—on the text. The journals in this pack are designed for each of the four main characters in Lord of the Flies, but here's an open version you can use with any novel to analyze any aspect of the text.

Visit my store, Brevity, on Teachers Pay Teachers for more resources that are aligned with the standards you need to teach!

Write for Your Health

Last year when my students were studying The Odyssey, I sat down after school one day and wrote a flash fiction story inspired by some of Odysseus's adventures. I sent it in to a contest sponsored by the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the American Christian Fiction Writers association. When I found out this fall that my story had come in second, I was delighted. The story, "Beeves on the Barbie," is now live on the organization's Website, so stop by for a few chuckles.

Illustrated Faith Praise Book

This fall and winter have been a productive time for my freelance writing life. God has richly blessed me in allowing me a few quiet moments here and there to write for my own pleasure and with the aim of publication. Just recently, one of my submissions was accepted by a writing blog, The Artist Unleashed. My guest blog post will appear there in early March.

Freelance writing isn't lucrative for most people, especially when writing can't be their day job. But the writing life brings many intangible rewards, catharsis being an important one. I urge you to write for your own health. Maybe that would be a good New Year's resolution. Start a prayer diary, begin your memoir, write a letter, collect your Facebook notes into something longer. Writing will soothe you, help you think through problems, and preserve your precious memories.

ESV Single Column Journaling Bible, Summer Garden

Some of the gifts I gave this year reflect my love of writing. For myself and my children, I bought a wide-margin Bible from Dayspring (affiliate link). Also from Dayspring, I gave my daughter a box full of Illustrated Faith goodies and a praise book to write in. I wasn't sure if she would like them at first, since spiritual tools aren't first on every child's wish list at Christmas, but she loves them. I hope and pray that the pens, stickers, markers, and other supplies will help her learn about God's rich blessings that are just for her.

Happy New Year, and happy writing in 2017! May you teach and live in the strength of Jesus Christ.

For further reading:
10 Ways to Be a Teacher-Leader
Learning Through Writing: Choose Your Own Adventure
A Paying Opportunity for Writing About Teaching (deadline Dec. 31, 2016)

See you at the Idaho Super Conference: Learning Across All Dimensions

School is going full steam ahead, with new faces, new adventures, and new blessings at every turn. I'm so thankful to have an enthusiastic freshman class this year. It's also been a blessing to see my youngest child enter Kindergarten and make new friends. My high school field trip to see Shakespeare's First Folio has been approved, and my advanced literature students and I are loving reading Fahrenheit 451!

One more blessing to add to my overflowing cup this fall is finding out that my two session proposals for the Idaho Super Conference have been accepted. That means I'll have a roomy ninety-minute presentation on Faith and the Public School Teacher, and I'll be giving my Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-inspired narrative writing presentation to a wider audience.

Join some 1500 teachers at Timberline High School and White Pine Elementary in Boise on Oct. 6 and 7 (state teacher in-service days). Registration closes Sept. 14, so be sure to sign up now. Professional development credit is available from Boise State University.

Writing and Publishing Narratives Using Digital Technology
Description:  In this session, teachers will learn to apply choose­-your-­own­-story structure to narrative fiction or nonfiction writing. Using Google Drive, teachers will learn to link story pages to form narratives with alternate endings.

Faith and the Public School Teacher
Description:  Can your faith coexist with your professional life? New legislation and news headlines may shake things up, but by identifying your stance on faith in the classroom, you will face the turbulence of our changing world with more confidence. In this session, teachers will learn what the law allows and expects of teachers who hold to a religious faith; take a look at teachers whose actions have come under scrutiny; and share appropriate ways to live out faith in the public school environment.

Planning to attend? Let me know in the comments! And join me on Facebook to chat with me and other teachers who'll be there.

A Student-Friendly Checklist for 9th and 10th Grade ELA Writing

It's challenging to find user-friendly checklists for the Common Core standards. This year I've been playing around with some formats to help my students keep track of how they're doing. Here's my new student-friendly checklist for 9th and 10th grade ELA writing standards as a Google doc. I plan to use the same format to create check lists for the other standard sets I teach.

Obviously, teaching something once is not enough to merit a check mark. How has the student demonstrated understanding of the concept? For a brush-up on assessing understanding, read Edutopia's excellent article, 'What Exactly Is "Understanding?" And How Do We Assess It?'

Have a great resource to help teachers and students track understanding? Please share!

My Story a Finalist in Elevator Fiction Contest

I'm excited to announce that a flash fiction story of mine is a finalist in a contest sponsored by the SF Bay Area chapter of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). Three finalists were chosen, and the winner will be announced in September. I'll be eagerly awaiting the decision!

Watch later this week for our new interview with author Dalene Parker, a friend of this blog and of Christian teachers in public schools. Her new book, Words to Live By, is available now. Dalene's giving away a copy, so don't miss your chance to enter the contest!

Too Much Fun at the P20 Educator Conference in Twin Falls!

