Keep & Feed the Muse

Creativity is such an important thing for a writer, and being able to share that creativity with the reader is utmost.  Bradbury says what every writer needs to hear and understand when he talks about convincing “your reader that he is there,” and the way to accomplish that is to “assault each of his senses, in turn, with color, sound, taste and texture.”  I think some of the most compelling works I have ever read — works that touch me, the reader — are those that make me feel like I “stand in the middle of events.”

The other important thing to remember as a writer is, as Ray Bradbury says, look at who your friends are — are the people you surround yourself with in your life the people who support and encourage you or stand in the way of your creativity.  I think one of the hardest things to do is to surround ourselves with the people who believe in us and who will encourage our writing.  As a writer, it’s not always easy to find others who  understand your passion for writing — others who will encourage your creativity.  It’s so important to find those people.

Darlene

Romano

Once again, I am so impressed by what I read in Romano.  He addresses the issue of teaching students to write in order to “write for the test,” and when he talks about all of the writing that we encounter in our lives and all of the writing that “goes far beyond testing,” I think of all the things we forget about.  There are just so many forms of writing out there that we never consider true writing and yet they are just that — the menus, the graffiti, the recipes, the love letters.  I am so excited that someone finally recognizes all the kinds of writing out there that gets ignored by teachers  — real-life writing.

And, let me say that a high school teacher who has a list of nearly three hundred genres, as is the case with Mary Rollinger of Bemus Point High, astounds me.  Is there any way we can get this list?  What an awesome resource. 

 Darlene

Struggling with my multi-genre paper…

I am having a little trouble even beginning my multi-genre paper.  I wrote a piece about “But you’re not a country girl,” but it took a turn that did not really work for me.  Since class on Thursday, I have been contemplating on topics and the story about meeting my half brother when I was fourteen is still sticking out in my head.

However, the point of this paper is to research something that interests us – even though I can research how many other families have half siblings, I feel like finding out that statistic will not make a difference to me.  Therefore, I do not know what else to possibly research about this topic.

What is something that would interest you guys about this topic?

Any ideas?

Kristin

90 Minutes In Heaven

In a day and a half, I completed the true story “90 Minutes In Heaven,” written by Don Piper.

If you have read my “My Turn: A Glimpse from the Other Side” you can only imagine how much this book touched me. I would recommend this book to anyone, simply because it’s extremly inspirational, and almost unimaginable.  Several times I was brought to tears, goosebumps, and total awe. 

The only thing I did not like about this book: very repetitive.  However, keeping in mind this man is not an author but felt the urge and need to write about his experience, I did my best to ignore the repetitiveness.

This book is a quick read, impossible to put down, and truly inspirational.

Kristin

Monday Peppers!

Today, Willis, Kaitlin, and I worked with the more intense group of the Ink Peppers at the Blue Frog.

 This group wrote amazing things! I cannot even begin to describe what they wrote about, simply because their thoughts, imaginations, and creativity blew me away.  Willis thought of a great writing activity to do based on Dr. Stearns’ book “The Book of Qualities.”  The students were eager, excited, and engaged to work on this activity. 

This group wanted to keep writing as much as possible until we ran out of time! These students are not only motivated and passionate about writing, they are completley inspirational to me.  They got me thinking more “outside the box” and got me to ponder about topics that I usually don’t stretch my imagination to think of.

I am excited to work with both the Monday and Thursday group for the rest of the semester!  Who knows what else these students will allow my imagination to explore!

Kristin

My Interview

          I met with Dr. Stearns last week to talk about my mini-lesson and other aspects of the class(es). I was freaking out about my interview until she gave me some great advice.

        She asked me who I think is one of the most talented, serious Ink Peppers: immediately, I said Demmarie! I explained that every time she reads her writing out loud or even describes a prospective piece of writing she is working on, I am floored by her talent. 

        Attending Monday’s meeting today, I realized that by far, she is not the only one with such dedication and talent. Unfortunately, Demmarie was not at the meeting today. For attendance reasons, because this individual seems to always be there, I am going to change my interview and focus on a girl named Tori. From interacting with her and her writing, I think she may have more to say about her writing life, seems more extroverted and willing to talk to me.

