Sunday, March 28, 2010

Quotes and Wisdom about Teaching 2


"Who is not able to recall the impact of some particular teacher- an enthusiast, a devotee of a point of view, a disciplinarian whose ardor came from love of a subject, a playful but serious mind? There are many images, and they as precious."- Jerome Bruner, American Psychologist

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."- Henry Brookes Adams, American Writer

"Be an example to all...in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity."- 1 Timothy 4:12

"The mediocre teacher tells.
The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates.
The great teacher inspires."- William A. Ward, American Teacher, Pastor, Author and Editor

"The fundamental qualification for teaching is learning."- Andrew McNab

"No teacher should strive to make men think as he thinks, but to lead them to the living Truth, to the Master himself, of whom alone they can learn anything."- George Macdonald, Scottish Minister and Writer

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Behaviorism: Ivan Pavlov's Classical Conditioning

     Ivan Pavlov's Classical Conditioning is probably the most commonly given as example if behaviorism is being talked about. Ivan Pavlov by the way is a Russian psychologist, became a Nobel Prize winner, and is famous for his experiment regarding the dog, the meat and the bell.

(You may want to read my other posts related to behaviorism here:)

     In his experiment, he divided the process into before, during and after conditioning. Before conditioning, he had the bell rung (neutral stimulus) and caused no response from the dog. A food (unconditioned stimulus) was placed before the dog and the animal salivated (unconditioned response). During conditioning, the bell was rung before presenting the food to the dog. After conditioning, the ringing of the bell (conditioned stimulus) alone triggered the dog to salivate (conditioned response).
   
     To make this more related to education, I would like to have this scenario. In the first days of school, Ms. Lulu asked her students to prepare a 1/4 sheet of pad paper (neutral stimulus) and the students had no problem with it. In the passing days, Ms. Lulu's difficult tests (unconditioned stimulus) made the students worry (unconditioned response). It became a habit of Ms. Lulu to ask the students to prepare a 1/4 sheet of pad paper because she will give a test. Soon, Ms. Lulu's asking of 1/4 sheet of pad paper (conditioned stimulus) alone made the students worry (conditioned response). This is classical conditioning. Hehehe... I hope that you get what I mean...

     Aside from these examples, these are also some of the findings of Pavlov illustrated by Ms. Lulu scenario
1. Students will still be worried even if Ms. Lulu will ask to prepare a 1/2 sheet of pad paper or a whole sheet of pad paper (Stimulus Generalization).
2. If Ms. Lulu will stop asking the students to use a sheet of pad paper in their tests and just require them to have a test notebook, the students will not be worried the next time she will ask for a sheet of paper (Extinction).
3. Students' worry will return or "recovered" if Ms. Lulu will once again ask the students for a sheet of pad paper in their test, but will soon extinguish again if they will use their test notebooks (Spontaneous Recovery).
4. Students learn to differentiate between papers that they use in test. For example, if Ms. Lulu will ask for a sheet of bond paper, most probably the student will not worry (Discrimination).
5. Once the students are now conditioned to be worried when Ms. Lulu's asks for a sheet of pad paper, another unconditioned stimulus can be made. For example, Ms. Lulu is holding a red notebook while she asks her students to prepare their sheet of pad paper. Soon, students will be worried when Ms. Lulu will hold her red notebook even before she will ask for a 1/4 sheet of pad paper (Higher-Order Conditioning).

Quotes and Wisdom about Teaching 1

At some point of one's teaching career, it is unavoidable that one may feel restless, tired or even want to run away. These quotes I hope will serve as medicines for those teachers who are very tired and felt that they want to give up. I hope that these inspirational messages may make them energized and will enlighten them, that despite of the stressful nature of the teaching profession, they will find fulfillment from it.

