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2.) With whom will you write your partner Argumentation essay? Against which partnership will you write? What are possible topics? (You must have a partner and an opposing partnership of two people arguing for the opposite stance. Kind of like doubles tennis, or two-on-two basketball.)
300+ words total.
Pictured is BV alum Zach Van Ede, among the best (most cordial, persuasive, strategic, and intelligent) arguers I know.
Pictured is BV alum Zach Van Ede, among the best (most cordial, persuasive, strategic, and intelligent) arguers I know.
96 comments:
Chmela 3
I think I use both allusions and similes very well in my narrative essay. I like using similes in my writing because it gives me the opportunity to compare an on topic subject to something completely different or something funny to relieve my writing of its suspense. For example, I used the simile “The creek was like a snake.” I specifically like this simile because it compares something very simplistic, the creek, to something very malicious and full of devious movements. I also used the simile “The gun then disappeared back behind Igor’s tree like the conclusion of a magic trick.” I like this one too, because it explains that Igor wanted us to see him move the gun just as a magician wants us to see the end of his magic trick. My next simile also doubles as an allusion which I think do a great job in explaining characters and events without using words but using the readers primordial knowledge. The simile and allusions is “Igor was just like Jack Torrance in the Shining, making us afraid of him.” I compared Igor to Jack Torrance which most people know is the malevolent dad from The Shining who tries to kill both Wendy and their son Danny. In this case me and Zeke, another character in my story, were Wendy and Danny. This allusion helps the reader understand how Zeke and I felt without actually saying it because most of my audience has seen or read The Shining. My other allusion is one of a mythological character named Achilles. “Competition was our Achilles heel…” This doubles as a metaphor but explains that competition was Igor, Zeke, and I’s weakness. We would give in to any chance at beating each other. If readers know the story behind Achilles they will pick up extra information without me putting it in my story.
I am writing my argumentation essay with Tyler Erck. We are writing against Jeremiah Burkman and Jeanna Brandsrud. Tyler and I are writing on the topic that curfews do not keep kids from getting into trouble whereas Jeremiah and Jeanna are writing that curfews do keep kids from getting into trouble. I believe this will be a fun topic because I am interested to see what statistics show and if they really do keep kids from getting in trouble or not. I understand that they may help but to what degree. I am excited to write with Tyler because we share the same viewpoint and work well with each other.
Burch
Pd. 3
I think that I did a nice job of using absolute construction in a few places in my essay. I never used to use those phrases in my writing, but after our Term Tuesday lessons, I discovered how easy they are to add into a piece of work and how they spice everything up a little bit. I have started using them more often and really like the effect that they have on the quality of my writing. Along with absolute construction, I have started to use more precise verbs. Instead of being satisfied with boring verbs, I have begun thinking more deeply about word choice. I am not consistent and still need a lot of practice, but my writing is taking more thought and becoming more precise.
For the Argumentation essay, I will be writing with Vanessa Heinrichs against Mickelle Ahlers and Courtney Stegenga. We are writing about a controversial, political topic that some communities in certain states are facing: should teachers be allowed to conceal and carry guns at school? I am hoping that we will broaden the topic even further, because only 20 states forbid students and faculty at college universities from carrying and concealing. Vanessa and I will be writing about why that should be allowed, while Mickelle and Courtney will be writing as to why that should be illegal. Right now, more than a third of states allow their teachers to carry weapons. The only requirements, beyond possessing a permit that allows them to legally carry, they merely need a written note from their principal or authority figure in the school. I question if that hinders their real rights as American citizens. If they have a permit to conceal and carry, should they be required to inform a principal that they are carrying? Why does the whole “conceal and carry” phrase not seem to apply any more?
1. I believe that the two literary devices I used best in my Narrative essay was alliteration and sensory language. I loved writing about one of my favorite European cities (Venice) and it was not hard to describe it in as much detail as I possibly could. It was a great experience to go back in my memories and access those pertaining to Venice. The sights, sounds, smells, and touches of the city were very unique to it. It was and is unlike any other city in the world. Alliteration is also one of my favorite things to write. I love trying to find words that all flow together perfectly. I have always enjoyed well-written poetry and alliteration is poetic to me. It may seem inane or childish at times, but I still enjoyed it. Having the ability to alliterate accents what academic skills already accessible to you. Anyhow, it is a very fun literary device to write with and I cannot wait to write with it again.
2. I am writing my Argumentation essay with Megan Swets, a very good friend of mine. We are going to argue against Kjerstin Williams and Lydia Eichelberg. We have already chosen our topic and, broadly, our topic is standardized testing. Megan and I are taking the pros, or the positive aspects and/or impacts, of standardized testings while Kjerstin and Lydia are observing the cons, or the negative aspects and/or impacts, of standardized testing. Megan and I have already found many different positions to take up against our opposing pair. I am sure that Kjerstin and Lydia will be able to do a great job in defending their standpoint too. I am very excited to begin this essay next week or during the weekend. I feel like the research part of it will be hard to do, but I am still looking forward to it.
1. The two literary devices I used the best in my Narrative essay were flashbacks and similes. A flashback is a literary device where the writer depicts events that have taken place before the events that are currently unfolding in the story. Which is exactly what I did in my essay. Flashbacks give the reader a view into the characters life when they were younger. This helps the viewer better understand the present situation. For example, in my Narrative essay I used this sentence as my flashback. “I would go to practice on Sundays in a small elementary school gym where I would beg my dad to show up a half an hour late so I did not have to do ball handling.” This gives the reader a view of my life when I was younger and playing basketball. The next literary device I used the best was similes. A simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things. Using similes helps a simple sentence have more of and meaning and understanding. The reader is able to better understand what the writer is trying to get across by making that comparison to something else. Similes also offer variety in our ways of thinking and offers new perspectives of viewing the world. One example of a simile that I used in my Narrative essay is, “The center was like a Roman Colosseum compared to the other schools I had visited.” I compared the Barnett Center at Northern State University to a Roman Colosseum. It gives the reader a sense to how big it was compared to other Division 2 schools.
2. I am writing my Argumentation essay with Karly Neuburger. We are going against Michaela Beckman and Paige Drenth. Our group is going to argue whether or not someone should join a sorority/fraternity. Karly and I will be arguing for joining a sorority/fraternity; while Michaela and Paige are going to argue against joining a sorority/fraternity. Karly and I will find the positives of joining a sorority/fraternity and give the advantages of being in one. I am looking forward to doing this topic because Karly’s sister is in a sorority therefore she can give us a lot of first hand knowledge and experience.
Kuehn 2
1. I believe that the two literary devices that I employed the best in my narrative essay were foreshadowing and imagery. At the beginning of my narrative essay, explain that my teammate Liz and I drove to Yankton for a golf tournament one morning. I mention that although Liz and I expected to have a long day, it turned out longer than we had expected. Without giving away too many details, I foreshadowed that something unexpected was going to happen to us at some point during that day. I hopefully also intrigued the reader to wonder why the day became longer, which they would later learn was getting caught in a storm on our way back from a golf tournament. I also hint at new experiences for myself, including driving through heavy rain and sandbagging. The other literary device that I used well was imagery. I used imagery while describing the storm that I was driving through. I spent quite a bit of time describing the winds, and the way they threatened to turn my car away from the road or tip me over. I also used imagery to explain the water; the way it was raining, rushing, and rising. Imagery explained the way the sky looked, split while we were in Yankton, dark while driving, and clear once we returned to Brandon. Finally, I used imagery in explaining how Brandon looked--the park, the golf course, the sky, and the roads--as I drove around with my Dad upon returning.
2. I will write my partner Argumentation essay with Maddy and the partnership that we will be writing against is Mykayla and Tate. One of our possible topics is to write about the benefits of sports versus the benefits of fine arts, debating which one is better. Maddy and I will argue for sports. Since she plays volleyball and I play golf, we are both participate in extracurricular activities on the sports end of the spectrum, allowing us to argue this point. Tate and Mykayla are both interested in art, and Tate is in band and theater. This gives the two of them more fine arts oriented extracurricular activities, and a better ability to defend the benefits of fine arts.
The first literary device I use well is a participle phrase. A good portion of the time, I use them in the form of gerunds--which start with a verb followed by -ing in a phrase. An example of this that I use in my essay is:
“I glance over at my phone seeing the numbers four, zero and zero.”
“Seeing” is the gerund followed by the rest of its participle phrase. This adds a lot of additional description to my essay so I do not have to have a second sentence stating that it is four in the morning. Another example where I refrain from using a gerund is:
“Forty yards away, he drops hard and fast with his forelegs falling out from underneath him.”
“Forty yards away” is the participle phrase that adds the needed description.
The second literary device I use quite well in my narrative essay is absolute construction to start of sentences. I like these because it too, adds much description and detail. I do not like starting sentences with the subject over and over again. It makes my writing sound choppy, but the prepositional phrases at the beginning of sentences soothes the choppiness. An example of where I use this is:
“Darker in color, some brush sets on the far side of the L-shaped draw. I gaze through my rifle’s scope seeing the bush, but then I realize they are antlers and a bulky body.”
For the argumentative essay, my partner is Keenan Ernste, and we will be versing Jacob Donahue and Alex Derrington regarding the topic of whether people should be allowed to sell their own organs for money such as a kidney. Since people are able to live with only one kidney, they would be able to sell one kidney without donating it. We will be taking the stance against legal selling of organs.
I believe that the best literary devices I used in my Narrative essay are sensory details and symbolism. I believe that I used sensory details well when I described the absurd, garbage-littered coast. I used a metaphor here that referred the coast to the garbage man. The sensory details explain the sight of how it looked along with what I heard and smelled through the stench of Marijuana. I also used sensory details while I described the guide and the waterfall. I told how brackish the water was and how good the guide smelled (weird I know). I explained how the tropical jungle felt as the humid air hung over and how ice cold the water was. Sensory details capture the reader and hook them into the story hopefully making them feel as if they are in the setting. It was not too hard to use these as most have never been to Jamaica and have not witnessed what I got to. The other device I used well was the symbolism. I referred to the bus as the only thing bringing the two different people together. My favorite use of symbolism was how I used the zip lines. I noticed that the Jamaican workers were young and the zip lines symbolized how they had to zip through their childhood to be adults and make money. This symbolism helps relate the reader to the Jamaican workers and show how unlike our race they are. It shows that the USA has life so much easier and to not take things for granted.
I will be writing my Argumentation essay with Reid Grode, an excellent friend of mine. We have been going over a few topics to argue against Riley Frantzen and Alex Wilde. The most occurring topic we have discussed is whether college football or the National Football League is better. This topic fits well for us to argue as we all play football and watch football most Saturdays and Sundays. We will be arguing for the NFL and are currently looking for viewpoints that best state the dominance of NFL over college games. Research will not be too hard as many have opinions over the subject and lots of statistics are out there and in reach. I’m sure Riley and Alex will have a strong argument for their side, so Reid and I must be prepared to attack their points and have a solid background to develop topics off of. This will be a fun task as we all compete and get our competitive side out during a school essay.
Kjerstin Williams 3
1. My narrative essay included many literary devices such as setting, narrative method, and dialogue. The two literary devices that I employed the most throughout my narrative essay were mood and theme. One example of when I used mood in my essay was when I was describing my fall, “I felt a numbing pain sear throughout my body and I could not create a coherent thought. THUD! My back hit the fourth and final step. Blackness.” Another example is when I described the car ride, “I could not delineate much from the car ride because the pain I felt from every bump in the road was excruciating. I closed my eyes, hoping that it would be over soon.” I tried to use mood as much as possible so that my reader could feel what I felt so that my story could connect with them on a deeper level. I alluded to my theme throughout my essay, but I expanded on it the most in my introduction and my conclusion in these excerpts, “After my experience, I realized that life is not meant to be rushed. We all need to enjoy life, everything about it, and slow down. I learned that sometimes it is okay to run down the stairs of life and, other times, it is a good idea to grab a hold of the handrail.” and “To conclude, life is hard to figure out, and sometimes you will go too fast and you will fall. It is what you learned from that fall and how you picked yourself up and carried yourself afterwards that determines whether or not you will fall again.”
2. I will be writing my argumentation essay along side my good friend Lydia Eichelberg. Our minds and writing abilities will be countering those of Nicole Petersen and Megan Swets. The four of us have discussed a multitude of ideas for our essay topic, but we have concluded that the topic of whether or not standardized tests are a true depiction of a student’s intelligence. Ms. Eichelberg and I will be one the side of these tests are not an accurate showing of a student’s intelligence while Ms. Petersen and Ms. Swets will be arguing that these tests are, in fact, accurate showings of a student’s intelligence.
Breitzman 6
I used several literary devices in my narrative essay. However, I feel I used the allusions and similes most effectively. Allusions are a great way of adding more characteristics to an object or adding more suspense to a certain event that occurred. In my narrative essay, I compared my nine year old adventurous self to Huckleberry Finn and the horrible, unpredictable night I was having to the Greek God Dionysus. These two famous individuals helped give more description to my writing. I also feel I used similes very effectively in my essay. I like incorporating similes into my writing because they can be used in many different ways. They can be used to add suspense, or to add humor. One simile I used in my essay is: "However, it has a spooky uneasing decoration to it, as if you are walking through an old, rickety house." I was in line for a roller coaster and the setting while waiting in line was eerie. Therefore, I was able to use an accurate comparison to an old rickety house to describe the feeling I had while waiting in line.
I will write my Argumentation essay with Robert Berndt, and we will be arguing against Jacob Nachreiner and Sarah McKellar. We have discussed several topics, including whether or not it is offensive for sports teams (professional or collegiate) to use Native American names and/or mascots. Though we are not completely sure what our topic will be yet, Robert and I will strongly research and find viewpoints to support our stance on whatever topic we decide. Jacob and Sarah will surely do the same to oppose our stance. Regardless, it will be fun and interesting to take part in the Argumentation essay.
Literary devices are techniques used by authors to convey the message to the reader. For me, I enjoy using mostly metaphors, and sometimes similes. I enjoy using these two literary devices the most because I am comfortable using them. Also, it is very easy for me to come up with them given every situation. In my narrative essay, my strongest literary devices would probably be the metaphors. I love using metaphors because they help with visualization. Without this literary device, my writing would be very bland and boring to read. I had a nine page essay and was actually quite worried that nobody would want to read it all the way through. To my surprise, I received many comments of how I wrote very well for writing about a child who influenced me without loosing their attention. One of the comments I had received had even said that she had wished there was more to read! This makes me very grateful for all of my teachers and everyone’s critiques that have made me become a better writer. I am no where near a perfect writer, and do not ever intend to be. In fact, I could use a lot of work on some other literary devices. I feel that I need a lot of work on foreshadowing/flashback and some other devices we have not talked about quite yet.
I will be writing with Ashley Guthmiller as a partner for the Argumentation essay. Out opposing partnership will be Shayna Berberich and Amber Wickstrom. Our possible topics include: Does Money Buy Happiness or Is Technology a Good or Bad Thing in our Society. We happen to be leaning more toward the technology topic because we find a wider variety of views on this. Also, we have grown up in the midst of the technology becoming more and more prominent and we all have our own views on this topic.
