Our next unit is a Novel Study focusing on a time period in history that’s significant – it involved the attempted extermination of a race of people in Europe, the Holocaust.
Handout 9.0 Pg 3- 4 There are boxes to summarize the information from each of the sections in this pdf (below). There is a video instead for box #2
We’re studying texts about feeling included or excluded, so we’ve had some fun letting AI Generate images to represent these emotions and thoughts.
Students had to generate a list of words, feelings for what Exclusion feels like. Then the same for what Inclusion feels like.
Then, we used different websites to generate these images in a variety of styles.
The Dream.ai website was great for the variety of styles available, but sometimes the images took a long time to generate. And they, sometimes, weren’t as abstract which takes some of the fun out of the final project.
We used https://magicstudio.com/ai-art-generator/ to easily make images. It was fast, but it doesn’t have a list of styles to pick from. The images made seemed repetitive. So we started adding in the “word list” style names from the Dream.ai website to generate a variety of images. (We maybe want to avoid asking for “tattoo style” on this website, though. lol)
Students have to generate at least 7 images for the Exclusion feelings and 7 images for the Inclusion feeling.
Then they had to select the 5 of each they’re going to use for their presentation.
Here are a variety of the images generated. And a snip of the kinds of “styles” you can request the AI site to make for you.
Watch the Terry Fox video below and create a list of his positive and (potentially) negative characteristics.
Ask them to try to create a list of their own personal positive characteristics, seeing if any overlap with some of Terry’s.
They’re to write a formal letter to their parents explaining about:
our school’s upcoming Terry Fox Walk Event – what it’s for, it’s goal
what their thoughts are of Terry – admire him, curious about him, what they wonder of what his life could have been
write about their own personality characteristics they hope to develop as adults, once they get to be Terry’s age.
Use the outline below to begin a Letter and end it properly.
Guide for Letter: Intro, Middle (Body), and Ending
Intro:
introduce why you are writing to your parents
thinking about the Terry Fox walk coming up next week
considering the continued impact he’s made; what his legacy is (influence on others)
Main/Body:
Write what your personal thoughts are of Terry Fox. Can include details you know of his background. Consider including what you and others admire about him.
Describe what our walk day will be like: grade groups will be paired together, there will be a route laid out for us, the intent is to raise money for cancer research, there will be donations and a meal at the end.
Compare your personal admirable qualities you’ve identified with those of Terry. What qualities of his might you hope to continue developing as you get older? Consider ideas you might use to inspire others in your own life, like he did.
Connect your letter to our hero unit theme: decide if Terry was a hero and explain your answer to your reader. If yes, why?
Ending:
Thank your reader for their time to consider your thoughts.
We’ve only got 2 classes left for 2022! We won’t begin anything new, but you’ll use these classes to confirm you’ve finished recent activities/projects we’ve done. You can use this as an opportunity to see if you can properly track your own completions through our Teams Assignment Tab.
Here is the list of recent-to-older activities to complete:
Beginnings 9 (assigned to you today) See below for video.
Storyline developed to make a reasonable plot based on images selected. (Around 5 sentences each image.)
Using Screenrecording tool WITH MICROPHONE to record a VIDEO of your Five Frame Story. Video uploaded to your Google Drive and then Shared with me to the gmail account. (The video is the final project.)
55 Word Stories: Instructions at this blog link. You should have a minimum of 4 completed. (1 from the 1st day trying & 3 from day 2)
Beginnings 8 Free Write activity. (We did this Dec 6 – many people were missing that day.)
Quill Sentence Combining Activities: Assigned/done also Dec 6th.
“Thank You Ma’am” Flipgrid response to short story questions. We read this story together using Active Reading Cues (predictions, motivation of characters, summarize) and then you answered/discussed the questions attached in your handout. Most used Flipgrid to record responses and some submitted written responses in Google docs.
Are you keeping up with our work in ELA 7-8? You’ve had many months now to get used to the format for class and kinds of assignments we do.
If you’re not finding a way to be more aware of what’s unfinished, we should talk about strategies for that.
How interesting/challenging would it be if you were given Random Images and had to create a reasonable storyline that could tie all those images together as a story? We’ll try it and see!
