Agree. Disagree. Expand. Seek. Wonder. Ask. Muse. Doubt. Affirm. Connect. Confirm. Share. Research. React. Respond. Analyze. Assess. Align. Judge. Realize. Think. Discover. Explore. Extrapolate. Ponder.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Thoughts Thursday--due August 30
Agree. Disagree. Expand. Seek. Wonder. Ask. Muse. Doubt. Affirm. Connect. Confirm. Share. Research. React. Respond. Analyze. Assess. Align. Judge. Realize. Think. Discover. Explore. Extrapolate. Ponder.
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93 comments:
Koehn pd. 7
I can't remember if it was Wednesday or Thursday last week when at the beginning of class you asked us to read pages 119-120 out of our books. After, we would comment to the class and be graded on our comment, question, or whatever we said. I am not sure if I care for this style of grading. I can understand from the teacher's perspective that you are trying to get participation from as many people as you can. However, I was sitting there and after listening to a few people share their thoughts, I could not think of anything else that was worthy to share with the class. I felt as though all the intelligent comments were made and the reading was analyzed thoroughly. I kept thinking to myself, "I need to come up with something unique to say!" I knew if I didn't that my grade would suffer a 0. At that moment, I was forced to come up with a comment that was not all that original, but got me the grade for the day. I feel that the best ideas, thoughts, and inventions come sporadically, not when forced. The point of our class discussions is to learn from one another, I am not certain that my forced, unoriginal comment created a learning moment for someone. Again, I can see the flip side where the quiet ones in class may never share their opinions if the same students were commenting all the time. I have had this same problem in other classes(English classes) where discussion was graded. I have tried to think of an alternative situation that would require all to participate in a discussion, but not require a grade. The grade just seems like a way to get all to participate, not actually assessing our comments. I just wish at times where I truly do not have anything brilliant to say, I would not be compelled to do so.
Van Ede 5
One topic of discussion I found particularly interesting was our conversation over how the American dream can be quite unrealistic. We talked about how the American dream has poisoned us into thinking that if we work hard at something for an extended period of time we are guaranteed success. We provided many examples of this but especially in the field of athletics. The American dream would like to tell us that if one were to shoot baskets nonstop for several years he would be able to become a pro-athlete. However, this is drastically improbable as many other factors play a role into becoming an extraordinary athlete, particularly genetics. The average height of an NBA player is well above six feet, and many players possess other enhanced abilities such as an astounding vertical jump. However, one still must give hard work some credit as success is not simply a genetic lottery. Some members of the human race are blessed with incredible talents, but those talents only lay the basis for success. Without development and use, talent can wither all too fast. A prime example of this is Charlie Sheen. Charlie Sheen is believed by some to be one of the most talented actors of his generation and he has achieved a multitude of success, yet where is his success now? In my opinion, Charlie Sheen has basically trashed his career through his past conduct. Through a deep abuse of alcohol and drugs, Mr. Sheen has contorted his talent into a recreational rather than developmental lifestyle. The American dream may not be perfect; it has the potential to lie, trick, and deceive, but that does not mean we should simply give up if we are not recipients of the "winnings" of genetic gambling. We can still work hard to reach our full potential in whatever captures our interest. Talent creates potential, but hard work defines it.
Story 2
Over the last couple weeks I found the top 20 conversation we had in class to be quite interesting. When I looked over some of those top mistakes, I immediately found some that I have done quite frequently in my essay papers I have done since last year. One of the mistakes in the top 20 was vague pronoun usage. This is something that I use to do to a very large extent in my other essay papers; without even realizing I did it. The way I interpreted the meaning of that mistake, was to not assume that everyone already knew what or who you were talking about in your essay. Ever since I found this out, I have worked very hard to try and fix my vague pronoun usage, and I can already see that I am improving. The top 20 also had a very surprising number one spot for biggest mistake: the wrong word. Out of all things in English, I expected the number one spot to be something much more complicated or sophisticated. I know when I write my essays I do not do this mistake more than any others, but I do make this mistake at times still. The time when I saw this mistake the most was when I proof-read other classmate’s essays. I would normally see it at least once but usually more in my classmate’s essays, but I never realized that students as a whole make that the number one mistake out of everything in English. That astonishes me quite a bit, with an idea that would seem so simple, yet the idea proves to be the hardest and most challenging writing act to follow. Now that I know at least some of these top 20 mistakes, I know this will help improve my writing as I am already thinking things through thoroughly much more often now.
Larson 2
When we discussed the top twenty in class I found it very interesting that the majority of my writing mistakes were in the top five. All twenty, are no doubt important for a great writing experience, but the first five are the main rules I tend to break while writing. I often use the wrong words in my writing, and even worse, I don’t usually figure it out till I have one of my fellow classmates, or parents read it. It is an easy mistake that just happens to pass by without any effort. I also do not cite my sources that often while writing an essay. If it is required to, I will write out my sources to get the full credit, but if it isn’t required, it usually does not even pass my mind to cite my sources. It’s not an issue of trying to steal the original authors work as my own, but more of a mindless mistake that I was not taught well enough of it through my pursuit of maturing my writing. Recently, one of my classmates proof read my essay over womanhood and I now realize my writing is filled with very vague pronoun references. Many sentences in my essay consist of two different subjects, and many times I only write he/she. Writing this makes it extremely difficult for the reader to differentiate which subject I mean at that specific part. Last but not least, spelling is a very difficult subject for me, especially homonyms. I write with my right hand, and not everyday, but every day. These become extremely difficult for me to tell the difference from each other. The worst part about this, spell check does not check this kind of spelling mistake. To the computer, whether you write the right tense of write, the computer agrees with it no matter what because it is spelt right. There is a list of twenty that I must not try to remember to follow, but for me, I will start with the first five to better my writing technique this year.
Marso 7
One statement that Mr. Christensen made yesterday was particularly interesting interesting. While we were discussing Easybib.com, he said something to the effect of “Why are there so many ways to source varied resources when you must incorporate them into your work?” At first, I took this question as I do many things, with some thought and then leaving it at that. However, after class that night, the question resurfaced in my mind. The best answer I could come up with was that, as with all things in our society and language, rules are necessary. I say rules because when there is a strict set of guidelines, they are more strongly used and enforced. If there were mere suggestions for how to cite sources in a research paper, students, or any other writers, would not be held to any standard. Additionaly, punishment would be much harder to enforce. As I thought about this, I began to see the corelation between his statement and his syllabus. The reason we have so many different ways to cite sources is to enforce acedemic honesty. As I referred to the syllabus, I read directly in the paragraph on plagiarism, “During the course, special attention will be given to correct souce citation and paraphriasing techniques so that you can avoid “Unintentional” plagiarism…” Whether or not he meant to refer to his syllabus, it was great to see specific examples of what he had previously stated when outlining the class. My final thought about citations was that they require a fair amount of work and attention to detail, unless resources like Easybib.com are used. I came to the realization that this work and extra ink was vital to put in a paper, though, by placing myself in a hypothetical situation. If I had previously published work that anybody wanted to use in their writing, I would absolutely want credit for what I had done. Not only is it deserved, but it makes the original source easy to find if the reader’s curiousity is sparked while reading the paper. Therefore, I will work to be tedious in my sourcing in this class and beyond.
Volk 1
As we have been talking about our classifying essays, I have found that I need to open up my mind to new things if I want to write to my full potential and even meet some of the criteria to score well on my essays. We have been talking about sentence structure and clauses. Now that I think back, I feel as if I do not mix it up enough. Most of my sentences have the same structures and it makes my work dull and even boring. I never considered using different clauses to make my work interesting. The syntax structures that we have talked about are simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex. I realize that to entertain a reader I cannot only use one or two but I must use all four. Since I will also be going to college next year, I will need to build my writing to the best that it can be for college professors. Another thing that struck me as interesting was the top 20 mistakes. I noticed in my own writing that I contribute to those mistakes. I even found that I do not properly know the correct ways to put them in my writing. It was interesting to me because I thought that I knew most of the things needed to write a perfect essay. What I found is that there is a lot of work to be done. Knowing these top twenty mistakes and how to properly fit different sentence structures into my work will greatly improve my scores and make me a better writer. On top of that I will be able to entertain and impress my professors in college and maybe even Mr. Christensen in the near future. It will be something that I will work on for the rest of the year.
Hallstrom 5
Sitting in class one day I remember hearing something along the lines of “discussion being a grade.” When I replayed that in my head I was not thinking very highly of myself because I’m not one to speak up. I understand that the concept of making it a grade would force everyone to say or comment something along the lines of the topic we were discussing, but when someone else already says something, sometimes it is hard to come up with something equally intelligent to say. Students shouldn’t have to make themselves feel uncomfortable in order to learn. Also, I know that some people can’t think of intelligent things to say on the spur of the moment or while under pressure. They don’t want to end up saying the wrong thing or having their other classmates look at them like they don’t know what they’re talking about. When people feel pressure, sometimes their words or statements aren’t all that they could be. The point of discussion is to learn and I don’t think forcing a student to say something really gives others the opportunity to learn anything. Although to an extent, I do understand the concept of giving a grade during discussion because when the class just sits there in silence, it’s really no fun. But when people are just saying things to say things, it’s not very productive and some students don’t follow where people are coming from and don’t understand the concept behind someone’s comment. In my opinion, if people felt less pressure to discuss how they felt about a certain things, then we as a class would get more out of it rather than people feeling forced to come up with something to say. I realize that discussion is beneficial in all classes, but in this case I think there’s a better approach in getting people to speak rather than forcing them to by giving them a grade for it.
Tripp 5
Last week when we had to read and discuss the top twenty from our handbook, I was surprised by just how many of them I tend to break while writing. There are at least five from that list that I have trouble remembering and therefore do incorrectly in my essays. These include: unnecessary commas, missing words, shifting verb tense, vague pronoun reference, and missing documentation. I would not say that any one of the top twenty is more important than another but I was very surprised that I could have these errors without recognizing it. The unnecessary commas and missing words seem to be the most common mistakes that I make when writing any sort of paper. Sometimes I feel like the sentence needs a comma only to realize later after rereading it that that comma should not be there. The missing words are probably common among many people. I remember after this problem was brought up that you said, “Our brains think faster than our hands can type/write.” I believe that this is most definitely the reason why words are missed so often in writing. The verb tense shifting seems like it should be an easy thing to do correctly when writing a paper, but I still catch myself shifting from time to time. The vague pronoun reference also seems like it should be fairly easy to remember while writing but, like the missing words, our brains think faster than our hands can write. This being said, I think that most people know what they mean when they write a certain pronoun because they are the ones writing the paper. The readers can sometimes be left in the dust when this happens because they might not always know who/what you are talking about and are left to guess. There were times while I was writing this that I had to catch myself from making the mistakes I covered above. So, my goal for this semester in particular will be to work on these specific five to help improve my writing in those areas.
Backer 1
I noticed that others have already commented on it, but something that has stuck in my mind over the past week is grading on whether we comment on something or not. I agree that we, as students, need to participate more but I feel there’s another way to make that happen. I know it might be easy for some students, but for others who have trouble speaking up in class, it can be a difficult concept. I, for one, have a hard time sometimes voicing my opinion. It’s not that I don’t wish to contribute; I’m just a naturally shy person. I understand that you want us all to participate in discussion, but I guess I just don’t understand how it’s fair to grade on something that is more comfortable for some than it is for others. There’s also the issue of people feeling they need to say something just to get the grade. This is a college course; I know a lot of students are going to care about earning a decent grade. We’ll say whatever comes to our mind, no matter how unrelated it is, just to receive points. I feel like students aren’t speaking up because they actually have something to add, but because they know they have to speak up at some point. I think allowing us to speak at our own time would only be beneficial. We can actually come up with something without being rushed to get in a word. I feel like the best way is to have students comment when they feel compelled to, but I’ve also noticed that you’ve been calling randomly on students. I think this would be beneficial as well. I realize that it puts people on the spot, but if you want to get students to contribute, I think that’s a better route. You can call on those who look like they might have some input on the topic and also call on those who normally wouldn’t share what they think. I’d like to think there are ways to get students to participate in discussion without forcing them to do so.
Svartoien 1
Last Wednesday in class Mr. Christensen introduced us to an interesting bit of thought.
