A blast of an earthy smell.
Animal, glue, and chemicals,
I can't quite tell.
Dull steel glints
Amongst a sea of leather.
Assorted ropes, straps, and bits.
The front superficial and modern,
But the back is base and genuine.
The essence of the West at every turn.
Sometimes we need a whiff of the past.
To escape the norm,
And just have a blast.
Maddie Creative Writing
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Writing Marathon - Thumper Write - Game Rules
The Ultimate Game of Musical
Chairs
Step 1: Gather
as many chairs (preferably non-folding ones) as there are people playing minus
one, and place them in a circle. So if you have 20 players, you need 19 chairs.
There is no limit to the number of players, but if you have more than 40 you
choose to split them into 2 groups. The remaining person stands in the center
of the ring of chairs.
Step 2: The person
in the center says, “Have you seen my Yeti?”. Then you give a description.
Example could be: “He is wearing a blue shirt”, “She had green eyes”, “He has 2
brothers”, or “She has shot hair”. It can be anything really, but it should
describe at least a couple of the players.
Step 3:
Anyone in the circle who fits that description has to get up and find a new
chair. The catch is that someone will inevitably be left without a chair. That person
repeats steps 2 and 3.
There is no set end to the game. The point of the game is
really just a fun contest to race for the chairs and learn a little bit about
the other players while you’re at it. It’s a great icebreaker for all ages and
is extremely fun once everyone gets past their hesitation. It helps to have a
couple energetic people who have played it before to get the ball rolling.
Sometimes people will get a little too excited, but I have never seen anyone
get seriously hurt.
Writing Marathon - School Playground Write - Children's Story
Once upon a time
there was a girl. When she was young she loved to play. Recess was her favorite
time of the day. It was the time when you didn't have to be quiet and could
just enjoy yourself doing whatever you wanted.
So let this be
warning to all of you. Don't take those memories for granted, for if they're
neglected, they will soon vanish. And those memories are precious things, that
much be cherished.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Writing Marathon - Museum Write - Letter
Dear Mom,
Oh my god, you would love this. We went to the Headwaters Heritage Museum today and it was incredible. I could have spent 3
days in there and still not seen everything. Remind me to never take you in
there or else we will be in there
for 3 days.
Downstairs there was just a maze of crammed
display cases and walls. There were mannequins, statues, pictures and scrap
books everywhere. One display case held hand carved animals and thins ranging
in size from a baseball to the eraser on the tip if a pencil. The detail was
absolutely amazing! And it wasn't just pioneer age stuff. I saw a bunch of
memorial for veterans of recent wars. There was a safe that we were all joking
about locking someone in. I went in there and almost had a panic attack when
Jacob closed the door, even though it didn't latch.
The
upstairs had several small rooms that were set with different scenes and
complete with mannequins. You know
how I hate those creepy things. One was even getting freaking perm! Then in the
hallway there was a huge wall covered in a display of barbed wire accented with
a bunch of competition ribbons. I didn't even know there was such a thing a
competitive barbed wire showing! J
Maybe I’ll take you there if you PROMISE a 2 hour max, maybe.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Why technology can enhance our learning.
Technology is an essential part of our learning now, and in the future. Sure, there are some limitations and negatives, but the vast opportunities that new technology offers is far too valuable to be rejected because of some small problems. But technology should NOT be a replacement to traditional teaching methods. One example is handwriting because physically writing activates parts of your brain that are very important to creativity and mental health.
That can be a problem because the tendency is to replace traditional methods with new technology. But that can be easily solved with some cooperation and education. Another problem is that technology offers many distractions. But let's face it, technology is an inseparable part of our growing world and will be in someway involved in our daily living for the rest of our lives. So all of us just need to learn to control our temptations, and what better place to learn than school? It's a nurturing environment with a lot lower risk than possibly failing once you get into the job force, which you can no longer afford to do.
Technology offers routes of learning for people with all different learning styles and brand new methods to learn previously difficult concepts. Something that I have found absolutely indispensable to my learning in my old school is Google Apps for Education. It presented so many new opportunities, like an collaborative online word processor, a group contact list, and cloud storage of multiple media types. Cloud storage with Google Drive was absolutely revolutionary because it gave an easy solution to the problem of accessing your files when using multiple computers. That's a particularly rampant problem with students. The problem of "I forgot it on my home computer" is totally eliminated. The collaborative online word processor allows multiple people to easily edit the same document simultaneously from anywhere in the world. You can even leave notes and have real time chats with other collaborators within the same window. And that's just the beginning! There are so many technologies that are not yet being fully utilized or haven't even be invented yet. The possibilities are endless.
That can be a problem because the tendency is to replace traditional methods with new technology. But that can be easily solved with some cooperation and education. Another problem is that technology offers many distractions. But let's face it, technology is an inseparable part of our growing world and will be in someway involved in our daily living for the rest of our lives. So all of us just need to learn to control our temptations, and what better place to learn than school? It's a nurturing environment with a lot lower risk than possibly failing once you get into the job force, which you can no longer afford to do.
Technology offers routes of learning for people with all different learning styles and brand new methods to learn previously difficult concepts. Something that I have found absolutely indispensable to my learning in my old school is Google Apps for Education. It presented so many new opportunities, like an collaborative online word processor, a group contact list, and cloud storage of multiple media types. Cloud storage with Google Drive was absolutely revolutionary because it gave an easy solution to the problem of accessing your files when using multiple computers. That's a particularly rampant problem with students. The problem of "I forgot it on my home computer" is totally eliminated. The collaborative online word processor allows multiple people to easily edit the same document simultaneously from anywhere in the world. You can even leave notes and have real time chats with other collaborators within the same window. And that's just the beginning! There are so many technologies that are not yet being fully utilized or haven't even be invented yet. The possibilities are endless.
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