Darrington 3
1. In my narrative essay and in all of my writing, I try to utilize assorted literary techniques in an attempt to make my writing interesting and detailed. My narrative essay saw the use of allusions, setting description, similes, and chronologic leaps, among other techniques. I feel the techniques I used most effectively were characterization and metaphors though. Characterization is a way to display the people involved in the story. I characterized myself early on in the writing and explained my viewpoints and actions. This gave the reader a better understanding of who I was at the time and how my actions were influential to myself. Later, I went on to describe my coworkers at the bike shop where I was employed. I described a few of them in depth, while others with only a one line description. “Cal, the grumpy, plumpy shop manager often distraught over improper water bottle arrangement.” This sentence is one of many where I gave insight into who I worked with. Characterization allowed me to better portray the dynamic of the bike shop and give the reader near first hand perspective of what I encountered. The next technique I used effectively was metaphor. Metaphors directly compare one item to another. I used multiple metaphors in my essay, some even unintentionally. When describing the tax form process, I compared the government receiving extra money (because I do not have any children or wives) to simply, “Uncle Sam”. My usage of metaphors rendered my writing more fluid, interesting, and overall enjoyable. Now I must continue expanding my knowledge, so I can add more in depth references and symbols in my writing.
2. I will be writing my Argumentative essay with the one and only Jacob Donahue. We will be going toe to toe with the fierce William Trevillyan and Keenan Ernste. I expect a vehement battle to the end, with lots of positive debate and discussion in between. Our ideas included: censorship of the internet, drug prohibition, and the topic we finally settled on, the sale of organs. Jacob and I will be arguing for the legal sale of organs, as we believe people should be allowed to sell themselves. Not in a prostitution sense necessarily -- That is a debate for another time -- but the act of selling extra organs, such as kidneys, for profit.
1. The two literary devices I best employed in my essay are, similes and foreshadowing. Similes are literary devices used to help the reader understand what he/she is reading about by comparing two unlike things. I like using similes because you can add them to any sentence, and they make the sentence more exhilarating. One simile I used in my narrative essay was, “We started running to Melissa’s house, like shoppers bolting frantically through stores on Black Friday.” Using this simile helps readers imagine what is going on, and it helps readers to create a better picture in their head. My next favorite literary device is foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is used to give the reader an advance hint of what is to come in the story. I like using foreshadowing because it gets the reader thinking about what might happen in the story. One example of foreshadowing in my essay is, “I thought our adventure in New York would begin tomorrow, but I would learn that it would begin tonight.” This sentence gives readers a clue about what I am going to talk about in my essay. To become an exceptional writer, I need to learn to use more literary devices.
2. My partner for the argumentation essay is Michaela Beckman. We are arguing against Karly Neuburger and Carley Kueter. The topic we choose to write about is whether or not one should join a sorority/fraternity. Michaela and I will be arguing against joining a sorority/fraternity; Carley and Karly will be arguing for joining a sorority/fraternity. Michaela and I will be researching the negatives of joining a sorority and the disadvantages of joining one. This topic interests me, because next year I will be going to college and I am not sure if I would like to join a sorority or not.
My best used literary device was imagery. I quite enjoyed painting the scene of an event I remember vividly. It was fun to try and describe a situation that I have experienced to someone who is not knowledgeable to perhaps the place my event was occurring and the senses I was experiencing. I now know how much work and author goes through to expel the images from his brain, to the paper, into the reader's mind. One of my favorite lines of imagery was "The long grass shook from its seeded top to its rooted bottom." I became enveloped in my essay, trying to portray a scene, while I was almost reliving it through my imagination.
My second best used literary device was my symbolism. Over the years, I have read many books which contained symbolism. I often wondered if the symbolism was intentionally or a happy coincidence. I learned symbolism is most likely not a random occurrence and needs time and creativity to be used well. I could see in my mind that, yes, the weather symbolizes the seriousness of the current situation, but to my reader, I wanted to be sure they could realize that as well. I love the 'Ah ha' moment in stories when I find a hidden symbolism within their pages. My favorite sentence depicting the weather symbol was "The Sun no longer beat on our backs and the wind began to pick up."
I am creating my Argumentation essay with Kaila Kuehn. We will write our paper for the sole purpose of refuting Mykayla Palmer and Tate Green's essay. We decided on one topic right away. Kaila and I will be supporting the notion that sports are more important than the fine arts in high school, and Tate and Mykayla will be writing about why fine arts are more important than sports in high school.
In my narrative essay I expanded my sentence types. The two techniques I did well in my essay were compound-complex sentences, and active voice/precise verbs. I really tried to add compound-complex sentences to my essay to make it sound more interesting. Making compound-complex sentences is difficult, but the best writers just write them. They don’t have to think “I need a compound-complex sentence”--like I did. I created two for sure, possibly three, but I didn’t overuse them. If I used them all the time, my sentences would be way too long and the reader would have to think more. I don’t want my readers to have to think about what is happening in my narrative; I just want them to enjoy the story. My narrative contained a diversity of complex sentences, compound sentences, and simple sentences. The diversity of the sentences adds flair to my essay (which I like). An example of compound-complex from my narrative: “Missing one game of football was horrible, but when I had time to think about my actions, I learned to see the situation from Shayla’s view.”
Another literary device I liked to use in my narrative was active voice and precise verbs. I definitely did not use any “there are/it” sentences that bore the reader. Only neophyte writers use vague expletives. I also did not overuse boring verbs like “is” or “was.” An example of this is “the usual lunchroom chatter within my lunch table buddies includes hilarious aspects as well as serious aspects.” I could have wrote “My lunchtime chatter is usually hilarious.” “Is” is not an awesome verb. I also liked how I wrote precise verbs, for example: “Alex grabbed his fork and carved T-C-H into the apple.” I could have created a boring sentence by writing: “He made the rest of the apple.”
My partner for the argumentation essay is Umaima Koch and we will argue against Nate Bennett and Eli Powell. I think we will win because we have great communication. We don’t know exactly what were going to argue about. Possible topics include: when recess should stop, should high school curriculum contain phys. ed, are people inherently good or bad.
In my Narrative essay, I think I use imagery and similes the best. Imagery was easily added to my story. The way I injured myself, what happened to me, and the events following my injury were all vivid in my mind. This is not an ordinary story, this was one of the most eventful days of my life. The description of my arm that day and my feelings in the ambulance were very real. I desired to relay my story more casually, as if I were retelling the events in person. While using this more casual nature, I used more vivid and shocking language to provoke seriousness where it was necessary. Second, I think my use of similes was better than usual for my writing. Generally when I use similes, they are descriptive for one line, never reappearing in my essay. In my Narrative, I used the pizza simile to help put forth a large idea. I was overjoyed when that idea came together. I am really learning how to use literary devices to put forth meaning, as opposed to using them just to mix up the structure of my writing.
I must mention that I have surely become a better writer over this semester of Composition 1. I am not a fan of reaching a certain page limit, but I know this is necessary for college preparation and grading purposes. I have searched deep in my mind for causes, effects, and other ideas surrounding my essay topics. Many juniors have asked me if I would recommend the course. My response was simple: “Yes, if you want to become more knowledgeable and pertinacious writer.” I was never a slacker in English class when it came to essays, but this year I have been constantly thinking about finishing my essay with meat as opposed to fluff. I have improved a lot from a writing stand point this year, but I plan on gaining confidence in my college years. I desire to use sources more effectively in my writing, which will come in handy in my study of the sciences in college.
I am writing my Argumentative essay with Jake Comeaux. I am not used to working with him on school projects so I look forward to this. I believe Hailey Murray and Alicia Dewit have accepted the challenge of writing against the eloquent duo of Jake and myself. I am not positive what we will be writing about... I have mentioned a few ideas such as feminism seen in schools or the workplace today. We plan to brainstorm about it today because we must get the wheels turning on this essay machine!
In my narrative essay, I tried to incorporate as many literary devices as I could to make my essay more interesting. When I first began to attend this class, I probably wouldn’t have been able to locate literary devices in my essays as easily as i can now. This class has helped me become more diverse in my writing.
The two literary devices I included most in my essay were similes and repetition. A simile is a figure of speech that compares one object to another thing of a different kind. I included quite a bit of similes in my essay because I feel as though it helps the reader imagine the story in their heads as if they were actually experiencing it. The similes in my essay helped make more emphatic and vivid descriptions; not so boring.
Repetition is the act of repeating something that has already been said or written. In my case, I repeated what was already written in my essay. It can be a word or phrase repeated to emphasize its significance in the entire text, therefore, I used repetition to emphasize. It can make a word or phrase appear stronger and have a larger effect in my essay.
I will be writing with Lilli Jasper for my partner Argumentative essay. We will be writing against the talented Kaity dybdahl and Bethany Headrick who will be arguing against us on the same topic. First, we thought about the topic of Birth Control. One partnership would argue for it, and the other would argue against it. We then found out that Birth Control is too much of a controversial topic, just like abortion, so we could not pull through with that topic.Other ideas that my group is still contemplating about are: if money can buy happiness, if the modern world is ruining a child’s childhood, and if foster care is good for kids without homes. The one we like the best is the topic on foster care, so I think we will be doing our essay on that one. I am looking forward to this partner essay and can’t wait to begin!
The two best literary devices that I used in my Narrative essay were the similes and a flashback that I used in the beginning of my essay. A flashback is an interjected theme that takes the narrative back in time from the current point. A flashback usually carries a lot of meaning and gives the reader better insight about the topic. In my essay I brought the reader back in time to when the accident occurred. The second literary devices that I used in my essay were similes. A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two things through the explicit use of connecting words. “My knee felt like somebody struck it with a baseball bat.” This is one of the many similes that I used in the essay. Similes give more detail about a situation and make the reader more interested. I enjoy using these in my essays because they can be used to compare different objects.
I will be writing my argumentation essay with Ezra Voigt. We will be challenging Alick Sazonov and his partner(not decided yet). With many important topics to consider, we chose a topic that is argued by many Americans. Should women be able to serve in active combat? We thought about this topic because many people think that women are capable of fighting on the front line. I think this is a good topic to debate because it is a serious debate in modern day American society. There are many pros and cons to this topic but we believe there are many more cons to this than pros. We are against this topic and will be arguing against Alick, who is for women serving in active combat. We do not believe women should serve on the front line because it does not seem ethical.
Ezra Voigt
1.) In my narrative essay I used foreshadowing quite a bit. I tried to use foreshadowing every time I felt the story getting boring. I gave the reader subtle hints as to what was later to occur. I used foreshadowing to build suspense and interest in my story. It kept the reader reading my essay and not becoming board. The 2nd literary device I used effectively in my essay was descriptive language. I used descriptive language to build character development and to describe the scenes around me. I think that it made the reader feel more attached to the story and kept them reading and interested. The entire point of literary devices is getting the reader wanting to read the story and not becoming bored with the story.
2.)For my partner argumentation essay I will be partners with Greg Koehn. We will be battling Alick Saznov and his partner. We have discussed various topics. At first we considered arguing if modern day torture was ethical. After some debate we changed topics because we viewed this topic as one sided. Should women be allowed to serve in active combat became our new topic. Greg and I will be arguing against women serving in active combat. I think that this is a good topic to debate because it is a serious debate in modern day American society. Recently, in 2013, women have been allowed to serve in active combat. There is still some debate today if this was the right decision to make. For each side of this argument there are pros and cons. This is not a one sided debate. Greg and I will be looking at statistics and doing lots of research to prepare for this essay. We hope that Alick and his partner will do the same. We want to have a challenging debate.
I use a number of different literary devices in my Narrative essay. At this point in the year most of us use literary devices unconsciously. I would say that I use Similes and Metaphors best in my essays. They are fun to use and help the reader visualize what you are talking about. Since those two literary devices are similar I would have to choose the mythology allusion as my other one. In the narrative essay we had to use allusions, one being a mythology allusion. I had some fun with this and it too adds a sense of visualization for your reader. I was pretty proud of my allusion so that would definitely have to be my second one. As fun as the mythology allusion was, I enjoyed alliteration even more. Although this is not one of my strengths therefore not making my top two. So Similes and mythology allusions were employed best in my essay.
I chose to write my argumentation essay with Emily Anderson. The two of us will write against Dylan Kipp and Briana Waltner. We looked at a number of different topics, Dylan thought we should argue about Global warming while Emily and I both agreed that it would be particular hard to write about. Emily and I suggested that we maybe argue on what age should be acceptable to be able to be sentenced to life in prison. As a group of four we decided that if we could not agree on anything we would settle on something dealing with the government because that topic would be easy to research and find information on. We have chosen to write about whether or not people can be morally good without having God in your life. Emily and I will be arguing on the side of yes you can be morally good without God (While we are both religious people) and Briana and Dylan will be writing on the side of no you cannot be.
When writing my essay, I never really sit and ponder whether or not I should use this simile over another one. Although, I do like to use similes the most. I find it interesting reading an essay and then I see a simile talking about how someone’s lips were moving as fast as the speed of light. I think that using these gets your point across and helps the reader understand. I also like the use of metaphors, I like the way that these are phrased better than a simile. For instance, “Their lips were moving faster than the speed of light”, I think that these sound better than the average simile.
I am writing my argumentation essay with Calli Hensley, against Dylan Kipp and Briana Walter. We have chosen to talk about whether or not people can have good intentions and do good things without God. Is it possible that good deeds, and intentions are done by people that do or do not believe in something religious. Calli and I will be talking about how, yes, it is possible for people to do good things without God in their lives. Multiple people in the world are agnostic and do not have any religious beliefs, and still do good things. People like to see the best in the world and try to do good to make the world a better place. Most people in the world are Christians, although there are numerous agnostics and not all are bad people. Most people that are incarcerated are not agnostics, in fact a lot of those people believe in multiple phenomenon. Dylan and Bri will be discussing and debating that no, people cannot be good without God, and people need that religious presence in their lives to do good things in his name.
1. In my narrative essay, I best employ the literary devices of simile and setting. I have actually found that I used these literary devices most often, which may be an indication of how confident I am with them. I was adequately pleased with the effectivity of the similes I used, especially when I described Nate’s fist to bad news. I spent a lot of time describing the setting, as I found it an effective use of space, when it came to achieving the elusive six page mark, and it helped make my story seem more credible. I found that my favorite literary device of the two was an expansion of description of the environment. Describing the smells, tastes and tactile feelings gave me the opportunity to change a simple story into something more, where the story itself comes to demand your attention, other than reach for it. I think that it made my essay actually readable, which is a nice change of pace.
2. I wrote my story with the illustrious Todd Manhead, sometimes called John Hedman. We are challenging Dan Eitreim and Allison Fatone to debate the topic of nuclear power. John and I will write on the side that supports the expansion of the use of nuclear energy, while Dan and Allison will argue the opposing viewpoint. Dan has alluded that his argument will be based around the dangers posed by the use of nuclear power, relying primarily on an emotional appeal from the victims of nuclear meltdowns, like Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. John and I are arguing the opposition to that emotional appeal, especially the value of cheap, easily renewable electricity. Resistance is truly useless for the duo of Dan and Alli, as they are battling against the current of change. With a river as massive as energy production, swimming upstream is swimming to your doom.
