This is the Creative Writing FINAL

Please answer these questions in a New Post on your blog.  Number each of your answers and answer in complete sentences/paragraphs that reference the question so we can easily see which one you’re answering.  This should be a rather lengthy post to earn the entire  100 points.  Include 2 images.

1. List/discuss several of the different pieces of writing you’ve done this quarter, including posts, comments, creative pieces, journals, in-class writings, and things you’ve written on your own.
2. Name/discuss a couple of pieces you’ve read this quarter, including other classmates’ work and/or reading you’ve done in or out of class.
3. Write about setting up your blog and what you have gotten from that experience.  How did you come up with the name for your blog?  Who do you think read it or who would you want to read it?  Will you continue to use it on your own in the future?  What kinds of things will you post?
4. Write about journaling.  What kinds of things are in your journal?  Who would you want to read it?  Will you continue to journal?  What will you write about? 
5. Type an entry directly from your journal that you consider notable.  It could be a paragraph or a page or so.  You don’t have to explain it, but you could.
6. Type or copy/paste a passage or section directly from one of your pieces of writing that you consider notable or your favorite that you’ve written.  It could be a section or a page or so.
7. What creative writing do you plan to do in the future, if any?  What do you get out of writing creatively?  How does this differ from the other writing you do, in school and in life?
8. Some final words of encouragement, appreciation, inspiration, etc. for your fellow writers you’ve worked with this quarter...
9. COPY and PASTE your answer to #8 as a COMMENT on as many of your classmates' final blog posts as you can.  

If you've done everything else, it would be great if you could cruise through your classmates' blogs today and leave some friendly comments on their other posts.

Writing as a Gift

Please write a piece with the intention of giving it to someone in your life as a gift.  This might be a letter, a poem, a story, something else...

If you are comfortable posting the actual piece to your blog, please do so by the end of class on Thursday.  If you don't want to share the actual piece, just show it to me and do a quick post summarizing what you did.

You don't have to actually give the writing to the person you wrote it for, but I'm sure it would be appreciated (and a cheap gift!).  

On Tuesday of next week, we will incorporate some of this writing into an actual gift...

Also:

Remember your journal is due with 10 new full pages on Friday.

Bring in gifts, food, and household items for our holiday family as soon as possible (before Monday!)

The gift of giving

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." ~Aesop

Here's the information and wish lists for the family we adopted for the Crosslines Holiday Basket program.  I appreciate your willingness to share and give.  If each of us can bring just a little, this family will have a lot, I think...We've got a young dad and two little boys.

If there is something in particular you would like to be responsible for, add your name next to it directly on this post.  Put your name in green.  I marked a couple of things I will get below.  For the more general categories like Hot Wheels, food, cleaning supplies, etc., more than one person could sign up and just bring different things.

We need to have everything wrapped and ready for delivery on Monday, 14 December.


Myles (age 8):

basketball  Jacob
basketball shoes (size 2)
sports stuff  Jacob
Ninja Turtles
Legos (Star Wars)
Hot Wheels   Mariah
Transformers  Meghan
winter pants (boys size 6-7)
socks       Fraser
underwear      Fraser 
snow boots (size 2)      Fraser

Elijah (age 7):

Legos (Ninjago)
Goosebumps/R.L. Stine books  Joshua
Hot Wheels     Mariah
Transformers  Meghan
board games (Monopoly  Samantha, Life  Taylor
winter pants (boys size 6-7)
socks       Fraser
underwear        Fraser
snow boots (size 2)       Fraser

For the house:

non-stick skillet     Samantha
towels

Food:  

ham
pies (pumpkin, cherry)
(maybe a gift card for Price Cutter or something?)
everyday basics:  mac n cheese, pasta, rice, soup, etc.
cleaning supplies
toilet paper, paper towels

You teach us!

As a table/group:

Come up with or find a fun and useful writing activity to lead the class in. 

