Friday, January 23, 2015

The Sun in Your Eyes



This is a video made by one of my colleagues about the Humanities sustainable development project, which resulted in the cardboard art installation I've been talking about.  I used Gawker to take time-lapse video of some of the steps, which I think is cool. But, I think the video-maker is truly awesome.

In other news, Mac announced yesterday that he did indeed have writer's workshop, and that he's writing a realistic fiction story.

"What's it about?" I asked.

"Jack loses a tooth."

"Cool," I said.  "Is that the title?"

"Yeah, but the first chapter is called Loop-de-Loop because I drew a roller coaster.  So Jack loses a tooth at the Mall of America," he continued. He went on to describe the plot in a hilariously professional way.  I can't quite re-create it here because I can't remember the many twists and turns involved in this significant dental event for Jack.  Another pal was there, and Mac incorporated theme-park elements throughout.

"How did you get this idea?" I asked.

"We had to have ideas," he said.

"But how did you come up with it?"

"If I didn't have an idea, I would have to push-ups."

"Really?!" I laughed, once again in awe of the genius that is Mac's teacher, Ms. J.

"Yes," he said.  "If you don't have an idea, you have to do push-ups."

My students are excellent idea generators this year. Now I know I can attribute this to what might be a full lower school practice of requiring push-ups until one thinks of an idea.  Let's just get the writing started.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Push ups. Hmmmmm. I think I just got a great idea to use for those reluctant starters.
N

LH said...

Push ups. V. funny idea. I might use it on myself today.
The video's glitchy, but I will come back and watch it later.
Looking forward to it.

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to reading Jack losses a tooth! Mom

Anonymous said...

The video is very effective! I now understand the depth of the project. Very impressive learning unit! Mom

mm said...

I've never used push-ups, but sometimes my first hour class does jump squats when they are not awake and not talking to me. I, of course, do them with them.