FISH = GHOTI
The idea is that a letter in one word may not make the same sound that it would in another word. While this is a rather elementary idea in the English language, people seem to take it for granted. My dad and I engage in many interesting conversations. Most of the time, he approaches a topic in a way I hadn't thought about it before. On one occasion, we were talking about spelling and he retold a situation he had observed in college. A processor had told the class how to spell a complicated word and one pupil had asked "What rule does that follow?". The instructor replied "There is no rule. Educated people just know it." This last quote was the moral of my dad's story ; it was also what I thought of as Mr.C finished telling our class about "GHOTI". Knowing how letters work together to form words is something that should be quite simple, yet I struggle with spelling on a daily basis. While this is an area of English that I struggle with, I wouldn't call myself uneducated because there are many other departments in which I succeed. Grammar is one of those areas. On Thursday of last week, we looked at the Top 20 Grammatical Errors in our handbooks. Many students made remarks on the grammar mistakes and small discussions were had. Most likely, the comments were to gain the day's participation points because I'm not sure what person finds punctuation notably interesting. Nonetheless, while observations were being made, it became more and more evident how complicated grammar can be. Mr.C must have come to the same conclusion as I did because he suddenly exclaimed, "What a science this is!" I found this funny not only because most people don't think of English punctuation and grammar as a science, but also because it is so true. From simply knowing how to combine letters into words, to understanding the Top 20 Grammatical Errors, English is most definitely a science.
Confidence, assertiveness, and critical thinking are rewarded in America capitalism; hence, those attributes/behaviors are rewarded in forums.
___
I might add an "l" to "Ghoti." The "l" is perfectly silent in many words, including "would."
--MC
Bring in a script that you've created prior during forums, so you don't have to think of something "on the spur of the moment." Students who blurt nonsense will not be rewarded, either. Intellectual discourse is the goal. Many college courses--those taught by my acquaintances at Creighton, Mankato, and Indiana, for instance--have as much 30-35% of a semester grade hinge on participation.
Near his end, "fastidious" is the word Chase needs, not "tedious." Astute work, Chase. I'll keep trying to help.
Tibke 1
Over these past few weeks we have had many interesting events and conversations that stood out to me. The one that is still really fresh in my mind happened on either Wednesday or Thursday of the first week. It was when Mr. C spelt the word fish on the board and told us that you can spell it “ghoti”. When he said the first thing I thought was that he was crazy. I did not understand how he could get fish just by randomly throwing letters on to the white board. After he explained how the “gh” made an “f” sound it got me thinking. I started to think about other words that have the letters but make a different sound. While he was explaining how he got the first part of the word I was able to piece together the last two parts. After school that day I was thinking about how such a small thing can mean much more. Every word or parts of the word have a certain role in a certain place. But if you take these words and place them in a new place you can get an entire new meaning of the letters and form new words. It made me realize that not everything is always as it seems. Not just in words but in life too. The fact that I got this just from a different way to spell the word fish explains a lot about Mr. C. He helped expand my mind in way I would never have thought of. If such a task like the one that we did can do this much, I believe this year in English will be enlightening in many ways. It has made me excited to come to English in the hopes that I can broaden my mind on more interesting topics.
Weidenbach 1
In the past few weeks that we have been in this class there have been many discussions that have intrigued me. The one that stuck out the most for me was when our class helped a fellow student on her classification essay. Many of the students pitched in to help out and classify her topic on super heroes. We broke them down into the three classes of technologically advanced or inventive. The second was physically enhanced or muted. Lastly the third classification was anointed with or special apparatus. Maybe these classifications will help someone who has this topic and reads the blogs. A lot of the students in our class had good ideas of what to bring up in the classification essay. For example the super heroes’: villain, costume, identity, and lastly love life. I enjoyed how most of the class got involved with helping. Which intern helped the rest of us out in coming up with our own ideas for our classification essays. I see that some people posted about how they do not get involved with class discussion very much, and how it shouldn’t be given a grade. I agree that it should not be given a grade over, but I do feel it is necessary to get people to participate. I feel this way because it helps the other students in class get ideas going. Not only does it help with getting ideas but it helps with the second hardest thing in writing which is simply getting started. Also I believe that past classroom discussions can help us with the future by being able to look back and ponder on the things that were mentioned. I guess all I am trying to say is that it astounds me that Mr. C took at least half of a class period just to help us all get some ideas going, by simply helping this one student.
We have talked about a lot of things in these last few weeks and it was difficult to choose the subject of this “Thoughts Thursday” The one thing that stuck out to me, was when you were picking one person from the class to help with their essay. Usually you just picked someone at random and went on their topic. Then the next day you asked the class to raise their hands if they wanted help with their topic. Fortunately enough, for that one person, they got a lot of help from you and the class. The class and you helped them think of words that were more interesting I wished you would have selected a couple people to do this with, because my topic had nothing to do with the ones you assisted on the board and I couldn’t apply some of the things that were put on the board to my own topic. So, helping someone else with theirs, overall, did not help me with mine. I needed that one on one from you and the students, and to start understanding the subject in which we would be writing about. I understood the material when you did it on the board for someone else, but when it came time for me to think about mine, I became lost and confused. I was very weary of what to write about, so I flipped from topic to topic and just couldn’t make it work. I finally found a topic that will work for me. I know a lot about it and can add a lot of detail into it. The other students have given me ideas, and I feel much more confident about my classification essay. I could always use some more help, but at least now, I am not lost.
Breitzman 1
I have found several of the individual topics that our English class has discussed recently to be interesting, but the one that stands out to me the most is on-going. I have personally found all the talk about our current classification essays to be very intriguing. I have always been more of a concrete thinker (rather than abstract) and prefer things to be laid out in front of me. I would rather be given a specific assignment instead of having to formulate an idea/topic myself. When I was informed of the classification essay and told that I could choose any topic I wanted, I was a little unsure. I am not always the most clever and original person; therefore, I did not want to come up with a topic that would bore everyone who read my essay as well as myself while writing it. I gave the prompt a lot of thought and decided to “take a gamble” by choosing to write about and classify reality television. I figured that it would be a relatively fresh, original topic, and certainly one that I could expound upon. (I watch quite a bit of reality TV) However, when Mr. Christensen called on me and asked what my topic was, I was a little skeptical. I thought to myself, “What if he thinks I am some weirdo (for lack of a better term) for writing about this?” But his intrigued and positive response gave me some assurance. My next dilemma was this: How do I classify reality shows?? There are so many different varieties; surely it would be hard to group them into just a few categories. I decided rather quickly to group them by intellectual value and, with the help of my teacher and classmates, came up with three categories that I could not be happier with. Aside from my own personal experience, the essay prompt has actually opened up my mind to different thought processes. When I see a group of people or a group of items, I now think, “How could I classify this?” As cliché as it may sound, this essay prompt has begun to influence my way of thinking. Before, I never would have thought about grouping people/things based on their similar characteristics in the way that I do now. I enjoy the many discussions we have in class about other people’s essays as well and how they are planning to classify things relevant to their lives. I am actually looking very forward to writing my essay, as I have now begun to realize that more original, open-ended topics are far more exciting to write about than specific ones. I hope that the prompts we are assigned to in the future are as thought-provoking and unique as our current one.
Shroll 2
I found that reading the I Know a Rhino by Charles Fuge in class today was a fun and captivating way to improve our syntax classification abilities. It certainly was more engaging than it was on the first day of syntax classifications, when we were completing a practice quiz. Right before Mr. C. read the novel to us, he made a comment about being a father. After making the comment he paused and said that he was being sexist by calling himself a father, that he is rather both a mother and a father. That was a very intriguing statement. I guess the word "father" has a certain connotation to it; usually a father is the leader of his family's household and makes money to support the family. Fathers aren't usually connected to being exceptionally caring and nuturing. But that is extremely stereotypical, and yet the stereotype is still the belief of most of our society. I am currently reading a novel entitled The Shack. The book's protagonist is coping with the murder of his youngest daughter, and his faith is zero to none. His wife calls God "Papa." The protagonist then goes on to meet God in person, and He is in the form of a large black woman. The protagonist is obviously curious as to why He is a She, and She replies that God is not a man nor a woman, but appears to people as a man and as a Father because there is a great lack of a fatherly figure in many people's lives. I thought this was very bold of the author to completely shatter the sexist barrier and put men and women as equals. It is much appreciated as a female on the unfavorable side of sexism. I appreciate Mr. C's efforts to eliminate the sexist barrier as well, even by simiply using "she" instead of "he" when talking about artists in Cal's essay.
Hanzel 7
When we were given the information about our classification essay I began to quickly glance over the information and one line caught my eye. The line read, “not “FINAL DRAFT”—this essay is due, not done” and we would be turning in a, “presentation draft (for evaluation)”, without a final draft. This really stuck with me because I have previously struggled composing my “final draft”. When completing an essay I thought it was my best work but I would continue to question myself if it was good enough to be considered the final draft. To me, a presentation draft is your best work and will be the draft you share with others. When you share a presentation draft you should still be open to others’ suggestions because those comments can often help you compose later essays. When I print and turn in a final draft I think of it as being the end and nothing else will be done with the final draft. This process in my mind has come from writing essays throughout middle school and even into high school. When composing an essay you would do majority of the work on your own, have one or two peers proofread your essay, and turn in the final draft. Many times I have turned in my final draft and not even recieved it back to see the teacher’s comments. The mindset I have about a final draft has now changed just because it is being called the presentation draft even though it involves turning in the same essay. I also took this idea and applied it to all my other classes. It can even be applied to daily homework. Turning in homework knowing it is your best effort is all that counts. The idea of the presentation draft makes it easier for me to confidently turn in my homework and essays knowing it was my best work.
Robertson 2
The most thought-provoking topic we have discussed was neither a lesson nor anything relevant to the class. The subject that completely enthralled me was the discussion surrounding Miranda’s thesis for her comparison paper regarding footwear. It wasn’t the talk about shoes that caught me; it was Mr. C’s explanation of why people choose different footwear in the first place. I was so involved by the intensity of the idea, reiterated powerfully and with great resonance, “I fit.” Something about that phrase captured my full and undivided attention. I’ve never listened that closely to anything before.
This idea of “I fit” drives every part of our lives. It stems from the first instinct we have when we are born, the first need to attach to another human and feel like a part of something with structure. Society is structured around the idea of independence, but as social creatures we must be independent to feel like a part of a larger group of independent people. Even our desire to be alone comes from our need to be in an inner circle; the act of separating oneself from a group is a subliminal –or overt- strategy to get other people to ask what’s wrong and open their arms. This mentality creates a unique pattern of contradicting behavior among our population. We as humans can barely decide what to order at a fast food place. How could we possibly be able to definitively decide how we wish to be perceived?
I’ve been fitting in and fitting out my entire life, as I imagine most people do. The words “I fit” are so miniscule in the grand scheme of things, but yet they are so incredibly powerful that they shake us to our very core of self awareness. The Ego struggles to fit with the Id, the Superego struggles to make the Id and Ego fit us. It feels so petty to define oneself by footwear when in reality, two tiny words strip us of all superficial means of definition. “I fit” means that I fit as I am. I fit beyond the brand on my soles and the brands on my soul: I fit because I am me.
Peltier 5
From the past two weeks, I have really enjoyed how each day has been different day. We try new things and explore certain areas more than others. For instance, we have: worked with sentence structure, dug deep into the word euphemism, worked with pod mates, read a novel (children’s book), and studied individually. I remember in one of my past English classes we did the same thing every day for about a month. After about a week, the class itself had become so mundane. I dreaded going to class and it made my attention span drop increasingly. That is why I enjoy the variety in this class. Another thing that has also been different from other classes was exchanging and critiquing other peers’ essays. Not only did it benefit the other student’s essay that I critiqued, but also my own. It was helpful to get someone’s perspective on my writing other than my teacher’s. It was also helpful for me to critique their essays so I know in the future how to become a more established composer. Finally, I highly appreciate the time that is set aside for our classification essay. Today in class we were given thirty minutes to write sentences that would go toward our classification essay. It has also been incredibly helpful to me when Mr. Christensen takes a specific persons topic and gives advice for it. That has just expanded my mind considerably. At first, when I started my essay, I simply thought I would just be writing about why people express different kinds of smiles. But now, I will write about traits, reasons, backgrounds, and appropriate settings for different smiles. Who knew there could be such a depth to smiles? Mr. Christensen has really my opened my brain to more than just scratching at the surface over the past two weeks.
Stephens 7
A topic that we discussed in English that has caught my attention occurred today when we were discussing Saturday school. You were beginning to explain to us the topic of our next essay, which is cause, and your example was, ‘what causes students to end up in Saturday school?’ One cause was that they don’t wake up on time or don’t use their hallway time efficiently. The other cause is what caught my attention. You said that some students just don’t have a role model in their life to show them how to behave and avoid situations where there are such consequences. Also, they could have parents who just don’t care. You mentioned how some students don’t ever smile in your class no matter how hard you try. I have an extreme love for people, all people. This conversation really struck my compassionate side and made me think about the kids that I see walking down the hallways with me. I don’t know their story and if I am having a day where I am frustrated and impatient I still need to be cognizant of the people around me. Also, it frustrates me that we have so many decent, intelligent students at Brandon Valley who could easily model to these troubled students how to make better decisions, yet not many seem to care. It breaks my heart that a young person my age would have no reason to smile. I am wondering if there is a way that students could reach out to the kids in Saturday school. Not particularly the ones who are there because they can’t manage their time or are incompetent when it comes to an alarm clock, but the ones who come from broken families and act out as a cry for help. Is there a way that we could encourage and help them in some way? Are we even allowed to be at Saturday school if we are not being forced to attend? Will our presence make the experience less of a punishment and ruin the concept of Saturday school? I will keep pondering my idea and see if I can come up with a solution.
