And we're off!

This week we started off with a 15 minute free-write in our journals and then we went around the table sharing our thoughts. Sean Mayfield is working on a dictionary for "White Slang"-it's comical and harmless. Savon Clark is remaining focused on his goals, we appreciate and encourage his confidence and determination! Paris highlighted reasons that she is happy today, mainly siteing that the simple things in life tend to be quite beautiful if you look at them with a positive attitude, well done Paris!

After our free-write we dove into a fun interactive project called "The Mine."

The concept: Everybody wrote "The Mine" at the top of a sheet of paper. We then each began a two minute creative writing involving anything to do with a mine. The idea, of course, mirrored the heroic tale of the 33 Chilean minors that were rescued after 69 days of being trapped miles underground.

But rather than tell their story, we used our imaginations to create our own renditions. It was so much fun and we all look forward to finishing the stories next week, so stay tuned!

2010-2011 School Year

Writing Club had gotten off to a great start for the 2010-2011 school year! With two new club coordinators and several new students, we spent the first week getting to know each other and sharing things we love about writing. Last week, we took a look at The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and discussed writing from the perspective of an animal or an inanimate object. After picking a theme, such as the zoo, the students wrote a paragraph from the perspective of something at the zoo. Once finished we all tried to guess whose perspective they were writing from!

We have such talented writers in the club who continue to amaze us with their fabulous stories!

7/2: Fire Boy, by Savon Clark!

A few week's ago, as writing club was sitting down for our weekly group, Savon Clark strolled on in and for the first time ever, placed in front of me a little something he's been working on in his spare time. (Maybe with a little creative advising from Mr. Sean Mayfield...)

When I picked up the two pages Savon presented me with, I was pleasantly surprised to find that he has began to write his own little piece of fiction...

Fire Boy, by Savon Clark.

"Alrighty class, that's the bell. I'll see you guys tomorrow and remember to check the matchups on the board for tomorrow's final on your way out!" Mr. Grange said.

Jason was the first one towards the door, and sprinted towards the board, followed by a rush of kids.

"No way, yes!!" Jason yelled.

"Jason, why so excited?" Ryan, Jason's friend, asked.

"I got that stupid cocky Conner, I've been waiting to kick his butt for the longest!" Jason exclaimed.

"Jason, are you sure you're even ready to for him, he does have a pretty stout record and he's just our age." Ryan replied.

"I don't care, tomorrow he's going down!" Jason said.

"Just then a blue-eyed, blue-haired boy walks through the crowd of kids, he looks at the board for a second, then he looks at Jason.

"Pttf, looks like another easy 'A' for me." The boy said.

"What did you say?" Jason asked.

"You heard me, don't try to act stupid now." The boy replied.

"You know what Conor, I've got the nerve to shut you up right now." Jason fired back.

"Jason, we all know you don't have the guts, nerves or even the brains to try to something as foolish as to attempt to touch me." Conor replied.

"Let's not fight now guys." Ryan reasoned

Just then a crowd started to chant, "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

At that moment, Mr. Grange decided to step in, "Alright, that's enough, we'll save the fighting for tomorrow, got it?"

"Yeah, alright." Said Conor.

"Sure." Said Jason.

"Ok." Said Ryan.

After that, both Ryan and Jason left the classroom, and then Jeffrey H. Picdonald Elementary School. As they were walking Ryan said, "Jason, you can't just let Conor get you worked up like that!"

Jason said, "Easy for you to say, he's been talking trash for the longest, and-"

"Yeah, and that's all it is, trash, Jason." Ryan interrupted.

Jason thought on it for a moment and agreed, "Yeah, you're right."

"My point exactly." Said Ryan.

"Who are you supposed to be fighting tomorrow anyway, I got so worked up I didn't even look." Admitted Jason

"I'm supposed to fight Raymond tomorrow." Ryan answered.

"Ewwww...good luck with that one..." Jason said.

"Yeah, I'll need it. But what's going on with you and Stephanie?" Ryan asked.

"Nothing!! She is just another girl at school, nothing special..." Jason replied.

"Sure it is, Sure." Ryan said with some sarcasm.

