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[RokofAges75]

I'll reply to the last couple posts tomorrow when I have more time, but as I stay up too late writing, I just thought of a question I'll probably forget by morning.

What is the funniest or most random word you've added to your personal dictionary on whatever word processing program you use?

I feel like I had a lot more on Microsoft Word, but my top three favorites on Google Docs are:

1. esophagull (as in, Aaron Carter's pronunciation of his fake esophageal cancer he claimed to be in the early stages of)

2. pandaskunk

3. Sphynkter

[nicksgal]

You know, I just looked and don't have any words added at all! I'm pretty surprised!

[RokofAges75]

That is surprising!  But I guess you either use the personal dictionary, or you don't.  I use it to stop the red squiggles on words it insists aren't real words LOL.

[RokofAges75]

LOL! Lurlene strikes again! I'm glad you let your high school basketball player live. Now I know why when you poked around making Broken OF that Nick was a high school basketball player (well that, and Nick is more basketball oriented). Did your Brian cancer story remind you of it? lol

LOL!  The Brian cancer story may have reminded me of it more than Broken did.  With OF Broken, I made him a basketball player more because, as you said, Nick liked basketball at that age, and it seemed like a sport he could conceivably play again once he learned how to run on the prosthetic leg.

I love things like that! It sounds awesome! And such a great way to get students excited about writing. I'm glad it helped you in your career as a fanfic writer. You should look into the NaNo Young Writer's Program for your students. I always wanted to do it with a classroom, but I ended up teaching too young. Unless the district you're in now does that Young Authors thing too.

My district now does it too!  I just looked it up because I wasn't sure how widespread of a program it was, and I guess it's just an Illinois thing. https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Young-Authors.aspx  I bet the NaNo program is great too!

At least! From what I can tell, it was "teenage emo years" if said teenagers were not firmly in team boyband (specific or general). I feel like it's hard to be super emo when the Backstreet Boys exist.

A cold spider-infested basement sounds like my nightmare, that would have made me want to be emo. Mine was... Eighth grade? Seventh grade? Eighth grade sounds right. I'm mostly glad I got it out of the way before high school so I could go back to "happy sunshine Backstreet joy" full time. I can't remember what was the catalyst for it? Peer pressure of some sort, probably.

One word:  hormones.  LOL

I'm glad you were able to go back to happy sunshine Backstreet joy full time by high school!

[nicksgal]

LOL!  The Brian cancer story may have reminded me of it more than Broken did.  With OF Broken, I made him a basketball player more because, as you said, Nick liked basketball at that age, and it seemed like a sport he could conceivably play again once he learned how to run on the prosthetic leg.

Nick's determined enough, he would try to get back to it before learning to run on the prosthetic leg! lol!

 

My district now does it too!  I just looked it up because I wasn't sure how widespread of a program it was, and I guess it's just an Illinois thing. https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Young-Authors.aspx  I bet the NaNo program is great too!

Aw! That conference sounds awesome! That's great that your BOE does that! Are you nurturing any young authors in your classroom?

One word:  hormones.  LOL

I'm glad you were able to go back to happy sunshine Backstreet joy full time by high school!

Yes, yes, that's probably exactly it, lol!

Me too! To be honest, I got all my drama out of the way early, divorced parents and what not. And like I said, it's hard to be super emo when the Backstreet Boys exist (at least for me, personally).

[RokofAges75]

Nick's determined enough, he would try to get back to it before learning to run on the prosthetic leg! lol!

LOL True.  At least he could shoot free-throws... or play wheelchair basketball.

Aw! That conference sounds awesome! That's great that your BOE does that! Are you nurturing any young authors in your classroom?

We didn't have it this year because of COVID.   But we do a fiction writing unit every year in fourth grade, so they at least all got to write a story.

Me too! To be honest, I got all my drama out of the way early, divorced parents and what not. And like I said, it's hard to be super emo when the Backstreet Boys exist (at least for me, personally).