Having a blast at the P20 Educator Conference at the College of Southern Idaho! I have to thank all the people who turned out for my first presentation of Faith and the Public School Teacher. You were all so generous and civil (I say that because we covered some controversial territory!) and didn't complain about my not having enough handouts for the 31 of you who packed the room. Next time I'll request a bigger room and more time! But truly, the discussions were thoughtful and helpful, and I couldn't ask for a better crowd. Thank you to my friends and family who prayed for me!

My earlier presentation on Choose Your Own Adventure: Writing and Publishing Narratives Using Digital Technology was also tons of fun. I gathered lots of ideas from my wonderful attendees on classroom strategies to try, tech stuff, etc. and I even found a new friend who has agreed to guest blog for us soon.

One more quick story before I crash for the night. . .

The College of Southern Idaho has a wonderful planetarium at the Herrett Center. Several of us teachers went and viewed one of the planetarium showings ("Rock on Demand": The 60s, 70s, & 80s) to relax after our busy day at the conference. I had the pleasure of being seated between two adorable children (one of whom went to sleep partway through) and being surrounded by fellow teachers.

Toward the end of the showing, the Pink Floyd song "Another Brick in the Wall" came on, and we all started chuckling because the song is a protest against teachers brainwashing their students in a "rigid" school system, to paraphrase Wikipedia. To me it's about a dystopian (or just plain Communist?) society, brainwashing vulnerable school children with government-approved propaganda--not something any of us would approve of. I felt like we had a moment.

Blessings,

A Paying Opportunity for Writing About Teaching

For those of you who are writers in addition to being teachers, check out this paid writing opportunity from Chicken Soup for the Soul. Just scroll down to the "Stories about teachers and teaching" section header. If you're new to freelance writing but have always wanted to give it a try, be sure to visit the Story Guidelines page before getting started. Follow directions precisely for best chances of success. Because the editorial process takes time, you might wait up to 60 days to hear that you've been accepted. Writers learn to be patient while waiting. This particular market will not inform you if they have rejected your work. And remember, it's highly competitive, so rejection does happen. Keep your head up and try again!

Deadline for this collection: June 30
Word count: under 1200 words
Pay: $200 one month after publication

New Ideas for Alternate-Ending Story Activities

Had a wonderful time today with my fellow Idaho Core Coach Network teachers and guests at our spring conference. My presentation on Choose Your Own Adventure narratives drew a small but enthusiastic group. They suggested strategies and applications I hadn't thought of (turns out Google Slides works pretty well for linking to new pages; a rubric would be helpful) and dove into the writing part with zest. Thanks for a fun session!

Choose Your Own Adventure: Writing and Publishing Narratives Using Digital Technology

Test driving my presentation on Choose Your Own Adventure: Writing and Publishing Narratives Using Digital Technology May 4 at the Idaho Core Coach Network regional meeting/spring conference in Twin Falls. You can access the handout here. Hoping to bring the session to a larger audience in October. In the meantime, visit my post on using Choose Your Own Adventure theory in the classroom here.

Learning Through Writing: Choose Your Own Adventure

When I was a kid, I loved to read books from the Choose Your Own Adventure series. On each page was a choice, something like this. "If you decide to risk the mountain lions and explore the cave, turn to page 23. If you decide to look for a stream to replenish your water supply, turn to page 71." If you were killed by mountain lions on page twenty-three, you could always go back and see where the other choice led. In fact, you often died. No problem. Just go back to page one, or wherever you left a bookmark last.

Similarly, video games often include a story with many choices for the player to make. The decisions you make alter the course of the game. When your character dies, you play again.

I like to assign a choose-your-own story to my high school students. It's digital, with hyperlinks to different documents in a Google Drive folder for the pages. The first page sets up the scenario ("You are Sir Lancelot. The castle at Camelot is under attack") and the viewpoint character. Second person present works best for the point of view. At the bottom of the page is the first set of choices. Instead of using "turn to page 5," use "click here" or "click to page 5." Then, link to the new page. Be sure to put the page number at the top of each page, and save each document as the same number. Keep the story to twelve pages or so for beginners, and keep a running list of how each page turns out if you are concerned about the ratio of positive outcomes to negative outcomes.

There are several Web sites students can use to help them write choose-your-own stories, but I like the challenge of creating my own story, format and links. The students are up for the challenge, too.

What should they write about? This assignment works well for fiction or nonfiction. My daughter wrote one in which the reader is a trout. It required her to research the life cycle of a trout and what the trout's natural predators are. I'm researching Antoine Lavoisier, a chemist who was guillotined during the French Revolution. Turning Lavoisier's life into a choose-your-own story has been challenging, since I am working to understand the science part and then to make the concepts easy for my students or other young readers to understand.

To get a better feel for how it all works, see if your library has the classic Choose Your Own Adventure books, or pick up similar versions by R.L. Stein or other authors. Then, create your own story to share with your students. They'll be raring to write!