Callahan 1
For me, the most interesting discussion our class had was when Mr. Christensen asked our class to analyze Pen Pearson's Facebook profile picture. The first comments came after only a few moments of observation, and were purely focused on her appearance. She has a warm smile, and her body language shows her to be open and inviting towards the camera. She is dressed comfortably but is not sloppy; the frames of her glasses are on trend and stylish. Of course there were comments about her love of coffee, but these same comments led to much more. We wondered who took the picture and who she was drinking the coffee with, because prior to the analysis, Mr. Christensen informed our class that Ms. Pearson is not married. The conversation then began to focus on the background, and the fancy woodwork led us to believe she earns a nice living for herself. I was amazed at how much we were able to learn about Pen Pearson by observing a single profile picture. As an artist, I naturally find myself to be more interested in discussion when there are pictures to observe. I was slightly surprised, however, because rarely is a composition class ever asked to analyze anything other than writing. I was even more taken aback when I realized that writing is a lot like a Facebook profile picture, because the tone and style of the author shows a person's true personality, in the same way that a profile picture does. Mr. Christensen then took the discussion full circle by telling us about how his friend, a professor at Creighton, groups profile pictures into three categories, which turned the conversation to our classification essays. I really enjoy how open Mr. Christensen is to everything, rather than just focusing on writing. In the end, being open to the world and observing things that would normally be overlooked actually helps us with our writing.
Wilde 7
In class today we had a brief discussion regarding the households that some “troubled” individuals often times reside in. When referring to Saturday School, you elaborated on how some kids intentionally work their way towards this “punishment” - commonly by earning tardies. In doing so, these kids are setting themselves up for a Saturday of stability rather than coping with the traumatic households they otherwise would be dealing with. This conversation made me feel more thankful for the relatively peaceful household I live in (Divorced mom + 3 Teenagers = utter chaos at times). I have never once felt the need to obtain a Saturday school for this reason. Whenever I’m feeling stressed out around the house, I can just freely go outside and find tranquility elsewhere. I know, however, that some children do not have the opportunity to do this. I’m sure that everybody has been exposed to abusive households, whether it is from personal experience or simply watching the news and movies. I, personally, have been able to witness this sadness through volunteering. I have been exposed to families with as many as ten people all living in one low-scale apartment building. It does not surprise me that some kids would purposely distance themselves from this environment in the form of Saturday school. This brief conversation just sparked some thought and made me begin comparing the different students’ households and how they alter and form the behaviors we see on a day to day basis. In AP Psychology last year we learned about this idea called the fundamental attribution error. This social psychology phenomenon occurs when we explain certain behaviors in terms of internal disposition. We do this by justifying the behaviors we see on personality traits and motives rather than external factors in the environment that may have affected the individual’s behavior. I believe that this theory can be applied to the conversation as well. When we see somebody acting inappropriately we tend to blame these actions directly on the individual rather than considering the events that may have occurred in the individual’s life, thus motivating such behavior. This was just one of the many concepts we discussed that I found to be exceedingly fascinating.
Larson 1
The comment I find particularly interesting is Mr. Christensen’s parting comment to us each day: “Stay sane out there”. Never before has anyone bid me good day with such a thought. When I hear the word sane, I automatically think of the opposite, which is insane. So why would someone leave me with such a parting sentiment? I wouldn’t normally think that going insane was something I was actively risking by beginning my school day. The more I thought about it, the more I considered the possibility that perhaps staying sane was the only way to truly enjoy all that my particular day had to offer. Insanity for me brings forth an image of chaos, clamor, and confusion. Sanity in my head looks like plans, organization, and concrete. A day that is filled with forgotten homework, missed deadlines, and mountains of new assignments would most definitely be a crazy day. Those are the days that are filled with constant scrambling, like you can never catch up, and there is nothing pleasant about them. However if I can step back, and regain my sanity for a moment, I would probably be able to find the good things about that day again. Staying sane lets me be excited about a new project, instead of just seeing another stone thrown on my pile of work that has yet to be done. Also, when I hear this particular goodbye, I envision for myself a day filled with peace and level headedness. “Have a good day” seems very vanilla and bland compared to this, with no specific images coming to mind. To me the word sanity—and insanity as well—have a strong connotation, and maybe this is why the farewell stood out to me. Either way, staying sane out there imbues me with a sense of purpose for the day, and adds a little more spring to my step.
Anderson 5
One of the topics I found the most interesting in class this past week was when we were analyzing Pen Pearson’s facebook profile picture. The first thing we noticed was her enormous coffee mug, and we gathered that she loves to drink coffee. We then decided that she was a very friendly person since she had a warm smile. She also doesn’t have a ring on her left ring finger which shows us that she is not married. Due to the woodwork in the background, Ms. Pearson is shown to make a good living. Ms. Pearson’s clothes show that she loves to be comfortable, and her glasses show that she is stylish. After we were finished analyzing Pen Pearson’s profile picture, we started to analyze our own with our classmates. My pod partners and I decided that my profile picture shows that I am nearly always smiling. My clothes also show my style, and you can see that I love wearing jewelry. If you look at some of my past profile pictures, you can see that I am clearly a softball player. You can also see that I love to spend time with my team. Looking at the background of most of my profile pictures, you can see that I love bright colors. Bright colors match my personality. If I wouldn’t have been in class that day, I never would have understood how much of your personality someone could gather from your profile picture. Now I love looking at some of my friends’ profile pictures just to see if I can learn something new about them or to see if any of the features I already know about them are shown in their pictures. Every picture that I look at now, I try to analyze every element in it, big or small.
Phamster 1
Throughout the last two weeks of school, many things have been straining my mind. A few of these provoking ideals have struck me through the course of my first period English Composition class. One item that particularly demands my attention is the lavish need of sophistication. I believe that the yearning for a 'bigger' word is completely and utterly unnecessary. Many individuals within the four English classes are not learning but rather pondering -- pondering for the correct word to use to impress the rest of the class and Mr. Christensen rather than actual absorbing the material that is being taught. I feel individuals in the classroom spend more time deciding what 'classy' word they are going to use next -- despite its relevance as the class moves on. In this case, the need for stronger vocabulary is counterproductive. Instead of devoting their brain power into make their inane and nonsensical comments seem more intelligent, they should focus on the hive mind of the class. They should be one with the hive mind of the class. Without this ability to understand one another and without being able to retort another's absurd or, in this case, even reasonable comments, the class will never grow individually or as a whole. While my classmates are exercising their time trying to make the least bit of an intelligent comment, I am pointing out the fallacies within their so-called witty comments. Thus, when one fails to show their altruism inside the classroom, the conversation collapses and we are left with nothing but an awkward silence. It is this awkward silence that leads to lethargy. Lethargy leads to the lack of productivity. The lack of productivity will extenuate into our other class work and shortly we lose our chances at "a big house and a hot spouse". When one neither has a big house nor a hot spouse, a sort of socioeconomic equity will begin to sprout; thus leading to communism. This sort of communism will eventually lead to an economic crash which will, in turn, lead to a population crash and the human age will end. In essence, our lack of a standard conversation will lead to communism which will undoubtedly lead to the death of all humans. The death of all humans is bad.
Johnson 7
When the breathalyzer with vehicle discussion came up along with its affect on civil liberties, I was particularly intrigued. Since I had watched the Republican National Convention the night before, my mind went on quite the conservative tangent and I really do not remember much else from the class period except for the dressed up leopard in the “I Know a Rhino” book. What is the best answer to that? My mind raced as I was finding the ultimate solution. The thing is, I am sure someone, (like my father) who is very anti-government “intruding”, will find a way to disable the in-car breathalyzer (my dad even takes the “Under 12 Must Wear a Seatbelt” sticker on the visors). I think is a difficult balance when it comes to civil liberties. The key is to control the delinquents and not perturb the other citizens who really do not need to be reminded that they should not drink before they drive. For this situation, the best solution is to have the government subsidize the in-car breathalyzer. But in a unique way. Vehicle manufacturers will have it only as an option and people have the choice of putting it on. This will probably be something directed toward parents buying their child(s) a vehicle. Driving while intoxicated will always be an issue, yet more regulation could lead to worse. Everybody is already griping about President Obama’s Healthcare plan, this would simply be fuel to the fire. This brings up a good point (that is actually related to composition). I believe the way this bill is written makes it difficult to understand. I think more bills, especially pertaining to civil liberties. It is our liberties; is it too difficult for everybody to be able to understand what is written? Even someone has 6th grade education, that person should be able to fully comprehend with what his rights are. These are my thoughts for Thursday, yet my conservative beliefs are an everyday occurrence. I thought I tried to stay close to unbiased, but I am almost certain there are blips of my inner ideology. Thank you readers.
Bender 1
Haha noob.
Cain 2
This last week and a half in Mr. C’s class has been a notable experience. The work really isn’t that difficult and the assignments aren’t piled on, but our minds, our thoughts, opinions, words and sentences are given new meaning because of the way Mr. C. encourages and expects us to stretch our brain. I’ve always found myself determining how challenging a class is by the homework load. My system doesn’t seem to work anymore because I’m finding that this class, no matter how little homework there may be, is definitely a difficult one. We took our syntax quiz yesterday (Tuesday) and we were asked to write about our ideas for the way vocabulary should be approached in this class. I’ve always struggled with learning vocabulary words so this opportunity to have input was important to me. Mr. C. went on to explain why he wanted our ideas, saying that having a vocabulary quiz everyday would be something similar to absurd. I don’t know what exactly triggered my reply but my instant thought was that a vocabulary quiz every day wouldn’t be so bad. He said I was thinking critically when I said that it wouldn’t be too much if we had a quiz on one or two words every day. Then he made comment about how I’m always thinking critically. Everyone in the class is always thinking critically, that’s what the class is designed to do. I’ve accepted the fact that I must stretch my thoughts and look at things from various angles and perspectives. I don’t think we’ve actually talked about this as a class, but it’s there. Mr. C. just has that scholarly aura surrounding him. Maybe that’s why I feel panicked when we talk about our classification essays. Maybe that’s why I keep procrastinating on working on mine. I don’t feel like I have a solid topic to write about and I fear that it won’t be good enough or meet the standards to which I want it to.
Bender 1
Sorry about the previous post, I don't know what happened.
As I read through the previous posts I tried to think of something original. I tried to think what the reason for this assignment was. I thought about class and about the disscusions we had. I realized most of the discussion time is in groups or student led. This made me realize that no one paticular thought stuck with me, but the amount of time for which we had to think. Although we have no made mention of it in class yet, a small sign is usually the focus of my gaze during thought time. The sign has "what to think" crossed off and how to think written below it. Emily Larson's post about sanity then made sense. In my schedule english is the only class where I'm told simply to think. This in itself is a way to cope with the brainwashing that occurs the rest of the day. The "out there" part of Mr. C's departing saying emphasizes how in English we are told only to think and not exactly what to think like for example math.
Bakke 5
Over the past few days, what has enticed me the most has been the concept of helping each other to help ourselves. When in class we use the critiques we give our classmates and apply that knowledge to our own work is tremendously helpful to be able to see how that affects me. I believe that being able to critique other students’ papers will increase our ability to write. I know now what to look out for in my writing and many questions are answered without the need to ask. I feel that when I am writing I now have someone, in a sense, automatically checking my work to see if it is up to par. I use this as something that I can go back to and read and edit my own paper with, which has become very useful. The availability of having my peers check my work, and not ones that I would go to on a regular basis, is such a good resource. The viewpoints and opinions of an objective reader on a first draft are so important and I am so glad that this tool has been given to us. Even after our first essay, I gained so much insight on how I can improve and what needs to change. I have always had my mother as a way to edit my documents, but she is so biased that her comments can’t always be 100 percent accurate. I also like having the chance to share ideas and see what other people think, it is one of the most interesting and engaging things for me, whether I agree or not. The concept of having the class help each other is very intriguing to me, on the basis that we get to hear the ideas of the other students and that we can improve our own essays and works.