• Activity should take 15-30 minutes
• Each person in the group should complete the activity in advance to share as examples
• Something in journal:  writing, gluing, drawing, etc.
• Leave a comment by the end of class today on this post with a brief explanation of what you plan to do.
• Create a clear and interesting visual aid to put on the SMARTBoard during your activity--this might be a Google doc or Google slides (share it with hfraser@sps.org before you teach).
• Plan who will say what and be ready to present confidently and enthusiastically and in an easy-to-understand way.
• Don't miss the day your group is scheduled to present or you won't earn the points.

Wednesday, 12/2      Katie + Taylor

Thursday, 12/3         M'Kenna + Taylor + Jacob + Maddie

Friday, 12/4              Josh + Tanner

Monday, 12/7           Jordan + Glenda + Jesse

Tuesday, 12/8         Samantha + Mariah

Wednesday, 12/9    Laura + Meghan + Zachary + Emma

Thursday, 12/10      Daniel + Ben + Riley

We will be working on your Altered Book Final Project alongside these activities—bring supplies this week if you can (scrapbook paper, ribbon, Mod Podge, tabs, embellishments, stickers, etc.)

We will also start collecting for our Holiday Basket when I get more information on our family--you can be gathering household supplies like cleaners and paper goods and/or food in the meantime.
  

Thankful for you (and for the break!)

Good morning!  Just two days here this week and then a little break!  And then only 14 school days left in the semester after that!  Wow.  I am thankful for sweet, bright students like you all who make coming to school every day a good experience for me.  I hope you and your families have a safe and lovely (and yummy!) holiday.

Take a look at your grade check and make up any missing work from the PHOTOS section and newer on.  Circle those on your sheet and give it back to me by the end of class tomorrow.  I need to post grades for progress reports again first thing when we get back from break.  We will be moving on to a couple of final projects and won't be backtracking then.

As we discussed, we'll try to have a little POTLUCK in class tomorrow!  Bring a food to share--maybe something you wrote about or have a memory connected to or maybe just something that's easy for you.  We will do a little activity inspired by my fav Maya Angelou and then you might have a little more time to work on the Chromebooks getting caught up on posts.

If you're caught up with everything and would like to leave some friendly, supportive comments on your classmates' posts, please do so.  I know they'd appreciate the feedback.

Keep writing in your journal, too.  We may not do as much together in class over the last few weeks, but I'd still like you to be putting your thoughts and ideas down on your own.

Happy Thanksgiving!  XOXO

Re+vision=taking another look

By the end of class on Monday, please choose 3 of your longer posts to revisit and refine.  

REVISION means to re-SEE.  This could include adding to a story  (at the beginning, end, and/or middle).  This might also involve letting go of some of the writing you've already done and replacing it with something that works better.  This could also mean writing something entirely new--a story or poem or something else--inspired by one of your answers to the assignments like the Dan in Real Life or Maya Angelou questions where you just posted your thoughts on topics.

• Post each piece in a separate New Post
• Title them Revision #1, Revision #2, Revision #3.
• Copy and paste your original text into your post.
• Highlight changes/additions in your new version.

Think about which of your pieces reflect some of your best thinking, writing, creativity, and potential and how you could take those significantly further.  Editing or correcting typos would polish your pieces for sure, but the focus here is to expand on ideas rather than just touching up what is already there.  

Progress Reports go out again the week after Thanksgiving, so catch up on anything you are missing before we leave for break.   Be sure that you've posted your food-inspired writing, too, and let's plan to EAT in class on Tuesday!  Bring something--maybe the food that inspired your writing piece--to share with everyone and/or we could get bagels or donuts. 

You all continually amaze me with your creativity and your responses to the assignments we've done in class...I am so inspired by what you all come up with!  I am THANKFUL for  YOU!  XOXO

Writing about FOOD!

We’re heading into a season of celebrations and family gatherings, many of which are centered around food.  I’d like us to take some time to think and write about our connections to food—memories, opinions, preferences, experiences.  I can think of all sorts of directions this contemplation might take you…

Please write a piece of your choice inspired by food.  The piece might be 300-500 words, any genre.  I thought of a few ideas, but there isn’t really a wrong answer here, so feel free to shape this assignment however you see fit.  This might take a really personal slant for you, or you can take a more observational, factual approach if you’re more comfortable.  Include an image.

