Product Details

• Actors: Vic Mignogna
• Directors: Richard Caudle
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Rock 'N Learn
• DVD Release Date: December 4, 2007
• Run Time: 70 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0010T3HPK
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,930 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Captivate readers, ace writing tests, and express yourself clearly-Marko the Pencil will show you how. His Writer's Toolbox, packed with easy-to-implement strategies, will take your writing from mediocre to magnificent. Stories, essays, term papers, or standardized tests-whatever you write, Marko gives you proven strategies for getting remarkable results. This is the fun way to sharpen your writing skills.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to write right, July 5, 2008

By 

Amanda Richards (Georgetown, Guyana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rock 'N Learn: Writing Strategies (DVD)

This DVD is divided into two main sections of just over thirty minutes each. The first section covers the basics of story-writing, and although it is geared towards grade four and up, it is useful for anyone with a composition or report to write, or a story to tell.

Presented in cartoon format, the story-writer is a young girl, and her instructor an Italian pencil named Marko. We follow along as the girl writes a composition about her first camping trip, with Marko providing running advice and commentary.

As she writes, Marko pulls "tools" out of his toolbox to make the story better, and these are:

1. Arranger: putting your thoughts in order so as to capture the whole story in a logical and organized manner. Extraneous material that doesn't belong in the story is also edited out.
2. Hook: every story needs something to catch the reader's attention, and this includes specific actions, word pictures, interesting facts, conversations or questions.
3. Transitions: used to fill gaps in the storyline.
4. Colorful words: words used to emphasize the way things look, feel, smell, taste or sound.
5. Personification: giving human qualities to objects.
6. Dialogue: developing characters by having them speak to each other.
7. Simile: using words to say how different things may be similar.
8. Onomatopoeia: words pronounced like the sound they are describing.
9. Alliteration: words that begin with the same letter.
10. Lasting impressions: ways to end your story that will be remembered by your readers.

(Marko also discusses unclear pronouns and making sure that clear antecedents are used)

The second section deals with proofreading for capitalization, spelling, punctuation and double negatives, among others.

Also available on the DVD are printable posters covering the topics, and these are also available for downloading from markothepencil dot com in pdf or gif format.

I think that this is a very useful tool for helping children to improve their writing skills, and even my seven year old is now familiar with the terms "simile", "onomatopoeia" and "alliteration". Get this for a young, aspiring writer in your family, and leave a lasting impression.



Amanda Richards, July 5, 2008

5.0 out of 5 stars Not a bad idea, January 27, 2012

By 

Amber MacDonald - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rock 'N Learn: Writing Strategies (DVD)

When I first got this DVD I at first thought maybe I picked the wrong thing to review with my little girl only being in the 2nd grade. But, after the stories she is already having to write and understanding the different parts of writing stories I knew it was a really great thing. This really talks to the kids in away that keeps them focused and makes it really easy to understand. I know there are parts that she is still not understanding but I am sure she will catch on. Plus, the pencil talking is great for kids. I really like how not only does it tell you how to do things and explains but it also shows you in detail which for a lot of kids is much better seeing how to do something. I know that when she gets into the grades where this is really important she will already understand it and not struggle. This is one thing that is really hard for kids so for me I feel I am attacking it with her early. Which makes it where we can work and practice at a slow pace. Plus, for kids that are already in grades 4 and up this would help this so much in understanding and maybe enjoy writing.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ready to Write, August 10, 2010

By 

Barton Eagle (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Rock 'N Learn: Writing Strategies (DVD)

The video is for 4th grade and up but seems a little low budget to hold their attention. It has a girl and a talking pencil who helps her improve her writing. The strategies are great and is done in a teacher-student conference set up! We'll see if it holds their attention...