The Creative Hour

Your goal is to create a minimum of 300 words in one hour on one of the following topics. You may use a dictionary or thesaurus. You must do your best with the time you have! Hand in what you have finished after exactly one hour. Write with the highest level of diction and creativity that you can!

1. Weave a story that includes this headline: “Giant Flies Invade Norway!”
2. Take the first line of a nursery rhyme to start your story.
3. Write about someone you would love to see put in jail.
4. Erica Jong said, “If you don’t risk anything, you risk more”. Write about what this means to you.
5. Write about a good thing gone bad.
6. Write about a weird day in your workplace.
7. In 300 words, create your ideal place.
8. Use the following words in a story: hypocrite, paperclip, city, telephone, cookie jar
9. List 10 things you can do with Kleenex. Pick one and write about it.
10. Take two people who strongly dislike each other. Stick them both in the backseat of a cab. What happens?
11. What is the worst meal you have had? Write about it as if it is taking place right now.
12. Write about a habit you find hard to break.
13. Use the prompt “I used to think…” as your starter, and write 300 words.
14. The best thing in life is…
15. For 90 seconds, list everything you can think of that would be found in a hospital. Now write a story using every word you have listed, but don’t set your story anywhere near a hospital.
16. List 10 things you will never do. Pick one and expand on it (Or expand on 3 different things to make up 300 words)
17. Cook up your own version of a get rich quick scheme.
18. If an ATM could be custom created for you, what would it spew out instead of money?
19. Complete the statement: “I’d walk a mile for_____________” and continue to write about it.
20. Create a story based on this personification: “love hesitates”.
21. Come up with ten reasons why you should skip bathing for a week.
22. Create a story based on the metaphor: “A plate of fear”
23. I deserve a______________.
24. For 300 words write from the point of view of a strand of hair.
25. Write a story from the perspective of the parents who tried to sell their newborn baby on the Internet for $10,000.
26. In 300 words, describe 3 reasons to turn down a marriage proposal.

Which Way Does Your Moral Compass Point?

Which way does your moral compass point?

The topic of today's blog is your moral value system. It is important to clarify that what you are meant to discuss is NOT your particular morals, but instead what causes you to have the value system that you do. (You will have an opportunity at the end of the blog to give your opinion on one controversial topic.)

Please read the article "Which way does your moral compass point?" from the Vancouver Sun (linked in the sidebar) and respond in your blog. Use the following questions to guide your response.

1. What do you think are the three most important factors in your life that affect what your value system is? Why do you think each of these are important?
2. Are all value systems (of all people) equally acceptable?
3. Are you a person with a strong sense of what you believe to be clearly right and wrong, or do you see a lot of gray area in many issues?
4. Do you expect that your morals will change in any way over the course of your life. If they do, what will cause them to change?
5. How acceptable do you feel it is to impress YOUR value system on others?


The second part of the blog is to give your opinion on ONE of the following topics:

a) Conducting MEDICAL experiments on animals
b) Wearing fur
c)Cloning humans (or intentionally altering the characteristics of a fetus)
d)The death penalty
e)Abortion

Novel Journal Entry

I am only assigning 1 journal entry for the novel unit, and I usually find this one of the most interesting assignments as I get to have a bit of a dialogue with you about your novel. Please keep the following in mind when it comes to journal writing:

1. Writing in response to reading without a goal of deeper understanding is a waste of time (yours and mine)
2. Your goals are to:a) personalize the story (make it more meaningful for you) b) gain insights about characters c) see the world in a different way
3. The main point of journal writing is to clarify your thoughts by committing your thinking to paper. Please choose a quote or a passage from your novel (include page number) and explain the connection you have made to it. How does the connection you have made help you understand more about the book?

Today you need to post your own journal entry, and respond to one other people in your LIT circle group. As always, proper grammar, spelling, punctuation etc. applies. Finally, make sure you are linked to everyone else who is reading the same novel.

Please include your novel title in your blog title. Example: Journal #1: The Hunger Games

Moral Dilemma

You are in Paris visiting the Louvre, the most famous art museum in the world. As you spend time looking at the Mona Lisa, you strike up a conversation with an elderly lady standing next to you.


Ada Artlover is 92 years old. She recently lost her husband, but she has two daughters and many grandchildren. She has a wide circle of friends and a variety of interests. Ada uses a motorized wheelchair to get around. She lives in an assisted care facility for elderly people.

Suddenly a fire breaks out. You can save Mrs. Artlover or you can save the Mona Lisa, but you CAN NOT SAVE BOTH. Make the decision and save one or the other.


Later the police have brought you in for questioning. You have been asked to write a detailed explanation of your decision. Provide four or five reasons to support your course of action.