That's when they came to a split in the road. They said their goodbyes and Ryan went to the right, while Jason went to the left. Shortly afterward, Jason was already on te porch of his house. He then stuck his key inside the door handle, unlocked it and opened it. When he then shut and locked it, his mother was the first to greet him.

"Hi Jason, how was school?" She asked.

"Hey mom, school was good." He mumbled as he rushed up the stairs. Once he got up there he knocked on a door twice.

"Hey, it's you. You're home a little early, I'll be there in a second." A voice said.

A few moments later, a very slim figure popped out from the door and spoke, "Hey are you ready for the last day?"

"Of course I am, I need to kick someones butt tomorrow. You know it's the last day of school right Zeke?" Jason replied.

"Yeah, I know, we better get going unless you want to take a break?" Zeke asked.

"Do you think Conor is taking a break, I don't think so..." Jason said.

"Then let's go." Zeke said.

Jason and Zeke were leaving the house when their mom told Zeke, "Zeke, don't let you brother get hurt today, ok?"

"Alrighty mom." Zeke said, and then they left.

To be continued....

..........................................................................................................................................................................

Excellent job so far, Savon (and Sean...) Keep it going so we can see what happens next!

Week 6/2: Featured Jumble Story

Following up with our ‘Jumble Story’ activity, I have to say that all of the students put a lot of creative thought into their storylines. Each story had a unique vision and path, leading to some…peculiar and hilarious resolutions. It was truly a joy to read all of them, however, we have chosen to feature just one for the blog; and the winner is…Sean Mayfield!

What he drew:

1. Character: A jazz musician
2. Setting: A concert hall
3. Time: During a concert
4. Situation/Challenge: A secret needs to be confessed

Seans’ Vision:

Headlining at the New York Concert Hall, Joey was at the top of his game, playing in front of one of the finest crowds of his jazz career. Later on, he decided to treat his crew to a celebratory dinner. After some great food, fine wine, lot’s of laughs and maybe a little insanity, everybody except for Joey and Vintinashi decided to call it a night.

Vintinashi had a little wine, so Joey decided it was best to drive him home. While en route, Vintinashi began to mumble some strange things…

“Hey, Joey?” Said Vintinashi.

“Yes?” Asked Joey.

“What I’m about to tell you will blow your mind.” Vintinashi stated with great conviction.

“Oh yeah, what is it?” Laughed Joey.

“I….am an alien.” Whispered Vintinashi.

“Oh reeeeaaallly?” Chuckled Joey.

“Ish true!” Said Vintinashi as his voice and accent changed and he began to glow in a florescent green color. His skin started to peel and replacing it was a shiny layer of blue ‘skin’- his head sprouted horns that stabbed two holes in the hood of the car.

Joey was mortified. In a weak attempt to conceal his terror, he mumbled, “W..wow…”

Vintinashi was pleased with himself, with a creepy smile, he asked, “And you know what?”

Joey could feel his heart pounding through his chest while sweat beads dripped down from his forehead into his eyes….”What?” He hesitated to ask.

Vintinashi, still smiling and ever-changing, said, “Now…you die.”

The End.

Now to be fair, Sean is a smart cookie who caught on to the process of picking his numbers, realizing if he picked all 10’s, that his 1-4 items would all coordinate. (i.e. A jazz musician, at a concert hall, during a concert…) This originally did not please me, but I was very impressed to see that, when he could have decided to go the easy and boring route, he instead went off the beaten path and truly created his own vision with great detail and imagery. And it was pretty entertaining to boot, so here’s to you Sean!

Great job to Charles Hill, Gregory Hatchett, and Savon Clark as well!

Week 5/2: Jumble Story!

This week we had the table full of writers, enthusiastic and ready to do something fun! So we decided to do an interactive writing project called ‘Jumble Story’ –here’s how it works.