Two Options: Create a Plausible Storyline (slightly serious) or make a Goofy/Comical Storyline
Supports for both options:
Plausible, serious-ish storyline: you can use the websites linked below to find a series of photos that include the same setting, actors/models, so the storyline seems as if it all fits together smoothly, through the images you choose.
Websites you can use to get 5 images in a series include:
Goofy/comical-ish storyline: you can instead really test yourself by using a Random Image Generator to select 5 images for you that you have to then try developing a storyline to suit those images and tie a reasonable storyline altogether.
randomwordgenerator.com/pictures lets you set how many images you want (5) and you can let it pick randomly or you can select a category (ex: animals). Then those are the 5 you go with for your story.
You want to select 5 images for the Beginning-Middle-End parts of a story.
You’ll add each image as a Slide in Google Slides.
Then you’ll develop the Story details for the images to tie them together in a story.
In the final step, you’ll audio record yourself Telling your story along with your images.
Image Examples: Series Serious (horizontal) and Random Goofy (vertical)
Some writing practice for you today: Another Beginnings Writing Prompt and then a “55 word story” Challenge!
Beginnings #8 Label it properly in your Google Doc and share to me.
AND Written in the same Google Doc, try developing someFifty-five Word Story Writing:
It is a type of story writing that involves writing descriptively (activating the 5 senses) and including dialogue (speech exchanged between characters or internal dialogue). But there is a restricted pattern for sentence lengths you have to follow; the instructions are below.
Dip your toe into story structure by writing a “55-word story”, a fiction narrative exactly ten sentences long.
The first sentence must have precisely 10 words, the second sentence nine words, the third sentence eight words, and so on until the final sentence is composed of a single word.
All acronyms and digits must be spelled out (“28” is “twenty-eight”, which
counts as two words).
The 55-word story must include a setting, a character in conflict, and a resolution (or sense of “ending”).
To compose, write the numbers 10 through 1 (the number of words allowed in each sentence) down the left side of your page.
Draft the story first as a list of sentences then transcribe your draft into prose format (see the example below).
Notice that each time a new character speaks, there is a new line.
Here is a 55-word story called “Wax and Wane” written as an example:
“Say that again,” she whispered, tickling fingers through its hair. (10)
“It’s not yours,” he whispered, knealing in the barn. (9)
“Tell me again, Duane,” she sobbed, eyes excited. (8)
“It’s not yours, not yours, Diane – Not! (7) The animal purred between them both. (6)
“Say it again,” she whispered. (5) Duane shifted his body. (4) The kitten slept. (3)
“It’s beautiful.” (2)
“Mine!” (1)
You’re going to pick a new novel today and just read the beginning. You may not continue or finish that novel, but you’ll read the beginnings of many novels and get a sense of what you like and don’t like in stories.
As you read, you can consider:
The Who, What, When, Where, and Why of the story told
What you find interesting or not interesting.
Whether you would continue reading that book if you could and if you’d recommend it to others.
You’ll create a video review of your First Chapter Friday to share your thoughts.
Some novels you can pick from to start include:
Less mature novels first — > to more mature novels at the end
Moongarden: sci-fi book of a young girl in training on the Moon, after Earth’s plants turned toxic. She is training for the role her parents also play in their society, to be Number Whisperers, but she’s afraid she’s not skilled or capable. (58 pgs preview)
Illuminations: a young girl’s family are talented painters of magical illuminations, but in trying to help she releases a magical creature that wants to destroy her family.
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking: a young girl’s magic works only through bread dough, making gingerbread men come to life, but finds a body on her bakery floor (4 chapters preview)
Spy School – Book 1: young boy tries to stay safe from cyber-enemies
Amari and the Night Brothers (Book 1): young girl is a supernatural investigator
Amari and the Great Game (Book 2) young girl is a supernatural investigator
Refugee: follows the story of 3 characters fleeing persecution – a boy trying to flee Nazis, a cuban girl fleeing, etc.
When Stars are Scattered: graphic novel of a young Somolia boy and his brother growing up in a refugee camp in Kenya
Squire: graphic novel of a young girl who wants to become a Knight, so when war breaks out among her people, it’s her opportunity to earn citizenship by training in a competitive program. (35 pgs preview)
Elatsoe: a young girl lives in a version of America where there is magic, monsters, and ghosts of animals she can revive. (43 pages preview)