"The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you..." -Dan Rather, former CBS Evening News Anchor 1981-2001

"The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery."- Mark Van Doren, American Poet, Critic, and Educator

"Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher."- Japanese Proverb

"I love to teach. I love to teach as a painter loves to paint, as a musician loves to play, as a singer loves to sing, as a strong man rejoices to run a race. Teaching is an art."- William Phelps, American Educator and Literary Critic

"Teaching is a partnership with God. You are not molding iron nor chiseling marble; you are working with the Creator of the universe in shaping human character and determining destiny."-Ruth Vaughn, Author and Playwright

"The secret of education is respecting the pupil." Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Writer, Speaker and Poet

"I long to put the experience of fifty years at once into your young lives, to give you at once the key to that treasure chamber every gem of which has cost me tears and struggles and prayers, but you must work for these inward treasures yourself."- Harriet Beecher Stowe, Abolitionist Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin

"What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation."- Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman Statesman, Orator and Author

"A good teacher is like a candle- it consumes itself to light the way for others."- Anonymous

"Children require guidance and sympathy far more than instruction."- Annie Sullivan, Teacher of Helen Keller

Monday, March 22, 2010

LET Tips: Possible Questions on Piaget and His Theory

One of my reasons why I made this blog was to actually help those who will get the LET or the Licensure Examination for Teachers pass the exam. I just took the exam last October 2009 and I was blessed that out of over forty thousand examinees who took the exam, I got the highest rating all over the Philippines. I was very honored and happy and I really want to share what I have.
Below are some of the possible items that are usually included in the exam. They may not the exact questions but at least you will have an idea of the possible questions given in the exam. Just try to answer as best as you can. Please don't immediately scroll down because I placed the answers at the bottom.

1. Two identical beakers A and B are presented to the child. The teacher pours the liquid from B to C, which is taller and thinner than both A and B. The teacher asks which beaker has the most amount of water. The child points at beaker C. In what cognitive developmental stage the child is?
A. Formal Operational Stage
B. Concrete Operational Stage
C. PreOperational Stage
D. Sensorimotor Stage
2. Liz's mother has two crackers, both equal in size. She broke one of the crackers into four pieces. Liz's wants more crackers so she chose the cracker which was divided to four pieces. What does Liz's choice illustrate?
A. Assimilation
B. Centration
C. Accommodation
D. Conservation
3. Which level of cognitive development will properties of mathematical operations can be taught?
A. PreOperational Stage
B. SensoriMotor Stage
C. Formal Operational Stage
D. Concrete Operational Stage

Correct Answers:
1. C- The child manifests centration which is one of the characteristics of preoperational children.
2. D- Liz has not yet develop conservation, or the ability to know that certain properties like the mass do not change even if there is a change in appearance.
3. D- At this stage, children know the concept of reversibility.

Applications: Piaget's Formal Operational Stage

1. Continue the previous applications but with more complexity and difficulty. Still use diagrams but let the students explain and interpret these themselves.
2. Have open discussions, symposiums, panels and debates.
3. Be open to "out of this world" questions and ideas from the students. Explore what ifs.
4. Encourage reflective thinking. Give a topic then let the students share their perspectives.
5. Give a problem and discuss with them possible solutions. It will be more meaningful if problems are related to students' lives and environment.

Haaay... At least I'm done with explaining all about Piaget. I hope I have discussed this as simply but as credible as possible. The next will be what I will call LET Tips. In these posts, I will be discussing possible questions related to a certain topic in which in this case, will be still about Piaget Theory of Cognitive Development. So just watch out for it....

Applications: Piaget's Concrete Operational Stage

1.Reinforce and continue using concrete and hands on materials. For example, use models and demonstrate experiments in Science, show replicas or artifacts in History, demonstrate how to's in EPP and many more.

2. Organize the materials and concepts presented. Don't bombard children with too many factors and lengthy explanations. Be concise and brief. For example, Give an experiment or instruction with considerable number of steps. Or let children only read short stories 2-4 pages or children's book rather giving them lengthy stories with a lot of twisting plots.

3. Always relate the children to their prior experiences before presenting a new topic. Ask questions related to their lives or personal experiences so that it will be easier for them to assimilate information and to instill in their minds what is being presented. Like in discussing a story, teachers often ask if children can find similarities on the traits or on the situation the characters in the story are into.

4. Let the children classify or group things. Use graphic organizers to make it easier like matrices, charts, diagrams, etc. This will make their logical ability improve and develop. Riddles, Mind Twisters and Brain Teasers can also help. Give more of divergent questions rather than convergent questions because the former give children more opportunity to think and stimulate imagination.

