Like blog training wheels
Thursday, October 20, 2011 When I made the difficult decision a few years ago to sell my beloved truck to pay for private school, I knew it was the right thing to do. However, it was merely a parental gut feeling. I didn't have the metrics to back it up. And when you're shelling out an extra grand per month, you kind of yearn for some ROI. Any ROI.
And this is it:
And he only got one spam Post-It about best hot tub deals.Fury gets to experience the euphoria known as comments (I did say any ROI). From 3rd grade on, Fury's school throws a Publishing Party every few months to showcase students' narrative writing skills. They get to write about anything they want. Throughout the course of a few months, they revise, refine and polish their narratives. On the day of the Publishing Party, they print them out, invite parents over, and hand everyone Post-It notes and pens.
With juice, cookies and pens in hand, parents and students go from desktop to desktop, reading the stories and leaving comments via post-it notes. Kind of like the intepretive dance version of the blogosphere.
I really love this idea because I get to see how much better my kid is at writing than the other kids get to see how all the children are applying practical writing skills to enhance their creative instincts. Fury loves it because he gets to use the phrases "I emptied my clip" and "then I checked my ammo" without being sent to the school counselor.
Fury really wants an Xbox. He's accepting sponsorship opportunities for his next Publishing Party piece.
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In case you're interested, here's his narrative from this morning:
War of Flambia
By Marcus A. Lin
“Alright, ammo?” I said, checking.
“Check,” said my friend: Mustafa.
“Check,” said my other friend: Waffiat.
I blinked in the high light of the after-noon. I ran around my driveway. SPLAT!!!!!A socaboom (a bag of food coloring with soda ) hit my face. Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Pellets of small pains hit me. I ran forewords to Maghkmood. Blamblamblamblam!! Then I remembered that I had food coloring on my mask. I wiped on my jacket. I tripped and fell on some grass. “oof!!”I stood up “ARRRGH!!!” My nose started bleeding from the fall. I realized I had only used 4 bb’s. I took off my mask.
Suddenly a couple bb’s hit my cheek. Then, sharp stings bombarded me. I pulled on my mask. Dive-rolled to avoid the bb’s. Thick pumps of adrenaline hit me. One of my socabooms popped. SPLOOOSH!!! I went flying, I must have had some cuts now. Chak chak chak!!! I felt like boulders where hitting me now. Chak!!Ch-ch-chak!!!! Waffiat came to help me. SPLOOOOOSH!! Mustafa came to help me. I shot a clip at Othman, a friend on the other team.
CHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH!!!!!!!!!! My clip emptied. I reloaded and unloaded 3 more clips. Finally after ten minutes, we got out.
After we got out, I called a 5 minute break. I looked at my wounds: a bruise, a few cuts, and a bloody nose . I then checked my ammo: 3 clips, 10 pistol clips, 1 extra large clip, and 7 socabooms.
“OK we can start,” I said. Me and my friends rushed over to a small wall made by containers. I shot the first shot. Then our friends shot at us. Twwappp! Thwwwwwappp! I shot back, blammblambllllllllllllllllllaaam! I emptied a clip. Then, Reneme and Othman switched to pistols. "Hey guys let’s throw two of our socabooms at time” I suggested.
“OK.” Waffiat agreed
“10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 GOOO!!!!” We all threw two of our socabooms at them at the same time. The result: A MEGA – HYPER- SUPER- AWESOME-DESTRUCTO- BLAST!!!SPLOOOOOSHKABOOOKABLAMO!!!!!!
“OK OK! We give up!!” Othman said
“WHOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!” I yelled. We went inside my garage.”Whoa what a great game,” I said.
“Yeah” Othman agreed
The end
Reader Comments (11)
What made that! Also, he has the sweetest smile (melt my heart, that boy) ♥
What an awesome idea! I love this!
His story is awesome, I'm going to try and work socabooms into all my conversations from now on.
Also, Fury is a better writer than I am. GO FURY!
This is fantastic of the school. What a great idea. There is nothing like the feedback of real readers to make you a better writer. You should be so happy that he loves it!
Cool. So, these little creatures gradually get their own personalities, receive accolades, and then show us up? Why would I want to celebrate THAT?
Oh wait--so we won't have to pay for their college educations! I get it. Well done.
That is an amazing idea! I wish school had been that cool! That said, I'm not sure how I feel about the story being typed at that age: this would also be a good exercise for penmanship too (so that when it's them writing the post-it notes, people can actually read their comments ;))
Man, I am SO jealous. Kids got such GOOD stuff to play with these days. I was born WAY too soon.
Someday, I'm gonna hafta show Fury my Airsoft sniper rifle.
I like the idea behind what they're doing at the school. Good job, Dad. He's in the right place.
You (and him) made me laugh (and smile) so hard.
I do believe that Fury and Evan could become writing partners and create the next best-selling action book. All action with Evan. One battle to the next with lots of descriptions of the weaponry and the blood, etc. He and Fury would get along well.
I like the publishing party idea. Positive feedback rocks at any age. Awesome job, kiddo. You had me laughing, even though I know it's a serious piece. Maybe you can be an action/humor writer? Kinda like your dad. :)
yaaay fury! LOL the strike-through sentiment and avoiding the school counselor. See? Reading Harry Potter didn't do your kid any damage :) Just kept his creative juices going. Love how he puts his pals names in the piece. Aaaw. Great job Fury!
Momo didn't have to tweet a series of remember-whens to get you to post, so I had NO IDEA you had!
1of3's elementary did a publishing party too. He wrote about kittens or some bullshit. Go Fury!