Sneddon Snippets: 1000 Awesome Things

This is the 4th post in a series on the Bulldog News Blog featuring other blogs in our school. Teaching 21st Century Skills has become a primary focus for CHS and communicating with students, parents, and the community is a vital component in that process.

Several staff members have started 'blogging' (see my blog roll in the left sidebar). Different teachers have different reasons for blogging... some use it to solicit feedback and writing samples from students, others use it to display student work, and still others post assignments and notes. Today's feature is the "Sneddon's Snippets" Blog, one of the official online homes for English teacher Ms. Alicia Sneddon.  She posts assignments, gives the daily list of what students miss if they were absent, and also writes about events in her classroom.  Visit Ms. Sneddon's blog at http://sneddonsnippets.blogspot.com.  

During the first trimester, my English 9A classes started each day by reading the “Awesome Thing” on the blog 1000awesomethings.com by Neil Pasricha. Then, we took turns naming a few awesome things that happened in our own lives. Our responses varied from “chewing gum in class” to “beating St. Marys after 11 years.” Towards the end of the trimester I realized that not only were we learning from Neil Pasricha that “awesome” was everywhere, but we were also picking up on some very key writing skills that Pasricha employed in his blog posts. We learned about figurative language, using fragments for creative purposes, and even how to use our five senses to improve our writing. Soon after, we set to writing our own “awesome things” book with an entry from each student, and we wanted to share these with Neil. Each student also wrote a letter to Mr. Pasricha, many of them asking for a copy of his book, The Book of Awesome. Last Friday, I received that book, via mail with a handwritten note from Neil:

“To Ms. Sneddon & her AWESOME students! Wow! I absolutely LOVED reading all of your awesome thoughts and letters! They made me laugh, they made me cry, and most of all they made me realize… we’re all the same. We’re all in this together! Do me a favor? As you go through life, always remember that we don’t have much time here, so it’s always important to stay YOU, stay TRUE, and stay AWESOME! With love, Neil”

            My classes were inspired by Neil Pasricha and his amazing attitude toward life. I encourage each of you to check out his blog (www.1000awesomethings.com) and see for yourself just how awesome the littlest things in life can be. In the words of Neil himself, “Go forth – and be AWESOME!”