Maverick Funding Corporation is licensed by the NJ Department of Banking and Insurance. In the NJ mortgage refinancing industry, they are direct lenders and focus on four critical components:

1. Clients
2. Investors
3. Colleagues and Associates
4. The community around them

Maverick Funding Corporation gives special important to their clients and focuses on their needs and wants. They try to build relationships with their clients and offer very reasonable fees. The organization is licensed to operate in NJ, CT, PA, DE, MD, ME, VT, RI, FL, CA, VA, IN, SC, CO, NH, WA, MN, and OH. The organization will offer you the ability to refinance your mortgage, choose a residential loan program, and FHA loans as well.

Refinance your mortgage: If you choose to refinance your mortgage, you will be able to reduce your monthly payment and also the time that it takes to repay your loan. There are a number of reasons why you should choose to refinance your loan. Some of them are:

1. A little change in the rate of interest will reduce your monthly payment by a significant amount. If you refinance your mortgage and choose the lowest possible rate of interest, you will be able to save a lot of money every month.
2. You could also change from an adjustable mortgage rate to a fixed rate. By switching to a fixed rate, you will be sure that your rate of interest will not change even if interest rates fluctuate.
3. Once your rates of interest have been lowered, you will be able to pay off your mortgage faster.
4. You will be able to improve your financial situation, which will allow you to have an improved credit score. You will thus be qualified to get a much lower rate of interest than your present interest rate.

Maverick Funding will help you in refinancing your mortgage. Some of the benefits of choosing Maverick Funding are:

– Better rates.
– Easy to apply online.
– Access to a number of different residential loan programs.
– Advice from experts or experienced professionals in the field of loans.

FHA loans: If you are planning to buy a new house, FHA loans may be the best option for you. By opting for a FHA loan, you will be able to lower your down payments to as low as 3% of the purchase price and most of the closing costs and fees charged will be a part of the loan itself. The Federal Housing Administration will insure your loan and Maverick Funding will offer you a great deal:

– Low down payments.
– Low closing costs.
– Easy qualification procedure for credit.

Residential Loan Programs: The organization will offer you some of the best residential loan programs if you are a qualified borrower. There are a number of different programs and they will help you choose the one that is best for you depending on the number of years you plan to stay for in the house. You could choose between fixed rate mortgages, adjustable rate mortgages, first time buyer programs and also no point, no fee programs. Each program has its own advantages and disadvantages.

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Besides paying rotten dignified interest credit cards, what should you spend refinance funds on?
We already put on the big expenditures, new roof, new A/C section, and new windows during the later refinance. Should we – add a patio slab, kitchen cabinet etc? First answer will indeed help. I’d do a comparables check in the nouns to determine market…

Best place to refinance?
Your current lender

Better to refinance beside a 15, 20 or 30 year fixed?
Our home is currently mortgaged at 6.25% so with rates being so low, we want to refinance. We dream up we will be in our home for another 5 years at least and at that point we will any do some renovations/additions or move into a larger home. …

Bought house 180k, 9.5% topography contr for 3 y. Now worth smaller number.I can’t remuneration stale. No refinance pos.What should I do?
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Can a edge use you charge escrow to wages the principal on a payoff when you refinance beside a different lender?
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Can a FHA loan be refinance into a conventional loan after 120 days from purchase date?
I was told FHA loans can not be refinanced for 12 months using a new appraised price (the refi have to be on the purchase price, not the appraised price). That is true, however, I was also told that I would have to dawdle…

Can a homeowner refinance a home if it’s underneath a lease- to own contract beside someone else?
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Can a mortgage company put together you refinance when they take home a mistake on the loan?
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Can a mortgage company that you have 12 yrs ago and you refinanced to another mortgage company evict you from ?
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Can a soul (age 70) w/ discouraging credit and multiple refinances on their home be eligible for a reverse mortgage?
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Can a spouse give somebody a lift the house surrounded by a divorce if it be refinanced beneath their entitle?
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Can anyone set down Refinancing for me please?
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Can anyone suggest a honourable company to refinance your motor loan next to, next to a co-signer? Thanks.?
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Can bank adjust your interest rate on a home loan lacking in reality going thru the integral refinance process?
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Can fees used to support a mortgage refinance be added to the property cost font?
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Can I chose the Appraiser who appraises my home for a refinance loan?
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Can I do a streamline refinance within this crust and how will this work?
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Can I force a refinance of nuptial property to procure my term sour of a mortgage after divorce? ?
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Can I force someone to refinance an auto loan to draw from my moniker sour of the loan?
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Can I just refinance my motor at the dealership I bought it from?
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Can I negotiage to bring down my APR for a coupé I only bought within January? Or should I in recent times walk refinance?
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Can I pay for out of a refinance if I find a lower rate subsequent?
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Can I provide my house right after a refinance?
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Can I put my credit cards surrounded by my untested mortgage or do I own to refinance after the purchase of my home?
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Can i refinance a 1st and 2nd mortgage if i lost my errand but my wife still works?
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Can I refinance a 30 year fixed FHA loan that be issued surrounded by July 2008?
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Can i refinance a home equity splash of credit?
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More Refinancingquestions please visit : RefinanceFreeFAQ.com

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How to refinancing when your credit score is low?
refinancing a home Ray offer some great advice. Get your credit score up after apply. The only way this make any sense is if you can get a better rate on the re-fi than you are paying now. Source(s): http://www.yourmortgagerate.info I recommend Smart Choice Mortgage. They do business…