Applications: Piaget's Pre Operational Stage

1. When presenting something, whether these are instructions, explanations lessons or directions, be concrete. Use illustrations, real objects, models even demonstrations. Don't only say them, don't be too verbose. Show them and even act them. You can be a model or even one of your pupils to demonstrate a given instruction or a scenario.
2. Since at this stage children are egocentric, avoid lessons or examples that are not immediate on child's experience. Listen to their stories, have an open discussion and sharing of experiences.
3. Have more of hands on activities than paper and pencil tasks. Let them manipulate objects and experience objects themselves especially if these will give them the opportunity to understand more about conservation. Objects like clay, water or sand could really help a lot.
4. Widen the world of a child. Let them explore their environment by having out of the classroom activities such as visits to different places or field trips.

Applications: Piaget's Sensori-Motor Stage

A theory is useless if not applied. So I will now present the practical applications of Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development. Due to limited characters that can only be typed via cellphone, I will discuss this by stages. Below are the practical applications parents, teachers and the like can do. These are self-explanatory so I just enlisted them.
1. Interact with them more often. Show funny faces, play "pick-a-boo", smile at them, etc. Let them meet different people especially family members because at this stage, they can recognize faces.
2. Talk to them. Ask questions as if they know how to speak. Let them talk their own "language" because they like hearing their voices and other sounds too.
3. Let them do simple tasks by themselves like picking up their own toys when they play, reach a nearby object, putting them inside the box, and others.
4. Provide toys that are appealing to the senses: brightly colored, have catchy sounds (but not too much!), textured surfaces, etc.
5. Let them play toys that will not only let them enjoy but learn as well. Give them simple puzzles, building blocks, and other toys that will develop their mental ability. Don't forget to play with them.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Formal Operational Stage: Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

          Logical thinking is now more developed in this stage covering the ages twelve to fifteen years. Formal operant individuals can now solve abstract problems and to give their own hypothesis. When we say hypothesis, this is a sort of an educational guess or forecast of a certain situation, problem or phenomenon.   
         
          This also includes gathering and weighing the information and data available in order to give a judgment or conclusion. This can be done both with concrete and abstract objects. For example, in an experiment of the effect of water to a plant, formal operant individuals can now hypothesize what will happen to the plant in the absence of water, or to think of what are other factors aside from water that can make a plant survive. What ifs question are developed.

          Another development on the logical thinking of individuals on this stage is what we call analogical thinking. This can also be referred to as metaphorical thinking. This is relating one instance to another related and similar instances. For example, if socks is to foot, then gloves is to hand. Or just like saying that life is like a roller coaster, sometimes your up, sometimes your down.

          Lastly, individuals in this stage know deductive reasoning. That is, general to specific, or stating a rule and then applying it to a particular situation. For example, if all birds have wings, and a chicken has wings, then it is a bird. Or stating a rule like all the objects that revolve around the sun are members of the solar system, the earth revolves around the sun, so it is a member of the solar system.

          My next post will be the application of this theory to teaching and learning. I hope that so far I have helped you understand this theory based on how I understand it myself. But I just would like clear that I am not a psychologist or a PhD in psychology or education. I am just a teacher and an enthusiast in this field who wants to share my own insights about these topics. So for any reactions or corrections, I will appreciate it very much.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Concrete Operational Stage: Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

Children ages 8-11 are under this stage. On this stage, children have the ability to think logically. However, this only includes those concrete objects and the things they can perceive using their senses. Unlike the prior stage, concrete operational children no longer concentrate on one aspect or feature. Rather, they already know how to observe and to look at the other details of a person, an object and even a situation. In addition, children on this stage can now reverse their thinking. At last, if I will get a chance to teach a concrete operational child, I will now find it easy to teach the commutative property of addition and multiplication. Just a review, commutative property states that A+B is the same with B+A, or AxB is equal to BxA. In real life situation, this can be seen if a child now understands that he will have high grades if he studies his lesson and if he studies his lesson, he will have high grades.
Furthermore, children now have the ability to seriate, or to order or arrange things based on given criterias whether these will be on shape, size, color, etc. Lastly because of the above mentioned characteristics, a concrete operational child knows how to conserve. This is the ability to know that their are certain properties that do not change even there is a change in appearance. For example, a paper will still a paper even if it was crumbled, torn or cut. Or going back to Piaget's experiment on the glasses, a concrete operational child can already identify that the amount of water is equal even the two glasses are not identical.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Preoperational Stage: Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

