Last time I wrote about how two of my classes are doing this psychological analysis of literary characters, now two of my other classes are starting to work on a plan to beautify a vacant lot in the downtown area.

It is being called Serenity Gardens.

They are going to try to raise enough money to put in a gazebo, several benches and a few picnic tables, a walkway along with evergreen trees and plants.

The big fundraiser will be asking for donations by offering engraved name bricks for only $30.00.   Now On-Sale. Contact Knox High School 574-772-1670  Order form is here: http://www.johnpoindexter.com/index.htm

You can have your name engraved in a 4x8 brick that will go in the walkway through the area.

Some engraving ideas are:

Name, year of graduation, then school name

Business name and location

All names are engraved in CAPITAL LETTERS. Each engraving will allow 18 characters per line with up to three lines per brick; and it is sealed to last a lifetime.

Usually these classes do project based learning by just figuring out what needs to be done and completing the paperwork. But, this time they wanted to know why they could not go out and do the actual work. So, we have taken it all the way through the school system and will be visiting the city council next week to get their permission or denial.

If they approve our plan, our fundraiser will go in effect on Tuesday, Nov. 11th. (Pretty sure it will be approved, as the Mayor told me it would).

Bricks can be ordered from the students involved, myself or by calling the school's office, and through the company's on-line ordering process.

We will be working with Bricks-R-Us for this fundraiser.

If you graduated from Knox, then buy brick with your information. If you didn't, buy one anyway. But wait until Tuesday. I will post an update here in the comment section when they go on sale.

They sent me a sample and it a real nice looking signature brick.

My students would appreciate your support in their endeavor to turn an ugly lot into something people can enjoy.

Leave us a comment down below and tell us what you think of this idea.

Also, you can mention how many bricks you want engraved with you and your family's names on them.

Until next time,

John

Here is a listing of my eBooks that are only 99 cents each.

She Rises at Dawn, Dreamer's Paradise, Hollywood Dream, and All in the Family Cruise

You can find them at Amazon http://tinyurl.com/ma8gd83

They are also on Nook and Kobo.

Smashwords carries them in all formats and even in PDF files.

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JohnPoindexter

You don't need a special reader machine.  You can download the Kindle app or Nook app from their websites to use on your computer, tablet, or laptop.

Hello everyone, hope you had a great week and will have another great week coming up.

As some of you might know I am an English teacher in a high school. This is my 25th year of teaching and I am often asked why I became a teacher, especially when someone finds out that I was a Special Agent prior to going into teaching.

All I can say is it is because of an elderly lady that taught English at Indiana State University. She convinced me that I would be a great teacher as I had the ability and talent to reach out to others and get them to see how they can improve themselves. Also, because I had travelled around the world and spent time in areas where literature was written or written about.

Education has changed in the past 25 years and I am not sure it was all for the good. We now have politicians who think they know more about what is good for education, even though they have never spent any time in a classroom filled with young minds, questioning why they need this material. We fight against electronics that seems more important to a student than any book.

Two of my classes are preparing to start on what I call their major project. It was introduced to me a few years ago by a colleague and I loved it so much I moved it from summer school to the regular year.

The students will do a psychological analysis of three main characters and apply the steps of The Pattern of Human Experience to each character. This seems to be a good combination of using English skills and psychological principles to develop their analysis of how the pattern affects all humans, real or fictional.

This project really does make the student stop and think, and simply not look up on the Internet an easy answer to submit for a grade. It will task their mind so deeply, they will be screaming at me to tell them the answers.

Which, I will not do.

Once finished, they will have learned not only how The Pattern of Human Experience affects life, but how to take a subject, any subject, and complete an analysis to show an intelligent step-by-step description of how the subject can affect us all.

This is the exciting time of teaching when you see young minds thinking, squirming to figure out something they have never had to do before. Then all of a sudden you look at one of them and see the expression on their face when they finally have the answer. They look up at you and you smile back, it is then they know they are on the right track. So they ask, is this it?

My answer to them when this happens is simply one word, "interesting".

Until next time, keep it interesting!

John

Here is a listing of my eBooks that are only 99 cents each.

She Rises at Dawn, Dreamer's Paradise, Hollywood Dream, and All in the Family Cruise

You can find them at Amazon http://tinyurl.com/ma8gd83

They are also on Nook and Kobo.

Smashwords carries them in all formats and even in PDF files.

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JohnPoindexter

You don't need a special reader machine.  You can download the Kindle app or Nook app from their websites to use on your computer, tablet, or laptop.

October is a week away and that is hard to believe.  Before long that nasty weather will be here and no one will be happy.  Of course that just means it will be closer to summer again. It is a real shame that global warming is not helping to keep the temperatures a steady 55 all year long. That would be a great weather to have.

