The “write” way to stand out from the crowd on LinkedIn

Posted on August 12, 2025 | Leave a comment

On LinkedIn, standing out from the crowd is vital.  So how do you do that?

Don’t just “Like” a post.  Respond to a post in writing.  A written response, at a minimum, tells the writer of the post that you have read the post.  At a maximum, a written response will resonate with the writer of the post and develop a conversation, an introduction, a network, and who knows, work.

So what kinds of comments are good?  The kinds that engage you with the writer of the post will make you noticed.  If you want to be visible among the hundreds of thousands of social media users, you need to engage.  You need to take a step beyond the ☺ or the “Like” icons.  You need to say something meaningful to the writer of the post or to readers.  Noting that you “Like” a post does no good to anyone, including you.

Here are suggestions for good comments:

Quote part of the post and say what you think about it, what it brings to mind, or why you disagree.

Ask a question about the content.  Not all posts are clear.  Saying you’d value clearing up a confusing part shows you have engaged.

Supply a pertinent quotation from a well-known expert in the field.  Make a connection others might not.

Supply a witty quotation from a someone well known for their retorts.  Supply humor if you can.  Everyone loves humor.

Provide current news on the topic–the more up-to-date, the better.  And if the news is not generally available, tell where you found it so others can check for themselves.

Provide a counter point of view–respectfully.

Add a new angle, an insight, or an analogy.  Further the discussion with information which will extend the point made in the post.  Name a research paper, a book, an analysis that readers can find if they want deeper knowledge.

Involve yourself in the conversation if you want to be noticed.

 

 

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Posted in English Writing Instruction, LinkedIn, writing tips

Find the flaw

Posted on August 6, 2025 | Leave a comment

All of the following sentences have the same minor flaw.  Can you find it?

  • On the drive into the city from the airport, we encountered an accident.
  • The teacher scowled after she saw the robot.
  • The bird stopped singing as soon as it saw the cat.

Here’s the flaw.  In each sentence, the writer puts the later action first and the prior action second.

  • Which happens first, driving into the city or leaving the airport? Leaving the airport, right?  So the sentence is better written as “On the drive from the airport into the city. . .”
  • Which happens first, scowling or seeing the robot? Seeing the robot, right?  So the sentence is better written as “After she saw the robot, the teacher scowled.”
  • Which happens first, stopping singing or seeing the cat? Seeing the cat, right?  So the sentence is better written as “As soon as the bird saw the cat, the bird stopped singing.”

The flaw in all three sentences fits under the umbrella of “clarity.”  A sentence should be understood on a literal level during the first reading.  A reader should not need to reread a sentence to figure out in what order things are happening.

One way to gain clarity is by using chronological order.  We think in terms of what happens first, next, later and finally.  Our sentences should contain what happens first, first;  what happens next, next; and so on.  Reversing the order of telling can confuse readers.  [Reversing the order comes first; confusing readers comes second.]  Why take the chance?  Make your writing clear during the first read.

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Posted in clarity, English Writing Instruction, writing tips

11 ways to discourage student use of AI in writing assignments

Posted on July 31, 2025 | Leave a comment

As teachers prepare to return to school, many wonder how to incorporate AI into their curriculum.  For teachers of writing, the opposite might be true:  how to encourage original thinking by students who might be tempted to use AI to do their assignments.  For those teachers, here are eleven suggestions:

At the beginning of the school year, ask students to handwrite in class a paragraph on what they studied in ELA last year, what they liked, what they didn’t, and why. Hold onto that writing.  If you suspect a student is using AI to write, compare the writing style of the early document to the later one.  If they are not similar, ask the student to redo the assignment.

Require that students go through all the steps of writing, including writing an organizer, writing a main idea sentence, writing a first draft, and revising. Grade each of these steps in the writing process, not just the finished product.  Once you have approved the organizer, require students to continue organizing their writing the way they originally planned it.

Require all but the final draft to be done in class in handwriting on notebook paper. Provide the paper, marked a particular way for each class section you teach to discourage first period students from sharing with third period students.  If possible, require different essay topics from different class sections.  Collect work done in class at the end of class, and check to be sure each student has submitted his or her work.

Require that specific information of your choice—information that AI is not likely to have in its huge data base—be included in the student writing.  That information could be from a student’s personal experience, such as comparing a novel’s character to a teacher in the school or writing a new beginning to Huck Finn as if the student is Huck.

