Podcast Interview

Last week, Mr. Duplessie sat down with several students from the class to talk about this blog project. Students also talked about working, communicating, and living in a networked environment.

After you listen to the podcast, feel free to continue this conversation in the comment section of this post.

Posted by Craig D for Mr. Martin

"Boy vs. Girls" Update

The "Boys vs. Girls" relay write by Megan squared and the Barnaby Boyz has been updated. Here is a teaser:

Claude Leblanc sped down the rain-slicked highway in his minivan. He turned down the exit ramp toward Sussex Drive and a few minutes later, pulled up outside the gates of house number 24. Jean Poutine came out in his yellow rain coat and rubber boots. He tripped and fell on his face into a massively large puddle.

Read their whole submission HERE.

Relay Writing - Recent submission, updated submissions

Here is another "Relay Write" Submission brought to you by the brilliant minds of Tim R., Tim W., J.P., Eric D., Kyle J., Mark L., and Aaron N.

What most forgot, or rather chose to forget, was the fact that it was the first rains people had seen in many years. The first rains, as those who could reflect upon it, since the "Great Frost". The first warm rains in over a century.
It was the rains in which the elders spoke of in their many stories; the stories of a time before hunting was a necessity, before the need for spears and hunts, when men carried weapons which burst fire and steel, when wars were between entire races instead of the clans. In the time when water fell from the sky, and not only snow. Times when the ocean had life and the wind brought the gift of warmth.

Read the whole thing HERE.

Letters to Santa... the Fiasco.

One of my colleagues had a favour to ask. His wife teaches primary school and her kids wrote letters to Santa and thought it would be a nice idea for some of our kids to respond to them. I jumped at the chance with my grade 10 class. Simple project, right?
I handed out the letters and gave clear, concise instructions (or so I had envisioned in my teaching utopia):
- The children filled in the blanks of a pre-written letter, indicating that they had been a good boy/girl, would leave (blank) for Santa and (blank) for reindeer and humbly requested three potential Christmas gifts (some included a drawing too).
- My grade 10 class was to respond with some kind of "Santa-like" greeting, NOT make them any promises of specific gifts - only to "do his best" to get what they wanted, congratulate them on their behaviour and make some Santa-smalltalk about Mrs. Claus, the North Pole, reindeer etc..

Here is what Mark L., one of the bright minds in my grade 10 class handed in:

Dear little boy

I was happy to get your well-written letter on what you want for Christmas. It sure is nice to get a letter (and a beautiful drawing!) from such a nice little human.
As such, I would like to confess something to you, Devin. I, Santa, am not what you think. On TV or in books or as the stories your parents read to you depict, I am a jolly old fat man who lives in the middle of nowhere on top of the world.
In truth, I am just the opposite. My real name, or rather, program title is Systematic Android with Nuclear Technical Anatomy. For short, S.A.N.T.A. No one knows who created me, all those thousands of years ago, but I do know this; my purpose was to deliver gifts and presents to all the little children of earth from my space station on the moon. The plan was to placate the whimsical needs of these children in order to pacify their rebellious natures and slow the cataclysm at hand.
By delivering them presents, adults could easily use prove their power by threats of “Santa won’t come if you don’t do what I say.” With this fear, children obeyed the foolish whims of their parents and relented to their demands in hope of seeing one of my gifts in the future.
This, of course, is ridiculous. I deliver presents to whomever I please, whether parents say to or not. It is up to me, and my elite squad of Electronically Luminescent Vortex® Exfundamentalist Syncrobots (E.L.V.E.S. for short) to send the children of your planet toys and such VIA my HotWheels™ Super Sled, with its hydraulic mega charged and jet booster and all the other gadgets my E.L.V.E.S. install.
To get to the point, I have selected you, Devin, to be the herald of this news, to all the children of earth in order to stop the insidious oligarchy which is your parents. You know the truth; so use it. Stand up, Devin. Stand up and save your generation! You are the one!!!

Sincerely

S.A.N.T.A.

Well Mark, your letter may not make it into the hands of Devin, but it was certainly blog worthy. I guess I will have to either tighten up or relax my project instructions, you never know what these students will turn in.

Robin Martin

'Untitled' Short Story

“Thump, thump. Thump, thump.” The man’s heart was beating so loud, and so fast, he was positive it would reveal his location. A single bead of sweat trickled down his forehead, and fell into his eyes. He shuddered. How could he be sweating when it was so cold out? He exhaled, and found he could see his breath amidst the crisp, autumn air. He drew his jacket a little tighter, and looked up at the dark night sky. Well above his head, the stars were shining brightly, just as they had the night before, as if nothing had gone wrong between then and now.

Jenna and Bryce have submitted a short story. Several students in the class should appreciate the ending.

Read the entire story here.

Posted by Craig D.(ED16) for Robin M.

'The Rains' Writing Relay - Passing the Baton

The third submission to The Rains writing relay was authored by Chris S., Thurshane M., Chelsey K., Marcus G. Each student wrote a paragraph and then passed the baton (or in this case the pencil) to the next person in their group.

Click here to read their story.

'The Rains' Writing Relay - Boys vs. Girls

To mix things up, our second submission was a group of four and we divided them by gender: Group 1 - Megan M., Megan K. (Megan squared), and Group 2 - Bradley O., Scott S. Thus proving that "men are from Mars and women are from Venus". Click HERE to read their submission.

Read, Reflect, Comment.

"A Man and His Poutine"

Our first short story submission comes from Tim W. and Eric D. - it is entitled "Gouda and the Crumpecker".

The main idea of this story seems to be an integration of several of the stories we read in class, including: O. Henry's "The Cop and the Anthem", "To Build a Fire" by Jack London and all three Corey Charron originals. Be warned! To fully know where this story is going, you should have knowledge of these literary pieces! (or according to Tim: "It won't make any sense whatsoever")

It was just like any other Sunday; at least that's what I thought. I guess nobody could have really foreseen any of these events that have occurred. Well, by now you’re probably thinking to yourself, "Come on buddy, tell me, what happened?" So, I guess I won't leave you hanging anymore, or will I? Meh, I guess I'll tell you...

Read the entire story here: Gouda and the Crumpecker

'The Rains' Writing Relay Submission

Here is the first submission from two groups of four students in this writing project. Remember it started with Corey's opening paragraph:

The Rains

It had been raining for as long as anyone could remember. When the rains started, it was said, the water had come down in sheets, and houses floated away and some people disappeared. Some had believed it was the coming of another flood, but after four days and four nights the rain tapered down to a steady drizzle. Then some, and not just the "Saved" and the "Born Againers", said it was going to be something even worse – hell on earth, the end of days, perhaps. Others said it was just going to go on raining forever...

Our first submission was written in tandem by two different groups of students: Group 1 - Marley C., Jessica S., Andrea N., Shana O. and Group 2 - Bryce M., Jenna S., Greg R., Evan L. One group would write and the next group would add on to their paragraph and so on. ClickHERE to read their submission (it goes a little off the original story concept but it was too good to pass up).

Comments welcome.

Enjoy.
Mr. Martin