I mentioned my Creative Class last time and I must say their stories are getting better. We still have some editing issues to look at, but as far as the story they are writing, they are doing great. One this week, left me hanging, wanting to know more. I actually said out loud, "Where is the rest?" But, she had reached her 500 word limit and ended with a good cliff hanger.

One of my seniors said "We found your Blog.  But, you only have two comments,"

She is probably close to being right. There are over 97,000 views of this Blog, but there have not been many comments.

Surely, someone has something of value to talk about. What did you do for the weekend? What are your plans for the week?

The rest of the space on this small blog page is for your comments. So, go down below and enter a comment and tell us all what is up in your world? We would all love to hear about you. Click on the word Comments to leave a message.

Until next time, be sure to visit my website www.johnpoindexter.com and you can find my books at the links below.

John

Here is a listing of my eBooks that are only 99 cents each.

She Rises at Dawn, Dreamer's Paradise, Hollywood Dream, and All in the Family Cruise

You can find them at Amazon http://tinyurl.com/ma8gd83

They are also on Nook and Kobo.

Smashwords carries them in all formats and even in PDF files.

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JohnPoindexter

You don't need a special reader machine.  You can download the Kindle app or Nook app from their websites to use on your computer, tablet, or laptop.

Summer is over for another year. Seems that Labor Day is the official end of summer anymore, even though it like in the twenties of September before it is actually Fall.

All I know is it is cooler in the mornings now and before long that damn cold weather will be back.

No writing this past weekend as it was work on the wife's craft room weekend. I think it is just about done, except she needs another chair. She is into card making now and doing really good at it.

I did get some reading done, as I received K.M. Weiland's newsletter that contained some links to her Blog entries. Inside her Blogs are links to other articles/Blogs she has written.  This kept me busy for two hours, before I had to go work on that room.

You can find her writings at her site Helping Writers Become Authors for some good reading. http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/

I have three students in my Creative Class, which is an extra class for them beyond their normal schedule.  They turned in their first assignment last week and I must say their work was great. Of course, two of them want to be romance writers and the other is into fantasy, but that is okay with me. I enjoyed reading their works and can't wait to see how they do this week. Their assignment this week is to take three different terms and make a story out of them of 500 words, no more and very little less.

Now it is your turn to tell us what is going on with you.  We have over 2000 readers checking in on the Blog, so someone has to have something to tell us.

Leave a comment below and fill us in on what is happening in your world.

We would really like to know.

Until next time, be sure to visit my website www.johnpoindexter.com and you can find my books at the links below.

John

Here is a listing of my eBooks that are only 99 cents each.

She Rises at Dawn, Dreamer's Paradise, Hollywood Dream, and All in the Family Cruise

You can find them at Amazon http://tinyurl.com/ma8gd83

They are also on Nook and Kobo.

Smashwords carries them in all formats and even in PDF files.

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JohnPoindexter

You don't need a special reader machine.  You can download the Kindle app or Nook app from their websites to use on your computer, tablet, or laptop.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Okay where did summer go?   We had four days with students and already the temperature is falling lower, especially at night with a 46 just the other night. It is not time for cold weather yet, school just started.

It has been a busy week getting back into the swing of going to school and introducing the students to a new class.  I haven't decided if it is going to be a long year or short one like last year. Last year seemed to fly by, but this week sure didn't.

In the writing world:

If you are looking for some good reading, check Roz Morris' blog at Nail Your Novel. http://www.nailyournovel.com/

Also check out K.M. Weiland's site Helping Writers Become Authors for some good reading. http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/

Joanna Penn's website The Creative Penn at http://www.thecreativepenn.com/ is another good website to learn what is going on in the writing world as well as independent publishing world.

All of these authors can provide an abundance amount of writing advice via their respective websites.

I enjoy reading their material and finding the new articles that come on-line often. I am sure you will too.

Okay, now what have you been up to?  I have not had a chance to do any writing in the last week. Have you?

Please leave a comment down below telling us what is going on in your world. There are over 2000+ readers of this blog and surely someone has something to say. It is not hard to leave a comment.

I have surgery Tuesday, so it is a short work week for me with having another day for recover after the surgery. Hopefully, everything will be okay and the problem will be fixed.

I look forward to reading some of your comments.

Until next time,

John

Don't forget to visit my website at http:www.johnpoindexter.com

Here is a listing of my eBooks that are only 99 cents each.

She Rises at Dawn, Dreamer's Paradise, Hollywood Dream, All in the Family Cruise

You can find them at Amazon http://tinyurl.com/ma8gd83

They are also on Nook and Kobo.

Smashwords carries them in all formats and even in PDF files.

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JohnPoindexter

You don't need a special reader machine.  You can download the Kindle app or Nook app from their websites to use on your computer, tablet, or laptop.