Treasure Chest of Thoughts

Blogging is just the greatest of visual aides…and a great way to Write Beside Them.

Along with my Pre-AP English 10, I, too, am adding to a new sci-fi world…the World of Hollywood…that I actually began with last year’s group.    Phase One of this project is to write a descriptive paragraph of the hero or heroine, as in my subject-matter, and to submit a visual of the main character.

Using Step up to Writing as a tool, I also require the students to color-code their sentences.  Blogs are a great tool for this, for the text-colors are just a click away!

Here’s my heroine and paragraph…see the colors?

To generate our heroic thoughts, the students explore Hero Generator 2.5 (which is blocked at our school most of the time, but for this project, the tech man unblocks it for one afternoon).  What fun! 

I first started my drawing in Paint; then, of course, one of my students at that time introduced me to this site.  My character took on a whole new life as I added the rollerblades and the shooting-rays-from-the-hand maneuvers.

Now, I have a draft with which we can analyze for other stylistic features also.

Now, if only I had an Interactive Smartboard…just think what all we could do in class to further enhance my students’ learning…while having fun at the same time!

To see this writing sample and my heroic character (based on my nine-year-old daughter), please visit Pre-AP English 10’s blog at Writing Right!