Rollag 5
The topic that was mentioned in class that I found fascinating was when you began talking about the characters in the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I am currently reading the book and the character you described were not the ones I had been picturing, but ones that are much interesting and dynamic to the story. When I began to continue reading I started analyzing the character to see if they matched the descriptions you gave in class. They did! It also explained the actions of some characters of which I was completely baffled by. The most startling and intriguing revelation you pointed out was the one about Harding. I had not even started to suspect anything of that nature but once you pointed it out there it was plain as day. The constant mentioning of his hands and how they are very feminine, and his wife you described almost perfectly. She is very good looking and when I got to the first meeting they have, looking on with the new ideas you presented, it is obvious in the word choice and tone of Harding that he is displaying his wife to prove his masculinity to the other patients. The whole experience has been I eye opener, where before I didn’t question or dig deeper into the characters and events to try and understand a story now I do and I am constantly observing a different literal world than was possible before this great revelation. I think this great new understanding of literature will be very useful in the second semester and in most books I come to read in the future I may even have to go back and reread book to finally understand what I missed the first time when I just read and didn’t comprehend the true story in front of me.
Rasmussen 5
One thing that we briefly talked about in class was the concept that homecoming was brainwashing us. After some thought, I realized that this is kind of true to a certain extent. It teaches us to succumb to peer pressure which is something that our school preaches is wrong. They teach us that is you don’t be like everyone else, you will be harassed or even punished by being put in the stockades. Many students don’t realize that this is peer pressure because most people think of it as just a bunch of fun. But some can say the same thing about drinking or doing drugs. Not everyone wants to participate in the homecoming festivities but they are almost forced to or they can be humiliated. On the other side of this, homecoming is a time to get involved in activities. Every year since I have been a freshman, I have been volunteered to participate by my friends. I didn’t necessarily want to be a part of it but after I thought that I was wanted and important. It is good to get people involved in their school because that usually keeps them out of trouble and I think that the homecoming events are used mainly to make people feel like they don’t have to do “bad things” to have fun, school can be fun too. The school wants us to conform because it is easier to operate a system like the school if everyone follows a certain “program”. I think that the school does this on more days than just homecoming. If you go to the football games in orange, you are almost shunned from the student section. Making us dress a certain way is detrimental because it shows us as adolescents that if you wear something, that makes you what you are dressing up to be. Just because you dress in red and black doesn’t mean that you have the lynx values. It’s just like when a soldier puts on his uniform for the first time when he goes to basic; just because he is in uniform doesn’t mean he is a true soldier the first day of training.
Lenz 2
The one conversation I really remember from class was the word of the day on Tuesday. I remember having Mr. Christensen as a substitute for Mr. Pressler last year when he had to go to wrestling. I filled out my planner and asked to go to the restroom. He wrote in pen next to it “euphemism.” After that he said nothing and allowed me to go. I have been wondering ever since then what a euphemism is. Now I know. It means to water down something or beat around the bush in a sense. Instead of writing “restroom” I should have written “toilet.” I love learning new words. I like to broaden my vocabulary and sound more scholarly when I am talking to people, especially adults. I enjoy showing them that I am not the stereotypical teenager who says “like” and “OMG” in every sentence. I am a smart, young lady who will go far in her life. I hope that we continue to do a word of the day every Tuesday, or at least every other one. I like to learn new words such as that. Also, the fact that it is fun to say helps me to remember it. I plan on using this word whenever applicable in my daily vocabulary. I hope to learn more as the year goes on. I enjoy learning them not as a grade, but just for fun and to broaden our minds and vocabulary. Just because it is not graded, does not mean that nobody pays attention to it. I hope that other people enjoyed learning a new word and would also like to continue with this in the future.
Lippert 2
What struck me as particularly fascinating was the children’s book I Know a Rhino by Charles Fuge. I found it interesting that something as simple as a children’s story could subtly incorporate different types of sentences on each page. Before we delved into different types of sentences in class, I had never considered how different sentences structures could enhance an essay. I had always believed that essays needed to be composed of big words, and long complex sentences to have the greatest impact on a reader. I believed that until recently, and reading I Know a Rhino has helped to show me how wrong I was. Simple sentences can greatly increase the content of your essay with just a couple words; a three-word sentence can be just as effective as a fifty-word sentence. The variety of Fuge’s sentences helped make his book interesting and more enjoyable to read. This strategy can be applied to any work of literature, readers do not like to read a paper with just compound sentences, it’s too redundant! No, a reader likes some variety, and Fuge has enough variety for everybody. After seeing how effective different types of sentences can be in writing, I am going to try to be more cognizant of my sentence structure and try to incorporate different types of sentences. Moreover, incorporating different types of sentences will do more than improve my essay’s, I will be better able to identify different types of sentences. Examining my own sentences and their structure will be the perfect syntax review. In the future, if Mr. C ever makes the decision to give us another syntax quiz the extra practice should help me be better at identify sentences. Who knows? On the next test, I may even score a perfect one hundred percent.
Albertson 5
In class last week we spend a fair amount of time discussing and joking about the word euphemism – our word of the day. The word was in my vocabulary before we discussed it in class, but I had never thought about the roles of euphemisms in our society until we began to list examples. I have discovered that euphemisms play and have played large roles in our American culture and history. From what I have reasoned euphemisms are used to rename aspects and acts of death, profanity, business, and government, or also just to be humorous. In the military an enemy is often “pacified” instead of “shot and killed”. The government allegedly uses the expression “enhanced interrogation techniques” to replace “torture”. Instead of “prison” there is the “Department of Corrections”. In Animal Farm Napoleon used the word “tactics” to deceive the other animals. Garbage men can be “sanitation engineers”. In American history the South called slavery their “peculiar institution”. Other euphemisms, such as “what the?”, “Jeez”, and “OMG” that have similar intensity but are more acceptable to say than actual swear words, are so common that we hear them every day. People will also say things like “I have to use the men’s room” or “well, that wasn’t all bad…”. The annoying bleeps on TV or the blanked out words on the radio could also be called euphemisms. I find it interesting that even if everyone knows the true meaning of a certain euphemism, they are still less offended than when the bolder, and more accurate term is used. Why is it that we have the need for euphemisms? Are we scared of reality, or disturbed by it? When euphemisms are used extensively and strategically they can create ambiguous conversation that only a targeted group of peers can understand, or they can allow an individual to effectively equivocate when they wish to avoid a topic.
Ullom 7
There is something on-going in our class that I have found not just intriguing but enjoyable. Normally when a student is given a prompt for an essay, it is expected for them to gain ideas and formulate everything on their own. Sometimes it’s hard to think of strong ideas and topics that you want to put into an essay. This is why I was pleasantly surprised when Mr. C called on someone in class to share their idea for the classification essay. The class not only listened, but also joined in and offered ideas as to how the person could improve their essay. It’s great that we can all give input to help out our classmates. Also, by bouncing around ideas, others can be struck by something they think would work great in their essay as well. By helping one person in class, it can in turn help multiple people. I also like how Mr. C repeatedly states that we can come in for help if we want it. I feel as though this repetition shows how much he wants us to succeed, not just in writing essays but in lifelong learning. In looking toward my future I can see how this class will help me to collaborate well with others. Going along with this, editing each other’s essays is teaching us to give and receive constructive criticism well. In learning how to receive constructive criticism I will be learning how to give it in a positive, effective, and meaningful way. Being able to do this will create team approach in my future workplace. All in all, up to this point the class has been a positive experience and I hope to learn much, much more in the semester ahead.
Rogen 7
The item in class that has kept me thinking over the past the weeks is the word we discussed on Term Tuesday. The word “euphemism” was defined and discussed in class. Not only is it the meaning of the word that stuck with me, but the ideas and concepts that followed. After listening to the examples of euphemisms in class, I left thinking why euphemisms exist in the first place. It was brought up in class that the words used are less harsh or offensive than the terms they are replacing. I agreed with this and when I left I started pondering “Why do euphemisms exist in the first place?” The compassionate part of me believes that the motives are honest, and they make our world a more proper place to live in. Then again, the cynical side of me wonders if these euphemisms only aid the advertisement agencies in pursuing an alternative way to say cruel things about their without a negative connotation being connected to their product. Following that, the conspirator within me began to wonder what these alternate words are really doing to me and the others surrounding me. This demented part of me began thinking that euphemisms were created by an American enemy only to soften the majority of the American people, so that the invader could attack when the populous had lost their ability to take criticism and bad news. Putting all of that nonsense aside though, it baffles me how much one word made me think. The remainder of my day was spent thinking of euphemisms and why they became as popular as they are today. Regardless, last Tuesday has resided in my thoughts, and I hope that the following Tuesdays will provoke the same amount of thought I was able to use earlier this week.
Anderson 2
During these first two weeks of class with Mr. C, I believe that one of the most provocative and intriguing statements he uttered was when he explained that he was a father. Surprisingly enough, he withdrew his remarks as acts of typical sexism and referred to himself this time as a mother as well. Without hesitation, I started to ponder analytically. What could Mr.C possibly have meant? Surely if I had kids, I most certainly wouldn't refer to myself as a mother. The only conclusion that I could compose is that Mr. C regards sexism as a true dilemma that is traditionally intact with erroneous stereotypes. Perhaps Mr. C was criticizing these hackneyed sayings: fathers are the breadwinner of the family; mothers are the nurturers and soul of the family. Reflecting on the situation, I respect and value Mr. C's statements. Not only are they controversial, insightful, and unique but they are also thought provoking. For that, I truly thank him. Purposefully done or not, he makes me a better person each day. However, I am have not finished deliberating. I am aware of the distinct differences and treatments both men and women face day in and day out. Women surely have not had it easy. For goodness sake, women have been shut down by our own country. America's 50 states never ratified the ERA during the 70's and 80's(Equal Rights Amendment). Therefore, I understand the compassionate approach Mr. C has taken. Everyday, women are held to more criticism than men. Considering this, I still have a different approach than Mr. C. I do have a more dominant fatherly side and a less predominant motherly side, yet I still will always consider myself (hopefully a to be) father. I recognize sexism as a challenge but muddying the waters is not my solution. I am too blunt to lie to myself. Women and men are both capable of the #breadwinnerstatus or the #nurturerstatus. Referring to myself as both a father and a mother is not my style. I prefer to remain simplistic and realistic. Women are mothers, men are fathers. I do sincerely appreciate Mr. C's provocativeness but I respectfully disagree with him. Thanks for reading.
Nifong period 2
Thus far I have really enjoyed Mr. C’s teaching style. The variations of teaching are very eccentric to me and I look forward to his class every day. It is a refreshing way to spend fifty five minutes of my life. I enjoy the off topic conversations that seem to come with lectures. I like that Mr. C makes everything relatable to real life. In his class, every day is something new. So today, I was very inquisitive when I was told we would be reading an entire novel in one class period. It began to make sense when I learned it was a children’s book. When the book was read to us it was a refreshing change from the same day in day out routines of high school. It was nice to be read to for once. I enjoyed the change. The simplistic book was cute and childish. However the author’s sentences helped me better add to my knowledge of sentence classification. Sentence classification has always been a bit challenging for me. The quiz was not my hottest work. I was glad for more practice. I liked that the practice was not just another worksheet. The sentences were taken right out of the children’s book which was unique and different. It made learning a dreadful topic a whole lot more intriguing. I’m not quite sure why I was so amused by this simple way of learning. But I do think part of it stems from the good childhood memories that it brought back. My parents read to me when I was very young and continued on until I could read to them. As an honors student most of the time we are required to read high level works. A children’s book looked a bit out of place in a college English classroom.
Johnke Pd. 5
One discussion that I found to be interesting in the last week was when we went over the top twenty in our books. I knew that I have always mad minor mistakes here and there but I never really thought anything of it until I went through the twenty. There are some of the top twenty that I hardly ever, if ever, make a mistake on. However, there were a few in there that made me realize how much I do wrong with my grammer, even after eleven years of education. Some of the ones that I noticed myself messing up on the most was the vague pronoun reference, missing words, missing commas, and even putting unneccary commas in. The vague pronoun reference is a result of me getting lazy in my writing. I often will put he or she in multiple times in a row instead of clarifying what he or she is. This shouldn’t be hard to fix as long as I pay attention to my writing a little more from now on and slow down. The problem I have with missing words is more of a result of my typing. Like you said in class, our minds think faster than our hands can type and as a result we are left with missing words that we don’t notice until later on. The last two problems are probably the smallest of my mistakes. I don’t usuallly put in unncessary commas unless I start to get on a roll with them and then all of a sudden I’ll look over my essay and commas will be everywhere for no reason. Missing commas happens a lot when I don’t take the time to slow down and think about what I’m writing. All in all, I’m glad that we discussed the top twenty in class because if we hadn’t I probably wouldn’t have even noticed all the mistakes I’ve been making.