The two literary devices I used best within my essay was usage of a simile and also the use of foreshadowing. In my essay, I used a simile to show the severity of poor weather conditions during the football game I was at. The weather was incredibly windy and I compared it to my little brother continuously flicking my face. The weather was annoying, and mildly stinging which is similar to that of a little brother. This comparison doesn’t have much correlation to my essay, but is strikingly similar to the feeling upon my face as the freezing rain hit me. Another simile I used compared a lukewarm hot chocolate to handwarmers at a football game. Both provided me with a minimal source of heat and were greatly beneficial. Although, they didn’t provide a substantial amount of heat to keep my hands warm. As I am a receiver my hands are a vital part of the body that need to be kept warm at all times. By using this simile, I think it flowed well within my essay. The similes I used didn’t come to my mind right away. I spent much time trying to find the right examples and when I came to such ideas I knew they would fit perfectly within my essay. Also, I used foreshadowing in my essay. At the beginning, I gave insight to my current college choices and felt as though I made it so Bowling Green was more so my favorite. As the essay continues, you can tell that this is true especially in the concluding paragraph. By using the literary device of foreshadowing, it exemplifies my interest to Bowling Green, and will help the reader during the rest of my essay. The foreshadowing is needed within my essay to provide this evidence to the reader.
I willl write my argumentation essay with Riley Frantzen against Drew Reinscmidt and Reid Grode. Our topic is going to be whether College football or NFL football is more exciting.
I believe the best two literary devices I employed in my narrative essay are similes and alliteration. First I enjoyed writing the similes. They are extremely easy to write while making it interesting and fun to read. Similes can open the mind up to many different thoughts when they read them. It gives the reader an image which is fun for the reader! It makes such a simple sentence into a meaningful one and I really enjoy that. I like writing them because they can add some spice to the essay and make it more enjoyable to read. Also I used alliteration in my essay to make a point and to make it grab the readers attention. I used Glitz, glam, and greed to God, giving, and graciousness. I have never used this style of writing before in any of my essays so this was fun to write. I tried to use a lot of different types of writing skills to make my essay more interesting to read and to make me seem more intelligent! These were just two that I used and the two that I enjoyed the most.
I am writing my essay with Jamie Mitzel and we are are writing against Bethany and Kaity. We are writing about foster care and how it is good for a kid or bad for a kid. Jamie and I will be for foster care even though I do not agree with it. It will be fun to write about something I do not agree with because it will give me a different perspective and help me learn how to write about something I do not agree with! It will be fun to work with Jamie because we have completely different writing styles and thoughts so the essay will be fun to read! I hope it turns out well and I hope we win!
1. With all the uses of literary devices within my essay, I thought that I used the allusions and foreshadowing. Allusions do a great job of relating your work to what a professional has wrote. It is almost like a comparison between the two. My first allusion was referring to me when the coach told me to go in for my first soccer game and what my mind felt like. I made an allusion to that of Elie Wiesel when he first arrived in Aushwitz-Birkenau in the book Night. When he arrived, he was very nervous and anxious. He did not know what to expect just like I did when I first entered the game. My second one was referring to my black out moment when I forgot everything. I stated that it felt like I was dipped in the River Lethe which is a mythological river in the underworld. If you took a drink or swam in it, you would forget everything. Foreshadowing can make the reader think twice about what will come next in the book or essay. It can create some epic suspense that keeps the reader interested. In my essay, I said, “Coming into the season, the seniors had high hopes it would be a perfect year where we easily make the state playoffs. I wish that happened.” I tried to make it sound like we had the best team in the state and our season would be easy. My intent with the “I wish that happened” was to infer something did not go right whether it be we had a tough season but still made playoffs or we didn’t make the playoffs at all.
2. I plan to write my argumentation essay with Tonnor Bowman. I think we will be arguing our topic against Emily Harris and Alex Hillestad. Emily and Alex had the idea of arguing if gay marriage should be legal or not. That did not get approved so we started brainstorming and possibly thought about minimum wage. This topic has been discussed thoroughly in the news so we scratched that thought. Emily came up with the topic of designer babies. A designer baby is a human who has had his genes genetically altered to what the parents desired. Tonnor and I will be arguing that parents should not be allowed to genetically alter their kids while Emily and Alex with argue that parents should be able to genetically alter their kids.
11/13- Narrative and Argumentation
House 2
In my narrative essay, I feel that I employed the best use of the allusions (especially the mythological allusion) and the similes. While writing my narrative essay, I found it somewhat difficult to insert all of the necessary literary devices and final exam pieces correctly without making my essay sound like verbiage. Out of my three similes, my favorite is no doubt the one when I compare the deer to freshmen, or tyros. With the help of Mr. C, I was able to turn my cliche statement into an entirely different sentence with the exact meaning by adding humor. “We (Kjerstin and I) thought about freshmen year and how showing up on the first day of band camp, all of the tyros (mostly freshmen) were deer staring into headlights--and deer are awful at playing instruments, having hooves and lips fit only to consume flora (furthermore, the headlight glare off the instruments would blind even the best clarinet player).” I still am unable to read this sentence without laughing. For my mythological allusion, I compared the excruciating long bus rides to odysseys filled with temptation, suffering, growth, and grit. I feel like I really captured the struggles that occur on the band bus. There are romantic temptations between boyfriends and girlfriends; there is suffering of five-hour bus rides filled with annoying people; there is growth when each student realizes their love for the people in the band program, and there is grit--each person must be strong in their own way.
I will be writing my argumentative essay with Jessica Higgins against Shannon Backer and Nicole Guthmiller. Jessica and I will be writing about how children are getting praised too much; they are receiving trophies and awards for the littlest things that should just be expected of them. Nicole and Shannon are writing about how trophies are good and whatever is needed to motivate the child to do what is asked of them should be done. I believe this will be an interesting topic to research because earlier this week I was having a conversation with my mom about this exact topic. Although I dislike working in groups altogether, I am in looking forward to writing with Jessica as we each have our own strengths that will hopefully accent each other.
I feel that in my Narrative essay I employed quite a few literary devices, but two stick out to me as being my strongest. Foreshadowing and allusions were the two that felt the strongest. I used foreshadowing not only to allude to the event in my Narrative, but also to refer to the present time (before my flash forward within my essay). My foreshadowing was used to transition to a new paragraph, as well as to create questions which were answered in my concluding paragraph. I used allusions to a few books and stories within my essay. The Wizard of Oz was always one of my favorite stories, so creating an allusion to my favorite character, the Scarecrow, was simple. Also, I alluded to “The Most Dangerous Game”, a short story that we read in Honors English 9, to show the worry that I had while on the drive to my destination. My final allusion was to a mythology story about Narcissus. Narcissist is the word that comes from Narcissus name. I feel that these allusions helped to strengthen my essay in a few ways. I think that they helped to add some empathy to my readers emotions and connect to my experience in at least some small way by reminding them of stories they had heard or read. Jeremiah Burkman and I shall be arguing against the team of Lucas Chmela and Tyler Erck. The topic we have chosen is whether or not curfews are helpful in keeping teenagers out of trouble. Jeremiah and I have chosen the Pro-points and are arguing the side that curfews do indeed help to keep teenagers out of trouble. Keeping kids out of the streets late at night could decrease the amount of violence associated with teens, as well as a few other points.
Within my Narrative essay I believe my use of simile and metaphors are exceptionally strong. Not because I alone came up with every simile and metaphor within my paper, but instead because I requested help from a vast majority of others to enhance my story. There was for sure at least one time of which a metaphor, I would later use in my essay, was shot in my direction with out much thought. The Brandon Valley Dance Team’s choreographer, Kallista Nilson, came to support us at the state dance competition and she told us this entire story about boiling water. She continued on to say how water simply cannot boil at two-hundred and eleven degrees Fahrenheit, and how it can only boil when water reaches the exact mark of two-hundred and eleven degrees. Kallista explained how one degree--or one point in our case--makes a phenomenal difference. This one degree can make the difference between bubbly and boiling water--runner up and grand champion. This took a big hit to my heart and the way I felt about that competition. I realized how one person could make the difference and our team all had to work together as one in order to achieve the greatness we wanted to see in ourselves. I later realized that this idea was a complete necessity to place in my essay. So I did.
I will be writing my Argumentation essay along the side of my dance partner and great friend Shayna Berberich. Together we will be writing against two of my other friends Kendra Riley and Ashley Guthmiller. The team of which we are going up against chose the topic of Internet: Good versus Evil: Shayna and I agreed to this topic. We will be defending the evil side of the internet and all the sinister activities the web leads to. Our opponent will attempt to have a trial, if you will, against us explaining how wonderful and useful the internet can be to the human population. Shayna and I hope to annihilate their theories of which they will attempt to prove.
The two literary devices I believe that I used best in my narrative essay are the similes and the allusions. I really enjoyed the fact that we needed to include a mythology allusion in our essay because I absolutely love mythology. I have always found the stories of mythological creatures and figures captivating and interesting. I believe that my sentence that included a mythology allusion compared what was said very well. The similes that were used in my essay are very well written. I enjoyed writing them. You can make similes very interesting and fun. The best simile I had in my essay was “My leg was on fire like the flames of hell had been finally unleashed.” This sentence described my pain perfectly. The burning and the ache compared the flames of hell made the sentence perfect.
I am writing the argumentative essay with Jacob Nachreiner. We are writing against Robert Berndt and Andrew Breitzman. We had looked and had discussed a multitude of different topics, but we chose to debate the topic of whether talent or hard work is more important. Jacob and I took the side of hard work, and Robert and Andrew took the side of talent. There are many different ideals that can play a part in both of these. Some think that talent is more important because no one can ever replace the gifts you have given, and some think that hard work is more important because there is no easy way out. You always should work for what you want. I think that this debate will be a really fascinating one.
In writing my narrative essay, I believe that I used fairly strong imagery and alliteration the best. Through out my entire narrative essay, I tried very hard to execute a strongly detailed description of not only setting but also in describing characters and their development. When using imagery, it is important to use a lot of descriptive words to give the reader a clear picture of what you are attempting to convey. Also, I believe I used an alliteration successfully. I had chosen to use it to describe my sister and I as children being clever. The exact alliteration which I used in my narrative essay says “We were -- and still are-- a crazily couple of curious kids.” This not only gave a tiny bit of background on my older sister and I as children, but also allowed the reader to see a little bit into the life that I lived at the young age of eight and a quarter. The use of an alliteration can increase the readers’ attention when reading because the cluster of similar word letters draws their eyes to it and ultimately keeps them much more entertained. I am going to be writing my essay with Brendan Gayken. We will be rivaling two people in the same class period as I am; Alissa Kuehn and Cassidy Wethor. For a while, we four had trouble coming up with an agreeable topic of which to argue on. The first was about teenage pregnancy and whether or not television shows promote them. The second issue was whether or not euthanizing people (also called assisted suicide) should be legal. This is the topic we settled on. My partner and I chose to be on the side for euthanization to be legal as long as the individual’s situation proves that assisted suicide is the only option left and it is a necessary one.
The first term that I feel I employed the best would be my use of flashback. My flashback was to the devastating loss at the state dance competition in Rapid City, South Dakota. Since it was such a painful memory for me, it was the easiest to remember. I feel that I recounted the antidote with plenty detail. I included how I felt to lose and the moment it was announced to the reaction from our foes. I also included how I felt for months after losing all the way up to the beginning of the season.
The next term that was the fittest employed was developing setting. In the middle of my essay, I wrote about how I felt at my last practice as a BV dancer. I remarked on how I will miss the ever present gym, though I had at times hated it. I talked also, on how I would miss my team. This, again, was a most painful and prominent memory of mine and it made me happy to be able to write about it, and get it out of my head.I wrote about this pain for 496 words! This is incredible for me since I did not think I would have that much to say about the topic.To me this essay was the easiest to write. In the beginning, I dreaded it, I did not think I could ever write 6 pages on an event in my life.To my very own surprise, though, I wrote almost 9 full pages. If time would have allowed me to, I could have written 9 more.
My partners for the argumentation essay are the lovely Amber Wickstrom, Ashley Guthmiller, and Kendra Riley. We are going to argue about social media and it’s positive effects versus it’s negative effects. Amber and I have the negative side and together we will expose the seedy underbelly of the internet, while Ashley and Kendra will try to cover it up with meaningless facts about it being resourceful. May the best team win.
First, I believe that I use the literary device, allusion, best in my narrative essay. This is mainly because I go into great detail in my essay about the myth of Icarus and Daedalus, who tried to escape the island of Crete on homemade wings. I refer to this allusion in multiple places throughout my work, and it fits really well considering that both my essay and the myth are related to flying and mishaps that occur during this activity. An aspect that I feel adds strength to my use of this allusion is that I gave a short introduction at the beginning of my narrative—“I was Daedalus”—which hooks the reader right away, then later in my essay continue that thought after describing the story. The allusion fit in well to add an emphasis to the happenings of which I based my essay on.
Second, I comparatively employed (what I believe to be in a skillful manner) the use of setting. I set the stage of my narrative with a lengthy, yet enticingly descriptive paragraph solely devoted to the development of my setting. Setting is what I believe to be the basis of which any good narrative essay should start, and that the setting is what is going to pull the reader in the most. This is why I spent much of my time trying to embellish the introductory setting. I felt that it needed to be perfected, and therefore I felt that I used this literary technique the best.
I will be writing my argumentation essay with Greg Lundberg, and we will be taking the stance against Marina Gillespie and Riley Duncanson. All of us are from period two. The idea we had for a topic is to discuss whether attending a public or private high school is better. Greg and I will take the stance for public high school, and Marina and Riley will take the stance for private high school. We will discuss topics such as test scores and social environment/the effects thereof
In my narrative essay, I believe that I used the allusion literary device well. In more than one instance, I referred to the main character of my story as Hagrid from Harry Potter. I said, “The man that just entered County Fair is as tall as Hagrid from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. Later on in my essay, I alluded to Greek Mythology multiple times. At County Fair, one half of the store houses a play land and inflatables for children. To help the reader imagine the grand size of this jungle gym, I stated that it was nearly as big as Mount Olympus. To clarify, Mount Olympus was said to be the home of the Greek gods and goddesses. Also, I told myself that I wanted to appear with the grace of Athena, a Greek goddess. She was the goddess of wisdom. Another literary device that I believe I did well would be similes. Since we have been accustomed to this device since we were young, it makes sense that I am able to place clever ones in my writing. To assist in fully characterizing my main character I stated that tattoos covered his arms like bees on flowers. Some of my greek mythology references could also classify as similes as in when I compared the inflatables to Mount Olympus. For my argumentative essay, I am going to partner up with Alissa Kuhn. Together we shall go against Brendan Gayken and Shawna Coyle. Today we decided on the topic of physician assisted suicide in the case of certain death. My partner Alissa and I are going to the take the pro side. Another possible topic would be the television show Teen Mom. The two sides would be if the show promotes or demotes teen pregnancy.
Mykayla Palmer, Period 2
When writing my narrative essay, there was a variety of literary devices in which I employed. By using these, I improved my overall essay and simultaneously improved my writing. However, while each literary device is equally important, there were two in which I felt I was able to best utilize. These include my characterization and my allusions. The reason I believe that I was successful in using characterization is because I employed it all throughout my essay. Also, I ensured that I was making use of both direct and indirect characterization. The reader is able to see my indirect characterization because of my reaction to difficult challenges I face, and the way I adapt to these reactions. An example of using direct characterization at times when I was straightforward about my feelings and personality. With my use of this literary device, I was able to effectively show how this event has changed me. Lastly, I believe I used this device so efficaciously was due to the fact that I was so personal and open to my reader.
Secondly, I not only believe that my allusion was one of my strongest literary devices in my essay, but I also enjoyed using it. Particularly my mythological allusion because it enabled me to further explain my emotions. In my essay I stated, “this last word seemed to weigh upon my shoulders, just as the Titan, Atlas, had carried the earth upon his.” This well-known mythology character was forced to carry the burden of the earth upon his shoulders for the rest of the eternity as punishment for his wrongdoings. Similarly to this, while I did not do anything wrong, I felt as if I was being punished for eternity (or for at least the rest of my life). I believe this was a unique and creative way to represent my emotions.
