Letter to a friend

Bob,
What's up man? I know you're a fictional character and all, but really, how is life treating you? I'm doing alright here. Life has been rather hectic lately. Work, school, family, and are equally stressing me out. What is fun? I can't remember. I've been so busy lately that I haven't had a night of fun in months. Last friday, I had a few friends over. We sat around and drank a couple of beers, but that was about the extent of it. Let's not talk about the folding chair that decided to break when I sat down, that made me appear far more intoxicated than I really was. I've been hearing the words "lightweight" and "lush" now for the last five days, and "I'm already SICK OF IT!." Don't mind the Coach Hines reference, thats just the kick my friends and I are on right now. Well man, don't have too much fun in Faketown, USA. Talk to ya later.

Pain

I'm so tired of always feeling pain.
Every aspect of my life brings on more pain.
Pain
Back Pain
Mind Pain
Everything I see with my eyes is pain.
Thoughts of loved ones passed, my memory of them is pain.
They wait in silence for my expiration, and their opportunity to deliver onto me my due pain.

Worst configuration of words, ever.

The man in the dumptruck gently gripped his diet coke

That crazy semi truck driver had almost hit him with his trees

Oh how he’d love to lay his gargantuan body down in his hammock

And dream of the time he jumped over Michael Jordan and pulled “IT” off

The famous, the humiliating, Razzel Dazzel Rose.

Derived from the article "Homes Brace for Heating Oil Highs" found at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071107/ts_nm/usa_energy_heatingoil_dc

With her heating tank empty
She will be either eating or heating this winter
Crude oil just shy of $100 a barrel
Opec boosted prices because of geopolitical tensions

The Energy Department wins
Opec wins
The people are losing
The people are cold

Free Writes from 11/5

Here are the free writes from Katey's lesson on 11/5. I had closed Word without saving my Fire Write, so unfortunately I couldn't include it here.


The photo prompt free write:

Steve the squirrel stretched his little arms are far as they would go as he peered upwards through the trees at the glorious rays of sunlight. It was the beginning of another beautiful, chilly spring morning. Steve had many plans for the day, beginning with the gathering of his breakfast. Steve peered at his recipe for nut soup, and decided that he would first need to gather nuts. In fact, he would only need to gather nuts. Steve had tried other things like pine needles and rubarb, but he didn’t care for those much. Oh how wonderful the texture of freshly polished nuts were to his tongue, Steve began to salivate as he imagined himself rolling the nuts around in his mouth. He awoke from his dream-like state at the sight of the tastiest morsel before his eyes. There it was, the perfect nut, lying on the ground not more than 30 feet below. As he leapt to retrieve his prize, Steve’s arch-enemy, Rick the Red Squirrel, sprinted from behind a nearby tree and snatched the nut from its resting place. Rick screeched “eeeeeeeeee!” as he bounded through the forest with his contraband. Steve landed with a thud on the ground where his nut had been. Tears began to swell in his eyes as he was faced with the realization that he would spend another spring morning cold, hungry, and alone.

Prompted free write, "Why do coyotes howl at the moon?"

Why do coyotes howl at the moon, you ask? It’s a legend around these parts, and you children should know it. Your great-grandfather, Herbert the Rabbit, told me this story when I was just a kid. One full moon night, aeons ago, there lived a rabbit by the name of Sampsonite. He was a rambunctious little hare, who never listed to his mother about staying in-den after dark, He was out, hopping over logs in preparation for an up and coming hurdles competition, when he heard a dog bark in the distance. He stopped quickly and fell on his belly to the ground. Listening closely, Sampsonite laid perfectly still for what seemed like an hour, but perhaps a minute or two had passed. He thought to himself that the dog must be one of the Two Leg’s prisoners, and he stood up from his hiding position. Sampsonite turned and glanced up at the hill behind him, and in the moonlight saw hundreds of dark silhouettes creeping eerily in his direction. Without delay, Sampsonite began moving back towards his mother’s den in the quietest fashion. Peering over his shoulder, Sampsonite eyed the black demons as they crept ever closer. In the moonlight, he could see their evil eyes illuminate with dark intensions.

Now smelling the fear of his helpless prey, Luthur the coyote quickened his pace. He was the master of sneakiness, and had never failed at retrieving first place in the pack’s monthly slaughter competition. This little hare was his, he salivated at the mouth as he imagined himself chomping the life out of the pathetic little creature.

