Reading "Tweets"

Today, you will using the format of Twitter to compose "Tweets" to share your thoughts on  your book so far.  Your reading tweets must follow the rules of Twitter and 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. #intro
• Your second, third, and fourth tweets will include 3 of the following ideas: 
• discuss a question (?) you had while reading. #question
• discuss a comment you have had while reading. #comment
• discuss a prediction (!) you have had while reading. #prediction
• include a connection you have made while reading. #connection
• Your final tweet will ask others an open-ended question or introduce a topic up for discussion for your classmates (either for readers or non-readers of your specific book). #discuss

Check out the inspiration for this activity at the blog of Mrs. McLaughlin and her students in room 2B1 at Sturgeon Heights.  Check out the great examples her students created!

You will be composing these tweets on the image provided to you in Showbie using Notability...or another format if you want to get creative!  Your image should be posted on your blog by the of the day.  Then, read and respond to what your classmates are posting.

You will be assessed on posting your image including all 5 tweets and the fact that all 5 tweets follow the format/guidelines of Twitter and the assigned topics/hashtags.  Ideas should be insightful and thorough...even though they are concise!  You will also be assessed on whether you have contributed at least one (or more) meaningful replies to the 'tweets' of other students.

WHAT STUDENTS REALLY NEED TO HEAR

It’s 4 a.m.  I’ve struggled for the last hour to go to sleep.  But, I can’t.  Yet again, I am tossing and turning, unable to shut down my brain.  Why?  Because I am stressed about my students.  Really stressed.  I’m so stressed that I can only think to write down what I really want to say — the real truth I’ve been needing to say — and vow to myself that I will let my students hear what I really think tomorrow.

This is what students really need to hear:

First, you need to know right now that I care about you. In fact, I care about you more than you may care about yourself.  And I care not just about your grades or your test scores, but about you as a person. And, because I care, I need to be honest with you. Do I have permission to be honest with you — both in what say and how I say it?

Here’s the thing: I lose sleep because of you.  Every week.

Before I tell you why, you should understand the truth about school. You see, the main event of school is not academic learning. It never has been. It never will be. And, if you find someone who is passionate in claiming that it is about academics, that person is lying to himself or herself and may genuinely believe that lie. Yes, algebra, essay writing, Spanish, the judicial process —  all are important and worth knowing. But they are not the MAIN event.

The main event is learning how to deal with the harshness of life when it gets difficult — how to overcome problems as simple as a forgotten locker combination, to obnoxious peers, to gossip, to people doubting you, to asking for help in the face of self-doubt, to pushing yourself to concentrate when a million other thoughts and temptations are fingertips away.

It is your resilience in conquering the main event — adversity — that truly prepares you for life after school. Because, mark my words, school is not the most challenging time you will have in life. You will face far greater challenges than these. Sure, you will have times more amazing than you can imagine, but you will also confront incomparable tragedy, frustration, and fear in the years to come.

But, you shouldn’t be worried about the fact that you will face great adversities. You should be worried because you’re setting yourself up to fail at overcoming them. Here’s the real reason I lose hours of sleep worrying about you: You are failing the main event of school. You are quitting.  You may not think you are quitting, but you are because quitting wears many masks.

For some, you quit by throwing the day away and not even trying to write a sentence or a fraction because you think it doesn’t matter or you can’t or there’s no point. But it does. What you write is not the main event. The fact that you do take charge of our own fear and doubt in order to write when you are challenged — THAT is the main event.

Some of you quit by skipping class on your free education. Being punctual to fit the mold of the classroom is not the main event of showing up. The main event is delaying your temptation and investing in your own intelligence — understanding that sometimes short-term pain creates long-term gain and that great people make sacrifices for a greater good.

For others, you quit by being rude and disrespectful to adults in the hallway who ask you to come to class. Bowing to authority is not the main event. The main event is learning how to problem solve maturely, not letting your judgement be tainted by the stains of emotion.

I see some of you quit by choosing not to take opportunities to work harder and pass a class, no matter how far down you are. The main event is not getting a number to tell you you are worthy. The main event is pulling your crap together and making hard choices and sacrifices when things seem impossible.  It is finding hope in the hopeless, courage in the chasm, guts in the grave.

What you need to see is that every time you take the easy way out, you are building a habit of quitting. And it will destroy your future and it will annihilate your happiness if you let it.   Our society cares nothing for quitters.  Life will let you die alone, depressed, and poor if you can’t man or woman up enough to deal with hardship.  You are either the muscle or the dirt.  You either take resistance and grow stronger or blow in the wind and erode.

As long as you are in my life, I am not going to let quitting be easy for you.  I am going to challenge you, confront you, push you, and coach you.  You can whine.  You can throw a tantrum.  You can shout and swear and stomp and cry.  And the next day, guess what?  I will be here waiting — smiling and patient — to give you a fresh start.  Because you are worth it.