While I feel my narrative essay was strong and powerful, I am looking to even better my writing skills in my argumentation essay. I will be partners with Tate Green, and we are opposing Maddy Klamm and Kaila Kuehn. Our topic will be comparing and contrasting the benefits of sports and the fine arts. While I believe they are equally important and beneficial, Tate and I will be arguing in favor of the fine arts. I am eager to begin this new essay.
John Hedman pd. 6
Literary devices are a good way to not only interest your reader, but also immerse them into the story you are telling. Because of this I tried to deploy as many of these fantastic devices as I could into my narrative essay. The two greatest devices that I used for immersion were similes and allusion. Similes, by far my favorite literary device, are great ways of describing events and characteristics of your story. Similes are best used when they provide a descriptive and unique description to the reader. Similes can often be turn off to some readers because they sometimes come in a form of a cliche, which are often boring to read. For example a novice composer might describe a hard problem as "like finding a needle in a haystack" which is quite boring. An expert would use the same situation and say "like janitor in a calculus class" or something unique such as that. Allusions are great and the mythological way that we were told to make was a great, yet challenging way to improve our essays. My way of introducing allusion into my essay was describing my fellow varsity members in our first run that was very challenging for me. Because they appeared unaffected by the challenging run I suggested that they were Hermes, Gods of running. I hope that this did its job in describing the amazement I felt when observing the runners.
I am very exited to start our new essay, argumentation. Robert Haggar and I shall attempt to clash with Dan Eitreim and Allison Fatone. We are debating whether nuclear energy is a save and reliable energy and if its production should be increased or not. This is a great debate for our group because we are all interested in nuclear chemistry and are currently in AP Chemistry. Our arguments are going to be on how nuclear energy is the most cost efficient energy source in the world, and if handled correctly can be safe. Also a great point we will be sure to hit on is the careers, advances, and wealth that nuclear energy provides to the world and the US economy. I am sure that Danny and Alison's will be based on past failures such as Chernobyl.
In my narrative essay, I believe I employed the usage of setting and allusions (mythology reference). I feel that both these items were extremely strong and pronounced in my essay. For example, in my setting I stated, “It was June 2014 deep in the heart of southern Missouri. The bugs swarmed omnipresently and the humidity was overwhelming. Laughter and cheers of excitement filled the air. It was camper arrival day and the commotion of ecstatic emotion could be seen and heard everywhere. This is not an average camper arrival day at an average camp with average staff and other volunteers. This is Camp Barnabas; a place where love is flourishing and judgment is left at home. Milestones are achieved, friendships are made, and memories are created. Every camper who comes through the entrance gate has a contagious, incandescent smile on their face that spreads to everyone in their presence.” I feel this added to my essay by picking up the reader and throwing them into the story, so to speak. In my setting I also used alliteration when I talked about the ecstatic emotion that engulfed everyone present. In my allusion (mythology reference), I was able to portray each of the seven guys I had the privilege to spend the week with by comparing them to the seven dwarfs. I believe the connections fit perfectly together and definitely helped add some interest to the composition.
I will be writing my Argumentation Essay with Dylan Kipp and our opponents will be Calli Hensley and Emily Anderson. The essay topic Dylan and I are discussing is that of the ability to lead a moral life with a belief in God or gods. Calli and Emily will be arguing that people who do not have a belief in God or gods can still life a moral life.
I believe that the two literary devices I used best in my Narrative essay were similes and flashbacks. By the use of similes, I added depth and emotion to my essay without flat out stating my feelings. Similes also allowed me to describe my surroundings and my dog, Bailey, in great detail. I think that the use of similes in an essay is very helpful, as they provide detail for the reader so that he or she can better understand what is happening in the story. Similes may also cause the reader to think about the sentence differently because of what the concrete idea in the story is being compared to. In my essay, I also used flashbacks to help enhance my story. The use of flashbacks allowed the reader to obtain background information about Bailey’s earlier years. My flashbacks also showed how much Bailey changed as he got older. He went from being a highly energetic, bouncy puppy to a lethargic, slow moving old dog. This flashback aided in eliciting emotion from both me and the reader; Bailey was slowly dying and there was nothing I could do. Many of the flashbacks in my story brought a smile to my face when I remembered the great times that I had with Bailey, and I hope that they also brought joy to the reader as well. I greatly enjoyed writing my Narrative essay. It was not always a fun topic to write about, but it allowed me to bring back some great memories that I had with Bailey from when I was younger.
I will be writing my Argumentation essay with Summer Rogers. We will be going against Chelsey Schmeling and Shane Gacke on the topic of college education. Summer and I will be arguing that a college education is necessary to succeed in today’s world. Chelsey and Shane will be arguing that only some education is necessary beyond high school, such as a tech school or training that happens on a job site. I look forward to debating this topic, as a college education is a commonly discussed issue in today’s society. Young people are often pressured to go to college, but some do not want to spend the time or money on it when they could be earning a higher income than some college grads by completing a two year tech school degree.
Two literary devices that I used that I enjoyed putting into my narrative essay were flashback and sensory details. Both of these devices helped to make my narrative essay more interesting, detailed, and helps you to imagine what is happening better. I used flashback in my essay quite a few times. Using flashback connected different parts of my essay together. While talking about my third Taylor Swift concert I went back and talked about the first two concerts I went to and compared and contrasted some parts as well as just add more detail into my narrative essay. I feel as though the flashbacks in my essay helped the essay to be better. I also used a lot of sensory details in my essay. I wanted to make the reader feel like they were there. I wanted it to be described so that the reader can imagine what is going on in their head.
I am going to be writing my argumentative essay with Becca Goth. Becca and I will be going up against our classmates Mollie Drexler and Jacob Boomsma. We will be arguing about if being part of a sorority and fraternity is beneficial in college. Becca and I will be arguing for sororities and fraternities, we think that they are something that is good for college students. Becca and I think It is beneficial to be part of a sorority or fraternity during college, you get to be part of a group that will support you. You also are provided with an abundance of opportunities whether it be learning opportunities or community service opportunities. As well you have the opportunity not to have to live in a dorm but in a house where you would be able to have your own room. Mollie and Jacob are going to be arguing against sororities and fraternities. They will talk about how being part of a sorority or a fraternity is not beneficial to be part of in college. I believe that Becca and I will have the upper hand and win the argument. I am excited to see how this argumentation essay goes.
In my narrative essay I really grasped the use of similes and precise verbs. I used similes more often because of the requirement but it brought light to my eyes on how simple they actually are. They are very simple and do not take much effort but are so helpful in an essay and super descriptive. My favorite simile I used was “seniors that were outgoing enough to want to sing and dance in front of a camera for ten to twenty seconds without looking like a cockroach stuck on it’s back.” That simile is my favorite because it really draws an image for the reader and they imagine and hybrid of a human and cockroach just stuck on the ground trying to stand up. I think now I will utilize them more often in all of my essays. I used precise verbs in this essay to fully describe to my reader what was occurring. precise verbs are useful because they help add description in the sentence so you do not have to explain it somewhere else. An example of one of my precise verbs is, “I had a student council meeting to attend,” as you can see I used the word attend instead of to go to which would have been choppy and boring for the reader.
For the argumentation essay, Carley Kueter and I have joined forces and we will be battling against Michaela Beckman and Paige Drenth. Our possible choices were to argue with each other about were the advantages and disadvantages of technology in different categories like social media, jobs, education, etc., but in the end we decided to argue if you should join a fraternity or sorority in college. Carley and I are for joining the Greek system; Michaela and Paige are against joining the Greek system. I look forward to this essay because it is something I believe in and hope to change the opinions of others.
I utilized alliteration poignantly and developed setting well in my Narrative Essay. I enjoy using alliteration because, especially in a prose narrative, poeticism is important to both occupy and entertain the reader while giving the story a sense of predetermined meaning.
Using alliteration shows that the author is being deliberate about word usage and thus has processed how he or she would prefer to present the information to the reader in the most efficient, forward-thinking, and affecting manner as possible. Without this literary device usage, an essay or other work may lose its sense of rhythm and movement; thus making it less attractive to the eye and less infectiously meaningful to the soul.
I also literarily formulated several settings that I hope the reader can sink into vicariously. Parallel to the importance of alliteration utilization, manufacturing a setting with which the reader can identify is arguably more significant in regard to artistic integrity. I believe that a reader will be able to understand the message of a story a much higher level when he or she is able to metaphorically and metaphysically enter a story through the descriptive devices an author chooses. When you goal is to allow the reader to access your story, moral, lesson, and point, providing them with something that is accessible obviously aids them in their interpretive progression.
I am teaming up with The Notorious Shawna Coyle for my Argumentation Essay. We will be cordially debating Alissa Kuhn and Cassidy Wethor about the controversial topic of the legalization of highly-regulated euthanasia. Fear not, this legalization would not assume a societal right to off people left and right, but would rather be utilized strictly in the situations where death is eminent and the patient contractually agrees to ending his or her life peacefully rather than in egregious pain. Although this topic is a bit depressing and morbid, it shall be fun to debate Ms. Kuhn and Ms. Wethor who are reluctantly taking the “against argument”.
I believe I used similes and Flashbacks and Forwards the best in my Narrative essay. The opening sentence-Freshman year is like a embarrassing relative no one talks about- I find hilarious and brings imagery of embarrassing relatives to the forefront of the readers brain. Causing them to feel a sense of unity in the opening sentence, which makes them want to read more. In the use of flashbacks/forwards I place them as my own thoughts. They then do not disrupt the flow of the story, but they add to it. I enjoy adding flashbacks/forwards to my story because it is a peek into who I am and how I think. (which is confusing to some). I feel that allusions were another strong point in my essay; with the use of mythology it brought more thoughts of mine onto the page.
Now on to the topic of who is my partner and what we are writing about. Sarah House is my partner. Why? Well she sits next to me and it is easy to confer about are topic and she is a wonderful writer and knows where to place commas and make my sentences less choppy. I give ideas to her on what to write. We are then a wonderful team together. You could say we are conferring complementary counterparts in this essay. We will writing against the devious duo of Nicole Guthmiller and Shannon Backe. (I am happy to be able to know their names). Anyhow our topic is should children be rewarded for everything in sports and other activities. Sarah and I will be taking the side against having trophies for everything. We grew up just fine without having participation trophies all over the house cluttering our shelves. The conferring complementary counterparts will delve into this issue. We will interview parents to get their view on the topic as well.
I feel that in my Narrative essay I employed symbolism and parallelism best. The symbol I used in my essay was the light dangling from the back of my car. Throughout my essay I explained how my level of comfort as well as my level-headedness was slipping away. The light symbolized my dangling calm attitude, barely held on by a string. Parallelism was another literary device I used in my essay. At the start, I explained the fear and utter panic I felt, and put that same paragraph in the essay again later while it was in context. I felt that this allowed my readers an insight into how I was feeling throughout the essay while also adding a hint of foreshadowing.
I will partner with Riley Duncanson for the Argumentation essay. We will attempt to out-persuade the duo consisting of Brandon West and Greg Lundberg. We thought of many possible topics including gun laws, gay rights, and stem cell research. However, we decided to go with a topic more relevant to our everyday lives, so, we decided to write about the benefits of private versus public high schools. I feel that this is a topic that can influence many people, including ourselves as we grow and decide where to send our future children. To gain information about this topic we will attempt to email and interview different people including, but not limited to, the principal of O’Gorman High School and several students at that high school. Another person we could consult with would be Dr. Talcott, as he been a teacher or administrator for both a private and public school. Often times students and faculty members argue about the benefits and disadvantages of a public and private education institution. Dunc and I will be arguing to defend private schools; Greg and Brandon will pursue public schooling.
In my Narrative essay, I feel as though my best two literary devices were setting and metaphors. I like to give a lot of background information when I tell stories, although I do not have many interesting stories about things that I have done, I can set a scene of others’ stories. I believe that has something to do with oral interp. If you cannot get your setting in your teaser than you better be able to nail it in your introduction. If you cannot do that then you are going to lose your audience. I felt strong about the metaphors because I find that when I am given a metaphor I understand things just a little better. I tried to use metaphors when I thought that I was getting confusing. Hopefully anyone who reads my Narrative essay understands my metaphors because I had used many musical metaphors. I
For the Argumentation essay, I will be writing with my friend Mykayla Palmer. We shall be against Maddy Klamm and Kayla Kuhn. The topic that we all have decided on is sport vs. fine arts. Mykayla and I are both avid art students and care about the fine arts program, while Maddy and Kayla are both avid sports people. Maddy plays on the varsity volleyball team and Kayla plays on the girls’ varsity golf team. I do not believe that neither Kayla, nor Maddy, had been in a fine arts program other than band. Luckily for my side of the argument, Mykayla plays on the girls’ varsity soccer team. Even though I had played tennis, I have been out of any type of sport for four years so I cannot give a lot of insight on any funding issues with sport programs. I believe that this Argumentation essay will bring up a lot of great points for both sides and a lot of great disagreements.
After editing my Narrative essay, I found that I used personification and sensory imagery most effectively. The reason I choose to use personification is because it provides the audience an unwonted connection to everyday materials doing everyday human tasks, which is anything but everyday. Additionally, it literally gives life to the story. In other words, by giving the objects human characteristics, the items come alive making the narrative more interesting. I also used this to affect the emotional feeling of the story. If the narrative’s plot was more positive, I would depict a physical act that has a positive connotation. Sensory imagery is also embedded throughout my essay. Since I am trying to convey a story to my audience, I attempted to make the readers feel as if they are living the same situation I did. I enjoyed writing with this literary device because there are contrasting method to using this literary device. In some paragraphs, I would begin with certain details delineating the physical setting as well as the emotional mood. In others, I would add the details into the story as the plot continued, displaying almost a sense of suspense. Deferring the details instead of writing them all at once gave me a chance to connect the story to the details, too. For instance, if the emotional mood of the narrative was negative, I wrote sensory imagery focusing on negatives, such as murky, uncomfortable, or unpleasant aspects of the physical setting.
I will be writing my Argumentation Essay with the brainy Brandon West informing and persuading our readers why public high schools are more affordable and more effective to each individual student in comparison to private high schools. Disagreeing with us will be the renowned Riley Duncanson and the marvelous Marina Gillespie. They will claim that private schooling for teenagers is the best choice to further grow their education.
I believe the first literary device I used well in my narrative essay is the use of a simile. I really enjoy comparing two things and the easiest way I believe to do that is with using the word “like” or “as”. Allusion is another great literary technique I thought I used well within my essay. I compared giant piles of dirt to that of the great Mt. Olympus to which the greek gods rest upon. I enjoyed writing an essay when we were finally allowed to use the word I again. It is just so natural for people to consistently just wish to talk about themselves. Mr. C has made us uncomfortable in a good way by pushing us out of our personal essays. Then once we had become somewhat accustomed to this he puts us back into the comfort zone of a narrative essay. This is a great mix up because it causes us as students to bring our writing from topics besides ourselves and bringing us back to the great topic of ourself.
For my argumentation essay I am partnering up with the Lucas Chmela. We are battling against the duo of Jeremiah Burkman and Jeanna Brandsrud. We decided upon the topic of curfew and whether or not it is needed. Lucas and I are taking the side that it is not needed. We believe that curfew is not needed because what time you are required to be home should be up to your parents not the law. Whether or not kids are doing illegal things is not up to the curfew it is up to the kid.
