One last kick at the can...

Penny Matthews' 110 writing class was recently given the story "A Man and his Routine" by Corey Charron. They were asked to analyse and react to author style in terms of character and plot development, theme, use of dialogue and other literary devices in preparation for writing their own short stories.

Click on the "comments" section below this post and respond! (all comments are moderated, and your words will then belong to the wonderful world of cyberspace!)

Project Wrap Up, final thoughts...

When I first approached Corey about having my students read his work, we didn't really have an efficient way to go about it. What started as an email exchange (with 32 students writing seperate emails to one author) became a highly innovative extension of my classroom all the way to a Canadian writer living in Japan.

The first thing we would like to do, is thank Corey for his participation in our blog project. He gave our English class a very unique opportunity where we could actually discuss, ask questions and sometimes even criticize a piece of literature studied in class with the actual author of that piece. His candor and interaction with the students was both highly insightful and entertaining.

As a teacher, I would like to thank my grade 10 class for their attention, effort and the pride they put into their work. You were the key element in the success of this project and you should all be very proud.

Many thanks to Mr. Craig Duplessie, a technology mentor for District 16, without his guidance and patience we would not have had the level of success that we did!

A new blog has been set up for similar projects with all students. It will showcase writing, encourage comments and be an open forum promoting literacy and discussion for the English Language Arts Classroom.

Come check it out! Read, respond and share!

www.classroomconversations.blogspot.com

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

Student Short Stories - Comments welcome!

One of the projects we worked on last week was to delve into the realm of creative writing. I gave the students some guidelines, gave them the option of working in pairs or individuals (with double the work for pairs) and have had a great deal of success with the peer editing process. I will post some of them up, one or two at a time, after they are revised and tweaked. For the longer stories, I will have an intro and links to the full story.

Some of them wrote original pieces, others wrote prequels and sequels to stories we covered in class (including Corey's wrtiting).

Read, re-read, comment!

Mr. Robin Martin

Mr. Martin's Grade 10 Writing Relay

The premise was so simple. Why hadn't I thought of it? While brainstorming ideas with the class on how we could implement blogging as a regular part of our curriculum. Many of my students came up with great ideas but one stood out. It came from the devious brains of Brad and Scott (blogging sensations and conventions lunatics):

"An activity that we feel would be a good way to interact with Corey Charron is a class story. It is basically a story written by the entire class with Corey. He would start the class off with the opening paragraph of the story, and then the class will be divided into small groups. Each group will contribute a piece to the story. The first group will read what corey has written, and add on their own piece of the story, following the story line that Corey has laid out for them. After the first group has added their part of the story, the next group will read what was written and add on to it. The story will continue to progress until the class decides it is time for Corey to write the ending of the story."

Now, there are a few ways we could set this up. I want all class members forming small groups and they will submit an idea in the "comments" section. Then we will decide which submission we will take to add to the story.

Submitted today, here is the first paragrph (written by Corey) of our writing relay, titled:



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. ...

Now, the objective will be for the Grade 10's to add onto this stellar intro. We will do this in groups and perhaps take the story in a few different directions. We will begin this process this coming week. Any comments? Suggestions? "The Rains" is waiting for you!

Class submissions will be linked to google docs feel free to comment/encourage their progress!

- Mr. Robin Martin

Welcome to the "World of Blog" Penny's 121 English Class!

English 121 Students:

This is a space for you to provide commentary on the short story "Scratch Ticket" by Corey Charron. To leave a comment, click the "comments" button on the bottom right of this post. When you post your comment, be sure to choose an identity as "other" and post your name (so your comments can be responded to). All comments are sent to a moderator before being posted.

Respond honestly, thoughfully and thoroughly! How many times have you been offered the chance to converse with the author of a story you have read?

Be curious.
Respond to each other's comments.
Have fun.

- Robin Martin

Mr. Martin's grade 10 - Short Story Response "Highlight Reel"

This is an area for Mr. Martin's grade 10 English class to read, quote, re-post and share some of the interesting comments we have generated as literary critics and readers.
The process is simple: Read some of the comments your classmates, teacher or Corey have left. Find examples which capture a point, illustrate responsible criticism, quotes which made you think beyond surface level or made you chuckle out loud. Copy, paste and quote as part of your comments and share your thoughts!

Pay tribute to each other!

- Mr. Robin Martin

"A Man and His Routine"

"One day after twenty-five years of marriage, Alexander found himself alone. The woman he’d promptly married after he got his first raise, and with whom he shared three kids, just one morning woke up and decided she didn’t want to be married to him anymore. Well, that wasn’t exactly what she had said. While zipping up her suitcase on the foot of their bed as he sat up and rubbed his eyes that Saturday morning, Tammy had told him she had had enough of being taken for granted and was leaving because “she didn’t want to grow old alone and die alone”, but that’s not what Alexander said to their children, people at the office, the old Italian guy with the flat-top who trimmed his hair every second Thursday, and virtually everyone else he spoke to in passing..." To read the entire story click here.

A Man and His Routine was published in Storyteller Magazine earlier this year and was my first published story. I wanted to write a story about the kind of guy readers should loathe, but somehow end up rooting for. I sometimes wonder how realistic it is that Alexander got a second chance at love, but then I start thinking about all of the oddballs that I know and miraculously none of them are alone. Alexander's tale ends on an at leat mindly promising note, but I worry that he might still mess things up.

This is a space for you to provide commentary on the short story "A Man and His Routine" by Corey Charron. To leave a comment, click the "comments" button on the bottom right of this post. All comments are sent to a moderator before being posted.

- Mr. Martin

"Declan Carroll's Unfortunate Death"

"No one ever spoke of Declan Carroll without mentioning his rather unfortunate death at the age of twenty-four. Some said it was a tragedy – his future greatness, of which there had never been any doubt, snuffed out by a cruel, indifferent world; others said it was the funniest thing they had ever heard. But all agreed that Declan had been far too young, and that it was a shame all of his accomplishments would be forever overshadowed by one brief error in judgment..." To read the entire story click here.

This is a space for you to provide commentary on the short story "Declan Carroll's Unfortunate Death" by Corey Charron. To leave a comment, click the "comments" button on the bottom right of this post. All comments are sent to a moderator before being posted.

- Mr. Martin

Scratch Ticket

"Alice reached into the garbage can and started sifting through the contents. It was one of a half a dozen that lined the front of the train station. She pawed the top of the pile, but feeling nothing worthy of further inspection, dug downwards like a mole burrowing its way through soft earth. She couldn’t see very far inside because the bin was encased in a stainless steel box with a door at the back that was latched and locked, as if there were something of value inside instead of just things people had tossed away..."

To read the rest of "Scratch ticket" click HERE:

This is a space for you to provide commentary on the short story "Scratch Ticket" by Corey Charron. To leave a comment, click the "comments" button on the bottom right of this post. All comments are sent to a moderator before being posted.

- Mr. Martin