{good} intentions

This print by Emily McDowell is available on etsy

As we move on to a new semester and a new year, use this brief template to gather your thoughts about what you might want 2014 to look like for yourself...

In a New Post on your blog, copy and paste the above image then type the statement below it, filling in your own ideas.  You could add additional ideas or explanation as well, but it's not required.

I hope the new year brings you lots of happiness...

thinking/out loud

I've been meaning to mention this opportunity to you...I don't know if you've ever heard of Poetry Out Loud, but please check out the website and see if this competition might be something you're interested in.  The gist is that you memorize and recite a published poem in competitions at the school, local, state and national levels to win scholarship money.   You can find the poems on the website, along with videos of past winners and more information about the contest and prizes.  I could see several of you being successful at this! 

There is an informational meeting after school on Wednesday in Ms. Thater's room upstairs in 220.  If you are interested but can't make it to the meeting, let me know and we'll figure it out.  

Also, I've mentioned before that I am in charge of putting together Kickapoo's Think. Magazine every year.  I plan to peruse your blogs again in the spring for possible pieces to publish (lots of Ps in this paragraph).  I will check with you before doing so, but if you have other pieces you'd like to submit, please email them to me.  I'll also likely enter some of your work in the LAD Fair in March or April, but again, I'll track you down for your approval before I do so.  

You all are a gift to work with!  Thanks so much!  

give the gift of writing

In the lab on Wednesday, 18 December, please draft and print your Writing as a Gift piece.  As we discussed, this might be a letter, a list, a long poem, a story written with a certain audience in mind...It might be serious and sentimental.  It might be light-hearted or silly.  

We will put these together as if you were going to give it to someone in your life, but whether you do it or not is up to you. Shoot for at least 250 words and print your piece after polishing and proofreading it.  You are welcome to post your piece to your blog, but it is not required.

In class on Thursday, we will attempt the project I showed you where you write on dishes with a Sharpie then bake them so the ink is permanent.   I will do my best to track down the pieces you requested at the dollar store.

We're also ordering bagels for class on Thursday!  Be sure you've written your order on the envelope I passed around the room and contribute a couple of dollars if you can.

Our schedule for the remaining days of class:

Wed 12/18: Create Writing as a Gift pieces in A+ Lab

Thu 12/19:  Create Sharpie Plates/eat bagels/

                     show your writing gift to Mrs. Fraser for a grade

Thu   1/2:  Turn in journal for a final grade at end of class

                       (20 new, unstamped pages)

Fri     1/3:   Lab:  Blog Post:  Creative Piece of choice                                                (assignment will be posted later)

Mon 1/6:  1st block Final 7:50-11:05  

                   Final Reflection Blog Post in lab

(writing) About a Boy

Use one or more of these prompts inspired by the film About a Boy (based on the novel by Nick Hornsby) to create new writing of at least 250 words...

• "No man is an island." (John Milton, not Bon Jovi)
• What is the point to your life?
• godfathers/godmothers
• Single Parents Alone Together
• "I am not a sheep."
• kids are cruel
• "Did you know when I was born I would be a vegetarian?"
• lies are hard to keep track of
• when children have to "look after" their parents
• going to work=having a purpose in life
• such a thing as too much free time?
• kids see through adults' games and BS
• "It happens, and I wish it didn't, but that's life, isn't it?"
• new shoes=cool
• holding a cigarette=cool
• family dynamics at holiday gatherings
• "He thinks he knows what kids need:  expensive footwear and vulgar music."

P.S. The actor playing Marcus grew up to play this character...
Recognize the recent film that some say is a twist on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet?

If...

I hope you enjoyed our writing walkabout last week (and the winter weather, too!)... I'd like you to do 2 things.  First, add an "if" question of your own as a comment to this message--one that the rest of us could write about.  Next, create a New Post inspired by the writing we did in response to the If... questions.  You could polish up what you put in your journal, or you could adapt some or all of it into something new.  Please include at least one image.

If you still have time, you could comment on your classmates' posts or you could do another post on your own blog in response to one of the new "if" questions left as a comment here.

As we near the end of the semester, be thinking about a piece of writing you could create for someone as a gift...

twelve/two

Image via

Monday is 12/2.  Choose 2 of these lists of 12 to create in a New Post on your blog--by the end of class on Tuesday for full credit.

• 12 books you'd like to read with a link to more info about each
• 12 specific presents you'd like to get for the holidays with a link to more info about each
• 12 people you'd like to give gifts to and 2 possible gifts you might give each
• 12 places you'd like to visit and the 2 people you'd take to each
• 12 specific goals you have for the next 2 years (in complete sentences)
• 12 actors/actresses you like and 2 movies he/she was great in
• 12 historical events that happened the year YOU were 2 years old
• 12 memories (a complete sentence each) you share with a particular friend/loved one
• 12 of the best gifts you've ever gotten and who each was from
• 12 of the best 2 line song lyrics or lines of poetry you can think of (credit the artist(s) on each)

Food, glorious food

I admire people who have the creativity to regularly come up with inspired dishes. I go to the grocery store to plan my family's week of meals and usually can't think of a single thing I want to or am able to make that isn't my mom's potato soup, a frozen Stouffer's casserole, or the old standby spaghetti. And then a lot of times, I bring home a bunch of groceries--usually enough for one or two meals, otherwise mostly snacks and drinks--and then I'm never in the mood for what I bought to make. So I end up wanting to go out to eat. I wonder if I'll ever get my act together and become the kind of cook and mom my son can look back on and remember fondly. What will he say when he is older? "My mom sure did make a great frozen pizza...?"

Speaking of my son, he brought home this Foods with Moods book a while back and, like a number of reviewers, we were both quite fascinated by it. Now that's some creativity right there...The author has used only carving and a few supplemental food pieces to make fruits and vegetables express a variety of feelings.

You can find all sorts of other artistic uses of foods out there in blogland and on the Internet. You might have even been to restaurants or catered events where the chefs have been especially innovative in the presentation of their food. Or maybe you just remember your mom or dad or someone else when you were little arranging your food in cute ways on your plate.

Please create a New Post on your blog inspired by food or a food memory.  See the yellow sheet with the Thanksgiving cornucopia at the top for ideas and more details.  There really isn't a wrong answer, but shoot for about 300 words.  

Please print a copy of your piece to share with us in class on Tuesday.  And if you are able, please bring a food to share with the class (possibly connected to your writing piece).  I'll bring something to drink and plates, napkins, forks, etc.

We'll have a feast in the classroom, share our food memories and do a little thinking about what we're grateful for.  I am thankful for kind, creative, driven students like you all who are willing to try new things and continually impress me with what you're able to come up with.

If you have time, you can also cruise around and look at food blogs like this one to bring back more ideas or inspire new thinking. As you might imagine, there are tons and tons of pieces about food and even food memory in magazines and on the Internet. Probably because most people really love to eat!