Etrheim 5
One particular comment brought up over the first week and a half of school that both surprised and fascinated me was that some people actually want to be at Saturday school. Some people purposely receive tardies and misbehave in other ways to receive points towards Saturday school. Once I heard this I chuckled to myself thinking ‘why would anyone want to be at school more than they have to be?’ Immediately after thinking this, I then thought of my life at home. I have two loving parents who have never even thought of abusing me - physically or verbally. I have a place that I can call home and can always feel safe. However, all households aren’t like this. Some parents are abusive and life at home isn’t safe and is a struggle. Because of this, some people actually enjoy leaving home every morning to get away from their dangerous homes and head to a safe school. I am lucky to have never endured anything of the sort. Safety at home has never been an issue. A wise man (Mr. C.) once told me that I was raised by lions, not hyenas. When saying this, he was referring to the Disney classic The Lion King. I have parents who are both caring and loving and have been providers for my entire life. These are some of the same characteristics Mufasa and Sarabi (parents of Simba) have in the movie. Parents that are abusive and careless towards their children are then considered the hyenas. Life is a struggle with this type of parents and safety is an issue. I am very fortunate to be raised by lions and not hyenas. Thinking about it, I actually have a pretty good life outside of school and I am very grateful for what I have.
Clemenson 1
I found that our discussion about the top twenty very interesting last week. I noticed that many of my mistakes that I make in writing were in the top ten. I am especially bad at vague pronoun references because I assume that the reader understands who I am talking about. I tend to use ‘they’ when I write and I do not specify who exactly ‘they’ is. This confuses readers because they do not know who I am referring to. When I am writing, I have also noticed that I forget words a lot. I cannot write as fast as I think so I almost always leave one or two words. My essays usually do not make sense at first because there are so many words left out and my pronouns are very vague. I know that I need to work to fix my missing words and vague pronouns to improve my essays. Also, classifying sentences in class has made me realize that I do not have much variation in my sentences. Most of my sentences are short and sweet. I like to get straight to the point in my stories so they are usually very short. I like to keep my sentences short because I feel like I am rambling when I try to make them long. I do not want to have run on sentences in my essays so I tend to avoid long sentences all together. Now I realize that if I change up my style of sentences then my writing will become more interesting. I can have long sentences without them being run-ons. I plan to work on making sure that I have all types of sentences so that it will improve my writing. I also need to work on expanding my vocabulary to help my writing sound better. I hope that if I work on my vague pronouns, missing words, and sentences then my writing will be better.
Pederson 5
The concept that I found fascinating or relevant was not addressed in class, but came through the writing process. While I understand how the idea of peer reviewing is to improve our editing skills and maybe lead to inspiration, I think it can lead to constrained and inauthentic writing. Rather than writing a vivid essay full of personal reflection, we try to make it conform to other peoples’ expectations. I felt uncomfortable with the fact that I had no idea we’d share our first essay with each other, as I wrote personal details into mine. I feel uncomfortable even putting this into the blog. I know that many of the students will take the editing seriously and be open to diverse topics, but there are a few students who would be judgmental and subjective rather than objective. What if we took a stance in an essay that is unpopular? Would we get true editing, or rather lambasted? Can we write a genuine essay if we are trying to conform to our audience? Are we using our true voice in writing or are we filling our essay with an inauthentic scholarly voice? Should we try to appear pedantic and scholarly to impress other twelfth graders? Also, some people who critique are very thorough and interested in doing a good job. Others are just in a hurry to get the assignment done and put the minimal amount of comments into the editing of the essay. These people are not following the goal of peer editing and are inauthentic to the writing process. This can leave the writer with little suggestion on how to improve his essay. If there was a way to ensure anonymity and a well critiqued essay from our peers, I’m all for it. However, I believe that having the teacher give a quick glance at our essays would better improve our writing.
Livingston 5
We’re only two weeks into the school year and I am astounded at how our discussions in class have already had a profound effect on not only my thought process, but my writing in general. I mean, we’ve had English classes every year for the last eleven years, but what has made Composition different? I’d feel safe saying that the intricacy of the class and moreover its requirements have brought out a different character in the English subject. Two things that have really stuck out to me have been the topics of sentence structure and the top twenty writing mistakes. We discussed the top twenty last week, and I found that - compared to the handbooks guidelines - my writing is very poor. Out of all twenty issues on the list, I found that a few of them are very problematic when I compose an essay of some sort. One of the major issues brought to my attention was the use of an unnecessary comma. Anyone will know that I use a plethora of commas when I write. Many of those commas are not necessary and destroy the fluency of my article. Relieving the use of commas constantly will open up my sentence structure more and avoid frequent and unnecessary interruptions. Spelling has always been a weak link in my writing as well. It’s not that I cannot spell, but sometimes I get hung up on how to spell out a more descriptive word. A great vocabulary is a key element to one’s success in composing a more thrilling essay. Due to the steps I have taken in school, my vocabulary has become more elite. I have to be able to spell right in order to inform the reader and make a more exhilarating article. We also discussed sentence structure and recently had a syntax quiz over it. The more we discussed sentence structure the more I realized that my writing is even weaker because it lacks sentence diversity. I cannot be writing simple or compound sentences repeatedly and must increase my use of complex and compound-complex sentences. This will further enhance my writing and make the story click, giving it more of a jingle rather than a dull, consistent thud. Concentrating on sentence structure as well as avoiding the frequent mistakes in the top twenty will only help my writing. I am glad we discussed both this topics in class as they have opened new doors that will lead to my success in not only Composition, but future writing tasks as well.
Guthmiller 5
It was not intended, but one of the most intriguing statements Mr. Christensen made was “I’m afraid I don’t know how to flirt.” He said this after being prompted to make a flirtatious smile by Ms. Peltier, but was confused of how to contort his face because it had been long since he made a flirtatious smile. His flirtatious smile, because of years of dormancy, was lost. He had lost a once treasured ability simply because he had not used it. The more I thought about this loss, the less uncommon an incident I thought it was. Through time it is possible to lose everything because of neglect. Without daily exercise we would lose our physique. Our bodies need the strain and stress to keep our strength. Without challenging our mind every day we would lose our mental sharpness. Our minds need to be delved and prodded in order to retain information. Without putting forth the effort in a relationship it would be lost or damaged. Humans often need a constant affirmation everything is going alright or else they get worried or stressed. Mr. Christensen’s statement turned from funny and lighthearted to serious and worrying for me. We as people need to continue to strive for progress. Complacency with our quality as people and with our life is one of the biggest evils. If we become complacent we will regress without any knowledge of it. Mr. Christensen did not know he had lost his ability to flirt until prompted to do so. Like a body builder that works to sculpt and perfect his body without forgetting any muscle groups, we need to try to sculpt our minds. Just like body builders we can’t leave out any areas of our minds. Our social skills, temperament, and fluidity are just as important as areas such as math, science and English. The skill that Mr. Christensen lost is not needed by him anymore, but it did offer an important lesson; our abilities will be lost without use.
Berndt 1
At the beginning of the year, I can honestly say, I was fairly nervous to have this class first period. English has never been my strong point. In the past years I never found English a fascinating class to walk into. This year I am challenging myself and looking at things from a completely new perspective. It turns out that after the first week of school, I look forward to Mr. C’s class every morning. One morning, Mr. C opened the class by telling us ghoti spells fish. I found this point fascinating. This made me wonder what kind of analytical mind one must have to think of something like this? I find being able to look at things in such a strange, yet scholarly way very fascinating, and hope to be able to open my mind to such heights. The point Mr. C brought up also made me think about other people, coming into America, trying to learn our language. How can you explain the word fish is not spelt ghoti, with the words such as: tough, enough, nation, procrastination? There are millions of possibilities to spell all the words in the English language. We don’t only have endless possibilities of looking at words differently. We can refer to it in life as well. Everyone sees things from different perspectives, and I think seeing something from someone else’s point of view is very beneficial. Looking at things in a different way than what we are typically used to, can make us better, more understanding people in life. The fish conversation is what hit me as most fascinating in class, and has had the most impact on how I have been thinking in the last week or so. I think about the people around me and the meaning of things or events, below the surface. I am anxious to see how creative my mind will grow into the future, and hope to utilize the things I learn in this class in my future.
Voigt 7
I have very much enjoyed taking part in Composition 101 this past week. There have been many intelligent discussions and superb learning moments. However, there has been one particular line that has stuck out to me above all else. Several times, Mr. C has referred to the phrase- “big houses and hot spouses” as a future goal of reaching success. I do not believe by any means, that Mr. C was trying to say these are the only things that display success, but I was reminded that so often our world leads us into believing that those are the only ways to feel successful. As I continue to rethink the phrase, I have come to the conclusion that ultimately attaining either of those things would not necessarily bring me contentment. Of course, every individual, including myself, would certainly not be opposed to the idea of someday having a “big house” or a “hot spouse”, but at what cost? I believe our world has shown us plenty of individuals who have had both of those things to display, yet do not feel truly successful. I firmly believe that success is much more than concocting a great idea that will bring you fame and fortune. I think sometimes if we learn to look more closely we may find that more pride and sense of success is found in people who are less fortunate- those who do not have “big houses”, but may be very proud of their “small house” that they have worked very hard for. True success should bring a sense of pride, good work ethic, and happiness too. This is not to say that we shouldn’t dream big, or work diligently towards achieving goals. But, it is important to remember that every individual’s view of success may be drastically different. For some, it may be “a big house and a hot spouse” that will make them feel as though they have achieved great things, or left a significant mark on this world. Meanwhile, others may find success or a sense of achievement someday in working to be a better parent or spouse then they saw displayed as they were growing up. Regardless of each individual’s goal in mind, we should always remember that each of us are very intelligent individuals capable of achieving whatever “success” we desire.
Tew 1
You keep talking about Life of Pi like it is an amazing book. This topic interests me because I have read the book myself and found piscines mind to be extremely full of wonder and curiousity. The adventure that consumes the book got a little dull at times but for the most part I am excited to read it again later this year. Because I work at the movie theater, I have known about the movie coming out for a long time and I am very interested to see how the get all the things going on in his mind out into the open for a more visual experience.
Boerhave 7
So far I have been getting so much out of this class and we have on ly been in school for nearly two weeks! As we have been focusing on our essays, it has helped me learn to invent more and try coming up with fresh and new ideas and ways of thinking. I love that you had us read about the top 20 mistakes because i began to notice my own mistakes in my essays. Now I know what to prevent when writing my essays in the future. I like how you have the students help eachother with their essays and share their opinions. When you randomly picked me and asked me to share my thesis statement for my classification essay with the class, I was planning to write about different classes of apparel. With your help and many others in my class I decided to go a complete new route that was more interesting and unfamiliar. Because of this I am now doing my classification essay on jewelry types and how people wear them. One of your comments was to be more creative and inventive with my essay and now I have begun to do so. One of the things that has stuck out to me the most was yesterday during class when you read I Know a Rhino by Charles Fuge. Before this year, I had struggled a bit with the sentence types and how to tell the difference between them. With your chart and how you described the leeches and the glue for compound and complex sentances I began to understand more! But the picture book from yesterday help me understand the most. I was amazed to find out that a simple children’s book could be such a huge help when understanding sentence types and have so many complexities.
Miller 2
Last week two things in class really jumped out at me. First, the top twenty we looked at which helped me more than I could ever imagine. I looked through the pages of what the top mistakes were and each section had multiple chapters or pages for me to reference and help with my writing and comprehension. I tabbed my biggest trouble spots so that I can easily find them later on when needed. These came in handy when we were writing our ten sentences for the classification essays, and I know that they will help in later essays as well. Secondly, when we read the pages out of the book and then commented to the class for credit was, in my opinion, not very efficient. There was good information on the pages but all the really good and in depth comments were taken first. I found it difficult to come up with a thought provoking comment, and ultimately settled for a standard response. Some students, including me, were glad to get the seven out of five points because it helped keep up our grade when we did not do very well on the syntax quiz. On the other hand, I do not know if a majority of the comments deserved a grade because it seemed like they were just different words for a lot of the same comments. I am sure that this type of participation comes in handy to get quieter students to talk, but possibly we could try it with something larger so there are more comments that are different. All in all, I am really looking forward to the rest of this year. Mr. C really cares and wants to help us learn any way he can and I appreciate that. I am sure that this class will be one of my favorites.
VandeBerg 1
I really enjoyed the symposium. The more we got to help Emily's essay, the more that I began thinking about my own essay. Alot of the ideas that could be used for her essay were also ideas I could use for my essay. Breaking up my paragraphs was something that was on my mind as we were writing the outline. I was able to see how Emliy would break up her paragraphs so that I could too. I liked what the symposiums had to offer. I didn't have a ton of things on my mind concerning my essay, but the few questions I had were answered in the symposium. I believe it is a very effective way to learn and help any individual's essay. I would just like to know exactly how often we are going to do symposiums. I appreciate the technique and would like to do them more often. Just hearing how Emily was going to set up her paper helped me to set up mine. The outline also was a good thing to do with my paper as well. I had already known what I planned to write about, but I didn't know for sure exactly how to put it all together. Today I was just able to think things out and put things where they need to be. I'm all ready to begin my classification essay and have it be due by this next coming Friday.