How tons of you refinanced your homes during the Bush Administration?
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How would I refinance my loan?
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Husband trying to embezzle equity/refinancing our house short me.?
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I a moment ago financed a used saloon. I am building up my credit . Is it a dutiful thought to to refinance my loan contained by 6 months
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I a moment ago unlisted my house ending week. I am looking for a lender that would do a refinance?
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I am a buyer of a sports car and i hold a co-buyer how can someone refinance me for another vehicle when i already enjoy?
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I am a co-buyer on a saloon loan.Can I refinance the loan to a diff institution and remove the primary buyer?
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I am a loan officer surrounded by Texas and I have need of a mound that will do a cashout refinance near a month stale MLS.?
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I am a wido and i am i financial crisis what can i do tried refinancing my home but the hill said no because o?
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I am considering a short Dutch auction on my house: Should I?. I’m a 1st time home owner, no refinance or 2nd mortgage.
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I am going to refinance my ARM loan into a 30-year fixed?
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I am going to refinance my coup¨¦ make happen I want the extra it will amass me per month. Should I newly bring back a loan?
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I am looking for customers who want to refinance or buy a bright home so I inevitability a mail document near address.?
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I am more or less 30,000 contained by debt.Can i refinance this loan from assets departed surrounded by a will but they are still alive?
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I am refinancing my mortgage, can I start to trade the house very soon?
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I am trying to refinance my home and have need of a copy of the survey.?
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I am trying to refinance my mortgages. I hold a first mortgage which is fixed at 6.375 % and a second HELOC?
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I bought a house concluding november interest rate of 6.375% should I refinance?
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I call for to refinance my 2005 Honda pilot Is Bank of America a right sandbank to try or Chase?
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I can’t stand my mortgage company’s website. Is is possible to revise mortgage companies lacking a refinance?
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I cosigned on an auto loan for a year the individual I sign for does not want to refinance. What can I do properly?
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I co-signedfor a saloon and in a minute I’m tring to buy a House, Since the coup¨¦ have be refinanced how long …?
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I don’t take to mean adjectives the foreclosures because of an ARM. Aren’t folks competent to refinance their home and ?
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DATELINE:  NORWELL and PLYMOUTH, MA…

As a new year dawns and uncertain economic times continue, homeowners might want to start the new year off by investigating what could be the gift of a lifetime for themselves and their families by considering refinancing their mortgage.

With mortgage interest rates at historic lows, Brian Comer, President of Norwell and Plymouth based Advance Mortgage Services outlines some basic reasons to consider refinancing now:

Getting a lower mortgage rate and reducing interest costs and monthly payments. Converting an adjustable rate mortgage to a secure, fixed-rate mortgage. Consolidating first and second mortgages into a mortgage with a lower rate.

The answer to the question, “Should I refinance?” is a complex one, since every situation is different and no two homeowners are in the exact same situation. The conventional wisdom of refinancing only when you can save 2 percent on your rate is problematic. If you are refinancing to lower your monthly payments, the following calculation is more appropriate compared to the 2 percent rule:

Calculate the total cost of the refinance–example: ,000 Calculate the monthly savings–example: 0/month Divide the result in 1 by the result in 2–in this case 2000/100 = 20 months. This shows the break-even time period. If you plan to live in the home for longer than this period of time, it likely makes sense to refinance.

If you regard refinancing costs as an investment you’ll be getting a more than solid return. If you save 0 a month in payments, you would save an additional ,000 in payments (above and beyond the refinancing costs) even if you stayed in your home for only five years after refinancing.

Notes Comer,  “Whatever you’re considering, consulting with a seasoned mortgage professional can often save you time and money. Make a few phone calls, check out a few web sites, use an online mortgage calculator, crunch a few numbers, and spend some time to understand your options.”

Advanced Mortgage Services LLC

Advanced Mortgage Services LLC was founded as a mortgage lending company in 2005 by Brian Thomas Comer, a financial services professional with more than 13 years experience in the South Shore real estate market. Advanced Mortgage Services is a full service mortgage company that values and nurtures long-term customer relationships, providing options and solutions with maximum benefit and genuine concern for their customer’s interests.

Advanced Mortgage Services team of loan officers maintains rigorous licensing requirements set by the Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association and is committed to upholding the highest standards in the mortgage industry. With a combined expertise of more than 50 years, Advanced Mortgage Services offers customers the best possible solution for any mortgage-related issue.

Advanced Mortgage Services, which is an active participant in many community events and organizations throughout the South Shore, is located at 335 Washington Street in Norwell, MA 02061 and has an additional office at 25 Main Street in Plymouth, MA 02360.

For additional information on services offered by Advanced Mortgage Services please call 781-659-6555, 508-747-9520, or 888-665-6345, or visit www.ams-loan.com. Advanced Mortgage Services is fully licensed and insured in Massachusetts and Florida, and is an FHA, VA, Equal Opportunity, and MHFA lender.

marefinance.us its time to learn about MA refinance.you can also get knowledge about ma mortgage refinance, refinance home equity, bad credit refinance, mortgage refinance rates, homeowners refinance
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Rapid Sheet Metal™, Inc. hosted over 70 members of the New Hampshire Solidworks User Group (NH SWUG) on Tuesday, December 2.  After tours of Rapid’s state of the art sheet metal facility dedicated to the ultrafast turnaround of prototype sheet metal parts and a bountiful buffet dinner, the crowd settled in for an evening of discussions on cyber metal bending in the world’s most widely used sheet metal design CAD software, Solidworks.

Jay Patterson, Product Definition Specialist for SolidWorks, reviewed the tools and methodologies of how to design sheet metal parts within Solidworks.  Covering the basics as well as expert tips and tricks, Jay demonstrated the power of Solidworks for designing sheet metal.  Steve Lynch, Engineering Manager for Rapid Sheet Metal, followed with a presentation on manufacturing considerations for sheet metal design.  The audience was shown how a sheet metal shop uses their 3D Solidworks data to make real parts and the impact on manufacturing of certain CAD design features such as bend radii, hemming, offset bends and hardware insertion.  Concluding the meeting was a Question and Answer session that many felt had to end too soon. 

The User Group meeting was a great way for Solidworks Users to connect with others in the engineering community and refine their sheet metal design skills.  “Steve Lynch provided one of the best presentations we have ever seen.  Overall, everyone got a lot out of the night and I would consider it our best NH-SWUG meeting yet!  Kudos to Rapid Sheet Metal.” commented Cindy Berend, NH-SWUG President.

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Home is probably one endearing term, which people cutting across the barriers of language, nationalities and culture can connect to. It symbolizes an eternal human quest of owning a space of one’s own, which will harbour their dreams and be the storehouse of a loving memory. It symbolizes stability and comfort. Given its huge emotional relevance and social standing, embarking on the process of buying your first house could be a mammoth task.

The following deciding factors could help ease the hurdles you might face in your home selecting process.

Smooth Search

You should be prepared with a list of the qualities or features you want and don’t want in your home-to-be. It would help if you have a primary list of absolutes – things you absolutely want and don’t want and a secondary list of additional features you want in order to make your buy the perfect one. It could be you find a house matching all the requirements of your primary list but lacking in a one or two from your secondary list. In that case, depending on the utilitarian and market value of the house you could decide upon it faster.

