MadWords Now

Now that you have identified yourself as a deity (a god), you need to expand what everyone will want to know.

So, just like you are somewhat similar to your parents (whether you like it or not),  your “god” also came from a set of parents.

And, just like you are somewhat similar in personality and appearance to your biological parents, so must it be that there is a logical connection in character and qualities between your god identity and your god parents from whence you came.

Your next mission is to identify just who your parents are.  Now, obviously, your mother and father are BOTH gods (yes, yes, a god and a goddess).

Use the following web sites and answer the following questions to determine the identity of  your god parents.

1. Who is your father?
   

• Give the name, and two facts about this mythological being.
  
• Give the qualities that you received from this god to make you who you are.
  

1. Who is your mother?  Give the name, and two facts about this mythological being.

• Give the name, and two facts about this mythological being.
  
• Give the qualities that you received from this god to make you who you are.

Web site resources:

• MythMan
• Greek mythology

Be You by Leonard John Matthews

Seriously.

The title for this posting is a simple question for which each and every one of us has at least ten different answers:

What inspires you to create?

I have experienced scads of classes

and meetings

and concerts

and lunches

and bike rides

and fishing trips

and quiet nights

and bad meals

enough to know what inspires me to make something that comes from my own imagination.

We all have our weapons by Daniela Vladimirova

Mostly, it is

people and what they have to say

that gets me going

that gets me thinking

and

ready to do something,

to create something

in a different way.

And, I usually find it

exciting!

Tags: creating, imagination, inspiration, poetry, reading, words, writing

All right, so you want to be a god or goddess.   Who doesn’t?  But, to be taken seriously, to command the respect of millions, to be a hero, you need to contemplate your options.

Big choices.

Salsacus!

A few things that you would need to start thinking about:

I am all-powerful, I am …

1. What would your goddess/god name be? (It should be somewhat similar to the names we have seen so far:  Zeus, Aphrodite, Perseus, Poseidon, Hera, Athena, Hades, Apollo, Persephone, etc.)  In other words, your name should be–MAGNIFICENT!
2. What would your name mean? (As in:  Zeus is the king of the gods, the Sky God;  Aphrodite is the goddess of Love;  Apollo is thought of as the god of the Sun or of Light;  Hades, the god of the Dead;  or Athena, the goddess of wisdom)
3. What would you look like?
4. What would your godlike powers be?

Tags: ela, fiction, goddesses, gods, lightning thief, mythology, reading, rick riordan, sixth grade, writing

Lightning by colinedwards99

Seriously.  I put my mind to it, and I do not believe that I could force down a sandwich that contained peanut butter AND ketchup.  Peanut butter on its own I could deal with–ketchup?  Couldn’t do that in a sandwich unless there was a cheeseburger or steak or BBQ walleye hidden inside.

(Would not want to have chunks of a peanut butter and ketchup sandwich tossed at me, either, for that matter!)

So, we have begun our journey into the world of Percy Jackson–kid with self-admitted problems who can’t seem to stay out of trouble, especially when he is on field trips.

I have had my share of odd and bizarre substitute teachers, but I don’t believe that I ever had a sub as evil as Mrs. Dodds.

Below, the author of The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan, talks about how he came up with the idea of Mrs. Dodds.

Tags: fiction, lightning thief, percy jackson, reading, rick riordan, ya fiction

Some people, well, teachers–shh!–cannot STAND it when their students do things in class that are annoying or obnoxious.

Some teachers cannot stand it when kids have new technologies in their pockets!  “Shh!”  They tell the kids, “School is for learning, not fun!”

I can still remember when Sister Margaret-Mary nailed me for my “new” technology in my pocket:  “MR. MADDEN!!!! WHY DON’T YOU SHARE THE LITTLE SECRET YOU HAVE HIDDEN IN YOUR POCKET!”

My face turned crimson red, but I got up, pulled out my “technology” and showed to the class.  Several of my buds began to giggle as the sister pounded up to me, grabbed it, and said, “NO MORE, MR. MADDEN.  NO MORE!”

Then, she took the retractable ballpoint pen I’d had in my pocket and sent me to see the principal, who rolled her eyes and greeted me with, “Well, surprise, surprise,  it’s Mr. Madden.”

So, nowadays some teachers cannot stand it when kids have new technologies in their pockets like iPods, mp3 players, or cell phones.

I believe that if used appropriately, listening to music while working can lead to high quality student work as well as a more focused group of students.

(By the way, p-bit is Pocket Based Information Technology.)

What do think?  Should iPods or mp3 players be allowed to be used during non-instructional work times in class?

Why or why not?  Give reasons for your reasons.

So, you don’t know the difference between a satyr and a demigod, huh?

Well, you are going to fix that by doing a scavenger hunt online.

Create a MadWords folder named TLT.  In it, you will be placing information regarding our reading of Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief.

Point your browser to these links:

Middle School Mythology

or the Encyclopedia of Greek Myths

or GreekMythology.com

Create an MS Word doc and find answers to the following questions:

1. What is a goddess?
2. Identify the following mythological characters by giving two facts about each:
   • Zeus
   • Poseidon
   • Perseus
   • Andromeda
   • Hades
   • Kronos (or Cronus)

1. Identify the following terms or places:
   • satyr
   • titan
   • Underworld
   • Tartarus

Hm.

I saw this traffic sign as I was driving through East Lansing.

It caught my eye.

Can you figure out why?

Interesting Times by TabascoTim

Superman by Dunechaser

Hm.

If I had a secret, or an alternate identity, what would it be?

Well, I suppose sixth-grade English teacher by day, star major league pitcher by night (at least in the summer months) would be all right.

Or, teacher by day and mega-famous writer on the side would be okay.

But!  To have a side gig like possessing a few super powers would totally rock.

En la cima by Photopamp

As a kid, I always knew what my “three wishes” would be:  The ability to become invisible, the power to make myself any size, and, of course, the ability to fly.  That’s all a person needs to be amazing, right?

So, if you had a chance to have an alter-ego, a secret side to your self, a “student by day, incredible other thing by night,” what would be your choice?

What kinds of differences would there be between who you are now, and who you would like to become?

Rangitoto @ Dawn by Chris Gin

First of all:  Happy New Year!

I truly wish to all of us that this year brings lots of smiles, laughter, good food, and more smiles.

But, it did occur to me that today’s numerical date is 010110, and that just reached up and smacked my brain, screaming, “Binary!”

So, I posted something on my FaceBook and Twitter about what this number (010110) is when it is converted from binary into what we usually use, Base 10.

Okay, this is becoming confusing.

So, if you have about sixty seconds, check out the YouTube vid below–pretty slickly done.

See you in MadWords on Monday.

Christmas Cliche by Cayusa

Merry, merry, everyone.

Here is hoping that you found a boatload of smiles today with the people that you love and that love you back.

Just beginning to snow in Chicago!

Santa's li'l helper by law keven