Blogging Fieldtrip- Pay it Forward

Well ladies and gentlemen, you've all been working hard to establish your own little piece of the blogosphere. In today's class we will be taking a cyber field trip, to the blogs of your fellow classmates. Take some time today to explore the blogs of your classmates, investigate what they've been doing, and contribute to their blogging learning, by posting comments, asking questions, and starting conversations.

Not sure where to start? Visit the sidebar (--->)to see all the students following Cre8tive Havoc, select a profile that looks interesting and off you go!

Reading "The Hunger Games"? Visit these blogs:

http://crizelyneve.blogspot.com/

http://carlyblogsnow.blogspot.com/

http://bradysbloggg.blogspot.com/

http://jolums.blogspot.com/



Reading a Jodi Picoult Book? Try these:

http://creativewritinggradetwelve.blogspot.com/

http://crazy4books-erin.blogspot.com/

http://deenat4t.blogspot.com/


Wondering about what to add for personal addition? Try here:

http://deenat4t.blogspot.com/

http://ateenreadersresource.blogspot.com/

http://spellinginoverrated.blogspot.com/

Read More

Reading and Writing Reflection #2

It's that time of the week again!

First up your Reading Reflection (250 words):
Use your post it notes to help you create a posting where you discuss your reading progress.

- Your reflection should be in full sentences/paragraphs, and focus on your questions, comments, predictions and text connections.
- Please don't retell the plot of your novel, instead react to it.- Please pay special attention to your proofreading. I would suggest you type your reflection in a Word document, use it to edit, and then cut and copy it into your blog posting.

Next? Writing Reflection (200 words):
Six Word Memoirs:
- How did it go?
- Did you choose to stay in the classroom? Or go to solitary confinement? Why? How did it go?
- What do you think of this genre of writing? Pros? Cons?
- What did you learn about yourself as a writer/thinker?
- What was the hardest part?  What was the most rewarding part?

Blogging:
- How's it going?  What is the hardest part? What is the most rewarding part?
- Set yourself a blogging goal for the upcoming week.  Discuss the goal and how you will achieve it.

Anything else you've discovered about yourself as a writer/thinker?

Read More

Personal Addition

I found this site called someecards.com and this e card in particular caught my eye. Mostly because I've often thought something similar about myself. I always thought that it would be pointless for me to even take part in the whole "what would I do to protect myself if the zombie apocalypse came" discussion because let's face it; I am a slow mover and thinker. I'd probably be one of the first people to be zombified! What do you think? In a zombie apocalypse are you the first of the undead, or the last of the living?

If you are the last of the living you might want to consider read Max Brooks' manual. He wrote it as an actual, true to life, manual on surviving the zombie apocalypse. If you want to read it, see me. I've got a copy and won't need it, as I am resigned to be part of the walking dead!

Read More

Blogging Homework

I've journeyed into many of your blogs this week, and have to say you've all been doing a great job establishing yourself in this new digital footprint. One thing that many of you mentioned in this week's writing reflection, was that it was a struggle to find personal additions. Please remember that when it come to adding to your personal additions, you have much flexibility so FOLLOW YOUR PASSION! You can add anything of interest, created by anybody of interest. Just remember to credit the source of the inspiration, meaning that if add you favorite song lyrics, then give credit to the band/songwriter, if you add something found on the Internet, then credit the original site where you found it. So here's your homework for the weekend:

(1) Catch up on your personal additions. On your blog or in your
WRN it's up to you. Try to add five items.
(2) Visit your fellow classmates blogs and try your hand at commenting on their postings. Create comments that are open-ended and encourage conversation.

Have fun and keep blogging!

Read More

Next Writing Topic: Six Word Memoirs (with a visual twist)

The next writing topic we will be focussing in on is six word memoirs.   For those of you who haven't heard of this writing phenomenon, here's a short video to explain:

And on the continuing topic of our digital footprint, it seems the government has it's own interest in monitoring our digital presence.  See Rick Mercer's rant below:

Comments? Concerns? Add a comment to this posting by using the comment button below.

Read More

Reading and Writing Reflection #1

Welcome back!

I hope everyone had a great long weekend.  To be honest it was a little depressing to get out of bed this morning and face the snowy and slippery roads.  Sometimes I just think it would be easier to stay in bed with a cup of tea and a good book, but alas here we are!  So today's focus is going to be the next best thing to staying in bed and reading a book . . . going to school and blogging about books!

In today's class you will be creating blog postings that focus on your progress as a reader and a writer in the last two weeks of classes. 

First up your Reading Reflection:
Use your post it notes to help you create a posting where you discuss your reading progress.

- Your reflection should be in full sentences/paragraphs, and  focus on your questions, comments, predictions and text connections.
- Please pay special attention to your proofreading.  I would suggest you type your reflection in a Word document, use it to edit, and then cut and copy it into your blog posting.
 - Length? 250 words.

Next? Writing Reflection:
Discuss your writing progress so far. 

- What has been your reaction to blog writing, doodling, Listography, adding personal additions, maintaining your WRN.
- What have you done well? What successes have you had?
- What needs work/attention?
- What would you like to do next as a writing project?
- Please pay special attention to your proofreading. I would suggest you type your reflection in a Word document, use it to edit, and then cut and copy it into your blog posting.
- Length? 100 words.

You have today's class to finish these two postings.  If you run out of time it becomes homework.  Don't forget to bring a camera for tomorrow's class.