Now that you have your lists ready, do your homework online before visiting a real estate agent. It will give you grater confidence and yield a better bargaining position for you. Most importantly, the agents would instantly know they are not dealing with naïve buyers if you can display your knowledge and understanding in the right way.

You can search through hundreds of online listings, view virtual tours, and sort through dozens of photographs and aerial shots of neighbourhoods and homes. Refine your search by selecting the type of neighbourhood and home you are looking for.

The Time Factor

You can go on and on with the search, there’s practically no limit to it. In order to do time-effective searching, fix up a limit to the number of houses you visit per day and a rough deadline of finishing the search. In this way, both you and your agent won’t let the illusive luxury of time get the better of you.

It would also help in keeping your search motivated and goal-oriented.

Seeing numerous houses one-after-another could also take a toll on your memory. If your search is lengthy and haphazard, chances are you will mess up the particularities you wanted to remember about the houses you liked.

Don’t visit more than five houses in a day. Keep a personal notebook with you to keep rating the houses with one or two identifying features serially. This way, it won’t overload your mind and you will be able to process the information when required.

Reciprocation of your Needs

Often, a few real estate agents try to ‘lead’ you to a house, trying to persuade you in looking at its plus points, even though they might not be apparent to you. Do not give in to such ‘soft selling’.

Professional real estate agents generally address your wants and needs and show only those homes to you that fit your particular parameters. Your agent should preview homes before showing them to you as well so that it saves you the hassle and stress of visiting unprofitable places.

Restraint as a Rule

When you find the perfect home, buy it! Don’t extend the search in the hope of an even better one.

The Second Visit

The best ones stick to the mind like pleasant impressions. But, the challenge lies in the selecting the perfect from the list of short listed homes. Visit the short listed houses again. View them critically to check where you have overestimated their worth. Keep rejecting the ones with the maximum shortcomings.

At this point, your agent should call the listing agents to find out more about the sellers’ motivation and to double-check that an offer hasn’t come in, making sure these homes are still available to purchase.

Sealing the Deal

After your rejections, only a couple of homes will still stay put on the most desirable list. You should seal the one, in which a slight compromise here and there seems like a passing itch. In short, it should have all the dream attributes.

Remember to make the decision with your rational faculties as well as intuition at this stage.

For more information on  Homes for Sale Austin TX visit  Homes BY Lender

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In 2003 I wrote an article about high gas prices in North America. Here we are on the cusp of 2007 and the price at the pump is vastly higher. This is not a surprising turn of events when we look at all the reasons for the high gas prices we are paying at the pump and on our heating bills.

The usual rational bandied about by people suffering under high prices is the idea that the oil and gas companies themselves are fixing the pricing system. If you ask ten people why gas prices are high the majority will find this as reason number one. But is it completely true?

Most Canadians love to lay the blame of high gas prices on the taxes applied at the pump, and how the oil companies gouge the consumer but they and the media in Canada are overlooking the more important issues and causes for the price increases.

In Canada, most are unaware that the National Energy Policy, or NEP, has been gutted in the advance of free trade. No longer can the Canadian government try to establish Canadian pricing for oil and gas that is manufactured, refined and sold in Canada. We completely ceded that ability when we signed onto NAFTA.

What this means is that Canada now has little to no control over our own supplies and domestic pricing. During the free trade negotiations the Mexican negotiators had enough forethought to balk at the American proposal to write into law that both Canada and Mexico must hand over a full two thirds of all of our natural gas production. This leaves Canadians paying world market rates for something that they themselves export.

Right now Canada ships some two million barrels of oil a day south; yet we cannot do anything about setting national pricing structures, thanks to Mulroney and Chrétien and their free trade agreements.

This is not the whole story though. Even if we Canadians were to abrogate NAFTA which is our right under the agreement, we may have already given away too much of our dwindling resource.

In 1997 there were 41 large Canadian petroleum companies doing business in Canada. Today there are only six. Of the 35 that no longer exist, U.S. companies bought out 21. This is a disturbing trend of foreign takeovers of Canadian natural resources. Canadians no longer have a majority interest over their own energy resource base.

Sadly, this is only going to get worse and never better. As more of Canada’s energy resources are sold off to foreign corporations at 80 cents on the dollar with no democratic oversight whilst being coupled with an ever-shrinking resource, expect higher and higher prices.

Now couple this loss of domestic capacity and oversight with the burgeoning oil and gas use by many parts of the world, and we can easily foreshadow the ongoing energy crunch. The United States is still the world’s largest user of oil and gas and there is little suggesting that they will change course on that issue any time soon. Not to be overlooked though is the upcoming powerhouse users of China and India. Both of those nations are undergoing their own industrial and economic revolutions. They will both demand more and more of the world’s shortening supply only exacerbating the current situation. Add in Middle East turmoil and uncertainty as we see now and all bets are off as to just how high or how unstable pricing will be in 2007 and beyond.

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For us in the Northern Hemisphere summer has arrived and shedding the layers of clothes has begun. But for many it’s a case of extra winter baggage still hanging on, which sees a lot of people taking drastic measures like semi-starving themselves to fit into their bathing suits and summer outfits.

So this month I will examine firstly what happens to your body if you severely reduce calories and secondly how to safely and effectively achieve permanent fat-loss.

Topics

1. Cutting calories – hunger pangs!

2. How it effects the body in the long term

3. 5 keys to permanent and healthy fat-loss

• Need for Muscle

• Cardio in moderation

• Eat to boost metabolism

• Water

• Sleep

4. Conclusion

1. Cutting calories – hunger pangs!

What comes to mind when you hear the word diet? Bad memories of starvation and restriction, or a physical feeling from a lump in the throat to a stomach aching from past hunger pangs. That’s the group of diets I am talking about: Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Slimfast or Cambridge – diets that the foundation involves cutting calories (calories are simply units of food energy).

Firstly however it is essential to stress and clarify that not all calories are the same. For example the calories from a slice of white bread has a different effect on the body than the same amount of calories in a serving of vegetables. So in order to be accurate I am all for reducing calories (consumption) from processed food but not whole food!

The following article examines what happens to your body when you reduce calories from whole foods resulting in a reduction of essential nutrients and energy for the system to function effectively.