For my own personal essays I enjoy employing alliteration for one of my literary devices. I think alliteration can improve, interest, inspirit, and inform readers about what you are writing while keeping them interested in your writing. I attempt to employ the use of alliteration in all of my essays at least twice, and sometimes I use alliteration without knowing I am using it. My second favorite literary device to use is similes. I use similes to add detail and give the reader a chance to imagine what I am talking about by comparing two separate ideas so that they can relate to the concept of discussion. Similies are easy to use and should be used in every opportunity to write. I have attempted to use similes more often than I have in the past and it has payed off. In the last essay I enjoyed having the requirement of three similes because that challenged me to use more imagery in my writing, along with connecting to my readers of my essay.
For the argumentative essay, I will be working with Sarah Mckellar arguing against Robert Bernt and Andrew Breitzman. We have bounced around many topics. The first being is violent music bad for the youth, and does violent music cause more violence. The next topic of debate we had thought of doing was the Redskins epidemic. After much thought we again switched topics. The next topic we had thought of choosing was if college athletes should be payed, but that was shot down quickly. In the end we decided to debate whether talent or hard work is more important towards success of teams. Sarah and I will be taking the side of hard work being more important than talent, and Robert and Andrew will be taking the side of talent being more important than hard work.
Heinrichs 3-
The two devices that I best employ in my narrative essay are imagery and connotation (negative). I used imagery a lot in my essay because I really wanted the reader to be able to see a vivid image of what I was talking about. I wanted the reader to feel like they were standing there watching everything happen right in front of them, and be able to feel what I was feeling at that time. I think that it is really important to paint a clear image in the mind of the readers. If no imagery is included in writing, the story becomes bland and really painful to read. The readers really lose interest if they cannot connect with the story. When readers are able to see and connect they are way more interested in your writing. The other device that I used was negative connotation. I used negative connotation a lot when I discussed my dislike for the class I was taking. I wanted the readers to understand that what I was experiencing was not a pleasant experience. I really wanted them to feel the dislike that I had. I think that using connotation (both positive and negative) can really help the reader feel the emotions that you (the writer) are feeling. I feel that it is really important to make sure that the reader can really feel and see the story that you are telling.
I will be writing the argumentation essay with Eden Burch. The partnership that we will be countering consists of Courtney Stegenga and Mickelle Ahlers. The topic that we want to discuss is whether or not teachers and other school faculty should have the right to conceal and carry firearms in school to help defend the students in the case of a school invader. Eden and I are pro-conceal and carry. Courtney and Mickelle are anti-conceal and carry.
I think my narrative essay employs best the literary devices of imagery and allusion. I try to use ample amounts of imagery to give people more vivid pictures while reading my essay. I know I personally get very bored and begin to doze during boring essays. It is my impression that when imagery is employed it is akin to adding sauce to spaghetti noodles. Noodles are alright by themselves, but when spaghetti sauce is added it becomes a compelling and alluring feast. One of my favorite examples of imagery from my essay was referring to the fact that I thought I was a superhero. It reads, “I had fallen into this tempting yet perilous trap.” Going above the requirements, I found enjoyment in using allusions in multiple places in my essay. To show an example from my essay, “The illusion of invincibility can be intoxicating. It is a siren singing sweetly to vulnerable human ears. Luring the humans is only too easy.” This was one of my favorite allusions from my essay. Another allusion I enjoyed from my essay was, “Much like Miss Brill I viewed my world very skewed from reality.” Allusions give the impression that the writer is knowledgeable and so they are exciting to use. I also receive great enjoyment from reading Greek mythology and so getting to use my knowledge of this subject multiple times to illustrate my points in my essay is truly fantastic.
My partner for the argumentation essay is Ms. Kjerstin Williams. We are competing with a very talented group composed of Ms. Nicole Peterson and Ms. Megan Swets. Our topic is to be standardized tests and if they truly test the intelligence of an individual or if they are a measurement of memorization. Together with Ms. Williams I will be arguing that standardized test are not a true example of intelligence.
In my narrative essay, I paid careful attention to two pieces: Symbolism, and Foreshadow. For symbolism, I decided to use the sky as a reflection of my mood and feeling during the essay. At the beginning, the sky is grey and it continues to get darker as my mood does during the story until the moment when I realize my mom isn’t angry at me. Then the clouds suddenly clear and I can see the bright starry night. I felt as though I was very clever for this and it fits the story because it actually was a fairly dark, cloudy day when the story actually happened. The other part of my essay that I felt was well polished was the foreshadow that I used. I was able to leave the reader small hints about the yellow rail and the conditions of the terrain park that day which foreshadowed the problem that would arise from my attempt to board on the rail. I also used the other snowboarders as a hint when I said that, “I failed to notice that the only snowboarders who attempted the rail were extremely experienced, all I could envision was the glory that would follow if I were able to complete the challenge.” The reader should be able to conclude that something is going to happen because of my inattention to the other snowboarders.
My skilled and valued partner is Billy Trevillian for the argumentation essay. Our opponents in this argumentation essay are the infamous Jacob Donahoe and Alex Darrington. We have already decided to argue about whether or not the sale of human organs should be legalized. Billy and I will be taking the side against the legalization of the sale of organs. I personally believe that there organ sales should be legal but certainly limited. However I will be able to appreciate the opposition to this argument and I believe that I can convince my peers (and possibly myself) that no part of the human body should be for sale.
I best employed metaphors and similes in my narrative essays. Comparisons, I feel, are a wonderful way to describe anything because they relate what is being described to something that the reader is more familiar with. This is like comparing a delightful chocolate bar to a square of gold-- the reader knows that gold is valuable, and so must conclude that this was an amazing chocolate bar, because it is so valuable.
I am partnered with the wonderful Ashley Schobert. We will be arguing against Evan and Kevin, the descriptive duo. We believe that sex education is a responsibility of the school system and should be better integrated in order to help reduce America's rate of teen pregnancy, teen abortion, and STD's. Awareness is key, and some parents are not willing to provide that information to their children, leaving it up to the schools. Evan and Kevin will argue that it is the responsibility of the parents.
I find Zach's face in this image comical. I can't tell if he's hitting on someone or plotting their death.
In my essay I used many literary devices. The two literary devices that I feel I use best would be Similes and Foreshadowing. I use similes in almost every essay I write. Similes come natural to me when I am writing and I like to help the reader visualize what I am actually trying to say by using them in my essays. I also use foreshadowing in my essays. I like to think that foreshadowing is like sarcasm. You hint at what is really going to happen or what you are trying to say, but the reader does not realize what it is hinting at or what you are saying until later on. For the partner argumentation essay I will be working with Alexandra Hillestad. We will be writing against a duo of boys; Brock Hanson and Tonner Bowman. When we were looking up topics to write about it was difficult, because both of our groups agreed on almost every subject that someone brought up. Until finally we found one that we did not agree on. We are doing our Argumentation Essay on Designer Babies and if we agree and are for it or do not agree and are against it. Brock and Tonner have chosen to go against it and we have chosen to be for it. Brock and Tonner will write about how they do not think it is morally right to get to chose how your child looks and what features it has, because that is the downfall to “designer babies”. Alex and I will be writing about the plus side to it; like how many disease that are passed down from parents through genes can be cured. Diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and heart problems could all be potentially stopped from being passed on to a child from this.
I think I use the allusion to mythology best in my narrative essay. I really enjoy using them because my favorite book series is the Percy Jackson books. These books really got me into Greek and Roman mythology so any chance to use an allusion to it in an essay makes me really happy and excited. I also think I used my symbol really well in my essay. My essay was all about the little things that count so my symbol was breaths and how they make up our life. The more I think about this symbol the more I like it, and I think it works really well with my essay.
I am writing my argumentation essay with Abby Castle. We could not find people to argue against and so we are going to look up an essay online and argue against that essay. I feel this will be slightly harder as many times the essays on the internet are put there as examples for scholars and so tend to be very well written. It will be tough to argue against something that is really well written but that just adds a little more difficulty. Originally Abby and I thought of doing an argument for the Death With Dignity Act but as we looked more we changed our mind. We had the idea to do an argument about how the Consent Age law should be changed to make it fairer but as we found it hard to find someone willing to argue against us we had to change our minds once again. We finally settled on the topic of pet adoptions, where to get them from, that is. We decided on this topic while talking about Abby’s volunteering for the Sioux Falls Humane Society. I am really excited for this essay as we will be arguing for something we really care about.
Jeremiah Burkman
In my opinion, the two best literary devices I used in my narrative essay would have to be imagery and tone. My essay was a flashback to about four years ago when I went on a vacation with my family to Florida. Florida is a very interesting place and contains numerous activities that have distinct qualities. The vacation lasted one week long, but I separated that week into the main destinations my family chose to go to. Some of those destinations were the resort we stayed at, Kennedy Space Center, and Cocoa Beach. The majority of the essay was focusing on my Grandpa's feelings and emotions during the vacation. Tone developed as I wrote the essay. I had to remember how I felt or others felt while on the vacation. I felt like I was there and in a warm place, comforted by my family. That warm feeling goes along with the essay.
I will be writing my argumentation essay with one of my pod partners, Jeanna Brandsrud. Jeanna and I will be writing against fellow football teammates, Lucas Chmela and Tyler Erck. The four of us will be arguing the topic of curfews. Lucas and Tyler will be on the side of saying curfews do not help keep juveniles out of trouble while Jeanna and I will support the idea of curfews and say that they do keep juveniles out of trouble. At the start, this topic did not interest me much, but after researching some, I have started to gain interest which I hope will help me in the long run. The argument should be interesting as should any other one, but I feel this will be a little more special because it involves most of the students of this school. Some restrictions may hold back on the argument though.
1) Two literary devices I believe I have mastered the use of in my most recent essay would have to be the incorporation of ellipses, colons, dashes, and parentheses. I believe I used the ellipses once, and the other three--colons, dashes,and parentheses--at least two or more times, perhaps even approaching four or five times. I have more easily integrated these into my writing as I was required to use them in one of my essays, and ever since I feel much more comfortable using these literary devices. They come much more simply and naturally now.
2) My partner for the upcoming argumentation essay is Sally Hoffmann. We are arguing against Kevin Huizenga and Evan Weiser. In our argumentation we explore the topic of sexual education. Sally and I support the side of further integrating more mandatory sexual education into our schools. Evan and Kevin are taking the side that it is solely the parent’s responsibility to educate their children about this matter. We are exploring subtopics and how they correlate to sex education such as: safety, teen pregnancy/STD rates, emotions, etc. We are also analyzing the successes of other countries’ education systems and recommending that we impose such successes upon our education efforts. These countries include Norway, Finland, Germany, France, and others that we will compare graphs and charts side-by-side to the US to look at STD and teen pregnancy rates. Sally and I will point out the flaws of our current sex educations systems and how they contribute to negative consequences. Such as the current emphasis on only females being responsible to preserve their virginity for marriage, and how not doing so will result in being dirty and unwanted. These lessons lead to low self esteem in females and an unhealthy sense of shame. We hope by exposing our flaws and other countries’ successes that we can persuade others to agree with our standpoint that further sex education in schools will benefit our society.
In my narrative essay I best employ the flashback literary device and foreshadowing. In my narrative essay it all takes place in the past so it was easy to use both devices. My entire essay consist of a lot of flashbacks to give a sincere look in what I was truly feelings in that particular moment. In my first paragraph, or my intro, I used foreshadowing to help create suspense. To not give away too much, but to catch the readers attention and to have them continue reading.
In my argumentative essay I paired up with Hailey Murray in second period. Her and I then decided to argue against Jake Comeaux and Levi McKercher. Our topic is if Gender Inequality is still relevant in today’s society. Hailey Murray and myself will be arguing that yes it is in fact still relevant whereas Jake and Levi will be arguing against. It was easy to agree to this topic because Hailey and I both greatly believe that women are treated differently than men still today. Hailey herself wrote an entire paper on it previous to this assignment. I believe this will be a very easy essay for Hailey and I because there are so many factors that play into gender inequality. Jake and Levi on the other hand will more than likely have a hard time trying to disagree. I’m excited to write this essay for many reasons one being that I have never written an essay with another person before. If I had to choose a second topic for our group it would be “Should College Athletes Get Paid?” because that is also another great topic that has plenty of research and other factors that play into it. Those two topics were really the only two topics I think I could become passionate enough to write an entire essay on.
In my Narrative essay I think I used sensory details and tone well to my advantage. I used sensory details well with my details of the look, sound, etc. of the concert venue in my essay. I think I used tone well in my essay when trying to get across the nervousness and excitement of the night. I am writing my Argumentative essay with Emma Baier. We still have not found another partnership to write against so we are discussing just finding an essay on the Internet that focuses on the opposite view of our topic. We have yet to decide completely on a topic, but some topics we are discussing are: whether animal shelters should be allowed to put animals down (especially for space reasons), the change of the consent laws, and the death with dignity law. We hope to decide on a topic soon.
The first literary device that I employed effectively was the flashback. I think it is important to have a strong flashback in the narrative essay because the narrative essay was about something that had occurred to us in the past. A flashback is the most effective method to capture the mood and setting of an event or story. A flashback allows the reader to practically be in the moment of the situation. The second literary device that I employed effectively in the essay was the similes. Much like the flashback, the similes help the reader understand the situation to a fuller extent. The simile allows the reader to connect the situation they may not know about to something that they do know about. Similes can become fairly trite if used excessively, however. I believe it is important for the reader to understand, possibly even feel, the emotions of the situation.
I will be writing my argumentation essay with Chelsea Schemling. We will be arguing against Summer Rogers and Emily Oyos on the topic of whether or not a college education is necessary in order to be successful. We are going to be taking the stance that a college education is not necessary to be successful in life; education is not the sole, deciding factor when it comes success. We are hoping to combat the idea that the only way to be successful is through a college education, there are far more options out there than just college to be successful in regards to a monetary standpoint. There are some job opportunities that rely on experience rather than a college degree. Furthermore, it is not necessary to have a solid monetary foundation in order to be happy. There are some people who are considered a success without having a large amount of money.
1.I feel that within my Narrative essay “Sidekick vs. Valentine: The Horrors of Learning The Difference” the two literary devices that I used the best and most creatively were similes and imagery. It was my goal when writing the essay to allow the reader to become enveloped into the setting and emotions I was feeling at the time. I believe that by using the all five senses and strong adjectives in correspondence to them, I was able to accomplish this. For example, one simile I favor in my Narrative essay reads “My ideas sloshed around on little sail boats in my ocean wide brain as if my decision and spoken words would come out once arrived at shore.” Also, an example in which I feel I used imagery well is included in the following sentence from my essay; “Not only was I still confined in his death grip, but also we began to rock side to side like loutish, anxiety brimmed middleschoolers at the Spring Fling.” It was in my hopes that from this imagery the reader could understand the award stumble in which we swayed.
2. I will be writing my Argumentation essay with Cassidy Wethor. We will be writing against the partnership of Brendan Gayken and Shawna Coyle. Our possible topics include the pro and against side of the MTV aired “Teen Mom” and how it influences viewers, or the pro and against viewpoint as to if physician assisted suicide is ethical and should be legal. I feel that both of these topics serve as controversial and will be interesting to debate on either side of the argument. It is not a final decision at this point but I believe that my partner and our opposing writers are leaning towards the topic of physician assisted suicide due to it’s new popularity on the news.
