All Posts By

Dana Vanderlugt

Blog

What is Left Behind

For most of his life, my grandfather managed an apple orchard. We called it Grandpa’s Orchard, though technically the 200 acres of apples (plus 50-some

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Blog

The Discipline of Specificity

“Be more specific,” I used to tell my writing students. “Don’t say cereal when you could say Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Don’t say your character walked

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Blog

The First Hill

I had to learn how to enjoy rollercoasters. I was a cautious kid, not one to take risks, and it wasn’t until high school that

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Blog

Attached

I remember a pastor once telling me that children who have an attachment item — a blankie, a teddy, a snuggly — are more likely

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Blog

Losing My Way

I. “Those who stutter win, in the painful pauses of their demonstration that speech isn’t entirely natural, a respectful attention, a tender alertness. Words are,

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Subtracting from the Noise

In my classroom, a groggy eighth-grade student confesses that he was up until 2 a.m. watching YouTube videos. My seventh-grade son declares his parents “the

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Blog

Being Seen

I remember the day so clearly. I left a staff meeting during which our district announced plans to cut $2 million from our budget after

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Blog

Intentional

By Dana VanderLugt inˈten(t)SH(ə)n(ə)l/ adjective: done on purpose; deliberate. Synonyms: calculated, conscious, intended, purposeful I talk to my writing students about audience all the time

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