2. How it effects the body in the long term

So how do “calorie restrictive” diets work? Basically on the simple principle of less calories (or energy) coming in as opposed to more energy being used. This leaves the body in a negative energy balance state which results in using current sources including body fat.

Success from that concept makes sense in theory and often achieves positive results on the scale but unfortunately it’s generally short term because the body is a lot more complicated and smarter than that simple theory.

Therefore to explain why it’s essential to look deeper into the body’s mechanisms for creating a natural balance or homeostasis.

After cutting calories the miracle of the body’s internal wisdom sends a message saying “slow down the master regulator of metabolism” – otherwise known as the thyroid gland.

An under-active thyroid is one of the reasons people cannot achieve a permanent optimal weight. The thyroid gland reduces the energy production to cope with the reduced energy input which consequently slows down many of the bodies systems which we experience as fatigue.

Another problem in cutting calories is the body uses existing muscles for energy which further reduces metabolism as muscle is an active tissue. Losing muscle mass gives people a false sense of fat-loss as muscle weighs more than fat and can make the scale lie.

In short, the drastic approach of severely cutting calories does not work in the long run in the effort to lose body fat!

So what does?

3. 5 keys to permanent and healthy fat-loss

In my experience long term success comes from controlling metabolism through a synergy.

Synergy can be described as “the interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.”

I believe firmly that the success of an individual’s health and fitness goals depends on the following synergy: the need for muscle mass, cardio-respiratory exercise in moderation, supportive nutrition as part of an overall healthy lifestyle that includes the right amount of water and sleep.

• The need for muscle. Muscle is an active tissue that needs fuel. It’s your friend if you want to lose body fat by increasing your metabolism. Did you get that? Muscle helps you to lose fat. Does it mean you have to end up with a body like Arnold Schwarzenegger, ladies? No, activities like circuits, Yoga and Pilates develop muscle. Furthermore after the age of 30 our muscles shrink so it is imperative to regularly maintain or build them.

• Cardio in moderation. It is important however not to overdo the cardio (e.g. cross trainer or jogging), as this can lead to a decrease in muscle mass which are your fat burners. I am not saying Cardio is a bad thing, as it allows nutrients to be transported to the cells via the bloodstream. When fat is released from storage centers (adipose cells) it travels through the bloodstream to be “burned”. But if there is a decrease in muscle mass, the body’s ability to burn fat is also decreased. I recommend short duration cardio to limit the possibility of losing muscle.

• Eat to boost metabolism which means minimising simple sugar and refined carbohydrates intake, but consuming frequent meals consisting of proteins (meat, fish, chicken), complex carbohydrates (starches- brown rice), fibrous carbohydrates (vegetables), and essential fatty acids (olive oil). By eating every 3 hours metabolism increases and your body basically says I don’t need to store this as fat as I get food regularly. (1)

• Drink plenty of water. The body is made up of around 75% water. Water is crucial when it comes to health by playing a role in transporting nutrients, digestion, elimination of waste products, detoxification, etc. Processes that if not balanced can directly lead to weight gain.

For example body fat is a great place to store toxins by pushing them away from the vital organs. Only until an individual has detoxified will the body freely give up body fat as it naturally protects itself from circulating dangerous toxins through the blood stream.

Beware a “dry mouth” is NOT a safe judge of thirst, it is actually a sign that the body is well into dehydration.

How much water should we drink each day? That depends on several factors including your weight and how active you are. But without complicating it with litres or ounces my rule is start the day with 2 big glasses of water and then take a water bottle everywhere you go sipping throughout, aiming for at least 8 glasses consumed for the day. Additionally hydration comes from pure water not soft drinks, juice, coffee, tea, processed milk or alcohol. These drinks require much more water than they actually contain to process, detoxify and pass them out of the system, and lead to further dehydration. To maximize absorption add a pinch of unrefined sea salt. (2)

An excellent text outlining the need for water is called “Your body’s many cries for water” by Dr. Batmanghelidj.

• Get sufficient sleep. Sleep is another factor that has huge ramifications on the body. I consider sleep a major tipping point as many times I have personally seen clients only achieve results until they get to bed earlier and sleep a little longer.

It may seem far fetched but we are often sick, overweight, diabetic, and suffering from disease because we don’t sleep enough. The invention of the light bulb brought with it a host of chronic health concerns. In 1910 the average adult slept 9-10 hours per night for over 4,000 hours yearly. Currently we are lucky to get 7 hours for an average of 2,555 hours yearly. (2)

Dr. Shahrad Taheri, a leading sleep expert reported that those who are sleep-deprived have the “same hormonal balance in their brain as someone who has been on a low calorie diet for three months”. Which as previously discussed puts the body in a starvation state triggering a negative hormonal change, potentially leading to obesity. (3)

The earlier you get to bed the better. Aim to be asleep by 10.30 pm and to obtain a minimum of 8 hours sleep in complete darkness. The body is programmed to perform tasks at certain times. One example is the gallbladder which detoxifies between 10 pm – 1 am. A good rule is every hour of sleep before midnight is worth two hours after in terms of recovery and repair.

To find out how to improve your sleep patterns check out the November issue of Peak Performance article called “22 Ways to a good nights sleep”. (4)

4. Conclusion

So next time you have that fat-loss thought don’t set yourself up for failure, be smart and think synergy: need for muscle, cardio in moderation, supportive eating, plenty of water, and sleep.

Your 3d Coach

Craig Burton

References

(1) Burton, Strong beginnings – success through synergy, 2005

(2) Hittner, Sleep, Water & Food. http://www.ptonthenet.com, 2003

(3) Fletcher, Stay in bed if you want to stay slim say scientists, Express Newspapers, 2006

(4) Burton, 22 ways to a good night’s sleep, 2005

Photodynamic therapy or PDT for short is a new way of treating some skin cancers and certain other pre-cancerous skin lesions. These are basal cell carcinoma’s, Bowen’s Disease and also actinic (or solar) keratosis.

PDT is quick, easy, and does not result in scarring. It is now the preferred treatment for many skin cancers in the UK. Photodynamic therapy is not the preferred treatment for squamous cell skin cancers as these have a high chance of recurrence and we want to be sure that the treatment has succeeded.