Scholten 2
Last week when we were discussing the Top 20, I noticed that several of them were mistakes that I make frequently when writing papers. All twenty are important to learn and understand because powerful and influential writing starts with correct grammar and punctuation. After the class had commented on a few that they seemed to struggle with in their writing, I was happy to learn that I was not the only person making some silly grammatical errors. For example, I tend to include vague pronouns in my papers. I noticed after the peer editing that I write sentences with more than one subject and then use he/she and don’t clarify things enough. Another common mistake I notice in my papers is that I leave a few key words out. Our brains think a lot faster than our hands can type or write. Sometimes I will be in the zone, writing and thinking quickly, and another idea will pop into my head so I write even faster and skip a few words because I do not want to lose that train of thought. The third mistake I see myself making occasionally is the unnecessary commas. I tend to be a little comma-crazy when writing my papers. Usually when I proof read it, I recognize that there are commas in places where they should not be. One thing I was surprised to see in the Top 20 list was the switching verb. To me, this seems like a simple thing to remember. It should be common sense that you cannot switch from past tense to future tense. However, I realize that some people are extremely focused when they are writing and it can easily slip from their minds. My objective for this semester will be to work on these problem areas so I can improve my writing.
Woody 5
One topic that we discussed in class that particularly stuck in my mind is that of the environmental lottery. I find it interesting that I had never thought much of the many various factors that can affect someone’s life. In church as a child, I was told to be thankful for being so fortunate, so I saw fortune in life as a black and white spectrum. As I grew older I began to realize that there were many levels of fortune in between completely fortunate and very unfortunate. Once the environmental lottery was mentioned in class, I began to consider all of the types of factors that could change a life. The first thing that came to mind was the area where you are raised. This surely must be the most important factor as it dictates whether you grow up in a first world country like the U.S. or a third world country like Haiti. Even less drastically different environments such as Sioux Falls compared to Chicago could change how someone is raised. Another very important factor I considered was genetics. This could determine your attractiveness, your health, and your strength. More radically, it could be the deciding factor of whether or not you have a mental deficiency, such as Down Syndrome. Your genes partially dictate where and how you fit in with society. I then wondered how these factors could change someone’s personality. For example, do most attractive people have high self-esteem, while most unattractive people have low self-esteem? I can think of a few exceptions. For some reason I really do not believe that these factors affect personality that greatly, except in extreme cases. I think that the decisions that people make in their lives more greatly dictate personality than the environmental lottery. But do they make those decisions because their life turned out a certain way due to the environmental lottery?
Petersen pd7
One concept that struck me was the difference between writing and composing something. The first day of school we had to write in the back of our books why this class is called composition and not writing class. We discussed how writing doesn’t involve much intelligence. You are just jotting down what you need to and not for intelligent purposes. Composition requires intelligence, emotion, and it has potential to become something more. You have facts, opinions, and what you’re writing down makes people question things. You are basically composing a piece of literature like you would a piece of music. When I write music at home, I’m putting together notes that coexist well. Music needs notes and rhythms just like a piece of literature needs periods and clauses. It’s original. This is not something that you’re coping down or has no meaning in it. They both make you feel something. My music and my writing send a sense of emotion to whoever receiving it – at least I hope it does. They get what I’m feeling or what I want them to feel. It’s not like a piece of writing such as a simple note to your friend. I believe the reason the class is called composition is because we aren’t writing notes to our friends. We are composing essays that make us think, make other people think, and take our outlook on things to a whole different level. We are so use to looking at the obvious that we don’t dig down deeper. I know that this class makes me think because I’m horrible at grammar. I find this class actually very intimidating. I absolutely love to write; when I was in middle school I wanted to be a writer. I don’t think I want to be one now, but I still enjoy it. This class makes me actually look at my grammar instead of just writing whatever I feel like. I have to write correctly and I’m pretty sure I didn’t in this blog. Composition is the art of writing and that is why our class is called Composition and not writing class.
Dutson 1
I have found the beginning of this class till now to be quite vexing. With starting out with syntax – which is most certainly not my strongest point as a writer – I was worried that I would end up still just as clueless as every other time I have attempted studying syntax. However, the tools that have been provided have assisted greatly in my study of syntax and writing styles. Especially helpful is the handbook. I had no idea that I wasn’t using very many of the techniques correctly. With studying the book and applying the techniques and punctuations in the sentences we need to put in the sentence my style of writing has improved significantly. Also with the study of syntax, I have found that my sentences throughout my writing do not vary very much. So I am now making a greater effort to change up my sentences. Hopefully as the semester wears on I will find such subjects such as syntax to be less vexing and significantly easier.
Peterson 1
Mr. C. has done of great job of having classmates help fellow classmates for our papers. He has been saying a lot help others because it will help with your paper also. This struck me. I wanted to know how helping someone else with his or her paper would help my paper. My paper is way different than most of the papers in my class and how does superheroes relate to appearances. I won’t be writing about how outfits got super powers. Participating in the class I included my ideas for the students and still did not have relevance to my paper. Today, we helped Emily Larson with her paper about soccer. We were all chipping in ideas and I still had my shallow frame of mind that there was no way her paper would help mine. We had many ideas but two hit me. The comments about using combination of the classes and how this would affect the players in their future were valid in my essay. I could use these two topics as full paragraphs in my paper. They would be tweaked and different than Emily’s but those general ideas did help me. Through what was said today in class I have learned that I need to open my mind to new ideas. I can use other ideas and change them for myself without copying that person. I will defiantly open my mind to other ideas that a student comes up for another now. My paper now has more variety.
When my mind was not coming up with more ideas, I got help from my classmates without even having to ask them personally. I think having those sessions in class are very effective. I would also like to add that the participation of class is starting to become more natural. We all have wonderful ideas and it is great for us to get them out into the open.
Kirkus 2
I never know what to expect when I go to English class each day. It is not a bad thing. It is just that Mr. C's teaching style is so different from any I have had before; we are constantly given the opportunity to think on a deeper level and contribute our own thoughts and opinions. Facebook is a topic that has come up a few times in class. People put things on Facebook that influence the way people see them. With that being the case, do they want people to think they're uneducated? Whenever I am on Facebook, I see hundreds of grammatical errors, many of which are on the top twenty list of errors in the St. Martin's Handbook: Wrong words, missing commas, spelling, unnecessary commas, missing capitalization, etc. Is it because they are lazy? Don't they want to take the time to hit the shift key, the comma key, the backspace key, etc.? I feel like people would not only seem more intelligent, but be more intelligent if they practice the things they learn in school in their everyday lives. However, I feel that, as my classmates and I get older, we accept being intellectual outside of school more. In middle school, I would have been offended if someone called me a "nerd." Now, I take it as a compliment. It makes me feel like I'm doing things that they don't even care to try for fear of failure. Ultimately, being educated will get people where they want to go, or even need to go. It should be everyone's goal to eventually get a career they are happy with, and that is next to impossible without being educated in some way.
Andersen 2
One thing that really caught my attention during class was the children’s book. When Mr. Christensen first told us we were going to read a children’s book I was taken back and questioned why. Aren’t we in a college class? Why are we reading this? As we read the book I Know a Rhino by Charles Fuge I thought it was cute but still did not understand why we were reading it. After the book was finished and we were going through the sentences, I realized that there is a lot more to books and writing in general then I had realized. I Know a Rhino demonstrated that there is many different ways to put sentences together and that even the smallest of books can teach you so much if you look into them. Some of the simplest sentences can say more than a sentence with extra words added to give it length. The words chosen by Fuge demonstrated that less can be more when he chose his word choices, simple and powerful. When I think of writing an essay or even think of a book, I think I need long sentences compacted with multiple scholarly words and analyzable. Big, difficult words are good to have to show your vocabulary. However, that is not true. Short and simple can get the point across more efficiently and clear. The simple sentences in Fuge’s book helped me learn how to determine the types of sentences used and how to incorporate a variety of sentences into my own work to make it more interesting. Without the help of Mr. C and the children’s book, I would have never known how much meaning a simple sentence could have. If we had not read this, I also would never have realized that the smallest book can teach you so much if you analyze what has been wrote.
Westcott 5
In the course of the past two weeks, I have really enjoyed Composition 101. One thing in particular is the critiquing of other peoples essays. Usually when given an assignment, we are told the prompt and the due date. In critiquing the work of others, I feel as if it has helped me tremendously. Today while brainstorming, a new and unique idea came to me as to what to write my essay on. If we wouldn’t have had that time, I don’t think I would have ever thought of it. Also, I feel both the student whose essay we are critiquing and the students who are helping him or her are benefitting in more way than one. We are not only helping our peers write a better paper, but also learning how to look at things more analytically and scholarly. I have thus far really enjoyed Mr. C’s teaching techniques. I feel as if he really enjoys being there, and that helps me have more fun and want to be there as well. Having a teacher who is crabby and doesn’t seem to love teaching makes a class a drag and hard to get through. In contrast, I look forward to going to Mr. C’s class every day, because I know we will learn something and have fun doing it. One conversation we had that sticks out to me is the conversation we had about euphemisms. I have used euphemisms all my life, but never knew what they were called. I also hadn’t ever thought of all the different ones out there. The euphemisms my classmates came up with were very interesting, and it makes me think of things in a different way. Using “we put the dog down” instead of bluntly saying that the dog was killed shows the way of our country. We like to sugar coat the harder things in life so we don’t have to deal with them. I look forward to the next year and the things we will learn.
Peterson 2
Last week one discussion that really stuck out to me was the top twenty. As we read and discussed them I noticed that many of the mistakes that I make in my writing are towards the top of the list. Writing is not something that comes particularly easy to me and I know the more I work on it the easier it will become, and knowing and understanding the top twenty will really help. One of my biggest mistakes is vague pronoun usage. I automatically assume that my reader will understand who I am talking about if I use he or she in my essay and not a specific name. Another big mistake I make in my writing is using unnecessary commas. I get on a roll writing and I don’t realize that I am putting a lot of commas in that don’t need to be there, and often times I do not catch them until someone else reads my essay and points them out. One other mistake I often make is missing words. It is hard when I have an idea for a sentence, or multiple sentences, in my head and I am quickly trying to type it into my essay so I don’t forget. A lot of the time I leave out one or more words, and it is hard to notice the missing word or words when I go back through and read it. I never thought that the mistakes that I make in my writing are common mistakes that others make too and many of them are easy things to fix. I need to take more time proofreading my essays looking for vague pronoun usage, unnecessary commas, and missing words. I know that my these are my most common mistakes but knowing all twenty and being able to use them in my writing correctly will help me become a better writer and make it easier for me to write my essays.
Hensley 5
There are many discussions that have sparked my interest over the past week in Mr. Christensen’s class. One topic in particular was our discussion how technology has changed the course of mistakes in essays. I believe that it may have put our generation at a disadvantage. No longer is it required that we need to know how to spell every minute word in order to compose a successful essay, we have spell check for that! No longer is infinite knowledge of grammar necessary in order sound intelligent, because we have an app for that. Instead the problems of our generation consist of using the correct form of a word, for instance using “their” instead of “there”. The only thing our generation needs anymore is a brilliant idea in order to execute a perfect essay. It used to be that poets, authors, and playwrights not only needed a vivid idea, but also needed a profound knowledge of how to allocate words in a beautiful manner. A writer once required that he execute his trade perfectly the first time, for if he didn’t perform well a writer would have to crudely try to erase his mistake or start over again. Today with the flick of a pinky or click of a mouse, not only can we correct our error, but we can improve upon and make our text fascinating and pleasing to the senses through the use of the internet. Although some may say that technology has been a blessing to all of mankind, I would differ otherwise. Technology has taken away part of the challenge of being a successful writer, in my mind taking away part of the art form. For this is truly what writing is, an art form of masterfully placing words on a page, that has been dumb down so that the average blogger may succeed in what otherwise took a truly gifted individual to do.