I agree.  I was #blessed with a pretty happy childhood, so I didn't have any real reason to be emo.  Most of my drama was self-created or fictional LOL.  And making up fictional drama about the Backstreet Boys actually makes me happy, so...

[nicksgal]

LOL True.  At least he could shoot free-throws... or play wheelchair basketball.

Work on his 3-pointers or Harlem Globetrotter moves. Mostly I'm a jerk picturing him hopping around a basketball court, lol.

We didn't have it this year because of COVID.   But we do a fiction writing unit every year in fourth grade, so they at least all got to write a story.

That's disappointing, but at least they got to write something. Do you share any of your writing expertise with your students or do they also not know your history with writing?

I agree.  I was #blessed with a pretty happy childhood, so I didn't have any real reason to be emo.  Most of my drama was self-created or fictional LOL.  And making up fictional drama about the Backstreet Boys actually makes me happy, so...

You don't need to be dramatic to make life dramatic for fictional Backstreet Boys! Maybe it's gotten a lot of your drama out of the way, lol.

That is surprising!  But I guess you either use the personal dictionary, or you don't.  I use it to stop the red squiggles on words it insists aren't real words LOL.

Like "Howie." Poor Howie.

[RokofAges75]

Work on his 3-pointers or Harlem Globetrotter moves. Mostly I'm a jerk picturing him hopping around a basketball court, lol.

LMAO!

That's disappointing, but at least they got to write something. Do you share any of your writing expertise with your students or do they also not know your history with writing?

I write in front of them when I'm modeling things, but no, they have no idea I regularly write for fun.  I have brought in my Young Authors story from 4th grade to show them though.

You don't need to be dramatic to make life dramatic for fictional Backstreet Boys! Maybe it's gotten a lot of your drama out of the way, lol.

LOL Maybe.  Writing fictional drama always makes me feel better about my own mundane problems.

Like "Howie." Poor Howie.

Seriously!

[nicksgal]

I write in front of them when I'm modeling things, but no, they have no idea I regularly write for fun.  I have brought in my Young Authors story from 4th grade to show them though.

I love that! What a fun way to share an experience in a relatable way! I hope you're not demonizing "said" for them. What kinds of stories do you start writing when you're modeling? I'm guessing it's not the type of things you usually write, lol.

LOL Maybe.  Writing fictional drama always makes me feel better about my own mundane problems.

Yes! Torturing Backstreet Boys is a powerful form of catharsis, lol! Thanks for being scapegoats, guys!

[RokofAges75]

I love that! What a fun way to share an experience in a relatable way! I hope you're not demonizing "said" for them. What kinds of stories do you start writing when you're modeling? I'm guessing it's not the type of things you usually write, lol.

LOL Definitely not.  We focus on realistic fiction, so I have them start by creating a character who's kind of like them in some ways and either drawing on real life experiences or writing the kind of story they would like to read.  I have them help me create a character and come up with a problem for him/her to have that will be the basis for the plot.  This year we ended up with a girl who wants to try out for a softball team because her friends are on the team, but she is not coordinated or athletically gifted, so she has to practice really hard to get better before tryouts.  Pushing that growth mindset! LOL  I'm just happy if they include dialogue and dialogue tags, "said" or otherwise!

[nicksgal]

LOL Definitely not.  We focus on realistic fiction, so I have them start by creating a character who's kind of like them in some ways and either drawing on real life experiences or writing the kind of story they would like to read.  I have them help me create a character and come up with a problem for him/her to have that will be the basis for the plot.  This year we ended up with a girl who wants to try out for a softball team because her friends are on the team, but she is not coordinated or athletically gifted, so she has to practice really hard to get better before tryouts.  Pushing that growth mindset! LOL  I'm just happy if they include dialogue and dialogue tags, "said" or otherwise!

Fourth grade is probably too young to convert children to Team Dark, lol.

