Summer…

I just wanted to let everybody know that I miss them.

That is all.

Krystina

Another Publishing Possibility

Here is another option for instant publishing. Check it out and let us know what you think. KES

Create, Create, Create! x 302

I was looking at this website that has 302 prompts for creative writing. Some of them reminded me of the prompts that Amanda creates and uses. http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/ (Sorry, I still can’t seem to embed links)

Some of my favorites include the following:

- Write a News story based on the following headline: “Hospital won’t Help Dying Man”

- Write from the point of view of a bird cage whose occupant recently died.

Check it out!

Stacia

Jennifer Weiner…love this author

Over the weekend I started to real the novel “Little Earthquakes” by Jennifer Weiner.  I have read several other novels from this author and I love her style of writing and language she uses throughout each book.  This book is taking an interesting turn, as it’s about a group of women who met at a pregnancy yoga class and become close friends. They help eachother through their labors, and I am beginning to notice a pattern with each of their husbands.  Something sneaky is going on with each of them, but that aspect has not been revealed yet.  Each chapter is devoted to the different female characters where their stories are told. So far, so good! It’s not something I would have my students read, and it’s not YA Lit, but I am certaintly enjoying reading it for pleasure!

Kristin

Paperless Classroom?!?

In ENG 307, we are discussing the idea of the paperless classroom. It’s obvious in it’s name, but it just means that we would use technology for homework, blogs, grades, attendence, readings, etc. instead of hardcopies. While it is clear that there are many advantages, (we would be saving alot of trees!!) there are also disadvantages. Here are two websites that we are reading in regards to the paperless controversy: http://www.aacsb.edu/publications/Archives/JanFeb08/36-41_Paperless_bized.pdf

http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/Paperless/start.htm

I was wondering what all of you think about this. I am torn. Personally, I like to have a reading physically in front of me. However, a good point is that students won’t have an excuse for losing their homework because it will be on their blog or website. Computers do malfunction though! As future teachers who may have to face this issue very soon, what do you think?

Stacia

Students Turn to Blogging

While surfing the web, I found this interesting piece about a High School in Georgia that shut down the school newspaper because of the controversial issues students were writing about: http://www.speakingundergroundonline.blogspot.com/

I found that this was similar to the banning of books and, again, I ask myself, why are we censoring what are students read and write? I know that some things are inappropriate for the classroom, but as the article states, “it shouldn’t be a secret that we have students who bring guns on campus or that we have teen mothers trying to juggle family responsibilities and school.” I was happy to see that students turned to blogging in order to keep their voices heard. This proves that our students do have things that they are motivated to write about and we should let them! What do you think?

 Stacia

“Hope 2 c u soon!”

The other day after class I went to the college store.  I was looking for a cute card to send to my 92 year old grandfather because he LOVES to get mail from me while I am away at school.  While looking through the variety of cards, I came across one that said:

“I hope 2 c u soon! It’s 2 hard being away 4 so long.”

I immediatly wanted to put the card back because although I am a texter and do text in that format, I detest reading it online, in books, or on cards.  But for kicks, I thought I would send it to him just to see how he would react. Now, keep in mind that my grandfather and I are very close, I have never heard him curse in my 22 years of living, and he is the most sensitive little man I have ever met.  With that in mind, here was his response when I called him a few days later:

“Kris…I thought you were studying to become an English teacher.  Is your mother paying for you to become an illiterate up here? This card justifies you being a dumbass.”

Fresh, isn’t he? Of course I was trying my best not to laugh, but this situation simply proved how some people are “in” with the texting and it’s lingo, and some are not.  When I tried to explain to him that the writing style on the card is the way most kids are talking and texting today, he told me to “go read a book and stop sending cards that don’t make sense.”

Kristin

NCTE Letter and Crutcher

       I know this letter was given to us about a week ago, but I currently cannot sleep at 3:25 a.m. and why not blog!    The letter I am referring to is the NCTE one directed to the Superintendent and the Board from Millie Davis, the division director of NCTE.

      Something in her letter really parallelled what we have been learning about the opportunities for better pedagogy as well as what Chris Crutcher had to say about his work and the problems that tag along. Davis states, “NCTE opposes censorship because it “leaves students with an inadequate and distorted picture of the ideals, values, and problems of their culture.” EXACTLY! 

          Students can learn so much from books! Why we hold them back from works that contain problems, decisions, experiences, that they see or deal with everyday, is beside me. My host teacher from last semester taught KITE RUNNER. I gave her a lot of credit. From that book alone, students came away with the knowledge of what another country is facing, a sense of war within a country, betrayal, friendship, redemption,  and other aspects which I will not reveal in case you have not read it yet. How do you guys feel about censorship?
                                                                           -Willis

Good Idea.

          I like the fact that this blog is not solely based on content, or rather “work.” I like that we can put up some writings of our own. Because Stacia put up her writing from class the other day, I hope you don’t mind if I share mine as well. I think my perspective was a bit different, but I hope you enjoy.

p.s. Kudos again Stacia for your article in the paper!

     Writers, realwriters, need to know more than the construction of an essay:Introduction, thesis, a body paragraph (not just one of course), and a conclusion. Writers need to proudly trespass over the writing barriers, which are drilled into our minds over and over again throughout our school curricula. We need to wake up our emotions, experiences, dreams, goals, the influential moments and people in our lives, and let those be the gateways for our writing: real writing.We need to cry , to celebrate, to vent in our writing; we need to feel joy, sorrow, pain, heartache through our writing; we need to be rebellious, honest, deceitful, helpful, destructive, liberated, and free in our writing. Free. Free writing. Writing is free, is it not?
                                                                                         -Willis

Deadline

I began Deadline not too long ago and I am a bit more than half-way through. Honestly, the beginning didn’t really do anything for me, but it is starting to really pick up now. It reminds me a little bit of the five people you meet in heaven so far (but just a little bit). Has anyone else that purchased it begun to read it? If so, what do you think? -Aut