Putting it very simply, photodynamic therapy for skin cancers involves applying a special light sensitizing cream to the affected area and a little of the surrounding area and then after a short while shining a bright light onto the treated area. The cells which have absorbed the chemical and are then subject to the bright light will die off leaving fresh normal skin to grow in its place. Normal cells are left relatively undamaged. This is because PDT affects mainly fast growing skin cancer or pre-cancer cells.

Until recently, standard treatments for these particular skin cancers have been either destructive, for example using liquid nitrogen, or surgical. Both of these treatments has its advantages but a major disadvantage of surgical treatments has been the resulting scar left by the surgical cut and stitches. Liquid nitrogen spray or cryotherapy for skin cancer will destroy the tumour cells but is not terribly refined and will destroy other normal tissue also. Photodynamic therapy avoids scars.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is available on the UK NHS in some centres but relatively few and for those NHS units there is a long waiting list. The problem is the usual one of funding. NHS units are limited by their funding and so can see limited numbers of patients. Consequently large numbers of patients are sent via the surgical route and get what is now considered to be good but not the best treatment.

PDT can be used for treating other cancers but at Freedomhealth we only treat designated types of skin cancer and pre-malignant or precancerous lesions as recommended by the UK’s National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE). We operate under stringent conditions imposed by the Care Quality Commission and are subject to annual re-licensing and approval.

NICE issued Guidance in 2006 saying that there was good evidence to support the use of PDT for treatment of basal cell cancers, Bowen’s Disease and also solar or actinic keratoses. NICE said that photodynamic therapy for skin cancers was of particular use in situations where a person may need a lot of surgery – for example where there was a large and not too deep skin cancer, or where there were multiple cancers. An obvious use of PDT is for skin cancers that are visible on the face or neck and where a surgical scar would be equally disfiguring as the tumour. You can download a pdf of the NICE Guidance here.

Basal cell skin carcinoma’s or cancers are very common indeed with skin cancers as a whole being the most common cancer in the UK and of these around 80% of the skin cancers which are not melanoma’s will be basal cell cancers. Basal cell skin cancers are caused primarily by exposure to sunlight. Australians have the highest rates of basal cell skin cancers in the world. Other risk factors include fair skin, blue eyes, red or blonde hair and intermittent intense exposure to sunlight or artificial ultra-violet radiation such as sun beds. One a person has a basal cell skin cancer then the chances of another appearing will be increased by 10 times compared with the general population.

How is PDT (photodynamic therapy) for skin cancers used?

The type of skin cancer is identified using a special magnifying glass called a dermatoscope. This allows the specially trained clinician to correctly identify the skin lesion as a basal cell cancer or as a pre-malignant skin lesion such as Bowen’s disease or an actinic keratosis.

In addition, the clinician will take either a painless scrape from the lesion or a special very thin sample of tissue called a biopsy which confirms the diagnosis and in the case of the skin biopsy, the depth of the tumour, to make sure that it is the correct diagnosis and also confirms the depth is ideal for treatment. These samples are sent to our laboratory for analysis which takes a few days.

Once the diagnosis is confirmed by the laboratory then treatment with photodynamic therapy for your particular type of skin cancer can begin.

A light-sensitising cream made up of 5-aminolaevulinic acid (ALA) tradename Metvix, is applied to the target area after the crusting debris has been gently removed. The area is covered with a dressing for three to six hours and then the area is subjected to a strong light for up to 45 minutes or so. A slight tingling is felt whilst the light is being used. A crusted area will then remain and will slowly fall off during the next week or two, depending on the size of the original lesion.

A second or third treatment is sometimes needed.

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Peer Conferencing with a Purpose: Using Writer’s Talk to Strengthen Collaboration among Classmates

The writing conference draws on an age-old technique—engaging the learner in conversation to help him or her think through the problem at hand.  Socrates could have saved a lot of time by explaining the concept of the square to the boy, but that would have demonstrated Socrates’ mastery of the concept, not the boy’s. (Thomason, T. (1998).  Writer to Writer:  How to Conference Young Authors.  p. 25.) 

Human beings crave social interactions, there’s no question about it.  We thrive on building relationships with other people throughout the course of our lifetime.  We yearn for positive relationships with other people to develop who we are as individuals.  We desire conversation.  Abraham Maslow developed a hierarchy of needs that states what all human beings must have in order to survive.  One of those needs is the hungering for love, affection, and belongingness.  Maslow states that “when the needs for safety and for physiological well-being are satisfied, the next class of needs for love, affection and belongingness can emerge…People seek to overcome feelings of loneliness and alienation. This involves both giving and receiving love, affection and the sense of belonging.”  This need of belonging is met when individuals can develop bonds with others.  In order to create those bonds, we need to converse and interact with each other consistently.  Day in and day out, we work on building communities around us with our relationships.  We develop work communities, neighborhood communities, school communities, social communities, and so on.  Sometimes our different communities mesh, and sometimes they don’t.  The one common thread with all of our communities and relationships is the fact that we must communicate and cooperate with the people in those communities in order for our relationships to thrive, and in order for us to continue to develop as human beings.  Why, then, should education and the institution of learning be any different?  So many times I have read about classrooms of students sitting in silence in straight rows completing tasks out of workbooks, never so much as looking up to communicate with another student in that classroom the entire school day.  Luckily, the educational paradigm has shifted, and teachers are beginning to understand the value that conversations hold in their classrooms.  I hope that after reading my article, you will value and employ conversations in your classroom on a whole new level.  If you do this, you will begin to see a remarkable change in your students and their writing abilities.

Introduction

I have been teaching the subject of writing for seven years in the Jefferson County Public School District in Louisville, Kentucky.  In those seven years, I have come across writing lessons that both bombed miserably and developed beautifully.  I have experienced researchers, professors, colleagues, and friends that have helped me grow as a writing teacher and as a writer.  Many of the lessons that I teach to my students today have been borrowed from many individuals and adapted to meet the needs of my students.    

