Weekly Reflection, week 7

Monday...we didn't have class!!

Wednesday Mr. Adams gave us information about some changes in the workshops. We have to make 4 assignments about each work during the workshop. It can be an artwork about the work, a poem, a letter to a character or the writer and some other things that I don't remember right now.
I don't like this idea....it will probably take me a long time to make 4 things about the work....and then I won't be able to talk at all. A good thing about this is that I can get my grade up...so thats good, just as long as I do it.

Friday we had a class from Mr. A. He read a poem....I didn't like it...it was too long and boring....
After that we read two short parts from a story....and we were put in groups and we had to do a couple things with the part.
Each group got a different fragment...and we had to draw the image that you saw when you read the story. I liked doing that, mostly because my group was fun!
After that, we had to re-write the part in a different point of view.
I learned some things from this class.......to work together, I read about a writer I never heard of before, and I learned how to re-write a story and finally, I learned some about imagery, what it does to you, and why a writer uses it.

Tessa van Beusekom, 29 Jan 2007, HW#6, Deadline Reflection

So...conclusion: I missed Dan's story, too bad, Nicole said it was funny.
Jessica and I talked about the movie we watched last Wednesday, I liked it, she didn't. Sorry, but I kind of got all excited about in the beginning already, when I saw that the music was by David Bowie: I love his music!!
But anyways...I guess the movie was not the best one I've ever seen, but it was good to watch a movie in class, better than doing the normal stuff...

I should talk more in workshops, maybe thats why I have a c in this class..I do my homework...maybe the grammar in my stories sucks...sorry, I can't help that, I'm an exhange student and unfortunately not fluent in English. (yet!)

I hope this week will be fun...

Weekly Reflection, week 6

On Monday...we had to write a story about an object that was on a table, and we had to choose the object ourselves. I choose the ruler. It was not a very interesting story....I just wrote about the smell, look and sound from the ruler.
Wednesday we watched the movie, "When the wind blows". I really liked that movie, it was an animation.......about an old couple. We had to take notes about the characterisation, that wasn't that hard because the couple were the only characters in the movie.
We also got our dialogue story back, I did pretty good on that!!

On Friday I was absent, so I don't know what we did....

Deadline Reflection HW #4

I talked with Jessica about the story: Hills like White Elephants. She thought the man in the story was the husband of the woman, but I don't think that that is true. So, there are many different ways in how you can interpret a story.
I talked with Nicole about the fact that we both still have a long time before we do our workshops, we can reads other people's stories and we have a long time to think of something good.
I don't like rush when I have a story, I take my time, if I can.
I told Sam I really liked her story, because of the good desciption of the characters and it kept me interested the whole time.
I wonder what we're doing next week, maybe we'll all going to share our dialogues on Monday.

Weekly Reflection, week 5

This week was fun but also boring

I don't remember what we did Monday..
Wednesday we had to write a story about deer hunting.....and we had to go in pairs to read each other's stories......and after that we had to share it......
Hansley thought that my story was good enough to share it with the class....I didn't agree....and I think the class did not like the story either....
First, I thought that I didn't care what other people thought of my stories....but actually I do care a little....

Friday was fun, I really liked the discussions, they were funny and interesting.....and they are getting better every week!

Deadline reflection HW #3

I agreed with other people that its fun to critique other people's stuff.....with Emily I talked about creating a story with another person, that was fun. I am starting to like our discussions more.....so we'll see how it goes this week!
People really get into the works of students for the workshop...and thats fun!

Weekly Reflection, week 4

This week was interesting. The disscusions on Friday were very good, also amusing. I liked Ivan story about the squirell rabit. It was funny, easy and I could create a picture of the scene of the story. I like that!
I did not like the other story because the genre, it reminded me of star wars. But he gave it a good shot, the story wasn't bad. I can't believe how much imagination people in our class have and they know how to turn it into a story very well.
Wednesday...what did we do?? Oh yeah, you had to think of a character...I wrote about a girl in 10th grade who could read people's mind.....not very original...I know....but I just couldn't think of anything else!
I had to write a story with Kelly, who thought of a mathematican.....it was weird to create a story that had both characters in it. But ours wasn't that chalenging...we just made a story about a mathteacher who takes his 10th grade class on a fieldtrip.
How exciting......

This week I learned more about creating a character and about having a discussion.....hm, I should talk more because I hardly talk during the discussions so far...so that should be my goal for next week!!

Tessa van Beusekom, 29 Jan 2007, HW#2, Deadline Reflection

So, I made a mistake...I thought Sam was not in my class...but she is....sorry Sam!!
We both agreed that it is fun to create characters in your mind. What I like to do is when I am in public places, and I see people passing by, I wonder what kind of person they are. What is their background, what are their hobbies, do they have a family? And other thing......I like to do that....maybe you think that thats weird...but thats just me!

