Twenty Percent True: Then You Must Write It

I like the outlook based on the Toni Morrison quote, "If there is a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it." Generally, I take this to mean that you should be proactive about writing. Instead of complaining that something doesn't exist, you should make it happen. I also take it to mean that you should write for yourself. That way at least one person likes it.

I've taken this a bit farther lately. "Why isn't there a good resource for ACT practice all in one place? I would really like that." I have to search for practice ACTs that I haven't already given my students. I have to hunt for worksheets for the Pythagorean Theorem and trig and probability and on and on. I have to make up worksheets about perimeter. It's not that hard, but it takes time, and I grab the same worksheets off the internet over and over, and while my student works through the problems I realize that there are things I wish they covered or things it does cover that are a little odd. Not only do I wish I have a file folder full of these worksheets I could pull out, I know that it's hard for students studying on their own to find these when they don't really know what they're looking for.

"Wouldn't it be great if..."

So I'm writing an ACT study guide. It will include:

Practice tests. I have 5 of them that I think I can share legally.
Worked out answers for all the problems on these practice tests. This is what I'm working on at the moment.
Brief explanations of each concept covered on the test. With notes in the answers (See page 15 for the Pythagorean Theorem.) So right now I'm making notes about which topics I need to cover
Practice problems. So many practice problems. Then in the future, I can just print off that page and hand it to a kid.

This is going to be a huge project, but I'm enjoying it. It's very little pressure at this point, because I don't have to finish, and when I'm done I can just throw the pdf up on the internet. Also, it isn't really taking away from my work on fiction. Right now, I'm even using it as a warm up.

Let's see how this turns out.

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.

Toni Morrison

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.

Toni Morrison

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/tonimorris161280.html#mRvhxFoyb0oHsShF.99

Twenty Percent True

May 15, 2014

Then You Must Write It

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