      I am really looking forward to interviewing someone with such talent and such youth! I also think that having me, a college student soon to be an English teacher, interview her, a fourteen year old who may or may not realize the amount of talent she has, would be such a compliment in her eyes. I know if I had someone older interview me without me being published or ”achieved” anything per say, I’d be really flattered. I made sure she is going to be there on Thursday, so my interview is kind of, sort of, in progress! It took me a bit to get situated with it, but I am on it! 

Ink Pepper Meeting: March 31, 2008

       With all of the confusion of the new Monday meetings for the Ink Peppers, I finally got to attend one today!

       I brought in the The Book of Qualities because I figured it would be a piece that the Ink Peppers would find fascinating– and they did! After sending it around, we decided that we would create our own pieces similar to Gendler’s: we each wrote down some sort of quality, condition, adjective/noun, and at random, we picked one that wasn’t ours. The words that were written about were vindictive, melancholy, talentless, effervescent, moody, charismatic, and moist. They were phenomenal! I really enjoy both groups, the Thursday one as well as today’s; however, I understand why the recently created Monday group came to be. These kids are on another level. I almost feel shame when I read my piece to them because the creativity, freedom, and usage of writing mechanics are superb, truly.

          We ended with another fun activity, of course! They led this last one because I guess this activity is something they do often. We had to write down some kind of outrageous scenario, exchange them, read them out loud, and then for next time, everyone has to write a story to explain the scenario. Confused? I was. But here, this one is what I wrote down: You are running through a jungle wearing a tutu and a Christmas sweater being chased by two midgets with rabies and a set of Siamese twins… How did you get there? The one I have to write for next time states the following: You’re in a bathing suit, hair still wet, with a puppy in your hands. You run into Mrs. Triplett’s classroom yelling, “I swear I didn’t do it…You’re car is on fire!”  

         This activity is something that any kid could get a kick out of! Perhaps we could attempt this one in class sometime?

My Article Online!

I just wanted to share my excitement with everyone about my Chris Crutcher article being published online!! Here is the link:

http://pelhamlibrary.blogspot.com/2008/03/chris-crutcher-opposition-to-censorship.html

When we began opening the comments other people had made on our blog, a woman who works at a library in Ontario asked if she could publish my article on her website regarding banned books. Of course, I said yes and she ended up using it!

 Stacia

Showing, Not Telling

Something that I took away from the new Romano chapters is that we need to have a specific focus for our multigenre papers.  We need to show our readers something, not tell them about it.  We need our papers to show a story.  As Dr. Stearns told me, there has to be a beginning ,a middle, and an end to our papers.  We can’t just throw a bunch of different genres together on a related topic and call it a multigenre paper.  We need to have a focus to successfully write a multigenre paper.

Doug

mini lesson

I was able to read some of the 12th grade creative writing journals today and I had to hold back tears. I never anticipated reading the things the students were writing about: heartbreaking poems and short narratives based on real life experiences. Reading the students work helped me see where they are as far as writing goes and get a feel for where the students are in their own lives.  

I decided to do a theme of a high school memoir by creating a collaborative compilation of student’s reflections. I will introduce the lesson by explaining that the work students write toward the compilation will be published for their eyes as a memoir booklet of their own and their friends recollections of high school. As a prewriting activity I plan on creating a survey that asks students what their interests are: sports, activities, school subjects. (Kind of like a quicklist) Using what they have answered in the survey, students will reflect on one of their fondest memories at high school or something that they have grown from as a result of being a high school student.

I will assess their pre writing, and for the mini lesson I will give students pointers on ways to impact their creative writing. In class students will build upon what they have written from the quicklist and will then go through a peer editing session in order to get feedback.

I will assess their final products and allow them to make revisions for the final publication. When all the work is handed in I will organize both 12th grade creative writing classes poems or short stories into a bound booklet for each student to carry with them and read in their future. -Aut