1.I feel that within my Narrative essay “Sidekick vs. Valentine: The Horrors of Learning The Difference” the two literary devices that I used the best and most creatively were similes and imagery. It was my goal when writing the essay to allow the reader to become enveloped into the setting and emotions I was feeling at the time. I believe that by using the all five senses and strong adjectives in correspondence to them, I was able to accomplish this. For example, one simile I favor in my Narrative essay reads “My ideas sloshed around on little sail boats in my ocean wide brain as if my decision and spoken words would come out once arrived at shore.” Also, an example in which I feel I used imagery well is included in the following sentence from my essay; “Not only was I still confined in his death grip, but also we began to rock side to side like loutish, anxiety brimmed middleschoolers at the Spring Fling.” It was in my hopes that from this imagery the reader could understand the award stumble in which we swayed.
2. I will be writing my Argumentation essay with Cassidy Wethor. We will be writing against the partnership of Brendan Gayken and Shawna Coyle. Our possible topics include the pro and against side of the MTV aired “Teen Mom” and how it influences viewers, or the pro and against viewpoint as to if physician assisted suicide is ethical and should be legal. I feel that both of these topics serve as controversial and will be interesting to debate on either side of the argument. It is not a final decision at this point but I believe that my partner and our opposing writers are leaning towards the topic of physician assisted suicide due to it’s new popularity on the news.
The two literary devices I used best were conflict, and allegory. I feel like I conveyed a great conflict between me and any acquaintance that belittled me throughout middle school. The whole essay was essentially a conflict in a way that I was always trying to not let the words of others bring me down and turn everything into a positive outcome. I also believe I did an exceptional job of including allegory. The meaning of my words were much deeper than what was written. I feel like someone could learn something from my unfinished essay if they were struggling with people treating them without respect or if someone is just feeling down
I am writing my argumentation essay with the very intelligent, and intellectual red headed Levi McKercher. We will be arguing against the partnership of Alicia DeWit and Hailey Murray (who think they are going to win). We have not yet finalized a topic we will begin to argue about but we have had a few ideas along the lines of modern day feminism. We will have to all brainstorm together and all agree on a topic within the next day or two. I would like to argue on topic involving the government, maybe something like if we believe President Obama has done a good job in the years he has been in office or if the majority of the America is for or against our government. We will have to get the ball rolling either way
In my narrative essay, I made good use of descriptive technique with phrases like “It was a warm June day during the summer of 2009 and I was relaxing on my family’s beach with my sister Anna and was enjoying the sensation of hot sand underneath the blanket on which I laid, a warm summer breeze blowing through the trees on the edge of the lawns, when the large, midnight black chevy pickup--owned by Tristan’s dad--slowed to a stop on the road near our cabin.” and “We happily accepted the offer and climbed on the aged and worn tube with its pattern of white and blue, inflatable side wings meant to assist your attempts to resist falling off into the lake, and the rough, abrasive handles to hold onto that, during more extreme tubing, dug into our hands and left sore red marks. The aforementioned breeze was blowing from just the right direction to create waves in our normally sheltered bay that bounced the tube, and us upon it, as it was pulled in large circles around the bay.” I liked to use my descriptiveness because it helped the reader picture what was going on and it helped fill space for lengthy essay requirement. Another good technique I used is developing character. I tried to let the reader know more about the people in my story through their actions, descriptions, and reactions towards certain events. E.X. “My dad cooked us dinner in the only situation and manner that is stereotypically acceptable: grilling. Though he didn’t cook much at home and had never made anything along the lines of cookies or cake, he enjoyed grilling. He did it almost every weekend we spent at the lake.”
I am working on my argumentative essay with Molly Drexler and we are opposing Becca Goth and Mackenzie Nelson on the topic of fraternities and sororities. We are taking the stance that they are not beneficial and can be harmful in some cases.
Danny Eitreim
Period 3
When I look through my essay I think that two literary devices stand out as being used particularly well. Those two being alliteration and imagery. Many alliterative phrases appear throughout my essay such as "As I amble along..." and "...in my amateur acuity." I think that alliteration is a good way to improve how your writing flows, although using it too much makes an essay sound like a Dr. Seuss book. A proper balance can be achieved by using not too much but not too little alliteration. One of my goals for my essay was to achieve this balance, and I think that I did that, although I’m not an unbiased judge.
I also thought that I used imagery well in my essay, which was one of my goals. The subject of my essay isn't very interesting by itself, so I was hoping that I could make it more interesting by making the setting as vivid as possible. Just reading about a person taking photos could become very boring very quickly, but reading a detailed description of the surroundings of that person can be enticing, especially if the imagery is so good that the reader can visualize everything going on in the story. Good imagery can be accomplished by using a lot of adjectives and being very specific about details. I tried to do this in my essay and I think that I did fairly well, but there’s room for improvement.
I am writing my argumentation essay with Allison Fatone. In this sizeable struggle, our astute adversaries are John Hedman and Robert Haggar. The topic of our debate is the use of nuclear power plants. My partnership is arguing against them and their partnership is arguing for them. I think that both partnerships will produce excellent essays arguing for their position.
Out of all the possible literary devices, the ones that I thought I wrote with exceptionally well in my narrative essay were similes and characterization. My narrative essay was about changing traditions and trying new things. I wrote about carving pumpkins with my friend Emma. Throughout the essay, I gave out little tidbits of information in order to characterize Emma. I used the sentence “Emma’s humor epitomizes strangeness” to show that Emma has an odd sense of humor. To go further with Emma’s character, I added a fact about her and an example of a typical situation that she would find herself in: “Emma has ADHD. She often takes her medication for it with Mountain Dew… Basically she is taking a pill in order to control her Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder with caffeine; Emma does not always make the best life choices. She once ended up in Hills, Minnesota when trying to drive home from the movie theater next to Wal-mart.” In other sections of my essay I describe Emma’s appearance and hobbies in such a way that I am almost indirectly describing her. Similes were one of the most abundant literary devices in my essay. I used a simile to describe my brain after taking the ACT test, “all my emotions were numb and my brain felt frozen like a cold South Dakota October...practically useless.” For the most part I used similes to describe carving pumpkins. I compared cutting chunks out of a pumpkin to cutting a steak. To better describe what the scraped off parts of the pumpkin looked like when I was thinning out the sides I compared the scrapes to curls of chocolate. Though these two literary devices are the ones that I currently feel most comfortable with, I hope to become better equipped with others soon.
For the argumentation essay, I am partnering with Nicole Guthmiller. We are writing against Jessica Higgins and Sarah House. Our topic is whether or not children should receive as many trophies as they do. Nicole and I are for children getting so many trophies and we are planning to go more in depth on how trophies affect one’s self-esteem and how parenting reflects upon these feelings.
1. My essay is far from done at the moment; however, of what I have thus far, I'd say that my simple descriptions of every moment and action and aspect of the setting and nature and whatnot of my narrative are some of the best literary devices I employ in my writing. That, along with my comparisons (mostly metaphors, simply because they come more naturally to me, and I have to give some actual thought to including the "like" or "as" that make comparisons into similes).
2. For this argumentation essay, I am working with Peter Choudek; we are writing against Nate Bennett and Eli Powell. There has been much debate over which topic we should write about it, and as it stands I assume we are just going with our current idea regardless of whether or not I can conjure up one I actually like. The topic is as stated: Can we trust the government?
I cannot exactly say why I dislike this topic. Something about it just doesn't click whatsoever with me. I'm just not really positively inclined to this assignment in general, to be frankly honest.
The two literary devices I believe I employ the best in my Narrative essay are foreshadowing and similes. Foreshadowing is something that I love putting into my essays because I enjoy reading essays that have foreshadowing in them. In my Narrative, I used foreshadowing a lot because I liked making the reader curious as to what is going to happen. “While I said my usual prayers for peace, friends, and family, I had a penchant that today I would need many,many prayers.” In this instance, I made the reader wonder why I would need many, many prayers that day. It’s foreshadowing what’s about to happen. I also use similes in my Narrative essay because they are easy to write and to identify. When ever I think about what a simile, I always think of using like or as in a sentence to compare two things. “The clock continued to tick forward as if it was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. “ I compared the clock to a time bomb in this example from my essay. Another simile I used in my Narrative essay was “The once cold sanctuary seemed to become as hot as the Sahara Desert.”
I will be writing my Argumentation essay with Shane Gacke. We will be arguing against Summer Rogers and Emily Oyos. It took us quite a while to come up with a topic but we decided to settle on the topic: Necessity of College after High School. For me, this is a very intriguing topic. Society puts a huge strain on college and the need for it. But why does it cost so much? Why is it necessary to go to College right after High School? Shane and I will be arguing that college is not necessary after college. As controversial as this topic is ,I am very excited to argue this topic!
Andrews 2
1. The two literary devices I used the best in my Narrative essay were flashbacks and alliteration. A flashback is a literary device where the writer depicts events that have taken place before the events that are currently unfolding in the story. Which is exactly what I did in my essay. Flashbacks give the reader a view into the characters life when they were younger. This helps the viewer better understand the present situation. For example, in my Narrative essay I used this sentence as my flashback: “... I, unfortunately, learned this the hard way and my softball career has been changed for as long as I continue to play the game.” This gives the reader a quick glimpse of my life when I was younger and learning a lesson while playing softball, which has been a huge part of my life. The next literary device I used the best was alliteration. Alliteration is a device in which the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words, or is also when the commencement of two or more stressed syllables of a word group either with the same consonant sound or sound group, or with a vowel sound that may differ from syllable to syllable. In my Narrative essay an example of alliteration can be found in multiple different places but my favorite example is when I said, “Almost every team dreaded when it was their turn to play the barbaric beasts.”
2. I am writing my Argumentation essay with Katie Erickson and we are debating Ashley Westcott and Chandler McGrath. The four of us were going to argue whether or not the attack on the twin towers and the pentagon was a conspiracy theory. Katie and I agreed that it was an act of terrorism and Chandler and Ashley agreed that bits and pieces of the attacks were part of a conspiracy theory and our government had something to do with some of the chaos that unfolded on September 11, 2001. After thinking more in depth about our topic, Katie, Ashley, Chandler and I decided to switch topics do to the concern of offending some people. At the moment we do not know what we are going to argue about, but I am looking forward to finding an essay topic to argue over with people who probably have very different outlooks on life.
The biggest contribution towards my narrative essay in regards of literary devices are metaphors and similes. Metaphors and Similes allow for the description of my setting to skyrocket from bland to grand. The setting of my essay was on a grandiose, luscious farm with a massive mansion sitting upon the land. In order to direct the readers into how grand the view that I had receive the day I arrived there meant comparing a farm to something the reader can readily connect towards. “The sun shone bright like a mighty lighthouse in the darkness of night,” is an example of using a metaphor to help describe the blindingly bright sun that I had experienced. “I was a God,” is a great way to help explain how I felt on that day, I felt beyond human and the title of god felt like it fitted quite well. Many great and suckish authors use metaphors and similes, but only the great ones use them well. For example, one of my favorite books, The Great Gatsby contains many lucrative examples. “A Fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat.” “While his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all the trains.” Are all examples of Fitzgerald putting his sad mind to work.
I chose a partnership with Brianna Waltner to counteract the writing of Calli Hensley and Emily Anderson. Our topic is “You can only be good by believing in God.” and the opposition chose to write “You can be good without believing in God.” I personally feel lost in the topic, I feel as if there are numerous examples of people who are good without God, and have spent most work time staring blankly at an empty word document. I feel if we can construct our essay to the point in which we can say that God is present with everyone and that the things that people believe in is actually God, we can gain an advantage and create a win-all situation. The only trouble with this is trying to prove something that is intangible…
I use imagery, and metaphors best in my narrative essay. When I write, I like to try to impart my exact experience upon my readers. The best way to do so, is to make my writing as descriptive as possible. Filling my sentences with flowing diction, my expressiveness can also be my downfall. “How is being verbose, a downfall?” you may ask. Well, I often expand my sentences with so many words that the sentences lose meaning. To use a modified idiom: you can not see the sentence, for the words. One example that I am proud of follows: “The burning sword had been removed from my gut. Cool tendrils of darkness began to trickle down my eyes, eventually engulfing them, bringing about that peaceful darkness, my old friend.” I especially like this sentence because I feel that there was no better way to describe how I felt at that moment. Another example I am proud of is: “Bounding around, chasing the grasshoppers as they jumped up at my feet, I was happy. My favorite kitten padded out of the tall grass and sat down at my feet, purring incessantly. I got down on my hands and knees, and started to pet my cat, sending the purring into overdrive. We stayed like this for a long time, the sun warming our backs, just enjoying the day. By this time, the horses had become interested in why we were crushing their lush grass, and decided to wander over to check us out. After deciding that we were doing no harm, they joined us, settling onto their rotund stomachs in the most comfortable position possible. This menagerie got the dog interested, and she joined us as well, piling herself atop the mound of warm animals that had chosen to enjoy the sun. My mother called out, “Jacob, it’s time for lunch! Where are you?” Not wanting to get up and disturb my closest group of friends, I beckoned her over. I explained that I wanted to have a picnic, since it was so nice out, and my mother pack up our lunch, and brought it out. My mother and I sat with our animals, letting them nibble the sandwiches, while the sweet summer breeze wafted over us.” This is my favorite memory of my childhood. The emotions connected to that single memory are intense, to say the least. Even written down, with the loss of impact that comes from the conversion of memory to sentence, I am still instantly sucked back into that day, the smell of clover, kitten fur on my skin, and sun in my eyes. To me, it is a truly cathartic memory.
Metaphors are my second favorite literary device. For example: “It was then that the freight train of nausea hit me full force.” This perfectly describes how I felt when I needed to vomit in that restaurant. The worst experience of my life can only be described with a metaphor: ‘I, as a kindergartner, had to swallow 60 ounces of cement fluid, a torture I would not wish on my worst enemy.” The cement, in this case, is barium fluid. The use of metaphors has allowed me to put my feelings into words, and give those words connections and meaning. Without metaphors, my tongue is nothing but hot air.
My partner is Alex Darrington. We will be debating against Keenan Ernste, and William Trevillyan. Our topic is the legalization of organ sales. My partner and I are for organ sales, while our opponents are against the obviously correct solution to many people’s daily suffering. To be brief, Alex and I will dominate the competition.
Alex Hillestad Period 6
I liked my allusions the best. I like that it is brief and does not necessarily describe who or what you are referring to. It is kind of like a random little comment or joke where the author just hopes the reader catches. In my essay, my mythology allusion was “The fate of my All State Choir career lied in those three judges hands and they could choose to sever my string of life whenever they wanted.” I compared the three judges to the three fates. My second allusion was “I found out that I am one of the unfortunate souls who gets to audition twice. When I heard that announcement, I could almost feel my voice being pulled from my throat.” I am referring to Ursula stealing Ariel's voice in The Little Mermaid. I think I did a good job using developed settings in my narrative essay too. I found it very easy to describe the area around me in order to bring the setting to life, especially because the places I was describing were places I was very familiar with. In my narrative essay I described the T.F Riggs High School choir room. “ It was the same room I had gone to every day for the past year and a half. It had white tile floors and white walls with motivational posters and pictures of graduated choir members on it. There were three very long rows of risers along the back wall of the room and a piano in front of the risers. When students step inside the choir room they almost always complain about how cold it is and how Mr. Bauck, the director, should turn up the heat. When I walk into the choir room I get the expected scent of floor polish, aftershave, and hard work.” I thought it was fun to describe what I was seeing, smelling, hearing, and feeling.
