"The Moment" Draft #2

Your project for today's class is to re-draft your Moment.  Keeping in mind yesterday's mini lesson on "Show Don't Tell" and "VAKS-ing", you are going to be word processing your Moment, and adding one section that illustrates "Show Don't Tell" writing.  Remember that "Show Don't Tell" usually includes some VAKS'ing in order to paint the picture for your readers. 

Moment Format:

- Start with setting the scene (when, where)
- Tell the story with at least one length segment of "show Don't Tell" (6+ sentences in length)
- End with the "message" or moral of the story.  What did you learn? What do you want your reader's to learn?

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Reading and Writing Reflection #4

It's that time of the week again!  For the sake of organising your blogs, I just want to implement some style changes for this week's Reading Reflection (250 words). Please title your posting with "Reading Reflection #4" and then use the first three lines of your blog to give info about the name of the book, author, and pages you've read this week in class. So for example your Reading Reflection Posting should look something like this:

Reading Reflection #4

Book: Lone Wolf
Author: Jodi Picoult
Pages Read: 35-74

Also,when it comes to the content of your Reading Reflection, remember to avoid retelling plot.  Instead try to use the reading strategies that we've been studying this semseter.  Write about your:
-Questions
-Comments
-Predictions
-Text to self, text to text and text to world connections
-General observations about writing style

Moving onto your Writing Reflection (100 words).  Again title this posting "Writing Reflection #4" (even though technically it's not . . .)  The topics to discuss are:

- Your "Moment" story. How is it going? What needs work? How do you think it needs to improve?
- Solitary confinement.  How did it go? Did you find it helpful? Why? Why not?
- Your blog? How are things going? What would you like to learn who to do?

Okay? Got it? Then stop staring at this and get to work!

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Blog Checklist

So, it's  coming to that point in the semester were things are starting to blur together, and you are probably wondering, "what exactly am I supposed to have on my blog?"  Lucky for you, I have created a list to act as a reminder, and inspire you to get your blog up to date. Soooo, here it goes, in the general in which things were assigned:

(1) Intro post- a few sentences about who you are, and what you hope to gain out of this whole blogging experiment.
(2) Digital Footprint Doodle Pic- accompanied by an explanation of the doodle, and what you found/learned.
(3) Listogrpahy Doodle Pic
(4) Reading Reflection #1- assigned on February 21, 250 words in length, see the post for exact details.
(5) Writing Reflection  #1- assigned on February 21, 100 words in length, see the post for exact details.
(6) Reading Reflection #2- assigned on February 27, 250 words in length, see the post for exact details.
(7) Writing Reflection #2- assigned on February 27,100 words  in length, see the post for exact details.
(8) 4 "Finished" Six Word Memoirs- each with an accompanying writers note, see the post for exact details.
(9) Kony "Poking the Puddle" findings- see the post for exact details.
(10)Reading Reflection #3- assigned on March 12th, choice of Character iPhone or regular post.
(11) Personal Additions- around 12'ish (yes, I said 12) can be posted here or added to your WRN.
(12) Pay It Forward-  For every one item you post you should be commenting on two other postings on other people's blogs.

YOWZA!! We've been busy this semester, haven't we?

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Kony and Freedom of Speech

Continuing the Kony debate . . . A recent effort to create a Kony 2012 group here at the school has met with some resistance.  Over thirty posters were either torn down or graffiti-ed on.  The posters were placed in various places in the school last Friday morning, and very few are still left. Opinions? Post them below in the comments section.

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Poking the puddle

The whole Kony 2012 campaign reminds me of Spring.  It's that time of year the grass starts to poke through the melting snow, and everything seems fresh and new and growing.  But the other thing about Spring is that the melting snow causes puddles.  And they're the type of puddles you can't really see.  Is it a shallow puddle, that just barely touches the sole of your shoe? Or is one of those super deep puddles, with a  muddy bottom, that's going to flood your shoe, and wet your sock? I learned early, as a small child who had to walk one and half kilometers home from school that you needed a tool to help you navigate the puddles.  And the perfect tool was a branch.  You could then use the branch to poke the puddles to find out what was REALLY hidden beneath the surface. So today we are armimg ourselves with sticks and going out poking puddles, specifically the Kony puddle. . .

We've all seen the video, now we need to do a bit of research.  Your job today is:

- to go online and read some of the what the "critics" are saying about the Kony 2012 campaign
- then visit the Kony site http://s3.amazonaws.com/www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.html

On your blog, post your response to the following questions:

(1) What are some of the legitimate concerns that critics (and you can include yourself here too) have with the campaign?
(2) Does Invisible children address these concerns.  Why/why not.  Be specific.
(3) With these concerns in mind, how are you going to participate in Kony 2012?  How should we as a class participate in Kony 2012?

