Text Message Mania

I enjoyed our meeting with the Ink Peppers as well! My two mentees are Steven and Tori.  Steven likes to write short stories and Tori writes a variety of things.  Theresa and I put our groups together and told them about the text message activity.  However, only one of the students had their cell phone with them and he did not have text messaging.  T and I tweaked the activity and asked them to write about an instant message or piece of conversation that was important to them.  While I was not planning on reading my entire poem, the group urged me to, saying that they do not believe in censorship.  However, I did tweak it a little because I was not sure that it was appropriate for them to hear.  They started writing and developed great poems.  I also wrote another one that I will post here.  It is not finished, but I appreciate any and all suggestions!

“U can come here! Take the bus”

How simple would that be-

Taking the bus to escape your troubles.

Just pay a small fee,

and you can get away.

Go on a magical vacation,

away from the drama,

away from the tension,

away from yourself;

to find yourself,

find out what matters

and what doesn’t.

Alexis

R+B Ink Peppers!!

    What an awesome first mentor/mentee experience! I thought everyone worked really well together! The one mentee I was able to meet, Stephen,  as well as Doug’s, Andrew, carried out the Quick list activity beautifully! They really dove right into the prompt and were eager to share what they had written! I was ecstatic with the way the writing session went. It also gave Doug and I an opportunity to get to know these two students.

  Unfortunately, Stephen had to leave the meeting early; however, Doug and I continued to work with Andrew. I look forward to meeting my other mentees and continuing to build relationshps with the R+B Ink Peppers.

   I also really liked Theresa’s idea for a Writing notebook, and I think I’m going to use it as well! T- you should post about it on here so everyone knows what to do in case they like the idea too!  :)

-Aut

Amazing Peppers continued..

Sorry! I forgot to write about the last activity we did! After we had met with our mentees for awhile and had a snack (pizza! yum) we did another activity led by Ms. Triplett. We had to write as if we were a kitchen appliance that had been abused. I haven’t finished mine completely, but here is what I have so far, I did it in a stream of consciousness I think. By the way, it’s a blender!

Bzzz, I work so hard, you just add more, more, MORE. Until I am up to the brim, almost spilling over! You squeeze my top on (it just barely fits) and you mix away. Your milkshakes, your smoothies, your drinks. You don’t seem to care about me and my increasingly worn blades. 20 ice cubes! Too much! Years have decreased my strength. I’m crushing them anyway, but not for long. If you keep this up, my last rotation will occur long before my life expectancy. That’s not fair to me, I was promised a life. A life of many years filled with a variety of savory mixtures. Don’t worry, you’ll pay. And I mean pay. When you go buy my replacement, it will be much more expensive because you will blame my sudden death on cheap manufacturing.

Stacia

The Amazing Peppers!

Today at Cortland Highschool was amazing! I think that all of you would agree! First, I got to know my students a little bit better. They both enjoy writing short stories and some poetry. I also learned that they enjoy writing about dark things such as death. I am excited to read their pieces and learn from them because I have never really written anything dark, however, I am willing to try!

Then, Kaitlin Brown and I did the paradelle with our mentees and they seemed to really like it! Even Ms. Triplett did one! My two mentees in particular seemed interested in song lyrics and one of them even incorporated a verse from a song into his paradelle. I worked on my own paradelle beside them, and I was surprised at how fast they worked! They had three stanzas done when I had just finished my first one. They didnt get to complete their paradelles entirely yet, but they both promised to email them to me and gave me permission to share them here on the blog! I look forward to sharing their work!

Stacia

Unfortunately This is the World We Live in Today

Hey guys,
    First and foremost, I respect you all as people, prospective teachers, friends, and I do in no way mean disrespect by this e-mail. If you find it to be harsh, this harshness is simply out of a near panic attack as well as a lookout for everyone.
     I was confronted today with an awkward and curious situation. I was asked to drive two of the Ink Peppers home today– not o.k.
    Of course the intentions meant well, and hey, I am the first person to want and be willing to drive anyone and everyone home–if I could. In the world we live in today, if (God forbid) I were in a car accident with those kids in the car, I am 100% liable. If it were a student of the opposite sex, think of the plethora of problems that could be raised from that situation alone.
     One more thing since I am on this topic. If you are planning on communicating with the Ink Peppers via AIM, MySpace, Facebook, or any other kind of source where open information is easily shared and found, make sure the source is appropriate for them to view. How awful would it be to have an Ink Pepper find a picture of you with a beverage in your hand? Or vice versa, what do you do when you find a certain kind of picture, message, or saying, on one of their pages? I love that we are mentors, but please keep in mind we will be teachers in less than a year. Just be safe because we’ve worked way too hard to have something unfortunate destroy what we have come so close to.
                                                                                                -Willis