Emily Harris and I are partners for the argumentation essay. We are writing against Tonnor and Brock. Emily and I are writing about the pros of our topic, designer babies.
The two literary devices I depict the best in my Narrative essay are foreshadowing and amplification. Two of my favorite moments in my essay are the ones that depict foreshadowing. The first one states, “Little did I know what ‘anything and everything’ could mean on a family farm.” This was right away at the beginning of my Narrative essay. I was visiting about my Grandma about what my first week on the farm would entail. She asked me, “Are you ready for this week?” I simply replied, “I am ready for anything and everything.” After I made this statement the week on the farm went somewhat roughly. There are a lot of surprises and unknowns when you are working on the farm. The simple foreshadow flashed ahead and helped prepare the reader for some of the surprises I entailed my first week on the farm. The second foreshadow talked about a tornado that was dangerously close to the farm one night when I was out in the field. It stated, “Even the weather was cooperating very well with us… that is until one night.” This quote is good for foreshadowing because it creates a little bit of suspense before the story is told. It keeps the reader engaged to every little morsel of the story until it is finished.
The next literary device I enjoyed writing with was that of amplification. This helped me describe exactly the point I wanted to get across to the reader. Not very many kids grow up or get to help out on a farm. This made it hard to explain what I wanted the reader to get out of my Narrative essay. By using the amplification technique I was able to explain in full detail what I wanted my reader to understand. It helped my essay flow a lot easier and it cleared up confusion.
I am writing my Argumentation essay with Brock Hanson. We are competing against Emily Harris and Alex Hillestad. We are arguing about the ethics, advantages, and disadvantages of designer babies. Emily and Alex are for designer babies while Brock and I are against them. It will be a fun essay to write and I am looking forward to it.
Riley Petersen Pd 7
Literary devices through the annual Term Tuesdays have help me shape my essays, making them more interesting. Two literary devices I employed best in my Narrative essay are repetition and similes. Repetition is a great way for me to show that specific ideas are important in the essay and to get my point across. An example would be, there are large snakes, large bears, and large tigers. Similes are easy and enjoyable, using like or as to compare two items. An example from my essay for a simile is, “The freshman were like children after eating all their halloween candy”.
I am writing my Argumentation essay with Cole Ripperda. Cole and I are writing against Emma Baier and Abby Castle. Possible topics are kind of difficult to think of. At the moment Emma Baier and Abby Castle put down changing the age of consent. It is a good topic, but Cole and I do not have any idea where to go off of it. So Cole and I are hoping to change the subject to something more in our knowledge field. Possible ideas we have are that country music is the best(Cole’s idea), possible debate on whether we should raise taxes, whether we should send less aid to foreign countries, or whether we teach our kids to be obedient rather than think for themselves; just to name a few possible topics. But, I think we will just stay with the age of consent topic, due to they probably have some of their essay done and I would not want to change if I had some done. Cole and I will probably be against changing the age of consent. We will have to do some research and put up the best possible argument we can. Otherwise I am indifferent on the subject which should make for an interesting argumentative essay.
I used a couple of allusions and multiple similes. I think that these devices connects the reader to the story to really make them feel like they can relate to the story by using things that are everyday things. I like using similes because it describes something in multiple ways to create a figment in the readers mind on what to relate what they are reading to. I also think these are good to use because when I am reading other essays, I like to read these same type of devices in the story.
I am writing my argumentative essay with Kaity Dybdahl against Lilli Jasper and Jamie Mitzel. A couple topics we pondered were the pros and cons of prison, the foster care system, and modern culture ruining our society. I like the topic on the foster care system because it is interesting to learn about a world I was luckily never put into. It would talk about how the foster care system could be good, but can sometimes have long term effects on the children that were put into it. The prison system would also be a good topic because it shows how the justice system isn't always right. We would argue against how they decide which people are incarcerated opposed to not incarcerated. Lastly we thought of the effects of modern culture ruining our society. This would be good to use to show how the impeding generation is not as smart as previously before, because of our culture. We are engrossed into social media and cell phones. But also the new technology and research developing from our generation shows the determination and intelligence. I think we are going to do the foster care system topic because there are lots of arguments whether or not it is good for our society's children.
In my narrative essay, the two literary devices I use best are similes and metaphors. These two literary devices are some of the simplest and most cliche; however, if they are used effectively, can add so much interest to your essay. These literary devices are a great way to add detail as well as catching the reader's attention. The first way I use a simile is by saying that Coach Mueller had hair as blonde as the sifted sand on the beach. I say this because Coach does have very blonde hair and just plainly stating that is not nearly as interesting. It is easy for people to imagine in their head what the sand on a beach looks like and it also gives a calming, positive thought, the same way as Coach was positive and calm towards me. My second simile was saying that the pole threw me like a rock out of a catapult. I could have taken a more generic, simpler route and said the pole flung me into the air. This, however, does not give the reader an image in their head of how I was actually thrown and soared through the air. My first metaphor was saying that a brick wall was being built between Coach and I. I could have said that we were having problems but saying there was a brick wall gave a much better description and overdramatized idea of what was actually going on.
For my argumentation essay, I will be writing with Alex Wilde and againt Reid Grode and Drew Reinschmidt. We came to the conclusion to argue which was better--college football or NFL football. Being as we are all athletes and love watching football, this topic seemed quite natural and fun for us to be able to talk about from first hand accounts and do research on. Wilde and I are taking the side of college football as we think it provides an overall better atmosphere and more competitive games.
Courtney Stegenga pd. 3
In my Narrative essay, I believe the literary devices I used best were foreshadowing and tone. There were a couple instances where I used foreshadowing. In one instance, earlier in my essay I described how we have tied the cords on my robe/cape in Job’s Daughters. “Three twists to the cord, wrapped around my waist, tied together with a square knot. Right over left, left over right. After seven years of being in Job’s, it is hard to tie my cord wrong.” Later, when tying my cape around myself during my ceremony, I managed to tie the cord wrong, adding an extra twist to the cord. It was blatantly obvious I had done so and a lot of people noticed. The day I was crowned Grand Bethel Honored Queen may have been the most memorable day of my life thus far. In my essay I talked about setting up for that day after a year of planning. Reliving the craziness of that day and what I was feeling. My feelings along with the hectic day created an exciting tone to my essay.
I will be writing my Argumentative essay with Mickelle Ahlers and we will be writing against Eden Burch and Vanessa Heinrichs. The topic we choose to debate on is whether it should be legal to allow teachers to carry guns while on school property. Mickelle and I will be arguing that it should be illegal, while Eden and Vanessa that it should be legal. When choosing this topic, I was not very interested but, the more I research the more interested I have become. For instance, I discovered in South Dakota was the first state to allow teachers to carry guns, but each school district ultimately decides whether or not they want to allow teachers to. To me, this almost frightens me more than it makes me feel safe.
Using literary devices in essays is not my talent, even when I know how to use them correctly. There are many fabulous sentence structures and literary devices that can assist in writing. My favorite, alliteration, creates the sensation of rhythm and makes the reader feel the pattern. Alliteration is on my top list because I know how to use the literary device very well and correctly. In my narrative essay I know for sure that I nailed the proper use of alliteration. Although alliteration is a very easy literary device to use a student can till improperly place it in a sentence.
For the argumentative essay I have partnered up with the magnificent Courtney. We are combating against Vanessa and Eden. Coming up with a topic for picking sides was not easy. I know almost all of the groups had no clue as well but Eden I believe came up with the final idea. We all chose to agree with her for debating about teachers having guns or not in a classroom setting. Courtney and I will be against teachers having guns in the classroom. While Vanessa and Eden will take the others side for this topic. I am being hopeful that Courtney and I kick Eden and Vanessa’s butts with this assignment.
I think the two literary devices I employ the best in my Narrative essay are simile and alliteration. I say this because these two feel the most natural for me to use in my essay -- they’re most similar to how I actually talk when I’m not writing. I don’t often reference mythology or books when I talk (among other devices) because I’m not too interested in mythology and I tend not to read that often outside of class.
My partner for the argumentation essay is Nate Bennett, and we’re going up against Umaima Koch and Peter Choudek. The topic will be Can You Trust your Government? Umaima and Peter will argue that you can, while Nate and I will argue that you cannot. We considered a number of other topics as well. When the people who originally were going to argue the Redskins nickname dropped that in favor of another topic, we considered that for a while. We also considered trying to argue whether or not gym class actually makes for more fit students or whether one semester doesn’t always, if ever, cause a change in lifestyle. Personally, I would side with the latter, but this topic could have also been expanded to discuss every other relatively useless way the government tries to reduce childhood obesity, like taking our beloved cookies out of the lunchroom and replacing them with something I can’t even recognize. There was brief talk of the four of us writing about whether or not humans are inherently evil. This was because the group in front of us when we were discussing topics was writing about whether or not one can be good without God, which we interpreted as something like, “are humans inherently good, or do we need religion?” I thought it was a joke at first, but the others were serious about it, so we discussed it, then eventually decided against it.
The two literary devices that I was most successful in using my my Narrative essay were metaphors and similes. Both similes and metaphors are easy to use and fit just about anywhere in the essay. I was able to use these two with ease because we have been using them our whole writing careers, which brings familiarity, which in turn builds confidence. However, the similes and metaphors that I used in my essay were better written and more in depth then there were in past writings. Whether I was comparing my hunger to a hungry football player or warm blankets like hot cups of coffee, to being knocked out like Ali’s opponents, similes are easy to use. Like wise metaphors like a lion eating a long anticipated meal or a hibernating bear, are also quite easy to use and add visual details that the reader can grasp. Both are able to bring clearer and more interesting examples of how I felt.
My partner for my argumentative essay is Drew Reinschmidt, and we are arguing against Riley Frantzen and Alex Wilde. We only thought of one topic, however we did not but a whole lot of thought into it. The topic we choose to argue about is if NFL football is better than NCAA football. All of us are football players and know a lot about both topics, however, all of us like NCAA football better than the NFL. Drew and I, being the nice guys that we are, let Riley and Alex have the easier topic. We liked how both topics produced multiple points in which we could argue, while maintaining our interest on the topic. Also there is no definite answer making it fully competitive and completely up in the are, making our essays more interesting to read and more interesting to write.
Murray 2
Two literary devices I used well in my essay are sensory language and similes. I used diction that appeals to the reader’s senses. As I was describing every step of my day and the emotions I felt along the way, I felt as if a connection was made with the reader. I also used similes to help with the aspect of sensory language. I made similes that compared my situation to situations many readers have probably found themselves in. This made it easier for the reader to comprehend the exact emotions at that specific time. Many similes were also used to describe certain objects I encountered. Similes and sensory language combined can make for a great story with a personal aspect.
For my argumentation essay, I have partnered with Alicia Dewit. We are opposing the duo of Levi Mckercher and Jake Comeaux. When bouncing around ideas, we talked about if experimentation for cosmetics and medicines should be performed on animals, if a college degree betters your chances for a good job, and if government should have say in your everyday life. Most of these topics seems to impersonal to write about. While arguing in class, Levi and I decided to answer the question, “Is gender inequality a problem?”. The girls are saying yes as we fight about our fundamental rights and oppression. The boys, however, do not see the gender inequality a big deal, or even maybe, non-existent. This topic will be interesting to write about because the teams are opposing genders. Also, this is a topic that will be very visual and situational meaning you have probably seen it or experienced it in your own life and there are many stories about it. This topic will be a fun one for each of us duos to debate.
Guthmiller 6
In my narrative essay, one literary device I used was foreshadowing. Many times in my essay I use phrases like “That is one major reason I ended up in the pet store that day” and “This is probably why she got so upset when we arrived home that day.” These phrases are a good example of foreshadowing because they give hints as to what is going to happen later in the story. I liked using foreshadowing in my narrative essay because it is fun and provides a fun insinuation as to what the future of the story entails. I like how foreshadowing keeps the reader on the edge of their set waiting to know what is going to happen. Another literary device I employed the best was my use of similes. My favorite simile I used was “this approach left the turtle sitting in protest like a teenager who was forced to go to a family gathering.” I like using similes because can paint a picture of a noun in a new light, creating a new way of thinking about something in your readers mind. It also creates a amusing and though-provoking visual for the reader.
I will write my Argumentative essay with Kendra Riley. We will be arguing against Shayna Berberich and Amber Wickstrom. We did not have many topic ideas because we figured out our essay topic quickly. Our first option was arguing if money could buy happiness. Although this topic would have been interesting to explore and discuss, we thought this option has been discussed too many times so we decided to come up with a different option. Our next option, the one we decided to do, was if social media has a positive or negative effect on people. Kendra and I believe that, although social media has its negatives, there are many ways they can have a positive effect on people all over the world. Shayna and Kendra will be arguing that social media has a negative effect on people.
In my narrative essay, I believe I used similes and symbols best to improve my writing. I used the similes to connect the reader with a better picture of how little I was, and how I acted as a five year old. Similes using comparisons between my light-up shoes and a pathway to happiness added a little spark to my writing. They helped to bring imagery as well as creativeness into the readers’ minds. Symbols, like my suitcase, a symbol of the stress I was lugging around with me throughout the plot, added a bit of weight to the point of my story. The story itself was simple, but the meaning behind it puts on some heaviness. This allows the readers to connect to my writing, and put themselves in my situation. Being able to have somewhat tricky clues to pick up on in a story, even one as short as this, is important, and I liked being able to add some intriguing elements. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to amp up my writing skills through even the tiniest concepts such as similes and symbols, because they were a ton of fun to put together.
I am writing my Argumentation Essay with the lovely Emily Oyos. We are to combat head to head with Chelsey Schmeling and Shane Gacke. It took us a while to find a topic to debate, because we agreed on what seemed like everything, but we finally decided to challenge each other on the “Necessity of Going to College”. Should one need to go to college after high school, and should those who do get paid more? Emily and I decided to be on the pro-college side— college should be necessary for this day and age to actually go somewhere. I feel as if we shall put up a hearty fight.
I think my best literary device used in my Narrative essay were my similes. Not only did I make them more of a cliche, I connected them to my Narrative. For example, at the beginning I could have said, “like chickens with their heads cut off.”, but instead I replaced chickens with fish to fit the theme of my essay. My second best literary device used was a flashback. I used it at an intense moment so the reader had to wait to find out what was going to happen. Also, the flashback was happy and cheerful even though that moment in the story was frightening and scary for myself at the age of five. I think the literary device I need to work on is developing the setting. It seems like the easiest to do, but to me I always forget to write it down in description because it is so easily seen in my head that I do not connect that the reader has no idea what the setting is like.
I am writing my Argumentation essay with the intelligent Bethany Headrick. We will be writing against Jamie Mitzel and Lilli Jasper. We have made up our minds on what we are going to write about: Foster Care Units. Jamie and Lilli are for Foster Care Units, while Bethany and I are against them. Before deciding what our topic was going to be, we had a couple of other choices. The choices were the legal system and if technology is ruining childhood. The topic about technology interests me greatly because I can relate to it. My father was in the military for twenty years and one of the reasons he decided to retire was because he knows absolutely nothing about technology. They wanted him to run the computers in the tanks, but he knew that would have been a disaster. If we had not chosen to write about Foster Care Units I would have loved to write about if childhood was being ruined by technology.