Just a few possible approaches:

a short essay re:  the story behind a family food or tradition

                     re:  what Thanksgiving really means

                     re:  a person in your life who has shaped you through food

                     re:  a childhood food memory

a longer poem   re:  a memorable meal

                       re:  a delicious food

                       re:  a disgusting food

                       re:  a cook at work

                       re:  the scene in a kitchen

                       re:  the scene around a dinner table

                       re:  gratefulness (or lack thereof)

                       re:  a childhood food memory

a recipe for an abstract concept
                       (love, disaster, family, the perfect Thanksgiving)

a letter to someone you’re thankful for

a letter to a cook you know and love praising his/her food 

a letter to thank the host for all the work put into the family feast

a short story re:  a Thanksgiving gone wrong

a short story re:  an epiphany about thankfulness or appreciation

This is... Photo Writing

I like this image...it's a print available at one of my favorite websites called Etsy, where you can buy all sorts of vintage and handmade goods. So much creativity and inspiration there...have a look some time.

I'd like you to do a New Post on your own blog with some writing about one of your own photos inspired by Katy Barber's "Photograph 1969." I'll leave it up to you to decide whether you'd like to arrange your words as a poem or a short piece of prose. I'll be looking for a vivid description of what we can actually see in the photo, followed by that "twist" we discussed in class, where you intimate or imply what else is "in" the photo...an understanding, an observation, a hint at something that came later, a bigger idea at play...something more. Please include the photo in your post. 

If you don't have a photo of your own or find that too personal, find a striking or interesting photo that speaks to you on the internet or in a magazine or use one we looked at in class and write about it in this same way instead.  

Photograph 1969 by Katy Barber

This is my mother
lifting her hair long
like a low whistle
off her neck
These are her fingers
caught in the tangles
of brown and gold caught in
silver earrings
This is my father
reaching through the lens
to touch the edge
of a new family
to touch her opening belly
under her full dress

This is existing
before I exist

This is me growing up
against their lives
him watching for a sharp
breath from her looking out
onto the border of birth
this is bumping us into three

TG(tomorrow)IF

Tomorrow is the mid-2nd quarter mark!  A few things I'd like you to do:

1:  Your journal is due at the end of the block tomorrow.  You need 20 new, full pages.

2:  Please bring 2-3 of your own photographs you could write about for a class activity tomorrow.  

3:  Please get your grade check signed and bring it back to me.

4:  I'd like our class to participate in the Shoeboxes for Soldiers drive Mr. McMillian mentioned during the Veterans Day assembly.  See the list below for suggested items and bring what you can as soon as possible.  The boxes are due next Friday.

Thanks for being so great to work with! Go Chiefs!

Photos of the Millenium (so far)

With the advance of cell phones, caputring all aspects of history and everyday life is easier and more accessible than ever.  Think about what your great-grandkids will say about all the images your generation is leaving behind--or will many of the images that tell your story/history vanish into cyberspace somewhere eventually instead of being in a photo album for those grandkids to flip through?

This little dog happened to be strolling down a street just after the Pope had passed by--his little smile and upturned chin make it seem like he believes all the applause and fuss is for him!  Adorable.

Choose one of the photos from the 2000s and write a piece (poem or prose, fiction or nonfiction...your choice) of at least 250 words inspired by the photo. This might be a personal memory you have connected to this event or your thoughts about this moment in history...you decide what you'd like to say. 

Here's an example of something I wrote referencing an image from the aftermath of 9-11 that has always stayed with me.  

If the CrackTwo link is blocked on the school computers for whatever reason, you could visit another website with "iconic" or important photos from this decade or the last and choose one from there, or you might be able to Google an individual picture if you remember one or have a certain one in mind.  Include the photo you chose and your writing in a New Post on your own blog.  

Flea Market Photos

In a New Post on your blog, please share some new writing of at least 300 words inspired by the antique flea market photos we looked at in class on Tuesday (or another one if you'd rather find your own).  This could be a fictional short story, a long poem, a set of dialogue, or something else...Include a picture of the picture or another image that fits. Please have this posted by the end of class Wednesday.

