Claymation Sensation!

This past week, the students were treated to a visit from Director's Cut, and several claymation movies were produced during the day-long workshop. We had a blast, to be sure. The projects are in edit and production phase back in Toronto at the moment. Rest assured, I'll be posting them here once the DVD's are delivered to our school. Highly recommended to all fellow educators. The kids were completely engaged.

-Mr.M.-

The Great Bottled Water Debate

Recently, the students read and discussed an investigative article concerning the ongoing debate surrounding the availability of water bottles in schools. The idea this time was to prepare some reflections related to the topic and to express themselves orally in a set of videos. Each group had roughly three minutes to discuss the controversy. I advised them that I would be assessing the video based upon each student's grasp of the debate, their contribution to the discussion, their "depth" of thought. This is, I suppose, an "all-star" version of the videos produced. I was pleased with their frankness and ability to communicate freely. Not to mention the lighter moments - like Max's willingness to be a good classmate in agreeing with Ryan ... until he was thrown that curveball about water being imported from India! Enjoy.

-Mr. M.-

More 6M Music Videos

Lovin' these videos from the students. They're "getting" the concept of choosing a story/mood through images, making sure that the music matches the purpose. I'm thrilled to share these from Austin and Sarah.

Finally, a personal favourite - for obvious reasons. My daughter, Jessica, released her first CD earlier in the year with some success. She's aiming to make a splash in the next year or two with new material and a new direction, however. Musicians go through many metamorphic moments, and she's no different. This recent acoustic release was offered up to my students as a challenge to create a video for her. Leanna nailed it, I think. You?

-Mr. M.-

Boys' Non-Fiction Writing

Plenty of debate and initiatives put forth surrounding the issue of boys' writing. Specifically, non-fiction writing. It's a struggle, yes, to get the boys in class to write rich, raw, personal narratives. The key is to get them to find things in their lives that makes them 'tick' and to write about them. Like everything, it'll take practice. The volume of writing in class so far is terrific; the quality is improving. Check out four narratives from Ajay, Troy, Joe, and Ryan C.

-Mr. M.-

6M Music Videos

One of the music tasks in the first term? To create a video, using compelling imagery (hopefully) to tell a story about the songs chosen. The students were reminded of copyright issues, of course. Creative Commons materials used extensively. The best efforts so far, Jake and Hanna. Enjoy.

-Mr. M.-

6M Narratives

We've had a good start to our writing program, and the students have embraced my "demands" to be rich, raw, risky, and content-driven. Here are a couple of early samples from Megan and Austin.

-Mr. M.-

Character Video II

The second installment of our character PSA's. Fun - but factual. Enjoy.

-Mr. M.-

We're Busy in Here ...

Hey, some new work to share with you! Instead of duplicating the entries, please click here, where you'll be taken to our class wiki. You can also link quickly to the wiki by clicking over to the right ... the quick-hit links I've provided for some key sites.
In this update, you can see some cool poetry, some key writing charts for revision and editing, and diary entries written by students related to our recent study of the tribes famous (or infamous?) for the buffalo jumps.
More to come.

-Mr. M.-