I currently teach 4th grade at Farmer Elementary in Louisville, Kentucky.  Teaching nine and ten year olds to develop a passion for writing has been quite a journey for me.  Teaching myself to develop my passion for writing has also been quite a journey.  When I first began teaching, I assumed that all students just “got it” and knew how to write their stories down on paper.  Boy, was I wrong!  My first year teaching writing, I felt like I was sort of “thrown to the wolves” and not given any sort of direction at all.  I am sure that many first-year teachers feel the same way.  I remember referring to the writing lessons provided by the school district in order to teach writing to my classes.  While these were great resources, they weren’t my own.  When presenting these lessons to my students, I found that the students’ writing had no “umph,” no passion.  I was at a loss.  I had followed the lessons to a “t,” but was not satisfied with the results.  It was not until after my first year of teaching that I realized that I needed to project a passion for writing before my students could project that in their own writing.  I needed to become a writer and write alongside with my students.  Once I began doing this, I began to learn more and more about myself as a writer and about the entire process of writing. 

My biggest concern during the writing process was trying to find the time to conference with each of my students.  Since fourth grade writing portfolios were scored by teachers and sent to the state of Kentucky to be added to the total CATS (Commonwealth Assessment Testing System) academic index, I felt the pressure to help my students create strong writing pieces.  In order to make sure that the writing pieces showcased each student and their individual writing abilities, I wanted to meet with each student before their writing piece was “complete” and before the piece could be added to their portfolio.  I found this to be difficult to fit into my daily and weekly schedules.  I needed to find a way to meet the needs of all of my students, but was struggling.  Even when I did manage to meet with each of my students, I realized that my writing conferences never fully reached the deep conversation level that I had read about in professional texts. 

What to do?  I wanted to develop my writing conferences to include rich conversation with my students.  The major theme of Vygotsky’s theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition. Vygotsky (1978) states: “Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals” (p. 57).  It is understood, then, that learning is a social process.  Therefore, writing needs to be a social process as well.  So, I tried meeting with my students during writer’s workshop.  Sometimes, I would spend the entire writer’s workshop meeting with only one or two students.  At this rate, there was no possible way that I would be able to meet with each one of my students every week.  I started meeting with students during my planning period.  This helped alleviate my anxiety about meeting with all of my students.  When I would conference with my students during their writer’s workshop and during my planning period, I could end up meeting with 4-6 students each day.  This way, I was able to meet with all of my students at least once a week.  However, I was exhausted at the end of each day and still needed to stay after school in order to gather my thoughts, materials, and plans for the following days—since I had utilized my planning period to conference with students.  After reflecting on this practice, I realized that I wasn’t teaching with best practices in mind. 

So, then, I decided to try a different conferencing strategy.  Teachers have to be flexible in their teaching, right?   I heard a colleague of mine at a different school talking about developing writing mentors at her school.  She mentioned how it helped to boost her school’s writing scores, how it helped provide the students with positive influences, and how it helped the classroom teacher with conferencing. I decided to try it out with my class.  I sent out an email to adults in our school building asking who might be interested in becoming a writing mentor to my fourth grade students.  I had a decent response and was able to pair each of my fourth grade students up with an adult in the building.  The adults would meet with their student once a week to discuss where each student was in their writing process.  I still met with my students during writer’s workshop, but not to the extent that I had been prior to this.  Although this was a helpful process for me, as a classroom teacher, I felt that my students were not benefiting from it as much as I had hoped.  Upon reflecting on this practice, I realized that students were still relying on an adult to help guide them through the conferencing process.  I wanted my students to ultimately become independent writers and lead their own conferences with their classmates.

I still wasn’t satisfied with the way that my writing conferences were going.  I wanted to try something that would really help my students develop into the strongest writers that they could become.  I read more professional books, spoke with colleagues, and decided to try peer conferencing in my classroom.  Aha!  In his book A Door Opens:  Writing in Fifth Grade, Jack Wilde (1993) mentions, “What students value even more than the teacher’s perspective on their writing is their peer’s” (p. 4).  I wanted my students to practice something that would be meaningful and authentic to them.  In order for students to become stronger writers, they needed to be able to talk about the writing process and about their writing pieces.  Regie Routman (2000) believes that learning is a social process; “All learning involves conversation.  The ongoing dialogue, internal and external, that occurs as we read, write, listen, compose, observe, refine, interpret, and analyze is how we learn” (p. xxxvi). Socializing with others through conversation strengthens a writer’s ability to comprehend what their audience is looking for.  Allowing our students to become social learners when writing will ultimately increase their writing and reading abilities.  If a student is able to talk out the process that he/she takes when writing, then we know that he/she “gets it.”  Conversation is a critical part of learning how to make meaning and how to make sense out of the world in which we live.

So, then, I decided to let my students “go at it” at peer conferencing without any clear direction from me.  Not so good!  I then read more professional texts and found some peer conferencing checklists and handouts that I thought would work—we’ve all seen the “ready to use” checklists in teacher workbooks and magazines, right? Yes, these checklists and handouts helped, but my students weren’t really having meaningful conversations about their writing with their peers; they were merely checking off what needed to be checked off on the checklist and listing questions/reactions on their handouts.  I wanted the conversations my students were having with each other to be authentic, not superficial.  I wanted my students to be able to think on their own, not have to always refer to a worksheet or checklist to plan their thinking.  So…     

I soon began to grasp how dependent my students were on me to help develop their writing pieces.  I realized that I had been focusing so much on developing the pieces and not so much on developing the writer.  Once I came to this understanding, the way that I taught writing to my students changed dramatically.  I realized that I wanted my students to become independent thinkers and writers.  Barry Lane (1993) affirms this belief of mine when he states, “Peer conferencing is a central element of a student-centered classroom.  The more you empower your students, the less they will have to line up at your desk for a conference” (p. 67).  I wanted my students to eventually think, reflect, and analyze on their own.  I would only be their teacher for one year, so I needed to prepare them for their years ahead.  The turning point for me really came when I took a summer class in 2003 at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, led by Cindy Gnadinger and co-taught by Donna Stottman.  It was there that I learned the conferencing strategy/process that I currently use with my students today.  Thomason (1998) suggests, “Only when students know that we are more interested in what they have to say than how they have said it, when they know that we approach them as a reader and not a critic, will they feel free to take risks in their writing.  Remember, children develop language through interaction.  Just as they learn to talk by talking to someone who responds, typically a parent, they learn to write by writing to someone who responds” (p. 21).

What is the Purpose of Conferencing During Writer’s Workshop?