Photo Hunt + Captions + Hashtags

In a New Post on your blog, please add all 15 of the photos you took Thursday during our Photo Hunt. Add a caption of at least 25 words to go with each photo, and include a clever #hashtag with each caption.  You can decide whether to label or otherwise indicate which photo on the list each was supposed to be.

At the end of your post, include a quote that suggests something about paying attention or writers noticing everything or the power of photographs.

Share the Scare

You all worked so hard on your spooky stories--I'd like for you to take some time today to see what your classmates have come up with.  Choose 3 of your classmates' blogs complete the following:

1.  Read your classmate's Halloween-inspired story (posted on Tuesday) and leave a comment with 3 specific, supportive and complimentary remarks regarding the story and how it was written. 

Go beyond a short, generic comment and get specific. As in:  "You really got me with that twist at the end--I would have never guessed it was her sister stalking her all along.  Creepy!"  Or:  "Your use of dialogue was effective and pulled me into the story.  I never thought a conversation between a little boy and the demon living in his closet could sound so natural."  Don't cop out and put a rushed, generic comment like, "It was scary" or "Nice job." 

2.  Then browse the rest of that classmate's blog and choose 2 other pieces to leave a positive, specific, brief comment on.

3.  If you have time and would like to read and/or comment on other class members' stories, you can cruise through the blogs on the sidebar of our class blog and see what others have been up to.  Leave comments if you have time.

4.   In a New Post on your own blog, write up a brief summary of the scary stories of each of your classmates in your group and name at least one detail or technique you really liked.  Add a bit at the end of your post about your Halloween plans (and if they come close to anything in the stories you read!).

We'll be moving on next week, and grades for KHS progress reports are due from me Tuesday morning, so today is the day to offer this feedback and post what you've read to your blog. After Tuesday, I won't be giving points for any past posts we've done so far this quarter.  Take care of any missing work by then.

When you've completed your comments and summary post, please do some research and settle on an idea for your pumpkin we will decorate early next week for the French Club's contest.  Their theme is Around the World.  I'd like our pumpkins to have something to do with writing, literature, words if possible, but I am open to ideas.  Please leave a comment on this post detailing your idea and what supplies you think you'll need.  If any of you have pumpkin carving kits we could use in class, please bring them on Tuesday.  I'll bring the pumpkins.  


Thank you!  Be careful out there on Halloween and enjoy your long weekend...You are all such boo-tiful people...

Thank you, Harris Burdick

Using the artwork, title and sentence you selected from the Burdick book as your inspiration, please draft a creative piece of your choice.  Spend some time on this one and shoot for at least 350-500 words, more if you can to really develop your story.  Use plenty of vivid details and consider using dialogue.  You might create a fictional short story or maybe adapt a narrative from your own experience that connects to Burdick's picture or words. 

You'll have today and Friday in the lab to draft and polish your story and then create a New Post on your blog by the end of class on Friday that includes both your writing and the Burdick image (looks like most of them are on Google images if you search "harris burdick").  Use the title that went with your image as the title of your post.  Use the sentence that went with your image somewhere in your piece--put that sentence in bold.

You can read more about The Mysteries of Harris Burdick (and submit your story if you'd like!) here.

scare tactics

The prompts in the previous post were fairly light-hearted in relation to Halloween.  For this assignment, the prompts are a bit darker...Feel free to shape them to something you are comfortable with...

I found some interesting horror story starter ideas at a blog called Nighthags Writing Corner.  Please go to this post and this post also this post and take a look at all the sentence starters, art and photos and choose one (or more, I suppose) to inspire a piece of writing of no less than 500 words (about 2 pages double-spaced). 

When your piece is ready (and at least 500 words), please share it in a New Post on your own blog.  Give your post a creative title and be sure to include the image that inspired it or put the idea starter in bold within your piece.

If you have any time left, please take a look at your classmates' posts from yesterday or today and leave a brief, friendly comment.