It begins with this list:

Character

1. A new mother
2. A photographer
3. A recent high school graduate
4. A restaurant owner or manager
5. An alien from outer space
6. A homeless child
7. A 93 yr old woman
8. An environmentalist
9. A college student
10. A jazz musician

Setting

1. Near a National Forest
2. A wedding reception
3. A celebration party
4. An expensive restaurant
5. A shopping mall
6. A city park
7. The porch of an old farmhouse
8. A polluted stream
9. A college library
10. A concert hall

Time

1. During a forest fire
2. After a fight
3. The night of high school graduation
4. After a big meal
5. Sometime in December
6. Late at night
7. After a big thunderstorm has passed
8. In early spring
9. First week of the school year
10. During a concert

Situation/Challenge

1. An important decision needs to be made
2. A secret needs to be confessed to someone else
3. Someone’s pride has been injured
4. A death has occurred
5. Someone has found or lost something
6. Someone has accused someone of doing something else wrong
7. Reminiscing on how things have changed
8. Someone feels like giving up
9. Something embarrassing has just happened
10. Someone has just reached an important goal

I held the only copy of the above list and had each student write numbers 1-4 on a sheet in their journals,

1 = Character
2 = Setting
3 = Time
4 = Situation/Challenge

Next, we went around the table and for each of the above, the students randomly selected a number 1-10 to correspond to an item for each category. This will outline the story that they need correlate.

Here’s the luck of the draw:

Greg Hatchett

1. Character: photographer
2. Setting: celebration party
3. Time: after a big meal
4. Situation/Challenge: someone’s pride has been injured

Savon Clark

1. Character: restaurant owner/manager
2. Setting: porch of an old farmhouse
3. Time: forest fire
4. Situation/Challenge: Something embarrassing has occurred

Charles Hill

1. Character: restaurant owner/manager
2. Setting: a college library
3. Time: sometime in December
4. Situation/Challenge: a death has occurred

Sean Mayfield

1. Character: Jazz musician
2. Setting: concert hall
3. Time: during a concert
4. Situation/Challenge: a secret needs to be confessed

Shannyn Nellett

1. Character: an environmentalist
2. Setting: a celebration party
3. Time: after a big thunderstorm
4. Situation/Challenge: someone feels like giving up

Veronica Reyes

1. Character: 93 year old woman
2. Setting: a college library
3. Time: night of a high school graduation
4. Situation/Challenge: an important decision needs to be made

Sandra Lee

1. Character: a recent high school graduate
2. Setting: near a National Forest
3. Time: after a big thunderstorm
4. Situation/Challenge: Someone has lost found something

After we all picked our numbers to create our jumble stories, we discussed the proper elements needed to write each story. We discussed creating characters that would embark upon such ‘jumbled’ situations and how to glue it all together. The one element that each student is creating on their own is the ending/resolution. So please tune in next week to see what we all came up with!

2010, Writing Club resumes!

We’re back from the Holidays!

And to begin our new semester, here is an inspirational little excerpt from an album of songs written by Writing Clubs’ own Charles Hill. Enjoy!

Song: Wish List

The Holidays coming around so quickly
I can’t think of a better present
Wishing so hard
You’d come around
You can see my dreams
Wondering and wishing that you’d be here with me

It’s on my wish list
To see your smile again this holiday
I’ll be holding you so close

Together we can’t be torn apart
We’re an impenetrable heart

This holiday you won’t forget
Why I love you and hold you so dear
For this holiday you’re all that’s on my mind

You’re on my wish list
To kiss you and make you dream
We talk together (Ah da da da)
That’s why we’re a good team

You’re on my wish list
This holiday
You’re on my wish list
(You’re on my wish list)
(You’re on my wish list)

I just love it. Great job Charles.

Week 9: Our Visions…and Chuck Norris vs. Oprah?

I would first like to acknowledge Veterans Days by thanking all of the men and women serving our country. And…because of you, our students didn’t have school today so they were in pretty good spirits.

We began the hour with a little jam session and snacks along with some discussion on our futures and where we envision ourselves in it. To help get the ball rolling, Veronica and Shannyn created a little questionnaire. This allowed us to not only get to know each other better, but also provided some hilarious insight to what makes us each unique. Some of the questions/answers are as follows:

1. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Sean Mayfield: Video Game Designer
Veronica Reyes: Middle School Teacher, Social Studies
Charles Hill: Journalist
Savon Clark: A professional football player, Economist or Computer Engineer
Shannyn Nellett: Documentarian, Writer, Photojournalist

2. Where do you see yourself in 4 years?

Sean Mayfield: Graduating High School and Furthering my education
Veronica Reyes: I see myself teaching. Maybe living in Chicago, but I do want to teach in the city for a couple of years. Hopefully I will be closer to having my own ‘family’ life.
Charles Hill: Going to College
Savon Clark: Graduating High School and Going to a Big 10 school.
Shannyn Nellett: Being published/Adapted. Displaying gallery work, art. No idea where I’ll live or what my status will be, and I’m ok with that. I would like to do a considerable amount of traveling.