So, do yourself a favor: Man up. Woman up.  No more excuses.  No more justifications.  No blaming.  No quitting.  Just pick your head up.  Rip the cords out of your ears.  Grab the frickin’ pencil and let’s do this.

– C. Mielke

Reblog from: http://affectiveliving.wordpress.com/2014/03/08/what-students-really-need-to-hear/

Consider the following:

• According to Mr. Mielke, the main purpose of school is not academic learning and it never will be.  Do you agree with this teacher's message in terms of the purpose of school?
• This sample of writing has many examples of powerful and exciting language.  Is there a quotation or line in his writing that speaks to you?  Choose one or two lines and explain what makes them so meaningful to you.
• Can you personally connect to the message of Mr. Mielke?  How so?
• As people commented on Mr. Mielke's post, he was criticized for some of the language he used and for telling students that school is not the most challenging time they will have in their lives.  What do you think?
• Think of someone who has made sure quitting is not easy for you.  Tell the story of how that person has made a difference in your life.

Back from a Dystopian Future

Post this image (save from here or look in Showbie Writing Prompts for a copy) along with your choice of writing inspired by the image on your individual blog.

How does living with this quote as your life motto change the way you live your life?

OR

Tell this story.  Think about how you can use imagery and dialogue in your story to make it come alive.

Dystopian Fiction Book Clubs

Below is a list of several dystopian fiction books you may consider for our final novel study.  Please explore the links in each title to find sample excerpts from each text.  Why read these?  You need to make sure you like the style of writing and also that you find the text easy to navigate and decode.  Does the movie play in your head while you read?  If not, it may be that this text is too hard.

Summaries and book and movie trailers are also available for some of the novels.  And...most of these novels are part of a series.  So if you like the first one, your summer reading choices for the beach will be easy to come by!

_______________________________________________________________________________

Gone by Michael Grant
(You can explore the novel and read the first chapter by clicking on the link above.)

In the blink of an eye.

Everyone disappears.

Gone.

Everyone except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not a single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Gone, too, are the phones, internet, and television. There is no way to get help.

Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day.

It's a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen and war is imminent.

The first in a breathtaking saga about teens battling each other and their darkest selves, Gone is a page-turning thriller that will make you look at the world in a whole new way.



The City of Ember and The People of Sparks by Jeanne Duprau
(You can explore the first chapter of the novel by clicking on the link above.)

Lights shine in the city of Ember—but at the city limits the light ends, and darkness takes over. Out there in the Unknown Regions, the darkness goes on forever in all directions. Ember—so its people believe—is the only light in the dark world.

And now the lights are going out.

Is there a way to save the people of Ember? No one knows. But Lina Mayfleet has found a puzzling document, and Doon Harrow has made discoveries down in the Pipeworks. With these clues, they start their search.

I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

(You can explore the novel and read the first chapter by clicking on the link above.)

Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books—but we are real.

Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. we have lived among you without you knowing.

But they know.

They caught Number One in Malaysia.
Number Two in England.
And Number Three in Kenya.
They killed them all.

I am Number Four.

I am next.

The Giver by Lois Lowry
(You can read the first chapter by clicking on the link above.)

1994 Newbery Medal winner. Twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does he begin to understand the dark secrets behind this fragile community.

The Giver is set to be released as a movie this fall.  Read it before you see the movie!




The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
(You can explore the novel by clicking on the link above.  Click here to read chapter 1 of The Scorpio Races.)

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.





Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
(You can explore the novel and read the first chapter by clicking on the link above.)

Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that?

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license - for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.

But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all.

The choice Tally makes changes her world forever...

________________________________________________________________________________

Try your hand at writing dialogue

Today, you are going to apply what you've learned about dialogue to write the dialogue in a scene.

Your dialogue must include:

• There must be at least two people speaking/engaging in a conversation.
• Each person must speak at least 5 times.
• Consider how you will show the reader HOW each character is speaking.
• Correct formatting must be used for each line of dialogue.
• The three formats discussed in class must be included at least once. 
• Use a variety of tags and don't overuse them!

Need some inspiration to get you started?  Check out these visual prompts:

http://writingprompts.tumblr.com/post/33089870092/612-beach-vs-amusement-park-this-is-another

http://writingprompts.tumblr.com/post/61377693601/763-dorothy-vs-alice-update-the-image-is-by

Add caption

Learning about Dialogue

Dialogue refers to a written or spoken conversation that occurs between two or more people.

Begin by reading a passage of dialogue taken from Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel in which Ben is talking with his mom and dad about the learning chair.

Next, Listen to two conversations from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince:




Discuss with a partner what you learned about dialogue and write a reflection of what you noticed and post in the comments below.  Include responses to the following questions in your response.  Final paragraph should be approximately 10-15 lines in length and contain the names of both partners.

1.  What did you learn about the way people speak?

2.  How can we learn about a character by the way they engage in conversation?

3.  What are the main similarities and differences between conversations that occur in writing and conversations that occur orally?

4.  What techniques or strategies do you notice writers use to try and capture the 'real sound' of a conversation?