Embedding Video Into Your Blogs

Blogs are multimedia forms of writing. We are able to not only express our thoughts, ideas, and stories in writing, but through video, sound, and other digital forms. If you are blogging about music, movies, or other forms of media, it's always important to include as much forms of video as possible.

For example, one of my favorite video's (and song's) is for Coldplay's "The Scientist." Not only is it a beautiful song, but the video is cleverly told in "reverse" narrative order, becoming a puzzle that unfolds along with the lyrics.  I will now embed the YouTube video. As you can see, since it's my blog, my readers probably wouldn't just care if I posted "My Favorite Coldplay" song, and didn't write about it. After all, they could just go to YouTube if they just wanted to watch the video. Remember, it's your writing, thoughts, and ideas, that matter.

Also, you want to leave your reader with a question, or invitation to comment. Commenting on other's blogs, and replying to the comment on yours, is a way to generate a "loyal" following of readers.

So, what do you think about the way the video told the story of the song? What happened in the video, if you were telling the story in normal sequential order?

-Mr. Myers

Help Mr. Myers Fix His Blog!

Well, in case you have not noticed, Mr. Myers has not updated his blog since December, yikes, December! Well, there's a reason for that, other than laziness, the main one being, I'm not really sure what my blog should be about.

My blog is called "21st Century Writer" and will therefore be related to my role both as a writer, and as a teacher of writing. So while my blog tries to figure out what it wants to be when it grows up, perhaps you, my readers, can help out. Should the 21st Century Writer blog be a personal one, where I share my personal writing and digital media creations. Another possiblitity is to turn the blog into a demonstration blog, where I provide walkthroughs and examples of "How To" create the content produced in my 21st Century Writing, Digital Media, and English Language Arts classes. A third possiblity is for my blog to be a showcase for the brilliant, creative work produced by my amazing fellow Writers for Life in all my classes. Finally, my blog could be a blog for teachers, on how to create an environment in their classes similar to the one that led to building and nurturing the W4L community.

As you can see from the content of this blog, I have tried all these approaches since launching my blog two years ago. However, I would like my blog to have an actual purpose, so I'm asking you, my reader, to help determine just what my blog should be about; so please scroll down to the bottom of this page, vote in my poll, and help Mr. Myers fix his blog!

-Daryl Myers

Hour of Code Blog Updates

Hello Amazing 21st Century Writing and Digital Media 6 Writers for Life,
We participated in the Hour of Code last week, and the time has come to blog about your reflections on your projects and the coding process. You can write about your Hour of Code experience in any way you wish, but here are some sentence starters and guidelines for those who are confused.

Certificate of Completion all Writers for Life receive upon updating their blogs with the Hour of Code projects!

Hour of Code Blog Post Guidelines

1. Describe the Hour of Code project you chose, and summarize or describe your project and/or why you chose that project.
Example:  For my Hour of Project I created a ---------. I chose this project because....
2. Write about any difficulties, confusion, or challenges you faced throughout your coding process.
Example: While I really wanted to do a name animation, I had trouble figuring out how I was supposed to save it...
3. Overall, are you proud of your work or do you think your project needs more work?
4. Attach a link to your project so others can view it and discuss your work.
Example: Well, don't take my work for it, here's a link to my (PROJECT), please tell me what you think about it.

Mr. Myers again searching for the truth about how awesome it is to be a Writer for Life. 

Writers: Stop and Write!

Good Advice for All Writers!

NaNoWriMo Update

Today I wrote 638 words for NaNoWriMo. I didn't get very far in my prologue, but what I wrote I'm really proud of, since prologues, introducing the characters, are kind of tough! By writing, though, I really feel like I am starting to get a "handle" on my "Zookeeper" character.

It's NaNoWriMo Time! Writers for Life, Start Your (Novel) Engines!

It's NaNoWriMo time, one of the most glorious times of year in the already glorious Writers' Sanctuary, AKA Room C6 of Monte Vista Middle School. What is NaNoWriMo? Well, for you non-Writers for Life out there, NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, where writers from around the world take on the challenge of writing a novel during the month of November. While this may seem like an impossible task, many Monte Vista Middle School students have become published novelists through their participation in NaNoWriMo, and MV's 21st Century Writing class has published two novels--Unspoken and Ordinarily Extraordinary, both available for purchase at Amazon-- particpating in the Young Writers Program.

Of course, this year the 21st Century Writing class will be collaborating, writing, editing, publishing, and creating promotional materials for NaNoWriMo this year as well. We are keeping this year's novel under wraps for now, but watch this blog, the Toro Tube YouTube channel, and the 21st Century Writing student blogs for exciting developments and chapter "teases."

I am free to reveal that this year's topic will cover the mysterious world of cryptozoology. Be prepared to discover just who the real "monsters" are in this world!

-Mr. Myers

Ask the Writing Wizard!

Monte Vista's 21st Century Writing and Digital Media 6 Writers for Life are amazingly talented writers, but did you know that they are experts in so many other areas as well? Being the generous writers that they are, they would like to share their expertise with the world!

As a result, the student blogs will, in addition to their usual work, feature advice on topics covering a variety of interests and subjects. Want to know how to surf? Looking for the perfect adjective? Maybe you have questions about your favorite baseball team? Well, all of these topics and more will be covered by our expert bloggers. Just check out the Monte Vista student blog rolls to the right, and you just may find the answers you're seeking; and maybe even some you are not!

-Mr. Myers

Mr. Myers, AKA The Writing Wizard, Here to Answer All Your Writing Questions