3. Who inspires you? What kind of person do you inspire to be?

Sean Mayfield: Nobody/I want to be a successful person
Veronica Reyes: My family is my inspiration. They put their faith in me, that keeps me focused and dedicated to move toward my goals. They help me strive to be the well-rounded and open-minded person .
Charles Hill: Nobody really. I wish to be a person who is recognized to have achieved great accomplishments at my age. I want to be a person who is unlike any other.
Savon Clark: My parents inspire me to do great things because they provide the best for me. As my duty, I will do whatever I can to succeed. I want to be a role model, as I try to be now.
Shannyn Nellett: My mother and older sister inspire me. Throughout a life of struggles they remained strong and positive. They truly appreciate the simple things in life and do not allow insignificant negatives to burden them.

4. What makes you happy?

Sean Mayfield: Chocolate?
Veronica Reyes: Friends and family
Charles Hill: I wouldn’t exactly say I found something that makes me truly happy, or happy in any way.
Savon Clark: Listening to music I guess
Shannyn Nellett: Positive energy. Cabrini Connections. Music. Beaches. My niece and nephew. Visiting home. Chicago. Boats. Sundays.

5. What does family mean to you?

Sean Mayfield: They are irreplaceable
Veronica Reyes: People who support you and never judge you. People who you love unconditionally and love you.
Charles Hill: A group of people who are very close to you. People who you trust very well and can rely on.
Savon Clark: Family means to take care of each other and support one another through any endeavor
Shannyn Nellett: Everything

6. Do you envision yourself having a family? If so, what kind of family do you see yourself having?

Sean Mayfield: No.
Veronica Reyes: A big family
Charles Hill: I do see myself having a family. The family I see myself having would be one that is completely free to act and be who they want to be
Savon Clark: Yes I see myself having a family that has morals
Shannyn Nellett: I always wanted a very big family. But I’ll gladly take whatever I am blessed with.

7. Do you have plans for college? If so, where do you want to go?

Sean Mayfield: Yes. ITT
Veronica Reyes: Yes, I’m a DePaul student
Charles Hill: I plan to major in Writing and minor in Music. I want to go to either Northwestern or DePaul
Savon Clark: I want to go to a Big 10 school , and I will either be playing football and/or taking classes on Economics/Computer Engineering
Shannyn Nellett: Did undergrad at San Diego State University, would love to earn a graduate degree…maybe I will

8. What are you going to carry with you forever from Cabrini Green?

Sean Mayfield: Memories
Veronica Reyes: Chuck Norris vs. Oprah
Charles Hill: Being from Cabrini Connections
Savon Clark: I will carry all of my childhood memories
Shannyn Nellett: Every year end dinner, watching the students perform their work

9. What interests or hobbies do you have?

Sean Mayfield: Making comics
Veronica Reyes: Arts & Crafts. Music, reading , and going to museums.
Charles Hill: Skateboarding. Writing. Playing guitar. Listening to music. Psychology
Savon Clark: Watching football. Anime. Basketball. Helping within the community.
Shannyn Nellett: Art. Photography. Film. Writing. Music

10. What is a favorite memory that you have?

Sean Mayfield: Going to my first Bakugan tournament
Veronica Reyes: Christmas when the whole family was together, playing balderdash
Charles Hill: The day I started randomly writing poetry out of boredom
Savon Clark: My sister falling down the stairs….
Shannyn Nellett: The train ride to San Diego from Ohio, amazing

Next week we'll be transposing these ideas onto our vision collages. Oh…and while we were putting these on paper, the boys began debating Chuck Norris vs. Oprah Winfrey. Veronica and I were at a loss, as we are not exactly Chuck Norris buffs… but it turns out that the collective agreement is that Oprah wins because she could buy Bruce Lee to take over Chuck Norris. We will dig into this theory a little more next week so stay tuned!