Ah, yes, self inserts and autobiographie s are good places to start fiction from. Easier for the author to relate to before they learn how to research properly! Aw, your softball character sounds like me. That's why I have a kickball scar on my arm! That's fun that you all create the character and problem together, plus yes, getting them focused on growth mindset!

I try to coach mine through dialogue and they have no interest. Alas. Especially my feisty one, every time it's writing stamina, it's like pulling teeth. Meanwhile I'm like, "I would love it if someone said 'You have fifteen minutes, write about anything' to me."

[RokofAges75]

Fourth grade is probably too young to convert children to Team Dark, lol.

LOL I can usually tell which ones are already on Team Dark.  Some of them want to write horror stories or stories where the main character ends up in the hospital.  As long as they can keep them semi-realistic, I let them go for it.  Except for the one year I had a little girl who, when working on a "Somebody... wanted... but... so... then..." summary of her story idea, had a character named "Mangle" who wanted to make the swim team, but she couldn't stop hurting other kids.  Imagining Mangle as a budding young serial killer who couldn't control her impulses to drown her classmates in the pool, I was like, "So... are you saying Mangle's a bully?  And she has to learn to be a better friend and not bully her teammates if she's going to be on the team?"   I'm not sure if that was actually her intent or not, but that's what she went with LOL.  She was a girl after my own heart - sweet and quiet on the outside, secretly dark and twisted on the inside LOL.

I try to coach mine through dialogue and they have no interest. Alas. Especially my feisty one, every time it's writing stamina, it's like pulling teeth. Meanwhile I'm like, "I would love it if someone said 'You have fifteen minutes, write about anything' to me."

Right?!  Although I never liked being forced to write for fifteen minutes right there in the classroom.  I've always written better when I'm by myself, on my own schedule.

By fourth grade, most of them do include dialogue, especially after I've modeled it for them and taught them about showing not telling, but some of their stories are like ALL dialogue... just characters talking back and forth without a lot of description or action in between.

[Rose]

Fun fact, I still have them to this day cause my mom had saved it, but my elementary school had a "publishing" program where they'd pick kids from each grade who wrote the best stories to make a little book with their story. In 2nd grade, which was legitimately the grade I discovered I loved writing, I wrote a story about a Fox that loved life but got hunted down by a hunter and died lmao. In 3rd grade I got picked again and this time it was about a kid who's stepmother tried to cook them after marrying her dad - like a hybrid of cinderella and hansel and gretel LOL.

My teachers were always encouraging but sometimes I wonder if my weird ideas didn't scare them a bit lmao.

[RokofAges75]

Fun fact, I still have them to this day cause my mom had saved it, but my elementary school had a "publishing" program where they'd pick kids from each grade who wrote the best stories to make a little book with their story. In 2nd grade, which was legitimately the grade I discovered I loved writing, I wrote a story about a Fox that loved life but got hunted down by a hunter and died lmao. In 3rd grade I got picked again and this time it was about a kid who's stepmother tried to cook them after marrying her dad - like a hybrid of cinderella and hansel and gretel LOL.

My teachers were always encouraging but sometimes I wonder if my weird ideas didn't scare them a bit lmao.

LMAO That is awesome!  I love how twisted you were even as a kid!  The fox story... brutal!!!  Of course, so is the cannibalistic stepmom, but Hansel & Gretel was always one of my favorite fairy tales LOL.  I must read these someday.

Hopefully your teachers were secretly twisted like me, in which case they probably loved your weird ideas!

[Rose]

LMAO That is awesome!  I love how twisted you were even as a kid!  The fox story... brutal!!!  Of course, so is the cannibalistic stepmom, but Hansel & Gretel was always one of my favorite fairy tales LOL.  I must read these someday.

Hopefully your teachers were secretly twisted like me, in which case they probably loved your weird ideas!

The fox one cracks me up cause I gave the fox a cutesy name, for such a morbid story. Foxy Fox lol. Very 2nd grade. But getting picked twice and asking my mom to buy me notebooks is what got her to buy me a typewriter for my birthday. I loved the hell out of that thing LOL.