We have discussed many captivating topics so far in College English. The conversation that I remember feeling most vividly about, however, was a relatively brief one. At one point during our class period, Mr. C was helping a student develop their ideas for the classification essay. This student was classifying the different types of students that attend Brandon Valley High School by their attitudes towards learning. The student had organized students into three groups (forgive me if I don?t recall them verbatim): the overachievers, those that just go through the motions, and some other group. (I'm really not sure.) Two things stuck me about this conversation, first, the term overachiever. If anyone was to be classified as an overachiever, I'm afraid it would be me. I have taken quite a few difficult courses, and most of my nights are spent doing homework. During the school year, academics are essentially my life. Despite my nerd-like tendencies, the label "overachiever" somewhat bothers me. "Overachiever" seems to carry with a negative connotation, suggesting that the person foolishly does much more than what they should and/or tries way too hard to earn good grades in school. I have never felt like an overachiever, an achiever perhaps. I will not deny the fact that I put effort into school, but I fully believe that my efforts have not been excessive or in vain; the fruits of my labors are almost in season, and I am looking forward to the harvest! If you work hard in school, there are rewards to be had, rewards greater than you might expect. The second thing that struck me about the conversation was Mr. C's comments on why some students are not able to achieve at the level that others are. He pointed out that some students do not have a stable home, ample food, money, or other things that I take for granted. When I look at my academic career, I have no excuse for not attaining as much as one can. I have been incredibly blessed, and this brief conversation about a classmate's essay reminded that some students are not achievers because they have not been endowed with an environment as conducive to achievement as mine has been.
That last comment is from Gallo 2.
I despise the label "overachiever" used in a negative way.
MC
Olesen 1
Composition is like no class I have ever taken before. Writing is not my best area, but I feel like this class is really going to help me. This class has been forcing me to think on a higher, more creative level. Because I am not very strong at writing, I decided to take this class in hope that it will teach me how to write more creatively, and get me ready for college. It has definitely lived up to just that. I think this class will be challenging for me, but also help me grow in my writing. I have already learned that I need to write more complex sentences in my writing, instead of just simple sentences. I hope that by the end of the year I will be able to write my essays with more variation. Having to include things like; dashes, hyphens, semicolons, and colons have also made me challenge myself more in my writing. For some reason writing about myself in my womanhood essay was difficult for me, and I really had to think hard about what a woman is. I enjoy going to this class everyday because there is always something interesting discussed in class, and I learn more everyday. However, unlike others, I do not like the idea of having to go in front of the class and having my essay be critiqued. One thing I think I will like is reading novels, and then discussing and critiquing them. The selection of books we need to read sound interesting. Hearing other peoples’ opinions and thoughts about the books will be interesting as well. I have already started to read the book Life of Pi, because I want to read the book before viewing the movie. Also, I think it will be fun to see a movie and then analyzing them in class.
Forster 2
Good evening. For this blog assignment, I have been a bit dumbfounded; I have sat thinking about what I have thought about during class the past week, which is funny to think about in and of itself. Finally, I remembered something from yesterday that struck a chord with me. As we were discussing various comparison essay topics, Mr. C made a comment about how some students actually enjoy Saturday school, and, furthermore, attempt to be late and disrupt class in order to gain points towards their goal of attending our school’s version of detention. The fact that students in our school would strive to be late for class just to receive disciplinary actions astonished me. Mr. C also expanded on why exactly students would do this. Why would this behavior benefit the students? He came to the conclusion that some students would rather come to a structured environment, such as the high school, than be at home around their drunken parents, for example. One term he used was, "not winning the environment lottery", I believe, in the sense that these seemingly unruly kids have simply missed out on the opportunity for a warm and fuzzy home life. Meanwhile, I had been sitting in my corner of an air conditioned classroom, with my brand new backpack, pitying myself and my subpar immune system. Along with unlimited opportunities to participate in the extracurriculars I enjoy, I have a job because I like to spend money on things my parents believe I should work for in order to fully appreciate. I have, in fact, won the "environmental lottery"-I have a stable home filled with six individuals that love and support me through everything. Mr. C's comment on these other students' lives at least pushed me in the direction of realizing just how lucky I have been in my life thus far.
Forster 2
Good evening. For this blog assignment, I have been a bit dumbfounded; I have sat thinking about what I have thought about during class the past week, which is funny to think about in and of itself. Finally, I remembered something from yesterday that struck a chord with me. As we were discussing various comparison essay topics, Mr. C made a comment about how some students actually enjoy Saturday school, and, furthermore, attempt to be late and disrupt class in order to gain points towards their goal of attending our school’s version of detention. The fact that students in our school would strive to be late for class just to receive disciplinary actions astonished me. Mr. C also expanded on why exactly students would do this. Why would this behavior benefit the students? He came to the conclusion that some students would rather come to a structured environment, such as the high school, than be at home around their drunken parents, for example. One term he used was, "not winning the environment lottery", I believe, in the sense that these seemingly unruly kids have simply missed out on the opportunity for a warm and fuzzy home life. Meanwhile, I had been sitting in my corner of an air conditioned classroom, with my brand new backpack, pitying myself and my subpar immune system. Along with unlimited opportunities to participate in the extracurriculars I enjoy, I have a job because I like to spend money on things my parents believe I should work for in order to fully appreciate. I have, in fact, won the "environmental lottery"-I have a stable home filled with six individuals that love and support me through everything. Mr. C's comment on these other students' lives at least pushed me in the direction of realizing just how lucky I have been in my life thus far.
Steffen 5
I have really enjoyed the discussions that happen in English 101. Mr. C has done an exemplary job of teaching us thus far and I eagerly wait for 5th period to roll around. While reading the novel I Know a Rhino by Charles Fuge, we came upon a sentence. That sentence reads: I know a bear and when it is sunny, we go for a picnic with brown bread and honey. At that time, Mr. C shared with us that his daughter was more afraid of the worm, never the less the bear right beside it. During the class period I could not get that out my head, how fascinating that was. How sometimes we are more afraid of the things that are less likely to harm us than the things that actually will. So that got me wondering, does that thinking only happen when we are younger? Does it decrease with age? I do not believe so. For example, some people are more afraid of what others think of you than what you think of yourself. Other peoples thoughts cannot harm you, but what you think they’re thinking can. In extreme insecure cases, it can lead to anorexia, bulimia, and all sorts of self inflicted dangers. Another scenario is spiders versus relationships. Spiders are just as afraid of you as you are of them. Depending upon the type of relationship, they can harm you even more than a spider could. It could be physical, psychological, emotional or mental damage; pain that lasts way longer than a simple spider bite. Also I notice this fascination in the elder generation. They are more afraid of being alone than dying. I think the latter would be worse, but maybe it is because I am surrounded by friends and family. Or that I am not ready to die yet since I have things I want to accomplish. We have even discussed that humans are a very social species. We strive to be with one another. So that makes sense why being alone is terrifying, but superficially dying seems to be worse.
Arrowsmith 7
Over the past two weeks we have mainly focused on our classification and manhood essays. Between that and our top twenty discussion I have come to the conclusion that I am not very good at writing essays and I do not write well period. I tend to break most of the top twenty rules and almost all of my sentences have the same sentence structure. Which leads to the reader being bored and me being ashamed of my work. I also realized that I desperately need to expand my vocabulary and not use the same boring simple words constantly. Writing does not come easy to me and I do not particularly enjoy it. In fact I shudder simply at a 300 word assignment let alone a four page one. It is something that I have struggled with for most of my high school career and do not have any confidence in my writing abilities. I hope that by taking this class and by learning from my peers around me that I become a polished writer and am confident in my writings. I also liked that you teach us using simple things that we can understand, such as the childrens book I Know a Rhino by Charles Fuge. It makes it hit closer to home for me than just hearing a teacher lecture about how something is done. Another thing I liked are the symposiums we did today in class. By helping others with their essays it makes me think more about my own and how to improve my own. It is amazing that we can help each other while learning about ourselves at the same time. I look forward to more symposiums in the future. Though I need to comment more instead of only thinking of my essay and not helping the one sitting in the chair. I also love the conversations that can just start up by a simple comment. I am sure I have made numerous writing errors in this blog alone, that is why I look forward to bettering myself every day.
Dawn 2
At this point in time I have enjoyed, and been intrigued, by just about every conversation and/or discussion that we have had in Mr. C’s composition class. I personally find Mr. C’s method of teaching to be an optimistic approach to an interesting yet practical, intellectually stimulating environment. He tries to make every day interesting, but he keeps it extremely informative and educational. Yesterday I was very intrigued when I heard we would be reading an entire novel in only fifty minutes. As we progressed through the book it was easy to see the different types of sentence classification, and why Mr. C called it a novel. I am not the best when it comes to classifying different types of sentences. I tend to have a hard time distinguishing between independent and dependent clauses, and therefore I tend to mix up the different sentence classifications. Yesterday it was great to get more review in sentence classification, and even better, was the fact that it was a different way to get the information. I Know a Rhino by Charles Fuge is a very simple, yet complex book. Charles Fuge was able to use every type of sentence that we have learned thus far. To make it more impressive, he was able to do so in a children’s book, with only a couple hundred words. This book was meant to be read by little children, not high school students, and yet this book was able to demonstrate correct sentence structure to room a room filled with intelligent and motivated high school seniors. I can honestly say that I was very surprised that the author was able to use all of the sentence classifications, that we have learned, in his book, and when compared to my essay, I realize I lack this ability. When someone thinks of a college level English class, generally they do not think of reading children’s books, but reading I Know a Rhino was a very great way to learn about sentence classification.
Something from class I can remember from the past two weeks that I thought was interesting was when we talked about facebook profile pictures. We talked about our picture and very first picture ever. We discussed how each picture fell into the category of one of the 3: I am worldly, I am fun, or I am cool. I had never really noticed or taken the time to think about that. The discussion made me start to think about what I have had as pictures for my profile picture and make me start to think, “What impression was I trying to give?” I have always thought about what I put on Facebook for job related reasons, but analyzing Facebook during class encouraged me to think a little deeper about the website itself. I began to think about; why is Facebook so popular? Why does even my dad love Facebook? Why is Twitter becoming a tough competitor for Facebook?
On Facebook you can connect with people all over the world. People you have never met, which is cool, yet terrifying. Gives you chances to meet new people with good and, or bad intentions. Along with meeting new people you can meet your old friends again. My dad gets so excited when he finds more friends from high school. Facebook has been a way to have “high school reunions whenever” just online. Facebook appeals to all ages. My Grandma even has facebook.
I think with all ages being on Facebook, “us high schoolers” are feeling suffocated. Twitter is more of a younger generation website, for now. Twitter has less drama when compared to Facebook; I find that refreshing. Twitter has more of the idea of “write a post and be done with it” You post it and move on. While Facebook you could comment and have all sorts of negative feedback, over and over again. I find Twitter to be more of a positive place.
Rise pd4
Rist 2
This past week has been very interesting for me in class. One thing that caught my attention was the way that Mr. C has read the announcements. Originally he started to read them in a normal voice. He then changed his voice to a strange, uneducated tone. He mentioned the fact that people listen more if he talks in a strange manner. I noticed that I was listening more closely because I had to try to figure out what exactly he was announcing to the class. I began to think about times when I listened more closely because things sounded differently. I recalled multiple instances in public when I thought someone's voice sounded different and I suddenly found myself listening to what they were saying or the conversation they were having with someone. Music also came up. Some songs grab my attention because the background music sounds strange, whether or not the lyrics are good. Tonight, I was sitting on the couch, not paying attention to anything, when a commercial came on the television. It caught my attention because of the different way Stewie had said "wheat thins" by enunciating the "h" in wheat. The English language has taught us that wheat should be pronounced "weat" and saying it with the "h" sound is weird. Now that Mr. C has read the announcements in a certain tone for almost two weeks, I've observed that people have stopped listening. After a length of time, it became understood that he was going to read the announcements that way. It seems that our brain is trained to accept his tone as normal and not as attention grabbing as it had been. I would suggest that Mr. C changes his way of saying the announcements because he has suddenly lost interest from half of the class, if not more.
Beckman Pd. 2
Over the last week and a half of school we have talked about a lot of things in class. Everything from what is on the announcements to how people act, and what they want. The one thing that has really stuck in my mind from day one is speaking in class to earn points. That terrified me. While I am a very chatty person outside of school with friends and family, I have always disliked talking in class, even if I knew the answer. Now my talking is graded as participation. At first I thought this was going to be a bad idea; I figured I would just end up failing because I would keep to myself. The more I thought about it though the more I realized that if I cannot open up with these people that I have been going to school with since kindergarten I am going to have a rough time in college with people I don’t know, or in a professional setting. Today I took initiative and talked in class. Realizing it is not as bad as I always thought. Voicing my opinion has always been hard for me because I have worried about how it might sound or what someone will think about it. Now I realize how absurd that is because I have an opinion just like everyone else, whether they agree or not is up to them, but I should still at least get mine out there. By starting this now I am giving myself more of a head start in communicating not only my thoughts but communicating with people that I may not always talk to, which will help me since I plan to go into speech pathology. Communicating will be a huge factor when it comes to that profession.
