I'm Away!

Hey Everyone,

I am unexpectedly away this afternoon.  Please use today's class to edit and compile your photos from yesterday's scavenger hunt.  Use an app such as Pic Stitch to combine your visuals- and then post them on your blog.  Remember that underneath each of your visuals should be a key that discusses which themes are being photographed.  If you get that done and you have time to spare, scroll down to the next post, read it, and get a head start writing your "Six Word Memoirs".  

I am also away tomorrow- don't forget to bring your book, and keep track of your questions, comments, predictions and text connections. See you Monday!

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First Writing Project: Six Word Memoirs

#mbedchatblog #mbedu #engchat #sixwordmemoirs

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

http://youtu.be/mBnP0DoGjRI

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjymZhgf

Your writing assignment:

-Write 8 different six word memoirs. One for each of the eight categories: love, hate, growing up, my past, my future, me, family, and confession.

- Select your best SIX and create visuals (photos, drawings/doodles, collages) to accompany them. It is very likely that some of your visuals will be the ones that you captured on your Photo Scavenger Hunt.

- All visuals accompanying your Six Word Memoirs must by originals, created by you.

Due Date: TBA

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Photo Scavenger Hunt

#mbedchatblog #mbedu #engchat 

Use your device to capture photos that creatively and insightful represent the following topics or themes. Once you have taken all of the photos, use the app Pic Stitch (or another similar app) to combine and frame the photos. Upload the finished product to your blog, and add detailed descriptions that explain the themes present in the various photos/frames. 

Love

Hate

Friendship

Symbolism

Black and White

Passion

Talent

Family

Confession

Metaphoto

Metaphoto

Metaphoto

Close-up

Outline- Silhouette

Words/Letters

Refelction

Alone

When I Was Little . . .

Past

Future

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Reading Assignment #3

This week, I would like you to share the text connections you found while reading during Friday's class.  Share any two text connections that you found.  This week we are not using "Twitter" format, and as such you should be explaining your connections in a paragraph length response. Post your text connections in the comments section below- and be sure to take a moment to respond to another student's connection.

Here are some example text connections, from last semester's students:

4 November 2013 10:36 

Carly Bretecher said...

Specials (350)

In this book, Tally and Shay come upon a city called Diego. In Diego, they have a New System, which allows the citizens to choose whether they want the operation or not, and if they do, it doesn’t come with the brain lesions. Most people choose the operation, but only because they get to choose exactly how they want to look. They can have extremely fair skin with bright orange hair, or very dark skin with overly dramatic muscles. Everyone looks the way they want to. They can even put snake skins on their pinkies. They all have a different, crazy look about them, which reminded me of the Capitol in the Hungers Games. In the Hunger Games, people in the Capitol dress crazily and even get strange surgeries to give themselves third eyes or make themselves 10 feet tall. They can make their look exactly how they want it, and even though it may be bizarre, it’s what they want. This whole series has reminded me of the Hunger Games

4 November 2013 10:37 

Casey Clair said...

The Fault in Our Stars (239)
The text to self-connection that I make with this book is the emotions I feel along with Hazel. It’s not like I have dealt with something as huge and life threatening as cancer, but I do feel empathy for her and the random strenuous situations she is put in when either her or one of her friends has some tragedy strike. I also feel strongly about certain books like Hazel does after reading An Imperial Affliction for the billionth time. I always start thinking about what life would be like for the characters in novels. No matter how much I read a book and no matter how much my mind is soothed by the ending, I always wonder about any and all big and little things in them. I can’t exactly imagine the pent up frustration of a book that stops mid-sentence as for Hazel, but my mind still wonders even after closures are met. I admire Hazel’s determination to get the answers she wants out of the author, Peter Van Houten despite not getting them in the end.

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Blogging Fieldtrip

#mbedchatblog #mbedu #engchat

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. First stop, http://kidblog.org/MsBettess/ where we will be meeting with our new friends in Thompson! We'll be spending time with these lovely fellows bloggers at several points throughout the semester- starting next week when we appear as "Guest Readers" via Skype, for I Love to Read Month.

Second stop, 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. While everyone needs a cheerleader, please ensure that your comments are more than "great job". Instead, try ask questions, and start conversations.

?? Ms. McLauchlan- How many comments should I post? Well, you have all class! But the blogging rule of thumb is for every item you have posted on your own blog, you comment on at least two other people's blogs.

http://instagram.com/3bbees

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Digital Quickwrite- Which Door?

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http://writingprompts.tumblr.com

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This Week's Reading Strategy- Text Connections

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Research shows that effective readers all possess similar characteristics of “reading greatness”. Two such characteristics are:

They activate their background--they reflect on what they know before reading and  . . .

They connect that knowledge to the during and after stages of their reading experience. Below are three different types of connections:

Text to Self                              (t-s)
Connect your own experiences to something that has happened in the text.
“This reminds me of when I . . .”

Text to Text Connection                     (t-t)
Connect this text to other texts such as other novels, poems, short stories, and magazine articles.
“This is different/the same as another book I read. . .”

