Just thought I’d say

Go to this site, sign up and create your own picLit photo inspired poetry. You can write a sentence or a paragraph. Create at least 3 piclits. Read the guidelines below before you start.
http://piclits.com/
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See the full PicLit at PicLits.com
Read these guidelines before you create your own piclits.
1. Basic fun with words
A sentence usually has a noun and a verb. Drag-n-Drop a noun and a verb onto the photograph (Hint: Pick words that make sense to you). Add other words that seem to fit with that noun and that verb. If it sounds right, chances are you’ve just written a complete sentence. (BTW–This doesn’t need to be very long: “Ice melts” is a complete sentence.)
2. Write a simple caption
A caption is a title or description that accompanies a picture. You can play around with Drag-n-Drop to write your own caption about any of the images on the site. It is a fast, fun, and imaginative way to play with words and share ideas.
Check out this example of a caption from the PicLits Gallery.
3. Try a compound sentence
Try to Drag-n-Drop your way to more complex ideas. A compound sentence is when you have a couple of ideas in the same sentence. Like, “He is a funny guy, but he cries at movies.” (Hint: If you use words like but, and, or or in the middle, you’ve probably got it right.)
4. Can you handle a paragraph?
A paragraph is usually a series of sentences around one idea. That might sound hard but it isn’t. Use the Drag-n-Drop keywords to give you an idea about that photograph. Hint: If you think the photograph is boring just use a new one from the carousel. Once you have an idea that works, just start combining short sentences:
“It had been dry for months. At last rain started to fall. For three days and nights the deluge continued. Then, finally, the sun broke out.”
To build the paragraph exactly the way you want, use Freestyle. That way you can use the keywords for inspiration but can write without restrictions. Remember, there are over 400,000 words in the English language (not including Shizzolator), but only 72 keywords per image on the site.

 For next week’s session, bring along  a digital photo you have taken yourself or find a photo that either tells something about yourself or something you feel strongly about. Make sure this pic is on your User space. Have a look at my story and photo below to get an idea. Also, check out a wiki where people posted up their pics and stories.  I also posted mine onto my blog and gave a bit more background so you can do this to0. Maybe we could make a class wiki – they’re easy to do!

Searching the keys to new horizons by Mrs A.

What do you think..

• What do you think someone your age can do to help reduce the amount of pollution in our environment?

• What do you think the world needs now?

• What do you think your friends say to each other when you’re not around?

• What do you think about the amount of violence on T.V.?

• What do you think about people polluting the environment?

• What do you think about people who are inconsiderate of others?

• What do you think should be done to keep people who are under the influence of alcohol off the road?

• What do you think the world will be like when you are an adult?

• What do you think about ghosts?

Hi there members of 10E (E for excellent?)

Tasks to be done – some of you need to finish (or even start) the responses on First They Killed My Father, and the Reflective Writing tasks. For those whu are up to date, work on the Create Your own Quiz activity.

For those with time to spare – make your own avatar on  http://www.tektek.org/index.php

Save your tektek avatar as a picture on your user space. Then go to your Site Admin page and look for “Create a User Avatar” on the left hand side of the screen and follow the prompts from there.

Create your own quiz on the first 80 pages of First They Killed My Father. Come up with at least 10 challenging questions and then ask others to do the test
Go to:
http://www.mystudiyo.com/

See my sample below

Next week we will be starting this different approach to studying our new class novel, First They Killed My Father. This approach is more student centred with you more in charge of your leaning. Rather than just have me talk AT you all the time – which must bore you out of your brain! – you will be conducting your own group exploration of the novel. AS explained in class, each week you will each have an assigned role within your group. This role will change from week to week. We will have this discussion once a week and you will then write up the discussion in a journal which I will take up for assessment. For a sample journal report on a Literature circle discussion, also see Myclasses. Sometimes I will ask you to comment on this activity in your blog as well.

Here is a description of the various roles. You will also find this posted on Myclasses

Travel Tracer: When you are reading a book where characters move around a lot and the scene changes frequently, it is important for everyone in your group to know where things are happening and how the setting may have changed. So that’s your job: to track carefully where the action takes place during today’s reading. Describe each setting in detail, either in words or with an action map or diagram you can show to your group. Be sure to give the page locations where the scene is described.

Describe or sketch the setting (you may also use the back of this sheet or another sheet)Where today’s action begins: Page where it is described:

Vocabulary Enricher: Your job is to be on the lookout for a few especially important words in today’s reading. If you find words that are puzzling or unfamiliar, mark them while you are reading, and then later jot down their definition, either from a dictionary or some other source. You may also run across familiar words that stand out somehow in the reading – words that are repeated a lot, used in an unusual way, or key to the meaning of the text. Mark these special words too, and be ready to point them out to the group. When you circle meets, help members find and discuss these words.

Illustrator: Your job is to draw some kind of picture related to the reading. It can be a sketch, cartoon, diagram, flow chart, or stick-figure scene. You can draw a picture of something that’s discussed specifically in your book, or something that the reading reminded you of, or a picture that conveys any idea or feeling you got from the reading. Any kind of drawing or graphic is okay – you can even label things with words if that helps. Make your drawing on the other side of this sheet or on a separate sheet.

Presentation plan: When the Discussion Director invites your participation, you may show your picture without comment to the others in the group. One at a time, they get to speculate what your picture means, to connect the drawing to their own ideas about the reading. After everyone has had a say, you get the last word: tell them what your picture means, where it came from, or what it represents

Summarizer: You job is to prepare a brief summary of today’s reading. The other members of your group will be counting on you to give a quick (one or two minute) statement that conveys the gist, the key points, the main highlights, the essence of today’s reading assignment. If there are several main ideas or events to remember, you can use the numbered slots below.

Connector: Your job is to find connections between the book your group is reading and the world outside. This means connecting the reading to your own life, to happenings at school or in the community, to similar events to other times and places, to other people or problems that you are reminded of. You might also see connections between this book and other writing on the same topic, or by the same author. There are no right answers here – whatever the reading connects you with is worth sharing

Some connections I found between this reading and other people, places, events, authors . . .

Discussion Director: Your job is to develop a list of questions that your group might want to discuss about this part of the book. Don’t worry about the small details: your task is to help people talk over the big ideas in the reading and share their reactions. Usually the best discussion questions come from your own thoughts, feelings and concerns as you read, which you can list below, during or after your reading. Or you may use some of the general questions below to develop topics for your group.

Sample questions for Discussion Director:

What was going through your mind while you read this?

How did you feel while reading this part of the book?

What was discussed in this section of the book?

Can someone summarize briefly?

Did today’s reading remind you of any real-life experiences?

What questions did you have when you finished this section?

Did anything in this section of the book surprise you?

What are the one or two most important ideas?

Predict some things you think will be talked about next?

Literary Luminary: Your job is to locate a few special sections of the text that your group would like to hear read aloud. The idea is to help people remember some interesting, powerful, funny, puzzling, or important sections of the next. You decide which passages or paragraphs are worth hearing, and then jot plans for how they should be shared. You can read passages aloud yourself, ask someone else to read them, or have people read them silently and then discuss.

Possible reasons for picking a passage to be shared:

Important, Informative, Surprising, shocking, Controversial, Sad, Funny , Well written,

Confusing, Thought-provoking