What is the purpose of conferencing during the writer’s workshop, you ask?  Writing conferences are critical to the writing process.  In his book, Writer to Writer, Tommy Thomason (1998) believes that “the writing conference is one of the most valuable teaching strategies in the process-oriented classroom, because it helps the writer to think through the piece at hand.  The writing conference is not meant to create a dependency.  Its goal is to help young writers think about the issues any writer must consider during writing.  Writing conferences help writers focus on what they have written and talk through ways the writing can be improved” (p. 3).  Writers of all ages need to have the opportunity to meet with someone to discuss their writing.  Sometimes it takes someone on the outside to help a writer to respond to questions that otherwise would have gone unanswered in a piece of writing.  Sometimes all it takes is for someone else to tell the writer what works in their writing and what is lacking.  Simply stated, conferences are conversations about writing.  If you think of a conversation that you have with a friend, you would probably think of the words to describe that conversation as honest, free, laid back, and natural, right?  That’s exactly how writing conferences are supposed to be described:  honest, free, laid back, and natural. 

My goal, as a teacher, is to get my students to the level where they are conferencing each other—otherwise known as peer conferencing.  I want my classroom to be more student-centered rather than teacher-directed.  Having a student-centered classroom fits right with my beliefs about education, exploration, and discovery.  I use the “catching fish” philosophy to best describe peer conferences in my classroom.  Metaphorically, if I wanted to, I could simply give fish to my students to eat without making them work for it.  I could serve it up to them on a silver platter ready to be enjoyed.  But what good will this to do help make them independent learners?  I could tell them what they needed to put in their writing, heck, I could even do it for them if I wanted to, but how will that help to develop their own passion for writing?  It wouldn’t.  If everything was given to you your entire life, would you ever feel any motivation to work hard for anything?  Probably not.  Instead of giving my students fish, I wanted to teach them to fish so that they would be prepared to be independent and self sufficient throughout their lives as writers.  I wanted my students to explore, create, discover, ask questions, and wonder about the world around them.  In order to do this, I needed to teach them how to do all of this on their own.  Peer conferencing is much like catching fish.  In order to be good at it, you have to know the process fairly well.  You have to consistently practice at it in order to reel in a good catch.  My students learn, early on, that they can not rely on me to help “fix” their writing pieces.  This is where their peers come in.  This is where they begin to flourish as independent writers.  Carl Anderson (2000), in his book How’s It Going?, suggests, “Once we’ve learned how to confer well, we’ve got a power chip that never quits.  It generates original, strong teaching each day, each year, for every writer, forever and ever.  When we learn about the teaching of writing, conferring is the subject that promises the biggest payoff, for it is the foundation of writing workshop” (page xiii).

What Does It Look Like?  Introducing the Writer’s Toolbox to Promote Writer’s Talk

Thomason (1998) attains, “Writing conferences are most effective when they occur in a classroom where ‘writing talk’ permeates the atmosphere” (p. 17).  We are social beings and crave conversations with others.  We learn from interaction with others.  So, it only makes sense to allow our students to use language in our classrooms that relates to what they are learning.  Ketch (2005) states, “Creating classroom conversations, where students are authentically learning, accessing information, and reflecting on and trying out their theories about the world will create students who comprehend and think for themselves”  (p. 11). 

What, then, is “writer’s talk?”  Let me explain it this way.  Think about when you walk into a horse racing track.  Since I am from Louisville, Kentucky, I will refer to Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby.  What do you hear?  You hear language such as, “Who did you put in your exacta?  How many furlongs will this race be?  Is this horse bred to run at this distance?   Let’s parlay it!  Was that a bullet workout?  Who is in the sire line of that gelding?  How much are you going to wager?”  If you want to consistently win at the races, you have to know what you are talking about.  In order to understand horseracing and betting, you have to be able to understand the language that is being used at the track.  You have to be familiar with the lingo.   If you can’t understand what is being said, you become lost.  It’s the same thing during the writer’s workshop.  Students need to understand the language of writing before they can begin to master the concept of the writing process.  Teachers and students need to use “writer’s talk” in the classroom on a daily basis.  When students can communicate like a writer, then they become more knowledgeable about the process of writing, and in turn become more independent writers themselves.

The way that I introduce using writer’s talk in the classroom is through a tool called our “writer’s toolbox.”  At the very beginning of the school year, I use writer’s talk with my students so that they start to become accustomed to it.  During the first six weeks of writing, I work on building my community of writers.  Each student in my classroom has a writer’s notebook and a writing folder.  Their writer’s notebook remains in their folder, and anything that we use as a reference for writing goes into that folder, as well.  The first thing that the students receive to go into their writing folder is a blank “writing toolbox.”  This “writing toolbox” is a blank matrix where students insert pictures and sketches of writing skills that they have learned across the course of the entire school year.  When students learn a new writing skill, they create a symbol to add to one of their matrixes within their “writing toolbox.”  For example, one of the very first skills that I teach my students is the strategy of observation.  Good writers need to be able to observe their environments and surroundings.  After I teach a mini lesson on observation and allow the students time to observe and write, I then instruct the students to add the skill of observation to their “writer’s toolbox.”  Students may illustrate a symbol that represents the skill of observation.  Some students draw eyeglasses, while others simply draw eyes.  I have even had my most creative students draw a microscope to represent this skill.  Students are then able to refer to this tool when reflecting on their writing.  This is especially valuable when it comes time for peer conferencing.  The writing toolbox helps to promote writer’s talk in my classroom.  Students are familiar with the lingo that I expect them to use during writer’s workshop, and it pays off when they have their conferences with their classmates.  Ketch (2005) testifies, “Conversation is a critical part of learning how to make meaning and how to make sense out of the world in which we live” (p. 10).  By socializing and conversing with their peers concerning their writing, students grow in strength and confidence as young writers.  

Putting It in Motion

            Teaching my students to use writer’s talk during the writing workshop begins at the very beginning of the school year. My students learn early on, the writing terminology that I want for them to use in their peer conferences.  I view peer conferences as being an everyday occurrence in my writer’s workshop, so I don’t single out certain days to just work on peer conferencing.  Instead, I use the language of writers to help my students understand how an effective peer conference occurs.  If you were to walk into my classroom now, you would see and hear a buzz of commotion going on.  Some students may be working privately on their draft, while others are reaching out to their toolbox as a way to revise their piece.  Other students may be discussing their piece with a classmate, or with a group of classmates.  Never do I have my entire class at the same step in the writing process.  I enjoy writer’s workshop so much because it’s my chance to peruse around the room watching buddy authors in progress.  Beginning with the writer’s notebook and toolbox, my students develop an understanding that they will speak like writers and that they will read like writers throughout the day, not just during writing time. 