   This is the second stage of cognitive development according to Piaget. This includes children who are two to seven years old and probably who are in preschool. The notable characteristic of this stage is that children can now make believe or pretend through the use of symbols. This is called "symbolic function". The most dominant symbol used is language, wherein children represent the objects that they experience through names or words. They can also use a certain object to symbolize or represent something else. Just imagine the tv commercial of a popular milk. The girl was singing something like "Mom said, don't eat your WOOOOOORDS!...She said, I have a beautiful VOOOOOOICE!".hahaha... Well, as you have seen, she was singing using a hair brush as her microphone. She pretended that the hair brush was her microphone. Have you seen your little brother or sister play? The boys especially in which they use sticks as their swords. But as they grow and develop, they can pretend only in their mind even without these objects. Again, imagine you as a child or seeing children play "Power power rangers" or " Good Morning Princess".(Do you know these games?hehe). Those explain it.

     Aside from symbolic function, children have the tendency to be egocentric. It means that they do not assume that each of us has different perspective. They believe that their point of view is the same as with all the people. This is the reason why for example, children have occasional "mine is better than yours" arguements with their agemates or your nephew or niece will ask you why you didn't call his/her mama or papa "mommy" or "daddy".

    Another characteristic of these stage is what we call centration. This can be explained by the experiment done by Piaget himself. In his experiment, he presented a child two identical glasses with the same amount of water. When the child was asked which glass has more water, he answered that both glasses are the same. However, when the water from one of the glasses was transferred to a narrower but taller glass, and was asked again, the child chose that the taller glass has the greater amount of water. This is centration. The child "centered" only on one aspect that is the tallness of the glass without taking into consideration the narrowness of it. This can also be seen when children tend to determine the sex of the people they meet. Boys wear pants while girls wear skirts. Or they will say that a person is already old when they see that that person is wearing glasses, has gray hair or has a mustache, without considering the age or the other details.
  
     Furthermore, children on this stage are very animistic. This is very obvious when they play dolls and stuff toys. And they will say to you not to throw their teddies and handle it with care because teddy might get "hurt". Or seeing a girl telling her agemate not to pick the leaves or the flowers of a plant because the plant will cry.
 
   According to one of our textbooks in college by Corpus, preoperational children has transductive reasoning. For example, if a preschool will be asked why there are no classes, he will probably answer "because it's Saturday." And if you'll ask again, "How did you know that it's Saturday?" He will probably answer "because there are no classes."

     Lastly, children on this stage has still the inability to reverse their thinking. In short, they still don't know that 1+2 is still the same with 2+1. This is the reason why I really had a difficult time explaining to my 6-year old tutee the commutative property of multiplication. That is why I wondered how come this topic was included in an Elementary Mathematics textbook for grade 1. Psychologically, this is inappropriate considering the mental stage of children. However, I thought that the author intended to put this topic maybe in order to help children develop reversibility. This might be true especially with the help of an adult, a teacher or a parent, or an older significant other, children will gradually develop the ability of reversibility.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

SensoriMotor Stage: Piaget's Cognitive Theory of Development

This is the first stage of Piaget's Cognitive Development. This stage is from birth to infancy or zero to two years old. As the name implies, this is a stage where humans focus on the movement of muscles and body reflexes. Just imagine a baby and how he/she moves. And notice how baby toys are designed. In this stage, humans still have to familiarize and learn the world through interaction to objects, concrete objects in the environment.
According to Piaget, babies have the ability of "object permanence" or the ability of the child to know that an object still exists even without of sight. So if you show a baby a teddy bear, and then block or hide the teddy behind a cardboard, the baby would still believe that the teddy is there.
So to the parents, or even teachers, they have to provide a stimulating environment that will give the opportunity for the babies to learn his or her environment. Toys that captivate the senses like those with appealing colors, catching sound(not too much for the ear) and texture would be a great help for the development of this stage. But these toys will be useless and even hazardous without guidance of an adult or an older significant other.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Application for Public School

Yesterday, I woke up that morning with nothing to worry about. I thought of texting Sir Lego because I just want to confirm if the passing of application for a teaching position in public school will still be until next week. But then I was shocked to know that the deadline is this week. In short, I only have 1 day to finish all the papers I need to pass. I haven't made my application letter, revised my resume and to prepare all the other papers. So I was really cramming. I still had to tutor in the afternoon so I had to be absent in one of my session just to finish my application. At the end, after all the fros and tos, I was able to pass. I passed my application at my alma mater in elementary and I was really glad to know that my teacher there were happy and honored that I will be teaching with them. The principal was on leave so I got the chance to talk more to my teachers and to roam around school. Hay...I was very tired...But at least, I was able to catch up with the deadline. I really hope that they will find my application impressive. Hehehe...

