Twitter Story Competition

Yesterday I challenged my students to a twitter story competition. Twitter is a social medium that allows you to post status updates, market, send links to live news feeds, info fetching, etc.  However, one only has 140 characters to get their message across or provide a link.  A character is any letter, space, or punctuation.  It's limiting, but teaches concise and clear language.  Anyway, they have to tell a story (using all story elements) in 140 characters or less. The students don't' have to have a twitter account.  They can email, blog, or write it on paper.  However, they also have the option to tweet me with their submission.

 

Can you do it? Are any of you up for the challenge?  I'm sure the kids would love it!  If you would like to give it a go, you can type your story as a comment on the blog and I will share it anonymously or state the author's screen name with the kids.  

 

Here is a student example:  

 

I woke up with a headache so bad, I couldn't brush my teeth. When the worm burst out, the pain stopped. Death was salvation.

 

You Want It?

Want the chance to win an HP Pavilion DM3 Lap Top?!  A legit chance, that is.  Click on over to Cleveland's A Plum and check out her latest blog entry.  Cleveland's A Plum is a pretty big deal and not just in Ohio.  She's won a few major awards and now has the opportunity to give back to her readers. 

Here are the rules, and these come straight from her blog.  So make sure that you do your commenting on her blog.

"the contest is going to run for one week from 12:01am wednesday the 18th, to 11:59pm wednesday the 25th. i'm going to choose the lucky winner of the laptop on thanksgiving, and announce the winner in a post on black friday. to enter simply leave a comment on this post telling me something you are thankful for - ENTER AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WANT. but there's a twist - you see this isn't only a contest for you guys, it's a contest for me. there are 8 other bloggers who are also giving away the HP dm3 and whatever blogger generates the most interaction with their contest wins their own laptop. AND MAMMA NEEDS A NEW LAPTOP!"

Help Mamma and The Chez or possibly yourself get a new spiffy lap top!!!!

Literature, Language, and Technology

Today and all this weekend I'm in a training to integrate Globaloria into one of my Senior English classes next semester. The basic concept is that students will integrate literature, language, technology, creative thinking, and use social mediums to obtain an English 12 credit and create an educational video game. Isn't that the coolest thing ever?! They will use blogs, wikis, social mediums, emails, g-chat, and FLASH to ultimately design a usable video game based around the literature, discussions, and language skills that they learn in an English 12 classroom. I'm so psyched!

You are cordially invited.

Mazel Tov, Macaronis!!!!

This week's Macaronis are:

* I Hate So Much
* Kitchen Geeking
* Shouts and Hollers
* Why Charleston
* The Glamorous Life of a Hausfrau
* West Virginia Hotdog Blog
* Buzzardbilly

Mazel Tov, Macaronis!!!!!!

Memory Lane

My uncle is working on our family tree and researching McChesney ancestry. Every once in a while I do some Internet researching of my own to see if there are any leads that I can find to help him. In doing so I ran across my grandfather's obituary unexpectedly. It took me a back for a moment. And then...I smiled because as Morrie Schwartz says, "Death ends a life, not a relationship." Do you all remember "Dancing Lessons?" He was a great man.

David W. McChesney

David Wallace McChesney, 78, of Charleston died Tuesday, May 5, 1998, in CAMC, Memorial Division, after a short illness. He was a retired district sales manager for Continental Conveyor Co., Charleston, a member of First Presbyterian Church, Charleston, an Army veteran of World War II, a graduate of McCallie Prep School, Chattanooga, Tenn., received a mining engineering degree from West Virginia University and was a 45-year resident of the Kanawha Valley. Surviving: wife, Lynne McChesney; sons, David W. Jr. of Sutton, John F. of Charleston; four grandchildren. Memorial service will be 3 p.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church Sanctuary, Charleston, with the Rev. Douglas Heidt and the Rev. Dean Thompson officiating. Friends may call after the service in the Activities Building of the church. The family suggests memorial contributions to First Presbyterian Church Library Fund, 16 Broad St., Charleston, WV 25301, or a charity of choice. Barlow-Bonsall Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I hope that everyone has a fun and safe Halloween weekend!