 A Snapshot of Peer Conferencing

            It’s 10:30 a.m. on Monday morning and my students are finishing up with their reading workshop.  When I say that it’s writing time, you can hear a few students gasp under their breath, “Yes!”  My students thoroughly enjoy their writing time…and that’s not because of me, it’s because they have been given the proper tools that they need to ensure that they are always successful during writing time.  My students walk quietly back to their desks and get out their yellow writing folder, writer’s notebook, writing toolbox, and pencil.  I always provide a brief mini-lesson to the students concerning something that I want for them to focus on during their hour of writer’s workshop.  Some students are burning to begin writing on their yellow draft paper…they cannot wait to get their words and ideas on paper.  Others are ready to begin sharing their writing with their classmates.  This particular day, I talked with my students about making sure to provide dialogue in their writing to help with the flow of their personal piece.  Once I have shared, I let the students go around the room to become authors.  They always take with them their writing folder, writers notebook, and writing toolbox.  They know that they need to have these items readily available to them in order to have a successful writing workshop.  Several of my students stretch out flat on the floor to write.  One student asks to write in the hallway.  A pair of girls, travel to the bean bag chairs to conference with each other on their writing pieces.  I keep an eye on the rest of the class while I make my way to eavesdrop on their peer conference.  I make sure to keep myself inconspicuous because I want the students to really talk with each other and not make up something that just simply sounds good because the teacher is listening.  I hear Savannah lead the conference by saying, “OK, so where are you at in your writing and what can I do to help you with it?”  McKenzie responds by saying, “Well, I think that I’m pretty much finished, but I really need some help with my lead.  I don’t like the way that it sounds.  I don’t think that it catches my reader’s attention.  Can you help me come up with some ideas that might help make it pop?”  Savannah nods her head and then McKenzie begins to read the beginning to her personal writing piece.  As McKenzie reads, Savannah never takes her focus off of her partner.  She jots down notes on a post it note to discuss with McKenzie when she is finished.  After one minute of reading her lead, McKenzie looks up at Savannah and asks, “What did you think?”  Savannah answers McKenzie by saying, “I really liked how you asked me questions to draw me into your story, but I wonder if you could start it another way.  Have you tried beginning your story with a ‘Show, Don’t Tell’ lead?  Or even a “Snapshot” lead?  Or what about beginning your story with dialogue like Mrs. O just shared with us?  What if you come up with a few different leads and then you can see which one sounds better?”  Savannah hands McKenzie her post it note with her ideas for different leads.  “So, I’ll try to write a lead that begins with dialogue—I hadn’t thought about that.  Thanks, Savannah.  OK, so I know what I need to work on, why don’t you share with me your piece and we can see what you need to work on to make your piece better,” McKenzie suggests.  Savannah needs help with creating a catchy title for her personal piece.  McKenzie makes several suggestions and even tells Savannah that she should look at the titles of picture books that are in the class library to get some ideas.  Savannah shakes her head and thanks McKenzie.  McKenzie thanks Savannah and heads to her desk to work on crafting various leads.  Savannah heads to the class library to get some ideas for a title for her writing piece.  This brief conference between McKenzie and Savannah lasted less than 15 minutes.  Both girls agreed to come back together that day to discuss the changes they made to their writing pieces. 

Conclusion

My goal for students is to ultimately develop a lifelong passion for writing.  Peer conferencing is not something that can be taught in a single lesson.  Just like the writing process, conferencing is a process that a writer must experience over and over again in order to master the concept.  “The writing conference is one of the most valuable teaching strategies in the process-oriented classroom, because it helps the writer to think through the piece at hand.  The writing conference is not meant to create a dependency.  Its goal is to help young writers think about the issues any writer must consider during writing.  Writing conferences help writers focus on what they have written and talk through ways the writing can be improved” (Thomason, 1998).

  Through this process, my students begin:

To become independent thinkers.
To develop a passion for writing.
To think and talk like writers.
To work cooperatively in groups.
To respect other students and their writing styles.
To understand the writing process in depth.
To become self reflectors.
To self critique their own writing.
To ask questions about their writing.
To take risks in writing.
To develop creativity and self empowerment.
To understand the structure and guidelines of the writer’s workshop.
To give constructive feedback to their peers during peer conferences.
To enhance their writing skills through peer conferencing and communication.

In addition, Hoyt (1999) suggests, “…When children are supported in a learning environment that encourages discussion and thoughtful reflection, they begin to expect that level of thinking from themselves” (p. 11).

A quote from Thomason (1998) sums it up perfectly, “And what can you expect in your classroom as conferencing gradually becomes a part of your routine?  You can expect your classroom to become a community of writers.  You can expect students to take writing seriously because they will realize that its purpose is to communicate meaning with an audience.  You can expect your students to mature at writers because they will have spent time discussing their own writing and gaining insight into their own composing processes.  And you can expect to enjoy your interaction with your young authors more than ever before” (p. 65).  If you are doing this right, then you will see your students begin to spread their wings and fly right before your very eyes.  What is better than seeing this unfold in your classroom? 

References

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Fletcher, R.  (1993).  What a Writer Needs.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

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Kirby, D. (2004).  Inside Out, Strategies for Teaching Writing.  Portsmouth, NH: 

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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.  11 July 2009 http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/

FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/maslow.htm.

Lane, B. (1993).  After the End.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

Lane, B. (1999).  Reviser’s Toolbox.  Shoreham, VT:  Discover Writing Press.

Routman, R.  (2000).  Conversations:  Strategies for teaching, learning, and evaluating. 

Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

Thomason, T. (1998).  Writer To Writer:  How To Conference Young Authors.  Norwood,

MA:  Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc.

TIP:  Theories.  Social Development Theory.  21 July 2009 http://tip.psychology.org/

vygotsky.html>.

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Wilde, J. (1993).  A Door Opens:  Writing in Fifth Grade.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

Zemelman, S. (1988).  A Community of Writers:  Teaching Writing in the Junior and

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Appendix A

Blank Writer’s Toolbox (Donna Stottman) 
Filled in Writer’s Toolbox

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