Text to World Connection                  (t-w)
Connect events or issues that have taken place in the world to what you are reading.

While reading, use post it notes to record the various types of text connections you experience.

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Reading Assignment #2- Reading Tweets

#engchat #mbedu #readingtweet

This week's Reading Tweet is slightly different from last week.  Once again you will be composing 5 tweets about your reading on Friday, but this week you must include at least three of the following hashtags in your tweets, in a meaningful way:

#dystopian
#bigidea
#favquote
#johngreen
#writingstyle
#conflict
#foreshadowing
#timetravel
#scifi
#romance
#title
#lifelesson
#bookormovie


Your first tweet should once again introduce your book and current page of reading:

Where'd U Go Bernadette (123) My #favquote so far "Hello, can I help you with something?  If not please step aside because I'm going to kick the **** out of life" (100)

And your subsequent quotes will include questions, comments, and/or predictions, as well as content related to the above mentioned hashtags:

!- Love how the above quote shows the chutzpah Bernadette used to have. Clearly something has changed. But what? #prediction

"If you don't create, Bernadette, you will become a menace to society" She already is! I think this is one reason for her lost chutzpah. #comment #bigidea

This book is written like a puzzle, Bee is collecting the e-mails, paperwork and personal accounts that document her mother's breakdown #writingstyle

Bernadette has outsourced a PA from India.  I think the PA becomes and important part of the plot, b/c she has access to lots of B's personal info #foreshadowing

Don't forget to post your tweets in the comment section of this post! All tweets should be posted by tomorrow.  You will also need to check back by mid week to add your replies to your classmates posts.

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Photos

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Personal Additions

#mbedchatblog #mbedu #engchat 

Your blog should be an extension of you and reflect your personality in a professional manner. The best way to accomplish is through personal additions!

Personal additions are your chance to include items you find inspiring, interesting, and/or worth commenting on into your blog and WRN. Items that could be considered personal additions include (but are not limited to):

·Poems/Song Lyrics

·A list of confession

·A list of inspirational quotes

·“I know for sure that . . .”

·A sketch of a character/scene from your novel

·Consider “big questions”

·To you, what is love?

·What would be your priority if you wanted to repair the world.

·What would you like to never end?

·Write a letter to your future self.

·Rant

·Comment on an interesting article in the newspaper, or a magazine.

·React to a piece of art/music. ..

·Post- movie reflection

TWO NOTES OF CAUTION!

(1) Give credit where credit is due! Always credit the creator and/or original source of the item. If it is an item you found on the Internet, always add the URL of the original source, and give the name of the person who created/wrote the item. If you wrote/created it, then give yourself props! Remember, claiming someone else's work as your own is considered plagiarism!

URL Shortener:

http://goo.gl/

(2)Cut, paste and think.Don’t leave your addition on its own; add your own commentary to the item. If you just cut and paste, the item seems random and unconnected to your blog as a whole.



http://mrg.bz/nQ9FXP

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Share Your New Blog Address

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Reading Assignment #1- Reading Tweets

#mbedchatblog #mbedu #engchat #readingtweets 

Reading Reflection: 

Today, you will using the format of Twitter to compose "Tweets" about the post it notes you took while reading on Friday. Your reading tweets will contain 140 characters or less - including spaces and punctuation. In total you will create 5 "tweets:

- An intro tweet that gives the title of the book, the page that you are currently on, and your initial reaction to the book:

The Girl i/t Steel Corset (203) my 1rst steampunk book. I enjoy the dark mystery- great change from the Dystopian fic I've been reading #intro

-Your second tweet will discuss a question (?) you had while reading:

?- Is Finley Jayne the only character with superpowers? My guess= no, there will be a group of character to soon be introduced #question

 -Your third tweet will discuss a comment you had while reading:

Favourite quote so far " ___________________" (pg 123) #comment

-Your fourth tweet will discuss a prediction (!) your had while reading:

!- This is definitely going to be part of series/trilogy. Too many characters, to much conflict going on to all be resolved in 1 book. #prediction

-Your last tweet will ask an open-ended, discussion question for your classmates.

Anybody else read any steampunk? Or tired of dystopian fiction? The Hunger Games was great, but I'm tired of all the copycat books. #discuss

You will need to post all five of your tweets, but you should also read and respond to what your classmates post.

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Doodling Your Digital Footprint

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 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.

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Reading Strategy- Questions, Comments, Predictions

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 Yesterday, I introduced you to our first metacognitive reading strategy- questions, comments and predictions.

 Questions (?)

·      While you are reading you may find yourself asking questions.  These questions might be about plot or character or any other element in the novel.

Comments

·      As a reader you respond to what you are reading. These comments and opinions are important and need to be recorded on Post-it notes.

 Predictions (!)

·      The author will often leave clues that allow you as a reader to create predictions about the plot, and characters.


Please remember to bring both post it notes and your free reading book to class tomorrow for our first "Free Reading Friday" class of the semester.  Ideally by the end of class tomorrow you will have at least 10 Q/C/P post it notes.

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Welcome Semester Two Students!

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 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 year, 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.

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