Andrews1
Looking back on these past two weeks, I have found many things we have talked about in class to be very fascinating. We've had many interesting topics discussed in class like the top twenty. Top twenty is a list of the most common error patterns made among U.S college students today. It's almost funny that someone would confuse the word allegory with the word allergy, but it's a lot more common than you would think. In fact, wrong-word errors are the most common mistakes made by writers. Other errors in writing can be that people are too vague, or they misspell a word, and they can even miss a word altogether. I feel like I have made many of these mistakes before in my writing, but by taking this class I hope to correct my wrong doings and learn how to use a common splice more often and correctly. We also had a discussion about the word euphemism. We defined it, talked about it, and even used examples. Euphemisms help cover up a offensive or less acceptable word by making it harmless and more positive. In other words it can help soften the blow. Instead of saying someone died you can replace with it with "passed away". Which is softer and doesn't sound as negative. We make it seem like people don't die or can't die. We make it seem like only inanimate objects can. Which,apparently, means only light-bulbs can lose their spark and die. You would never say a light-bulb passed away. We use euphemisms in many different ways and we don't even realize it. It could just be slang or maybe even a figure of speech. In some strange way its like a form of censorship just with a different name. We take the things we don't like and change them or just get rid of them. We try so hard to hide the truth even if it is just simpler to just state what it really is.
Kunkel 2
As I sat pondering what to write about for this assignment, I considered many things that I found interesting. Mr. C. is full of interesting thoughts and comments that fascinate me. I thoroughly enjoy every minute that I get to spend in english, but something Mr. C. said caught my attention as we were discussing essays. Many people don't have the same thoughts and feelings about school as the majority of people in college english, math, and/or science courses. Many kids dread going to school, or worse, love to come to school to fail or even spend time in Saturday school to stay away from their homes and families in which they do not feel they fit in or feel comfortable in. This really struck me and also hurt me in a way. I have a very supportive and loving family and I can not imagine what it would be like to dread going home and seeing them. I feel privileged to be able to have a wonderful and loving family and I feel extremely lucky to be able to go to english and enjoy and understand the concepts we discuss in class.
Among other things I have learned this week and half, I really enjoy getting to have Mr. C. as a teacher. Of course, I have heard the rumors about his being extremely intelligent, but I really didn't understand what my peers meant until I had him. Every single word that comes out of his mouth is filled with meaning and intelligence. His vocabulary is superb and he treats everyone as an equal and with the utmost respect. I have had some bad experiences with teachers in the past who pick favorites, don't like to help me if I have questions, or flat out don't want to be there anymore than the students do. I feel that Mr. C. will be different. I find Mr. C. very easy to talk to and he is very understanding and is willing to answer any question, even if I feel embarassed because I feel it is a "dumb question". I look forward to coming to this class for this reason because I know I don't have to feel discouraged. There is always going to be someone there who is willing to help me and will treat me with respect and dignity.
One thing that I found somewhat terrifying about this class is the symposiums. I hate when people read my work and I am terrified to get up in front of the entire class and read my paper and state my ideas. I am a theatre child and I have no problem speaking in front of people, as long as the words I am saying are not my own. I feel much more comfortable speaking if the words are well-known and highly praised for their beauty and intelligence. That is the main thing that I am not looking forward to in this class, but I realize that I will more or less learn to like speaking in front of the class about my essays and other works.
Waldera2
There have been many interesting things that have gone on in class over the first two weeks of school. What stood out to me was not necessarily a concept but more of the feel of the class. I really enjoyed discussing people’s essays on Wednesday. The classroom was very open and you were free to give any constructive criticism or ideas for an individuals essay. The fact that the class is more open for discussion makes it like none of my other classes. I am not saying that this class is going to be easy, but it just has a different twist on how a classroom is normally run. When we discussed essays the open discussion, it was not only helpful for the individual whose essay was being examined but for me as well. I discovered some flaws in my own essay as well as gained some new ideas. This is one of the most interesting and fun classes because of that sole reason. I feel I'm going to learn a lot from my classmates, and already have. The whole class is very smart and when everyone can speak their mind freely and collaborate together the work environment is enhanced greatly. This year there will be more discussions like this that I am looking forward too intently. I can not wait to write my essay and talk about it in class and just learn about how to piece words and sentences together to greatly improve my writing. As soon as the class starts to talk about one idea that leads to another and another, and it continues exponentially. Working in a classroom setting like this, it would be impossible not to learn something new everyday. During this year I am positive that I will become a much better writer and a much better person as well.
Minihan 7
Today in English Class, I was fascinated and a little shocked during our class’s conversation while helping a classmate with their paper. The student’s classification essay is focused on categorizing different types of church-goers. One of the types of church-goers is the “forced” parishioner. Mr. Christensen asked if maybe one denomination seemed to be pushier or more forceful than others. After no one answered, Mr. Christensen answered his own question and replied with “the Catholics.” I was surprised by this, because growing up a “Cradle Catholic” I have felt pressured by others to live that faith out. When hanging out with some friends and they happen to swear or talk about something they wouldn’t around parents, they instantly apologize and say that they know I don’t approve. I think this may be because for a long time Catholicism has been a strong, solid religion while other churches may change their views or break away from the original denomination. Catholics have also been known to have “strict rules” and traditional mass celebrations. Having never known anything else, I am not a very good judge of differences between mass and other church services; I have only gone to a handful of Lutheran services. The point I am trying to make is that maybe other churches feel pressured by us because we have set ways and beliefs that haven’t changed. Our church offers many opportunities, other than mass, to pray and worship. Monday nights we have 6:00 p.m. Rosary, Tuesday is Daily mass night at 5:30, Wednesday nights are Religious Education classes, followed by a youth rosary, and Thursday and Friday mornings there is daily mass. Saturday evening starts off the weekend mass times at 5:00 p.m. Sunday morning has two different services and another in the evening. Is this a reason others may feel pressured by Catholics? Although I have gone through small times of pressure and have been raised Catholic, I have been given the opportunity through Confirmation to choose my faith for myself, and not because it is what my parents want for me. I love my faith for many different reasons and know I wouldn’t be fulfilled or spiritually filled anywhere else. But I know you can’t force someone to go to church and praise, because what kind of love would that be? God gave us free will so we could choose to love Him. It would fill me with happiness to know that every person went to church freely and passionately on Sundays. I would love to help people get to that point in finding that joy in Christ, but everyone has their own time and needs to find faith through their own journey. This is why I personally don’t want to push others towards church.
Rusten 7
I absolutely love the idea of one student getting in front of the class to get support, constructive criticism, ideas, and more. It helps us, the students, who are stuck or in need of improvement on their paper. Personally I find it more helpful then anything you could have done out side of class. Twenty different minds other than your own will defiantly bring out amazing and creative ideas. However, what I do not like is the grading for your participation. People, like me, have trouble talking in front of a group and whenever I feel forced to say something I do not feel confident about what ever said. For example, we were helping a student today on her paper classifying church goers. A few students gave a lot of good examples and talked repeatedly while others sat quietly, listening. I felt obligated to mention something because if I did not then my grade would suffer. From my experience today I wanted to think of something original and new. Sadly, nothing came to mind. I ended up adding on to what another student said and describing it in detail. Voicing my opinion has always been hard for me because I have worried about how it might sound or what someone will think about it. Although the whole point of this exercise could be to benefit both the critiqued and the people giving out critiques. Being forced to say something and give an educated input gets us used to speaking in front of others and say whatever is in our heads. In the end it could be a great confidence boost for the shyer students (like me). In my opinion I hate the graded comments but I know it would benefit me in the end.
Heisel 5
I found the discussion over Van Ede 5’s classification essay to be very interesting. His concept was the classification of lies. His original 3 points were the selfish, the selfless, and the harmful. These concepts later were symbolized by armor. His essay seemed appropriate and relatable. This discussion began to make me think about changing my essay to something more relevant to everyone. While other people began to ask questions and suggest other things, my mind unfortunately wondered. I eventually decided to change my essay topic completely. My new topic will be the classification of classmates’ classification essays. The essays will be categorized by their relevance to other people, and the lessons they could learn from them. The categories will be: Self-centered; uninteresting; entertaining, yet not thought provoking; and captivating.
Due to Mr. Van Ede’s essay, I found myself thinking about the lies I tell and how I could change myself for the better. I wanted my essay to change people. His essay was captivating. My goal is to make my topic interesting enough to make the class pay attention, yet informative enough to help my peers write more relevant essays. I don’t claim to be a master essay writer, but maybe with my help, other people could be. Because of the possible conceit I might portray, I need to make sure that the tone of my essay is humble, comical, and informative.
Other essays gave me good examples of things that were irrelevant to people. For example, if the entire class doesn’t follow sports, then the essay shouldn’t just drone on about mindless sports jargon. Instead, the essay should link the sports to aspects of everyone’s lives. This will make the essay more interesting, and more relevant. When people can relate to a composition, it is more likely to influence them.
Overall, I believe that the class discussion made me think much more deeply about how I should write essays, which lead me to write a classification essay about how people write their classification essays.
Wehrkamp 5
English Composition 101 is an extraordinary exciting class thus far into the school year. I have noticed a wide range of students intrigued with the top twenty most common errors among college students. I also find myself drawn toward this topic as we discussed it in class. It is fascinating to see some particular mistakes seem alike common sense in our English language. As I brought up in my class, I tend to miss words when I conduct essays. If I have a strong idea in my head that just flows onto paper, I find myself omitting simple words in sentences. Without hesitation Mr. Christensen explained how our mind works faster than our hands can type. Another common error I find myself conflicted with: vague pronoun reference. When I write a phrase, it could make perfect sense to me, but a reader might have the slightest idea what I mean because of vague pronoun referencing. I think vague referencing almost comes from people looking for short cuts, or the lacking effort of explaining oneself further. People seem to also have a great deal of difficulty spelling. Mr. Christensen put it into prospective that our generation is at a disadvantage with technology, such as auto correct. We have not been forced to learn how to spell every word in the English dictionary, yet are we expected, at the ages of seventeen and eighteen years old, to be able to? We no doubtingly have learned how to spell certain words in the past, but we have not been able to retain every one of those words. Along with the top twenty, I also found it relaxing to read an entire novel in class already this year, granted the novel was a children’s book. I cannot remember the last time my teacher read a children’s book to me in class for learning purposes! Thus far the class has proven to be informational everyday, along with a wide variety of intellectual atmospheres.
Huntington 7
There were many of the things we talked about that sparked my interest however there was not one specific topic. Since I cannot think of one specific topic that sparked my interest more than the others I will talk about the general atmosphere of composition class. The first thing I notice as I come in the door is Mr. C. he always makes the class feel at ease by being rather humorous and at times absurd. One of the next things I notice when I come in to composition is the abundance of decorations on the walls. There are many things that say many things. Because I have not been along with Mr. C. on many of his teaching adventures through the years I do not understand the significance of many of the decorations. I do however understand some of the decorations such as the pictures of tigers which refer to the “life of pi” others such as the “lion king” posters would seem to be representing the “lion king”. I am not a good writer and I believe that Mr. C. will do all in his power to motivate each and every student in his classes to become a better writer and I also believe he may very well accomplish his goal in some form or another. I am glad to have received some reading material from Mr. C. and the books were not only interesting but also stimulating to the intellect (in normal terms they made me think about some of the issues discussed in the book.). I am very glad Mr. C. makes his classes interesting in order to help his students understand the concepts. There are actually several teachers like that whom I have met and at first thought they seemed crazy but later realized how much that helped me learn.
(P.S. sorry for getting this done late.)
Schwint 7
One topic I found interesting was our discussion about AberZOMBIE. I do believe our society has become overly obsessive with body image. I do believe body image can help a relationship, but it is not the only factor in a perfect relationship. We only look at body image and forget about personality and character. Society pursueds us that being the "perfect 10" is the only way we will be happy and find the love of you life. Also, Aberzombie uses body image to charge ridiculous prices. They use models to show how their clothes is worn by the hottest of the hot, and so you should wear them. I beileve we should tone down are standards as a society. Then we will find what we are true happiness.
Grapevine 7
After being in Mr. C's class, the thing that really caught my attention was the symposiums. No other class I have been in has ever used that concept for discussing essays before, and I found it both indimidating and useful. I am a more shy person, so the idea of talking in front of the class naturally made me uncomfortable, and I was very skeptical at first at the idea. But once others started talking, I realized how easy it truly was, and how helpful it was as well. Getting in front of the class allows you to have an audience of your peers, who really have the same mindframe, and can really help you with your essay. I also liked the idea of giving points to those who contributed to the conversation as well, eager and willing to help out their classmates. Though it was very indimidating, and I'm still uneasy about it, I am now more willing to get up and talk in front of classmates. Mr. C is able to use humor to help you get confidence, and suddenly, you don't feel as if you're being judged anymore (even though I'm sure you still are in some minds). It was just a very good idea, and I really do like the use of it.
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