I learned a lot about how to create characters, it was interesting. I talked with Emily about the first workshop. It was not bad, we all have different opinions about work from students, interesting! And we both thought that everyone's opinion is respected in this class.

Tessa van Beusekom, 26 january 2007, Homework #2 Weekly reflection

On wedsnesday, we went to the library to write a story about a person who was there. I picked a boy who walked into the library with his mom. I wrote a story about a boy named Pablo who comes home after school and he is afraid. His dad abuses him.......and his mom is scared of his dad.
Not a very positive story, but that was the first thing that came to my mind so I just wrote it down. By doing this I learned how to create a character and to focus on appearance, looks, things he/she does, and why. It was hard to get that al in a story of 2 pages, I think I did not succeed 100% in that.

Friday, we had our first workshop. I have to admit that I didn't read Hearther's story (sorry Hearther!!) but I thought that we were going to read the two stories in class. But I did read kelly's story. I did not like the subject, I don't have much with fantasy or very dark stories and very bloody stories.
But I did like the style she used, very detailed. I think it was very good how she created the story, I could never think of a story like that.
As for Heather's story: I like detectives and stories with dialogue, so her story looked interesting, I'll read it over the weekend.
This class helped to know each other a little bit better. And we found out opinions about each other's work. The discussions were not bad, sometimes they were interesting.
I didn't say that much....I'll try to say more next time.

A young girl's dreams

See the flowers on the hill
Look at the sky, thats more blue than ever
Look at the trees, that shake a little
because of a mysterious, warm wind from the east
She walks on a ground that seems to move
The sunbeams make her cover with a golden flood

She's the girl who had never met bad things
never had fear in her eyes
She never saw violence
never hears of evil

All the animals stop moving
when she passes by
They are fascinated by her unknownness
and when she opens her eyes
her fairy, bright blue eyes
you can see two big oceans
And you could drown in them anytime

She walks and walks
her golden hair waves in the air
Where will she go??

She picks the flowers
makes a wish
throws the flowers in the blue air
and starts dancing....

When people see her
they don't stop
All they see is just a normal girl
who is got up in her thoughts
In het mind, she always walks in nature
Her minds shows her
where she wants to be
How long will it take
before she realises
that she lives in a different world
Or, will she never get rid of her thoughts
and will she walk forever in her dreams?

TvB

Tessa van Beusekom, 21 Jan 2007, HW#1, Deadline Reflection

The stories we wrote on Friday helped to write in different styles, because some people had already started the story before me.
Me and Sam both thought it was a challanging thing to do. At least now that I was not the only one who thought it was difficult sometimes to continue a story that doesn't make any sense.
I agreed with Sam and Jessica that a good writer is someone who can make you create a picture in your mind about the story. Also, a good writer can fascinate you with his/her story.
I read Nicole's post, she said that she felt unconfident about her writing, and thats how I feel too. I'm not scared of other people's opinion about my work, its just that I hope its not all negative, and that some people will like my work....
By replying to my classmates I found out that I have some of the same opinion as them, which is good! I just hope that this class is going to be interesting and fun...

Tessa V, 19 anuari 2007, HW#1, Weekly Reflection

This week we did a few stuff.......Wednesday we just did presentations about ourselves. I told everyone that I was stuck in America, and that it sucked, because I hate it here. And when Mr. Adams asked me why I hated Americans I said because they are lazy and anoying.......Well, it was meant to be sarcastic....or maybe just the first part...but anyway, I wasn't serious!!

I totally did the wordgame on Friday wrong....sorry...I'm blonde, I can't help it...
I liked the thing we did afer the game, continue a story and then pass it to another person for 6, 7 times.
I liked it because I got to know a little bit about some people's style of writing....interesting....I had a story with ninja's and one with power rangers, whaha!!

Better World

There's nobody who can keep me out of trouble
There's no one who can share my tears
If I could only find someone
who has no fears

Although the world I live in is big
the people who live on it make me fell small
I'm stuck with the thoughts in my mind
but nobody cares at all

Blame me for being a dreamer
there's no other way of living for me
And if you ever try to reach to my heart
there will be no light in the way to see

I've seen enough in the world to hate it
You cannot even imagine what people can do
Will this go on forever - or has it an end?
there's just no other world where we could go

I would like to dissapear in the night
then I could wander around in places
where no other people have been before
to loof from above at all those faces
to the rich and the poor
the healthy and the sick
to the people who don't believe anymore
until the people who fight for a better world

TvB

What makes a good writer?

What makes a good writer?

For me, a good writer is someone who knows how to put brilliant ideas into stories. I like short stories (crazy and unexpected ones) and lyrics the most. A good writer is someone who can write stuff that has a meaning, a message or a hidden lesson. It doesn't matter how many people it applies to, as long as its creative and if its entertaining or brilliant.