Creative Writing Assignment Instructions

The singer in this video does not use words to express himself at any point in his performance. We, as the audience, know very little to nothing about the performer and what he is singing about. For this creative writing assignment, students will come up with a back story explaining why this singer is singing and what he is actually singing about. The assignment will be a 2 to 3 page narrative from the singer’s point of view.

This is a creative writing assignment, so get creative! You decide the performer’s history and the story behind his song.

***Extra Credit***: Write lyrics to the song that relate to your final narrative and submit along with the final draft.

Timeline

April 14: Watch video and brainstorm ideas for paper.

April 19: Submit final idea for narrative.

April 21: Submit paper outline.

April 26: Bring 3 copies of rough draft to class. One copy for self correction, the other for peer evaluation, and the third for a grade.

April 28: Final paper due.

This exercise will prompt the student to write creatively. The student will write a clear, coherent text that develops a central idea or tells a story.
The writing will show consideration of the audience and purpose. The student will progress through the stages of the writing process (e.g., prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing successive versions). In accomplishing these goals, students will be  satisfying Georgia Performance Standard ElA8W1.
ELA8W1 The student produces writing that establishes an appropriate organizational structure, sets a context and engages the reader, maintains a coherent focus throughout, and signals a satisfying closure.

By writing a rough draft prior to the final draft and going through the editing process before submitting a final draft, students are exhibiting Georgia Performance Standard:

ELA8W4 The student consistently uses the writing process to develop, revise,
and evaluate writing. The student
a. Plans and drafts independently and resourcefully.
b. Revises writing for appropriate organization, consistent point of view, and
transitions between paragraphs, passages, and ideas.
c. Edits writing to improve word choice, grammar, punctuation, etc.

Each generation seems to be more technologically literate than the last. This is evident simply by trying to teach your parent’s how to text message. I never would have believed that I would at some point become part of a generation too old to understand newer up-and-coming technology. Unfortunately, reading the book Little Brother by Cory Doctorow has made me believe otherwise. This book is full of technological terms and lingo that had me thoroughly confused and that was thankfully explained in layman’s terms as the story progressed. The main characters featured in the book are teenagers who seem to have mastered technology, performing tasks such as fooling gait-recognition cameras, hacking into websites prohibited by the school, oh yeah and overpowering homeland security. That last bit doesn’t actually happen until the end of the book though. Previous to conquering homeland security, these teenagers are subject to being accused of terrorist attacks, losing their freedom of speech, and having their every move tracked. All of these injustices that these teenagers are subjected to by their own country are a direct result of technology. Technology tracks their every move and keeps them in check throughout the book. On the flip side, technology also works in their favor as they create an underground network through which they can rebel against the government and their radical measures to keep them “safe” They also rebel through the key parties they throw in order to sabotage the passes the government uses to track all citizens as they travel.

While this book may be a very extreme (and fictitious) example of the ways in which technology can work against and for us, it is nevertheless an important and eye opening read that can help teach students the importance of understanding and utilizing technology to their benefit yet in a cautious manner.                         

Anybody can set up their own website or post information to the web, take blogs like this one for example. There are innumerable websites floating around the internet and there is no “accuracy police” monitoring the authenticity of information posted. A misconception that many students may have is that if it’s on the internet and it looks reliable, it must be so. Perusing the website http://www.buydehydratedwater.com/,  makes the invalidity of the web almost immediately apparent. At first glance, this website is advertising a brand of water that is cleansed in a new and more advanced fashion than yesterday’s water. The website even explains the vigorous 27-step process the water goes through to be purified. There are links to customer testimonials, job opportunities with the company, online shopping, and other interfaces forging this website’s credibility. However, upon further speculation, this website is obviously a hoax. If the words “dehydrated water”, which create an oxymoron within themselves, didn’t clue you into the joke, then the employee benefits might have. Some of the employee benefits include: complimentary twinkies, usage of customer’s credit cards, free transportation to work by mule, and straws from 7-Eleven. This is just one example of faulty information posted to the web. There are several others out there, most of which are not actually hoaxes like the one listed above, but just faulty information.

Wikipedia

One database that is notorious for holding unreliable information is wikipedia.com. The majority of teachers will not count wikipedia as an acceptable source of information for student’s research papers. The reason being is that anybody can post to or edit information on wikipedia. For example, somebody who knows absolutely nothing on Shakespeare could write his entire biography on wikipedia. In wikipedia’s defense, however, wikipedia has a team of volunteers who monitor information posted and correct counterfactual information as they find it.

As a teacher, I would not recommend my students utilizing wikipedia as a reliable source though as a student it has helped me several times. I would certainly recommend students use it to assist them in their research but would also suggest that they use other reliable sources to support what information they find on wikipedia.

• This image captures the hands of a smoker loading a gun with cigarettes.
• The main focus of the image is the smoker, the gun, and the cigarettes.
• The most prominent elements are the hands and the cigarettes. The gun is not immediately seen against the black backdrop. The artist has possibly done this on purpose so that when the observer does notice the gun it has more of an effect on them
• The image has been cropped in such a way that only the hands of the subject are visible. This is done so that any observer can relate to the photo and put themselves in the position of the subject displayed.
• The visual elements in this image are asymmetrical.
• The main focuses of the picture are the actual hands, cigarettes, gun, and the main idea and title, “Smoking Kills”. The smaller text off to the side that list the different adverse affects that smoking can have are much smaller and require more attention.
• The overall lighting of the picture is dark. This is done to portray the message that smoking is an undesirable activity to be involved in. There is contrast between the dark backdrop and the hands and cigarettes. This is done to make the image pop more.

I remember when I first opened up my very own xanga page in middle school. This was in the seventh grade. Since then I have had a myspace and a facebook page, all of which I have used on a weekly basis. I have also posted videos and viewed videos on youtube.com, read and edited wiki pages, and participated in web based communities. This was all just for personal use though. As a student, I have used blogging to communicate with my teachers and fellow classmates to collaborate for our classroom activities. I feel that as a student, using the web to communicate with my teachers has been nothing but beneficial. Much to my annoyance, it was also very convenient for my parents when I was in grade school. It allowed them to take a peek at what I was busying myself with in school as well as how efficiently I was applying myself in my classes.

Having benefited from the use of web 2.0 applications as a student and witnessing the advantages it gave my parents, I will certainly be putting web 2.0 to use as a teacher. It will allow me to have extra class time with my students without the actual classroom, I will be able to give extra help to those who need it when I cannot see students in person, and I will also be able to communicate with parents and vice versa.