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

My First Post via Cellphone

Hi. This is actually my first post using mobile browser and it's actually working. I really find this great since it's like posting slash texting. My phone is not that high tech as others may think. I got nokia 5130 xpressmusic but still I can do a lot like checking my facebook account, email, search in Yahoo, etc. The fun part is I can actually type my post as if I'm just texting.

Educational Psychology: Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

This is my very first post about education so I really hope that whoever will read this post can learn a lot and should be able to apply it in their everyday lives, whether they are teachers, educators, parents, students and the like.
Piaget is only one of modern psychologists who influenced the notion of learning most especially about how humans develop mentally. He believes that human mind has what he calls "schema" or mental/cognitive structures. In short, we humans are already born with something in our heads, not as empty vessels waiting to be filled. He also introduced the concepts of assimilation and accomodation. Assimilation is the adding of new experience or learning to an existing or already made schema. Example, if we had a schema of what a fish is, and we saw another fish of different color, then we try to add or fit in that new information to our current schema. And in the process of seeing another kind of fish, then we "accommodate" or create a new schema. As we grow, our minds pass through 4 stages: sensori-motor, pre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational. Each stage has its own characteristics which later I will discuss one by one. I will also tackle the practical applications of this theory especially in pedagogy and instruction.
This is only the introduction of my series of discussion about Piaget and the rest of other educational psychologists. I hope you find this post of mine helpful to your study. And I really hope that whoever got to read my post will tell their friends and classmates and teachers about my blog so that I could extend and share my knowledge about these topics.

Monday, March 8, 2010

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Sunday, March 7, 2010

My Reaction Paper During College: The World of Jesus

Reading about the world of Jesus made me feel that I‘m in his time. That I was there when he preached, perform miracles, etc.
I pictured out the Palestine, the land where most of the great events in the bible took place. I learned the different Jewish provinces such as Judea, where Jesus was born and died; Galilee, where Jesus grew up and began hi mission; and Perea, which the gospel refer to as “beyond Jordan’. There were also non- Jewish provinces such as Samaria, where Jesus cured the ten lepers, the Decapolis, Phoenicia, Philip’s Tetrarchy and Idumea.
Jesus’ hometown was like a usual town. There were streets where villagers greeting each other Shalom!, kissing each other as friendly gesture, children playing and many more. For their recreation, they did not attend public entertainment because they were forbidden to mix with the Gentiles likewise they played their own games. I was surprised to know that the people in Jesus time have also their local well or fountain as a meeting place for gossips. They were carpenter’s shops, schools and many more.
I found out that the children learn through studying the Law. They learn reading, writing, geography and history. They also learn writing with a stylus on waxed tablet.
The synagogue was the main building of the village and the meeting place of the people every Sabbath. They come there to pray and listen to the Word. At the end of the service, each person dropped his contribution to the collection box as he left the synagogue.
The Jerusalem temple was the center of Israel’s sacrificial worship. It was divided into seven parts. There is the Porch of Solomon, the Court of Gentiles, Court of Women, Council of Israel, Court of Priests, The Holy place and The Holy of Holies, the most sacred part of the sanctuary where no one was allowed to enter except the high priest during the Day of Atonement. the overall in charge of the temple services was the high priest including the exclusive function of entering the Holy of Holies.
A Jewish typical house was made of stones held together by mud and straw. The house had a single low door and lacked windows. Except for a low table, they don’t have other furniture like chairs, bed etc.
I was amazed to know that Jewish life as a whole was interwoven with prayer. They have Shema and the 18 Blessings, which a Jew had to recite morning, noon and afternoon. They also observed 3 major religious feasts such as the Passover, Pentecost and the Feats of the Tabernacle.
There were also religious groups in Palestine. The Sadducees where mostly belonged to the priestly class and the wealthy; the Pharisees, known for their strict observance of the Lawn and severe penance; the Scribes, those who were well- versed in the Law; and the Essenes, who were mostly celibates. Other groups were the Zealots, Herodians, the Poor and the Outcasts.
I felt sorry to know that the Jews lived the hard life of a colonized country. They were under the Roman rule since 63 B.C. the Roman vassal ruling Palestine was Herod the Great. The Jews hated him for his cleverness, ambition and cruelty. He was nearing his end when Jesus was born. He died in Jericho before the Passover in 4 B.C. After his death, the Palestine was divided among his 3 sons: Archelaus, who received Idumea, Judea and Samaria; Herod Antipas, who received the Galilee and Perea; and Philip, who received Gaulanitis, Iturea, Balanea, Trachometea and Auranitis.
Because of Archelaus wicked qualities, he was deposed in his position. Emperor Augustus decreed that the Roman procurator would govern the province. The procurator’s main job was to collect taxes, to ensure internal peace, to appoint and depose high priest, to confirm all death sentences and to report all developments of Rome.
The most known and familiar to me was Pontius Pilate who handed Jesus to be crucified.
There were also other rulers such as Herod Agrippa I who was a personal friend of the emperor and reigned over all the territories of his uncles. He was the first to persecute the early Christians. Herod Agrippa II on the other hand was only 17 when his father Agrippa I died. So he did not inherit his father’s territory as a whole. He had a little influence on the Jews.
The actual ruler of Palestine between the de3ath of Agrippa I and the outbreak of the first revolt were the Roman procurators who gave little consideration to Jews. On such notorious procurators was Felix, after him came Festus, and the last and the worst was Florus.
The Jews suffered a lot under Roman control. For me, it seems that they were being punished for their sins and for what they have done to Jesus. But still, I pity them because they were still the Chosen People and beloved children of God.