Spooky Season

Choose 1-3 of these to respond to in answers of 500 words total in a New Post on your blog.  Your answers may be fact or fiction or both...Include an image...

• While trick-or-treating, my friends and I decided to explore a dark street we had never noticed before...

• The best costume I ever wore was…

• My favorite Halloween was the time I…

• As I looked at the Jack-o-Lantern, it seemed to be looking back at me. Then…

• As I reached into the bag of candy, I thought I heard a voice saying, “Pick me, pick me!”

• Write a Halloween poem using the following words: bat, pumpkin, candy, spooky, night, orange, black, witch, scary, wind.

• Write a recipe for a magic potion. Next, explain what the potion would do if someone drank it.

• I was putting my Halloween costume on when I heard something moving in my closet...

• On Halloween night, while trick-or-treating we passed the cemetery. Suddenly we all felt a cold and spooky wind...

• What are your favorite Halloween treats? What is the best one you ever received?

• Describe all the Halloween costumes you have had in past years.

• Describe how to make a great Halloween costume using mostly supplies you have around the house.

Keeping it Real

In a New Post share your thoughtful answers to 4-5 of the Dan In Real Life questions.  Shoot for about 500 words.  Include an image.

Please be sure you're caught up on all blog posts so far this quarter so we can move on to a new topic next week...scary stories in honor of Halloween!

"Reely" good quotes

Dumb and Dumber

Create a New Post featuring 4-5 of your favorite MOVIE QUOTES.  These could be funny, sad, smart...whatever stands out to you.  You can type these or use an image featuring the quote.  Make sure you indicate the film the quote is from, and the character if you'd like.

When a Man Loves a Woman

"Reel" Life

Do a  New Post answering the following questions (in at least 400 words) about your preferences in movies.

• Tell us about your favorite movie and why you like it.
• Tell us about the kinds of movies you don't care for usually.
• Tell us about how often and where you usually watch movies.
• Tell us about what you need for movie viewing (environment, food, company, etc.)
• Tell us about what this survey says about you.
• If my life story was made into a movie...(who would play you, what would be 3-4 main plot points/events, happy or sad ending, etc.)

Include images in this post also. Thanks!

When you're finished, leave a quick comment on the movie post and/or movie quotes post of at least 5 of your classmates.

Your future's so bright

...you've gotta wear shades. Have you heard that song before? Perhaps our guest speaker from inspired you to pursue a creative career...maybe in writing or maybe in filmmaking or something else. There are, of course, lots of  schools that offer creative writing programs and there are several different directions you might take to work as a writer.

No matter what you see yourself doing down the road, take some time to do a New Post on your own blog and respond to ALL of the following questions:

• discuss 2 interesting ideas from the presentation Monday
• ask 1 question about something discussed
• write about where you'd like to be in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years and 50 years (this might include careers or work, accomplishments, family and friends, homes, possessions, emotions, etc.)
• include at least one image that shows what you see in your future
• include the word "future" somehow in the title of your post
• if you'd like to put a link in your post the way I have with the words in red (maybe to the college you're interested in or something else) I can show you how--you just highlight the word you want to be linked, click on the icon with the little green circle and chainlinks on the toolbar then copy and paste the url/web address of the page you're linking to...I usually change the text color of that word, too, just to be consistent

When you've finished your own new post, read several of your classmates' and make a comment.

Guest Speaker Monday!

During class on Monday, Mr. Jim Odom (husband of Mrs. Angie Odom, KHS math teacher!) will visit our class and share some of his experiences as a published author.  You can visit his website to find out more about his background and his book.  Be thinking of questions you might ask Mr. Odom...

Inspired by Edward Hopper

Choose one of the 4 paintings (above) by American artist Edward Hopper we studied in class this week (you could also use his painting "Nighthawks" that is referenced in the insurance commercial we watched) and write a piece of at least 400 words inspired by it.  You might do a short fiction piece or a personal narrative or maybe even a long narrative poem.  You can refer to your lists of sensory details and other thoughts in your journal entry completed in class for ideas.  Please create a New Post on your blog  by the end of class today with your writing and include the painting, too.  Thanks!