Week 13 Friday Assignment: Writing Tools Activity #8

SET 8 – For WT Activity #8 DUE Week 13 Friday
TOOL 35: Report and write for scenes.
TOOL 36: Mix narrative modes.
TOOL 37: In short works, don’t waste a syllable.
TOOL 39: Write toward an ending.

---

 

In week 6 I also attended a session over at Columbine Elementary School with the preschool classes there. These children were so much fun to teach and play with, they were so young and would just share everything they have ever known as fast as they could. Some of the kids were very shy and did not want to participate at first until they realized the others were having fun as well. With these kids only being about 3-5 years old it was more of a time to get them involved with something new outside of their regular classroom environment. New techniques of learning are what help me learn so I would demonstrate this in my own teaching as well. Another important part of working with children this young I believe would be to include everyone in everything especially if 5 of them want to go first in follow the leader.

---

 

In week 6 I also attended a session over at Columbine Elementary School with the preschool classes there. These children were so much fun to teach and play with, they were so young and would just share everything they have ever known as fast as they could. Some of the kids were very shy and did not want to participate at first until they realized the others were having fun as well. With these kids only being about 3-5 years old it was more of a time to get them involved with something new outside of their regular classroom environment. New techniques of learning are what help me learn so I would demonstrate this in my own teaching as well. Another important part of working with children this young I believe would be to include everyone in everything especially if 5 of them want to go first in follow the leader.

A Guide to Understanding Butch and Femme Lesbians. Final Project 1.

For my Final project #1 I decided to do my research on Heidi Levitt’s chapter called. Lesbian Sexuality: Butch and Femme Perspectives. I also chose to do a stand alone presentation because for me I am a visual learner so things like short slides and videos help me learn more efficiently. I didn’t add too many pictures in because I didn’t want to push societal views further by putting images of Butch and Femme inside your head without understanding it further. This standalone slide presentation will help people who are uneducated about this topic have a greater understanding of this in todays society. Enjoy learning about Butch and Femme Lesbians 🙂

A.Smith-A Guide to Understanding Butch and Femme

Week 12 Sunday Assignment

The first example that I chose to write about is the comic It’s Okay to be Like Dad….and Bake! I chose this one because it is very similar to the second project I chose to write about. I can’t believe that baking is seen as not manly? You are making delicious treats which is for everyone! This project had more dialogue but the comic and the example pictures were great. I really enjoyed how the father figure is also going against norms and cooking dinner and cleaning and baking. The little boy wanted to ask for an easy bake oven for christmas but his friends made fun of him for it. Which isn’t fair to him because baking has nothing to do with being manly. I really like the comic format I think it provides a good tool to introduce this material with. I really enjoyed the detailed background information that was shared before the sound clip had played.

http://digitalwriting101.net/content/student-sample-its-okay-to-be-like-dad-and-bake/

The second project I have enjoyed now more then once has also caught my eye once again. The story was a great example, which is why it was showed in class a few times.   I chose to write about Manly Men Can Bake Their Cake and Eat It Too. This made me think about making this kind of animation for my end project rather then my original idea of a comic strip. I liked this simple short story idea on his personal experience. His experience was that he enjoyed baking and wanted to impress a girl on her birthday with a homemade white sponge cake with cream-cheese frosting. He brought her the cake and the other kids called him a faggot for baking her a cake and she wouldn’t even eat the cake. From that day on he became a boxer so he could be considered manly to the rest of the world.  It was the perfect amount of information and is informative to people who understand Gender and Sexuality Studies as well as people who have not had any experience with these topics. This project has inspired me the most.

http://digitalwriting101.net/content/student-sample-manly-men-can-bake-their-cakes-and-eat-them-too/

 

 

Writing Tools Activity 7: Week 12 Friday

NOT FINISHED

SET 7 – For WT Activity #7 DUE Week 12 Friday
TOOL 31: Build your work around a key question.
TOOL 32: Place gold coins along the path.
TOOL 33: Repeat, repeat, and repeat.
TOOL 34: Write from different cinematic angles.

 

For this writing tools activity I chose to use tool 31: Build your work around a key question.

---

Unedited:

 

This week we had run into some challenges with our teaching, myself especially. We experienced a little bit of a language barrier with some of the children who mainly spoke Spanish. It was difficult at this point because we were filling out information sheets with the children and they had to help us write the answers to the questions. One of the little girls whose first language was Spanish was having trouble communicating with us. I have never taken a Spanish class in my entire life; in Canada we have to take French growing up. Thank goodness one of the facilitators could speak a good amount of Spanish to be able to communicate fluidly with her. It was so shocking that we didn’t realize this until the 3^rd week and it is sad but also a good lesson to be learned. This little girl to us just seemed shy, it didn’t occur to us that she didn’t understand or speak English very well. It was me that figured it out and brought it to the attention of the other facilitators. She could communicate through her dancing and playing but when she had to answer questions it was more difficult for her and even for us to help her. Now it is very important to help her have a better understanding and to communicate in a way she understands so she can be included in the activity 100%.