Music and Being Smart

I am happy to know that music makes a person smart.

Based on my experience, I think this is true. When we are listening to music, it makes us at ease and relaxed that we can do the things that we need to do with alertness and enthusiasm. Maybe that is also the reason why some students listens to the music when studying.

But I think that there are also limitations in this article. Maybe the music it pertains are music which does not irritates to our ears like pop, classical, or any other music. In my opinion, I think that rock or heavy metal music is not included.

I think I am not being unfair to those who love rock or heavy metal music. As far as I can remember, I once saw a study in PhilSci that focuses on the effects of rock music to the rate of memorization and study quality of the students. And I found out that rock music gave them low performance rate while soft or good music gave them positive outcome.

But of course, I am not concluding, it still depends upon the person.

The “Triple S” in Writing a Good Setting of a Story

In writing a good setting of the story, we only need to remember the “Triple S”: suitability, senses and showing. The first “S” is suitability. This means that we must write our setting logically, or should be suitable and agreeable to the story. For example, if your story is about a man who is overworked or stressed, it is unsuitable to set the story to a peaceful and isolated town. Rather, you might set the story in a hustle and busy city. Or your story is about a woman who needs time for reflection, then your character’s thought would sound “louder” if you set the story in a quite church or a silent meadow. In addition, we must be aware that certain events can only happen in certain places. Obviously, you cannot write about two lovers playing with snow on Christmas in a tropical country like the Philippines.

The second “S” is the senses. Using our five senses in describing the setting of a story will make the readers experience what they are reading. Sensory descriptions can also make the setting vivid and clear. For example, instead of merely writing “In the sea”, try to write specific details like the color, the sound , smell, texture, and many other descriptions that will make the setting achieved a lively appeal to the readers. Because readers tend to generalize from sensory details they can imagine, try to select specific details that will enhance and make the readers’ experience more satisfying. If you write “spoon smeared in a pancake batter,” a reader will likely to picture a wooden spoon, a thick golden batter in a large bowl, a bag of flour, and scattered eggshells in a large kitchen table with morning sunrays passing through the half-open window. In addition, if you have a hard time describing a certain place, you can also use figures of speech like similes and metaphors.

Finally, the last “S” stands for showing. Showing means letting the characters dramatize or experience the setting of the story. For instance, instead of saying, “It was very dark inside”, we could say, “We needed flashlights to find our way”. “It was far from any place” could be changed to, “We travelled four days from the nearest town to reach this place.” Another way to “show” the setting is by allowing the characters describe the details of a place through dialogue. This will help the readers feel an emotional connection between the character and the place. In general, showing is a smart way in writing a good setting of the story since it gives the readers the chance to have their own interpretation and conclusion of what they are reading.

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