Friday, March 20, 2009

spinning a tale ...

spin cycle ... (spriteskeeper)
assignment ... (creative writing)
see more ... (possibly better)

angst. i have had angst over this spin cycle assignment ...
i'm not really much of a creative writer. i write what is in my head and how it sounds in my head is how it comes out on the keyboard.
i was anxious about trying to come up with something this week ...

and then i had a total fear of writing something absolutely fabulous and having someone come and steal it (because internets ... hell-oo?) and the ensuing legal issues that would arise from trying to get the rights back to my creative writing piece that ultimately i was never gonna be really good at writing anyways.

so i sat my ass down and had a glass of wine instead.

and realized that it would come when it was darn well ready.
damn fate.

and if it didn't?
well ... my husband's advice would have probably been ... your hobby of blogging shouldn't be stressful, it's a stupid way to spend your time. ok ... well ... finethen.

but it did (eventually).

and here it is ... a glimpse into a "creative writing" activity that i do with my students ...

i have an old copy of never ending stories by discovery toys ... which is basically a collection of pictures that you can use to tell a story by connecting the cards ... (truly there is much more to the game ... but please note ... I'M WORKING WITH STUDENTS WITH LANGUAGE DISORDERS ... rules don't apply ... you make it up as you go and do the best you can to accomplish the goals with what you have ... )

so i decided that my friend M and i would tell you a story ... going back and forth ... using the picture cards to prompt us with what would happen next ...
this is what we came up with ... (just in case you are wondering ... i'm in bold ... she's in italics. i'm pretty sure that will become clearer very VERY soon.)

once upon a time, a princess received a letter from far across the kingdom.
the tree grew.
the princess walked through the forest until she came across a shop selling fruits.
she got herself a crown.
when she left the store, she found a map laying upon the road.
a rat tried to bite him.
the princess had to walk through the mountains to find the prince locked away in a dungeon.
and he showed her how to get to the fire.
after building a fire, she was able to see more clearly and stumbled upon a treasure chest full of jewels.
she found her husband camping somewhere and he was camping and she found him.
her husband had found a mysterious key.
this key found the water to get her in it the fish was trying to bite her.
the princess and her husband swam to an island in the middle of the ocean.
the island found a princess book to get to the princess the island and we just started this book and we have 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-10-i mean-8-9-10-11-lots.
after reading the book, the princess and her husband placed a message into a bottle and put it in the water.
this picture that the message sent her to give her the message and or her to sleep or her to get sad or to get maybe mad.
the woman that received the message decided that she needed to climb aboard her bike and travel as fast as she could.
and then the bike she decided to ride her bike to get to the bridge and went over there and went over there and went over there and went over there and went over there to get to the little bitty house over there and this is the good game i ever played.
when the woman arrived at the house, she found so many children playing games.
i gotta book picture again not again i just gonna say the end.

so ... yeah ... language disorder much? can you tell that we are working on FLOW of language? that, up there, would be a total glimpse into the conversations i have DAILY.

in other words ... i'm totally not worried about anyone stealing THAT and trying to pass it off as their own.

5 comments:

Sprite's Keeper said...

I'm charmed! I loved it! I can see the innocence in italics! Very well told and creativity galore. You're linked!

Mrsbear said...

Very original. Although I can see how some of those conversations could get tedious. I get aggravated when my kids tell me the same thing "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-10-i mean-8-9-10-11-lots" times. ;)

Shangrila said...

Jen, this game sounds SO COOL! A friend of mine sells Discovery toys and I am definitely going to ask her about this! I agree with Jen @ Sprite's Keeper-M's responses are charming! I love the continuity of the framework you provided her with and her random tuesday-like answers (I'm assuming inspired by the pictures?) Your students are very lucky to have you! You're teaching kids to communicate, and what could be more important than THAT?! Great spin, pal!

Shangrila said...

Oh, and I forgot to say: I love your new blog header! VERY nice (and not at all winter-y!) :)

Anonymous said...

Awesome. I should try this with my kids- it should be interesting to see what they come up with. I'll bet Tony Hawk is involved somehow.