---

Edited:

This week we had run into some challenges with our teaching, myself especially. We experienced a little bit of a language barrier with some of the children who mainly spoke Spanish. It was difficult at this point because we were filling out information sheets with the children and they had to help us write the answers to the questions. One of the little girls whose first language was Spanish was having trouble communicating with us. I have never taken a Spanish class in my entire life; in Canada we have to take French growing up. Thank goodness one of the facilitators could speak a good amount of Spanish to be able to communicate fluidly with her. It was so shocking that we didn’t realize this until the 3^rd week and it is sad but also a good lesson to be learned. This little girl to us just seemed shy, it didn’t occur to us that she didn’t understand or speak English very well. It was me that figured it out and brought it to the attention of the other facilitators. She could communicate through her dancing and playing but when she had to answer questions it was more difficult for her and even for us to help her. Now it is very important to help her have a better understanding and to communicate in a way she understands so she can be included in the activity 100%.

 

Writing Tools Activity 6: Friday Week 11

SET 6 – For WT Activity #6 DUE Week 11 Friday

TOOL 24: Work from a plan.
TOOL 28: Put odd and interesting things next to each other.
TOOL 29: Foreshadow dramatic events and powerful conclusions.
TOOL 30: To generate suspense, use internal cliffhangers.

For week 11’s Writing Tools Activity #6 I chose to edit a film review that I had written for my America Through Baseball class. I chose to edit this weeks  activity using tool set number 29: Foreshadow dramatic events and powerful conclusions.

---

Unedited:

This film was filled with emotion, as Bruce’s final wishes are so selfless as Henry is so worrisome for his friend and his last moments alive. Henry shows how much he cares but there is still something about him that makes it seem like he doesn’t actually want people to know he cares. There is an image that Bruce is portraying where he doesn’t want to inconvenience anyone with his illness or he will get taken from the game he loves. Henry understands this fear of Bruce’s very well, as he tries to keep his illness a secret from the other players. The other players on the team are not aware of the illness and are not making things any better by insulting his hair or the way he chews tobacco among other things. It is almost seems insulting that Henry’s ego is what is keeping him from sticking up for his friend in front of the rest of the team. At least that is what it looks like to others who are not aware of Bruce’s illness.

---

Edited:

 

This film was [enhanced] with emotion, [] Bruce’s final wishes [were] so selfless as Henry is so worrisome for his friend and his last moments alive. Henry shows how much he cares but there is still something about him that makes it seem like he doesn’t actually want people to know he cares. There is an image that Bruce is portraying where he doesn’t want to inconvenience anyone with his illness or he will get taken from the game he loves. Henry understands this fear of Bruce’s very well, as he tries to keep his illness a secret from the other players. The other players on the team are not aware of [his] illness, [and they] are not making things any better by insulting his hair or the way he chews tobacco among other things. It is almost seems insulting that Henry’s ego is what is keeping him from sticking up for his friend in front of the rest of the team. At least that is what it looks like to others who are not aware of Bruce’s illness.

 

 

Outcasted- Week 10 Sunday Assignment

For a 6 year old, the Wizard of Oz Skating Carnival is the most important thing in the whole entire world.  Obviously, I wanted to be Dorothy and have my four legged companion Todo skating along my side with my sparkly red skates, but I was 6. When you are 6 you get to be a munchkin, which is maybe exciting for most 6 year olds or anyone who wants to dress up like a  munchkin. However, when our instructor was assigning our costumes and what we would wear for the big day, I was so excited. My eyes were wide and paying attention, listening to every single name called. Finally my name was called and I skated up to grab my costume. I couldn’t really see what it was from the wrapped cellophane but I saw parts of it and it was sparkly and red! I was so thrilled to be a munchkin that almost matched Dorothy. I brought my costume home and my mother pulled out the picture of what it was supposed to look like and once she finished sewing it and adding all the sequins and what not…. It wasn’t until she showed me the picture that I was heartbroken… I had to be a BOY munchkin. I had to tuck my hair up and wear a little suit with only SOME sparkles… I was devastated..not only was I upset with the fact that I had to be a boy munchkin…….I was also the ONLY boy munchkin. It was terrible. I was already a victim of bullying within my skating group because I was smaller and they didn’t like my red hair. I didn’t care, I ignored the other children’s snickering and went along with my life…. Once the dress rehearsal came around and the other girls saw that I was dressed up as a boy munchkin I was humiliated. There was laughter from the other children because they all got to be cute little girl munchkins and I didn’t. I was outcasted. I remember it being so awful that I completely quit skating. I never returned to skating because some children made me feel excluded because of a costume that I had to wear for two days. It wasn’t about that and Im sure it wouldn’t have been such a big deal to me if the other girls would have just accepted my costume like their own and I would have enjoyed the day that I waited all year long for.