Provide citations which students must use in their writing.

Don’t assign tasks easily done by AI such as summaries. Assign tasks that require critical thinking such as analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating.

Require students to reflect in writing about the writing assignment: what they liked about it and what they found hard.  This can be done at any stage of a writing assignment.  The information might suggest a mini-lesson to help students overcome a writing problem.

If students are writing about a book, quiz them on details in the book. Make them prove they have read the book before they write about it.

As you read student work, notice vocabulary that seems too advanced for a particular student. Ask the student what that word means.  Also, notice if that same word is used in more than one student’s writing.  That could be a sign of AI involvement.

Assign more short assignments and fewer long assignments so students spend more time writing.

Remind students that you will use Turnitin, GPTzero, and Copyleaks if you suspect a student used AI in an assignment.

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Posted in AI or artificial intelligence, English Writing Instruction, teaching with technology, teaching writing, word choice, writing assessment

A proven way to start a narrative

Posted on July 28, 2025 | Leave a comment

Lots of good approaches begin narratives.  “Once upon a time,” and “One day,” are two for inexperienced writers.  What’s a good approach for more sophisticated writing?

Start* with a wide view lens, farther back in time, such as

  • “I graduated from New Haven in 1915, just a quarter century after my father, and a little later I participated in that delayed Teutonic migration known at the Great War.”  From this beginning, we learn the narrator is a young man (Yale was a men-only university in 1915), a WWI vet (a participant in WWI) , and from a moneyed family (Most Americans could not afford college, yet alone Yale University in the early 20th century).

Now change that wide-angle lens to a normal lens, narrowing in on place and time.

  • “I came back restless. . . .so I decided to go east and learn the bond business. . . .in the spring of twenty-two. (Uncertain about his future, the young man settles on selling bonds on the East Coast.)

Lastly zoom in, using conversation to learn about a character or setting.

  • “What you doing, Nick?”  (We know his name.)
  • “I’m a bond man.”  (He has secured a job selling bonds.)
  • “Who with?”
  • I told him. (The name of the firm is not important to us.)
  • “Never heard of them.”  (The firm is little known or the speaker disparages that line of work)
  • This annoyed me.  (Nick feels put down.)*

This type opening–starting with a wide angle lens, telescoping in to a regular lens, and then focusing on specific dialog–gives you a pattern to follow, a pattern with a proven record of success.  Look for this pattern, likely spread out over several paragraphs.

*From The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

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Posted in English Writing Instruction, Gatsby, pattern to start narratives: wide angle to narrow focus

Once upon a time. . .

Posted on July 2, 2025 | Leave a comment

Starting a work of fiction with “Once upon a time” has advantages, especially for children:

  • It gets them going, and getting going can be hard.
  • It decides the verb tense—the past tense—saving them time.
  • It decides the point of view—third person omniscient almost always—again, saving time.
  • Either it tells readers that knowing the exact time isn’t important or it gives writers time to consider the setting while they write.
  • It tells readers that the story which follows is a fairy tale, so expect  magic.

But usually—maybe always—“Once upon a time” isn’t needed.  When my students revise, I tell them to eliminate “Once upon a time” and start with what follows, like this:  “Once upon a time, a girl named Cindy dreamed to open her own bakery.”  I explain that “Once upon a time” is a crutch, and since they have moved along in their story, or perhaps even finished it, they don’t need the crutch any more. Deleting “Once upon a time” is usually the right thing to do.

“Once upon a time” has been used to start European fairy tales and folk tales for at least six hundred years.* At first it was used orally by story tellers.  Later it was kept by Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm and other writers when they wrote down the stories.

A similar opening crutch is “One day.”  “One day” tells us the exact day isn’t important, or at least not important at the beginning of the story.  That day might turn out to be important later on, but for the characters in the story and for us, the readers, that day was like any other when it started.

Is it wrong for student writers to rely on crutches like “Once upon a time” or “One day”?  Of course not.  These crutches get them writing that first sentence, often the hardest sentence of all.  Just remind them that later on they should delete that phrase unless what they write is truly a fairy tale.  Even then, ask if they want their readers to know from the start that they are reading a fairy tale.  If surprising readers is important, delete “Once upon a time.”  The story will be just as good—probably better.

*According to AI Overview in my Google search engine.

 

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Posted in English Writing Instruction, Once upon a time