Green Information Sheets Due Today

Dear Teachers,

It’s very important that you have the green sheets today filled out completely. No missing information. Attach any additional schedule information. For example, Kristin did a nice grid displaying her schedule at Corcoran. That’s very useful.

In a few cases you may have difficulty since you are not yet working w/your new host teacher. Please let me know that.

If you have not yet brought me the signed bottom of the letter to teachers, please do that TODAY unless, as above, you have not met the teacher yet.

Let me know if you need another copy of the letter, etc. for your new host.

Thanks for your conscientiousness about these forms. I meet with the Field Placement Director and Valerie today and that’s one of the reasons why I must have the information today.

Also, those few of you who have not turned in 409 portfolio assign. #1, please bring it today.

#2 should be in no later than next week. This is pre-break work for sure!!

I look forward to seeing you in a little while. Be sure you have checked out the NEOVOX site–and read some of the pieces there. Karen

Like the Paradelle? Look at these!

I REALLY liked writing a paradelle for the original poetry piece! It inspired me to try and find other challenging forms. I found this cool website with so many different forms! Check it out and be inspired!

http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/types.html

Stacia

The kids at Whitney Pt. are warming up to me!

When I was observing at Whitney Point on Tuesday, my host teacher ran to the copy room to pick up something, leaving me alone in the empty room (it was her free period) to grade papers. I was grading thier vocabulary quizzes, which I actually find really fun, when a student came in. She asked me where her teacher was because she needed to ask her about work she had missed. I told her that the teacher was in the copy room, but that she would return shortly. I was surprised when the student sat down next to me and told me personal information about her life. She told me about some family problems she is having right now and how it made her break last week really hard and almost unbearable. While I was sad for her, I was SO happy that she felt comfortable sharing her problems with me. I told her that when things are bad, they always get better eventually. She agreed and went on to tell me about how much fun she had in the school play. I think that I helped her to look at things in a positive way. I realized that students, especially adolescents, have alot going on in their lives and it doesn’t hurt to listen. Sometimes knowing that a teacher cares can help students want to put forth more effort in the classroom. I look forward to forming these positive relationships with other students!!

Stacia

Responding to the Interview of Toby (weird to refer to him that way) Wolff

          Naturally, I enjoyed reading the interview based on Tobias Wolff. Reading the interview gave me a more precise idea of how to go about actually doing it. I enjoyed many aspects of the interview which I could go on and on about– the intricate details (especially the physical appearance of this amazing author), the other authors involved in Wolff’s life, Syracuse University, other books and short stories to read, the debate of revising a previous work, and so on.
          I wanted to explain what this article made me realize, an minor epiphany if you will. I don’t know a whole lot about Tobias Wolff. I have unfortunately only read This Boy’s Life, which I highly recommend if you haven’t read it yet. Having completed the article, which really made me feel as if I knew Tobias Wolff after reading it, it made me realize that I might enjoy interviewing an author I am completely unaware about. Naturally, I think it would be enjoyable to interview someone I know; however, after reading this article on an author I did not know a whole lot about, I think I might find a thrill  in someone completely random. Does that make sense? Hopefully it does somewhat.
                                                                                -Willis

NEOVOX!

I hope you have had an opportunity to do some reading on the NEOVOX site. What do you think? Possibilities for expanding your writing audience??? For envisioning a writing project? Now that you’ve looked at the site, what do you want to talk w/Lorraine about in class on TH?

Re: TH–to DO (due) the professional review. Full Draft!! How have you responded to the draft you took from a peer on Tues? I will expect that you turn (attach to me) in a next-to-final (publication) draft of the review no later than Tues. of next week. Thanks!!

I worked with Amanda today–we met w/the Writing Project folks. Do take a look at Cortland’s new Seven Valleys Writing Project website.

I hope you have been thinking more about your work w/the Peppers tomorrow. KES