Read More

Long Week-end "To Do" List:

Alright ladies and gentlemen,

You've got a three day week-end ahead of you.  And I am sure you wondering to yourself; "What am I going to do?  How can I keep myself productively occupied?"  Well, here's the answer!

(1) Create a comment/reply to the "Digital Ethics" posting (scroll down to the posting)
(2) Post your "Digital Footprint" doodle to your blog.  Add a description/reaction to it.
(3) Post your "Listography" doodle to your blog. Add a description/reaction to it.
(4) Explore the Cre8tive Sites links in the sidebar.  Look ---------------->
(5) Sign up for a Flickr account  http://www.flickr.com/
(6) Sign up for a Picnik account http://www.picnik.com/
(7) Find a camera (cell phone camera will do) and take some pics in preparation of next week's writing.

Read More

Congrats!

Congratulations to Katarina! She submitted a six word memoir to http://www.smithteens.com/ and it was selected as an Editor's Pick and is featured on the main page of the site! Her six word memoir was written under the pen-name princess.

Want to be the next creative writing student to be published online? Click on one of the "Cre8tive Sites" links found on the sidebar, and get Cre8tive!

Read More

Ms. McLauchlan's Digital Footprint Doodle

It's not done yet. . .

Read More

Sunni Brown- Doodle Notes on a Documentary

Here's a sample of what a doodle may look like.

Read More

Digital Doodle

Although this is a Creative Writing class, sometimes I think of it as a Creative Ways of Writing class.  It is with that in mind that I introduce Sunni Brown and her passion for doodling.

In today's class what we are going to think and doodle about is the concept of our digital footprint.  According to Wikipedia a digital footprint is;

• A trail left by an entity's interactions in a digital environment; including their usage of TV, mobile phone, Internet and world wide web, mobile web and other devices and sensors. Digital footprints provide data on what an entity has performed in the digital environment; and are valuable in assisting behavioural targeting, personalisation, targeted marketing, digital reputation, and other social media or social graphing services.
• In social media, a digital footprint is the size of an individuals online presence; as it relates to the number of individuals they interact with.
• A collection of activities and behaviours recorded when an entity (such as a person) interacts in a digital environment. It may include the recording of activities such as system login and logouts, visits to a web-page, accessed or created files, or emails and chat messages. The digital footprint allows interested parties to access this data; possibly for data mining, or profiling purposes.

So here is your writing mission-

1.  Doodle about your digital footprint!  Things to doodle about:

• Your doodle interpretation of the Wikipedia definition above
• Doodle what your digital footprint looks like.  How deep is it your footprint? What is in it?  Is it "muddy"?
• Doodle about how can you use your digital footprint as springboard to your future endeavours?
• Doodle about anything else that comes to mind when thinking about your digital footprint

2.  Take a picture of your doodle, and upload the image to your blog, title it "My Digital Footprint Doodle".  Feel free to write a brief explanation of your doodle. 

Read More

Digital Ethics

Blogging is a very public activity. Anything that gets posted on the internet stays there. Forever. Deleting a post simply removes it from the blog it was posted to. Copies of the post may exist scattered all over the internet. That is why we are being so careful to respect your privacy and using first names only. We do not use pictures of ourselves. If you really want a graphic image associated with your posting use an avatar -- a picture of something that represents you but IS NOT of you.

(1)Students using blogs are expected to treat blogspaces as classroom spaces. Speech that is inappropriate for class is not appropriate for our blog. While we encourage you to engage in debate and conversation with other bloggers, we also expect that you will conduct yourself in a manner reflective of a representative of this school.
(2)Never EVER EVER give out or record personal information on our blog. Our blog exists as a public space on the Internet. Don’t share anything that you don’t want the world to know. For your safety, be careful what you say, too. Don’t give out your phone number or home address. This is particularly important to remember if you have a personal online journal or blog elsewhere.
(3)Again, your blog is a public space. And if you put it on the Internet, odds are really good that it will stay on the Internet. Always. That means ten years from now when you are looking for a job, it might be possible for an employer to discover some really hateful and immature things you said when you were younger and more prone to foolish things. Be sure that anything you write you are proud of. It can come back to haunt you if you don’t.
(4) Never link to something you haven’t read. While it isn’t your job to police the Internet, when you link to something, you should make sure it is something that you really want to be associated with. If a link contains material that might be creepy or make some people uncomfortable, you should probably try a different source.


Look over the guidelines and discuss the ones you like in the comments section below this post. We'll be using the one's I highlighted above as a basis for how we will use our blog.

~Ms. McL

*special thanks to Mr.K for lending me Digital Ethics posting!

Read More

Welcome to Cre8tive Havoc!

Hello and welcome to Cre8tive Havoc, the "mother blog" for our class's adventure into blogging! This will be a common space for all students taking Creative Writing this semester, so don't be suprised if you see some new names and faces here. This mother blog will be a place where various assignments and resources will be posted. My hope is that you will be checking is here on a regular basis while also maintaining your own blog, and visiting the blogs of your fellow classmates. So what is the next step? 

(1) Sign up for a g-mail e-mail account
(2) Use your g-mail account to open a Blogger account
(3) Personalize your blog space, and create a introduction posting where you introduce yourself (first name and last initial only please, please don't post any pics of yourself)
(4) Follow and send a request to be a member of the Cre8tive Havoc blog.
(5) Start blogging!

Read More