** Remember this is YOUR digital footprint, you need investigate the puddle before you jump in with both feet!!

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The Video that Started it All

And, on the topic of using your digital footprint to change the world . . .

The Video:

What did you like about the video?
What problems might there be with capturing Kony? (Read some of the criticisms online about Kony 2012.)

Now What?

• What can you do?
• What do you want to do?
• How will you do it?
• Can it reach beyond the boundaries of our school? SD? Community? City? Province? Country? (The answers to each of these questions poses problems ... how will you solve them?)
• How will you capture or record your actions? (pictures, videos, writing, audio, mashups)
• How can share and spread your ideas? (blogging?)

*** Discsssion points in this post are completely stolen from one of my digital Yodas Mr. Kuropatwa, and another unnamed teacher at George Wates Middle School***

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Six Word Memoirs are DUE TODAY!!

I just want to start today's post by commenting on how fantastic it is to see everyone posting their six word memoirs.  I am a bit alarmed however, that you all tend to be at your blogging busiest between 10pm and midnight! Why exactly is that? Is that when most of you get a moment of quiet in your busy lives?  I just think that is funny that you all are busy blogging when I am usually tucked into bed for the night. . . Yes, the super-exciting life of an English teacher means you are in bed by 9:30pm . . . and possibly even asleep. . .

Moving on,  Friday's class I was away sick, and it would seem that you guys had a chance to watch my all time favourite movie, "The Goonies"! I hope that you enjoyed it.  Given that you missed your reading class I have decided to let you off the hook for this week's Reading and Writing Reflection.  So you ask, what am I to do in today's class?  See the list below:

(1) Finish posting your six word memoirs with the appropriate formatting (see posting below for clarification on exactly what this is)
(2) Take some time to pay it forward and visit your classmates blogs.  See what their six word memoirs look like, and leave some conversation-building comments on their posts.
(3) Take some time to add personal additions to your blog.  Perhaps you can take some inspiration from "The Goonies" and discuss your all-time favourite movies.

Happy Blogging!
-Ms. McL

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Next Writing Project: "The Moment"

Welcome to “The Moment,” stories of how a single moment changed your life in a profound way. What’s a Moment? It can be almost anything, as long as it’s true, personal, and changed your life in some way.

• Text Moments, as few as 50 and as many as 1,200 words. Most of the text moments will be short essays, but they can also be Twitter feeds, Facebook status updates, IMs, or text messages sent or received.
• A postcard or letter, sent or received—or some other form of communication that provided inspiration, or altered your life.
• A photograph, a single shot, or series.
• An illustration or comic, a single panel, or series.
• Something different altogether—we look forward to being surprised by your creativity!

("The Moment" description above from  http://www.smithmag.net/themoment/about/)

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Writing Prompt

Writing Prompt Courtesy of http://writingprompts.tumblr.com/post/18249099822/415

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Six Word Memoir #1- Can't believe I took this photo

Writer's Note:
I took this photo when I was in Cuba over Christmas.  Cuba is such a beautiful country.  The light creates such powerful pictures that it is nearly impossible not to take amazing shots.  This particular photo was taken in Havana, and I had no idea it would turn out to be so beautiful.  The six word memoir I selected for this photo "Can't believe I took this picture", shows my amazement and disbelief that I visited a place as beautiful as this. Especially because Winnipeg is hard place to live during the winter, as it is so cold, dark and void of colour.  This photo reminds me that even though Winnipeg may be in winter hibernation mode, it's not a permanent state.  Winter in Winnipeg will eventually pass and we will have the warmth, and colour of summer (although perhaps not quite like Cuba).  I guess you can apply that general idea to live as a whole; you may have "seasons" of dark, but this soon will pass and reveal a "season" of light.

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Wrapping Up 6 Word Memoirs

It seems we are coming to the end of our work with "6 Word Memoirs", and that means that we need to finish polishing and editing, and publish them for the world to see!  Exciting right?  Ok here's what you need to know:

(1) You must select 4 of your "Six Word Memoirs" for publishing.
(2) Each of these 4 "Six Word Memoir" must be posted as seperate entry, on your blog by Monday, March 5th.
(3) A "published" photo MUST HAVE a photgraphy credit either on the picture or as a caption underneath the photo.  Even if you've take the photo yourself, you must have a photo credit.
(4) Each photo "Six Word Memoir" must have a Writer's Note attached to it.  The Writer's Note is your opportunity to explain your process for writing the six words, as wells as how you selected the photo and how it connects to the six words. 

See posting above this for example.

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