Still peering over his shoulder, Sampsonite was well aware of the lone coyote who had strayed far ahead of the pack. It was approaching quickly now, but only the moonlight had given the beast away. Sampsonite felt the urgency of death on his heels, and made a break for it. He ran full speed, and dove into the hole of his mother’s den as the jaws of the hell bread hound clamped at his heels…

Luther the coyote sat outside the den, staring at the hole in disbelief. He had managed to tear a mouthful of fur from the rabbit and nothing more. Had he lost his touch? What could have given him away? He looked about, and soon realized that he could see ever so clearly. In agony and disbelief, he looked to the sky to find the night-sun. This cursed sun had come out at night to spite him. Luther lifted his head high, and in an insanity filled rage, screamed at the night sun until it disappeared at daybreak.

Group 3 Lesson Review

First and foremost I congratulate the members of group 3, you're done! Take a deep breath and relax for a minute to enjoy the overwhelming joy of having the weight of this task off of your shoulders. I think the material presented over the last two class periods was informative and beneficial. I think, as future teachers, we have a responsibility in the classroom to try and eliminate prejudice material and activities. As we all know from experience, children absorb many elements of a lesson, many of which are subliminal. I appreciate your lesson mainly because it served as a reminder of how the media delivers information through multiple channels of communication, and how this information is often one-sided and contains material that encourages a hidden agenda.

10/29 video activity

After reviewing the selected movie clips from various Disney films, I have come to realize that prejudices are portrayed in even the most seemingly innocent channels of media, the cartoon film industry. I was appalled after watching the three clips. Peter Pan, Dumbo, and Aladdin all contained blatantly obvious stereotypes that are known to be taboo in our society. Perhaps it is films such as these that are responsible for the subliminal prejudices that reside within our society today. As a child, I never noticed these prejudices, or rather, I didn't recognize a problem with them. Learning that these ideas are acceptable, children grow up with these ideals buried in their minds.

10/29 homework

In response to last Wednesday's lesson, I would first like to say that I most enjoyed the social group activity. This activity illustrated how today's view on groups of people are greatly controlled by popular culture, primarily through the media. This activity is something that I would use in a high school setting, but would be hesitant to use in a middle school setting due to the fact that social status is a touchy subject for children of that age. There is a possibility that the activity would turn into an all-out insult war between social groups. For example, you may end up with the popular kids only writing negative things about the others, or vise-versa. Feelings may be hurt, and parents involved, but I can see situations where an activity like this could prove to be beneficial to solve problems between social groups.

Group Project COMPLETE!!!! /cheer

Alright, I'm excited. One major project this semester finished, only 760538763075038 to go. Its a slow work in progress, but I've managed to at least begin all of my final projects. Now its time to focus on my independent teach. Ok, so to be honest... I haven't started that yet... but I will be this week. I will be teaching a lesson on incorporating technology into lesson plans, and how to make this work for various subjects. I'll make it interesting, I promise.

Daniels and Bizar through Chapter 4

As many of you will notice, I'm a complete noobie to this blog thing. I have yet to figure out how to search and locate classmates on here, so don't feel neglected that I haven't responded to your blogs. After being sick this entire week with what I believe to be either the flu or some nasty unknown virus from the hospital, I finally am getting around to posting about our text.
As I have read through Chapter 4 of Daniels and Bizar, I have come across some concepts that I recognize from grade school, and some ideas that are completely fresh. Growing up, I recall many teachers, generally in the fields of science, math, and literary arts, who would use group collaboration as a method of teaching. Much of chapter 4 reflects on concepts that I experienced from early elementary all the way through 12th grade. The idea of composing digital media, such as PowerPoint presentations, was a common method used by my teachers. I personally found this method to be effective because the students communicate to find a solution, or compose a written piece, but then also must communicate and allocate assignments within the group to ensure that the information is complete and ready to be presented to others. Group collaborations are effective because they give the students a chance to communicate with each other, as well as with the teacher. Team work skills are refined as students realize that the task of completing the project must be divided among themselves.
As I read through the text, I found the K-W-L+ concept described in Chapter 2 to be most interesting. This is a new concept to me, as I did not experience this during my K-12 days. I see this as an effective tool for both the students and the teachers. At the beginning of a unit, have students fill out a K-W-L+ after the introduction, and then again after the unit is complete. This tool will help the students measure how much they have learned, and what they may need to study for test time. Teachers can use the before and after K-W-L+ to measure how well the students learned the information, and if more instruction is needed before moving forward with a test or the next unit.