Huizenga 6
1) The two literary techniques that I believe I employed the best were simile and metaphor. These two elements may be among the simplest literary techniques but using them effectively is very difficult and I believe I accomplished this admirably. I used a simile to describe one part of a two part statement and then instead of reusing the simile technique I used a metaphor that related to the simile I used previously without being too repetitive. I described people losing steam (an idiom) faster than a turkey outside in December, which because of the contrasting temperatures would be pretty quick. Then in my second comparison I described the less athletic people as corpses dragging themselves out of Hades (coupling it with an allusion.)
2) My partner for the argumentation essay is going to be Evan Wieser. The partnership we shall write against is Sally Hoffmann and Ashley Schobert. As a group we did not discuss many possible topics as we had already been discussing the topic that we chose. That being said we did mention once about a second topic of gender inequality, but we vetoed that as a) we all had the same viewpoint for the most part and b) another group had already decided to take on this topic. We chose to do sex education and who should be responsible for teaching this extremely crucial topic. Ashley and Sally as arguing that the responsibility should fall on the schools to educate students fully on all their options, since parents often have a bias which sways what they teach their children, such as religion/lack thereof or societal values . Evan and I are taking the opposing stance that parents should instill the information of sex to their children and provide them with all the options instead of the abstinence only education that many schools provide.
In my narrative essay, I feel that I showed the best craftsmanship with conveying the setting, and using adjectives to describe certain situations. In the beginning of my essay, I help the reader picture a snowy December day. If feel as if I could almost feel the cold. This could be because I experienced it; but one can not only feel like it is winter again. I try to appeal to all the senses, using sight, sound, and smell throughout my essay. Using all of the senses when explaining the setting, helps the reader connect better. When it comes to using adjectives to enhance the story, I also excelled in this category. In my essay, I often refer to certain subjects with greater detail. This enhances the setting along with the readability. I feel as if my storytelling skills have greatly improved since the beginning of this essay.
I will be writing my argumentative essay with Ashley Westcott. We will be arguing against Haley Andrews, and Katie Erickson. One possible topic we are on the verge of arguing is whether 9/11 was a conspiracy or not. This is a very heavily debated topic today. Our role would be arguing that 9/11 was orchestrated by the U.S. government. There is a lot of subcategories when it comes to the conspiracy, so it should be a fairly informational debate. This is a very argumentative topic as there is strong evidence on both sides. However, this topic could come off as offensive to some people so we are taking that into consideration. The duo we are arguing against, I feel, has an easier task than ourselves. Researching every little detail about this tragic event and then finding which theories are actually believable. All the opposing group has to do is read our side of the argument and then find ways to disprove them.
I think the two literary devices that I used well were similes and sensory language. I tried to help paint a picture of my setting instead of just telling people about it. I wanted people to feel as if they were there.
“Looking like heavy smokers who could not stop the filthy habit, everyone’s toasty breath discussed the harvest and heat loss.” In that sentence from my essay, I was hoping people could see the breath of people breathing in the cold air and letting out warm air. I also used similes to explain boring ideas in a creative and interesting manner. An example is, “The blood is as ready to seep out as the anxious people waiting for the doors to open on Black Friday.” Hoping again people can picture that with this simile. Stories that can be seen and pictured as a movie in people’s heads is far more intriguing to read.
I am doing my argumentative essay with Jacob Boomsma. We are going against Becca Goth and Mackenzie Nelson. Some argumentative ideas we had were school tuition, gay rights, should people be able to take medicine to die peacefully, and we picked sorority and fraternity. We are arguing if they are a good influence or bad for students. I was wanting to do something more out of the box and very interesting yet controversial. It is always entertaining to debate back and forth with subjects that are controversial because rarely do people change their minds. Some new ideas do come up in the debate though that make people think. If someone can at least make me rethink my decision or I can to others, it is a good debate. Also, if you pick something that people do not always think about but yet have an opinion about it is interesting to receive their view. I am looking forward to tackling a subject that is not something I am overly passionate about and trying to make it something that makes my peers think outside the box for a subject that seems set in stone.
In my narrative essay, I attempted to use several literary devices; However, I feel I used the allusions and similes most effectively. I believe that in my writing, allusions are a great way of adding more to an object. They also work really well when trying to add suspense within my writing. In my narrative essay, I had many similes also. My favorite used simile was when I compared dragging my sister away to making a toddler take a bath. They are very resilient and stubborn. Also, most people know how a toddler acts, therefore they could very easily put a mental picture to this area of my story. I feel I used similes very effectively in my essay. I really enjoy incorporating similes into my writing because they can be used in many different ways. They can be used to add suspense, to add humor, or to give the reader a mental picture.
It is with the ingenious Chandler McGrath that I will be writing my essay. We are arguing against our close friends Haley Andrews and Katie Erickson. Originally, the group of us were going to argue whether or not the attack on the twin towers and the pentagon was a conspiracy theory. Katie and Haley agreed that it was an act of terrorism, and were going to argue that, while Chandler and I agreed to argue that bits and pieces of the attacks were part of a conspiracy and our government had something to do with some of the chaos that unfolded on September 11, 2001. After thinking more in depth about our topic, Katie, Haley, Chandler and I decided to switch topics do to the concern of offending some people. At the moment we do not know what we are going to argue about, but I am looking forward to finding an essay topic to argue over with people who probably have very different outlooks on life
In my narrative, I think the best literary device I use is descriptive writing. I do well creating a scene in the reader’s mind. I try to use all of the senses, and I try to think of creative ways to describe something. I could have said “as I got angry, I was becoming emotionally distant.” Instead, I said “As my hot anger grew, so did the ball of ice that was quickly taking over my heart and feelings,” which, not to toot my own horn, sounds pretty good. I took the temperature I feel while angry hot, and connected that to the temperature I feel while emotionally vacant, cold. The other literary technique I use well is my diction. I feel as though my diction, my word choice, has become slightly more advanced than it has been in the past. I’m not a walking dictionary, but I try to use more obscure words than words you hear everyday.
My partner is Shannon Backer; putting the two quietest people in class together to see how it goes. Should be able to knock this one out of the park. We are arguing with Sara and Jessica about trophies. Should participation be awarded, do we celebrate the mediocrity too much? I don’t feel uber passionate about this due to my aversion to competition and sports, however, I feel as though a child should be rewarded for participation. Sometimes, it is very difficult for a child to get out there and do something without fear of disappointment or complete isolation. It is necessary for children to realize that winning is not everything. This way, children can be involved in sports they like, but might not excel at. They can see that being on the team is about working together, having fun, and being included in something.
Riley Duncanson 2
I believe that in my narrative essay, I employed devices such as similes and symbolism. I had many great similes in my narrative essay. Some of those included my allusions. My mythological allusion was the the greek hero Achilles. I mentioned how I felt invincible just like the the greek hero. My other allusion was to The Lion King. I felt very proud that I was able to make this allusion, as The Lion King is one of my favorite pieces of literature. I have seen the movie multiple times and I am going to see the musical this spring when it comes to Des Moines. Symbolism that I used was how the moon represents my fear. The moon always shone ominously. It showed how afraid I was going through the experiences.
For my argumentation essay, I plan to argue with Marina Gillespie. We will argue the topic of public high schools verses private high schools. Marina and I will argue that private high schools are better than public high schools. We will have to do a lot of research for this as neither of us attend private high schools or have ever attended private schools. We plan to talk to some of our friends who attend private school to see what the like about the private school system and what they dislike about the private school system. Another idea that we have is to talk to the administration of O’gorman high school to see if they will give us any information about the private high school life. We are hoping that they will be kind enough to answer our questions that we have about private high schools. I believe that we can come out victorious because in my mind, private high schools are better than public high schools. This will make it much easier to argue my topic.
MC, I FORGOT TO PUT INTO HERE, I HAD THE TASK ON MY DRIVE ACCOUNT FINISHED AND IT FLED MY MIND.
In my narrative, I use an (in my opinion--awesome) amount of detail. The literary devices I think that can best be described as this would be the appositives and the paired construction. I really like to make sure that the reader of my essay understands what I am trying to put across. I also try to ensure that the reader feels very involved in the story, that they may see into my head in a way, and experience (as fully as possible) the story itself. I was very descriptive and I used a great amount of compound or complex sentences and compound-complex sentences. Such as, The sun shining through the small plastic window of my tent, I awoke to magnificence; and This however did not discourage me, I took off my boots, slung them over my shoulder and sloshed through the ford.
Miss Mackenzie Nelson. We are writing against the tough competition of Jacob Boomsma and Mollie Drexler. Possible topics are sororities/fraternities and the pros and cons to them, me and Mac Nel being pro. We choose this as college is upon us, and it may be informative as well as argumentative to both us, and our fellow classmates. Another is teaching about the LGBT community in schools, Jacob is very avid about this topic, therefore we eventually decided against this because we felt that he may become frustrated, and we did not want to put a damper in our mutual friendships based off of private subject opinions. One more plausible topic would have been banning all religious schools, as Jacob feels that they make children less accepting and less productive members of society. Mackenzie, Mollie and I all disagreed with this therefore it would not have worked. Also, we thought that this subject was irrelevant and moot because it has had anything put into action, therefore research would be limited, and we wanted our horizons wide.
If I was to choose two literary devices that I used the most in my Narrative Essay it would probably be metaphors and similes. I also like to think I used these two devices well. I used these two literary devices to describe different things in my essay (hoping to help the reader to understand as clearly as I do whatever I am describing). One example of this is when I use a simile to describe how thick the snowfall is coming down. Many authors use this literary device to help the reader to get a better understanding of what the scene is like. When authors use similes, the reader is more likely to feel “in” the actually story as they read it. Even with these literary device I feel like I could do a better job of imagery throughout my story.
I will be doing this Argumentative essay with Eli, Umaima, and Peter. Eli, Umaima, and I are in 7th period College English, while Peter is in 2nd period College English. Eli and I are partners and we are going against Umaima and Peter. Our possible topics we had were “Can you trust the government?”, “Does the NFL team, Washington Redskins, need to change its name?”, “Does gym need to be considered a class you have to take in high school?”, and “Should high school students be so restricted in what they can have lunch?”. Of all these topics my group had decided to pick the topic, “Can you trust the government?”. We chose this topic because it is an interesting topic and we feel there is a lot we have the potential to write about. Also, we feel many people have an opinion of this topic, but at the same time we do not feel like this topic is over argued by the public like some other topics.
Katie Erickson 7
In my narrative essay, I used a multitude of literary devices. Among those devices, the most used were similes and metaphors. I love to write using these devices simply because it allows the reader to visualize and compare events and how I felt. They were not there to witness all of the action that took place and telling them the details straight forward is not always good enough. I felt the need to embellish and give them a feel of how I felt. For my argumentation essay, I will be working with Haley Andrews. The two of us will be arguing against the viewpoints of the duo consisting of Ashley Westcott and Chandler McGrath. We have not decided on a topic quite yet simply because the one that we had originally chosen, could be considered offensive to some. Our original topic was whether 9/11 was an inside job or not, meaning that the U.S. would have planned and acted out this travesty. Instead of this topic we may choose one that could be a little less offensive. Something that is not publicly debated often but may be disputed on a lower scale. I think that doing an essay on whether or not Barbie Dolls set high standards for young girls or not would be extremely intriguing. Another good topic would be whether or not all religions are good. Arguing about religion can get heated up quickly but allows for a very interesting debate. Going along with religion, debating on whether or not there is an afterlife would be very entertaining too. There is not a whole lot of scientific evidence but there are plenty of stories and a lot of research. The sooner we decide on a topic the sooner we can gnaw away at each other’s viewpoints and opinions.
MR. C-- Much like Becca Goth above I had my blog task done by wendsday and nicely in a google document, however my brain did not put it together that I hadn't posted it on the blog. My most sincere apologies for this event.
1.I thought that in my Narrative essay I used foreshadowing and similes the best. From the way I read my narrative, the foreshadowing really made you think ahead as a reader-- or at least I hope it did about what was to happen due to the events I was writing about. One of my foreshadowing was “I could feel the weeks of recovery that undoubtedly lied ahead”. This example was referring to when I was injured and I referenced the months ahead which I am currently living through and that I would touch on in my essay towards the end. And the similes were ones that I personally found interesting and thought went very well with the moment I placed them in. One that I liked a lot was “I felt like Rocky in the fifteenth round as I sprinted after the ball”. This simile is my favorite one in this essay because it references something that many people would understand-- Rocky Balboa in the fifteenth round of a boxing match. And it also describes in detail how the activity was being done. I hope to use more foreshadowing and similes in my future work.
2. I'm writing my Argumentation essay with Paige Drenth. We will be going up against Carley Kueter and Karly Neuberger in the other class period. The topic we have chosen is whether or not to join a sorority/fraternity when you go to college. We chose this because Karly Neuberger has direct connections with Greek members and we wanted to utilize our resources as best as possible. We are letting the Carley and Karly argue why you should since Karly’s sister Kaity is in a sorority at UNL. And Paige and I have chosen to go against as we do not see the point of them anyways, so we figured why not let Karly argue her side of the debate.
Ripperda 7
While enjoying the composition of my Narrative, I noticed that I wrote well with flashbacks, and foreshadowing. These are my favorite literary devices because they play such a major role in developing a story. Good books (as well as TV shows and movies)often rely on both foreshadowing and flashbacks to develop characters and plot. In my essay, due to time constraint requirements, I started the morning of my surgery and flashbacked to the appointment that I learned that I would need this surgery for. I started the flash back as a though during a present action. "As I ate my bowl of cereal..." I also think that clever composers use foreshadowing to make their works interesting.
I will be writing my Argumentation essay with Riley Petersen, we will be writing against an article we have found online (due to conflict of topic with prior group). We have decided on the topic of Government Health Care. Should the government provide us with healthcare? We will argue that No, the government should leave Health Insurance to the private sector. We will argue resaosns such as cost, quality, and morals. The government requires billions of dollars to fund a universal health care system, it would require raising taxes and cutting funds from other programs. The government will offer low quality healthcare even though it is expensive. By regulating the private insurance companies too the extent that new laws will, it will essentially drive them out of buiseness. Ultimately some people hope this leads to a single payer system where everyone gets healthcare from the government. This we must fight against.
The two literary devices that I seemed to use best were my imagery and amplification of my sentences. I like to use imagery in my writings because it gives the reader a lot more perception of what is actually happening and it also entices the reader to keep on reading. The visual aspect of imagery gives the reader a vivid image by playing on their senses. Imagery lets you paint a picture from your own memory and gives the reader a better grasp of emotions and actions in the story. Amplification is very important to me, but it is very crucial to know when enough is enough. You cannot confuse amplification with fluff, or then your essay will become even more confusing. I want the reader to fully grasp what I am trying to say because it would be pointless if they don’t understand what you are saying. To me it is one of the most important parts of an essay and I see no reason for an essay when it’s not able to be understood. There are many literary devices used in my essay, some I am good at applying to my essays, and some are still difficult for me to use. The main goals for my essay is that the reader clearly understands what I am saying, is able to create a vivid image in their head, and most importantly the urge to read on.
I will be writing my argumentation about the conflict of women being able to decide if they want to fight on the front lines. My partner in this essay is going to be Tristan Pliska and we will be arguing against Ezra Voigt and Greg Koehn. We are pro women being able to decide if they want to go to battle and the opposing team is against women going to war.
Tristin Pliska Period 6
The two literary devices I believe I employed in my essay were Flashbacks, and Setting. Flashbacks were used in my essay by starting the essay later in the day after my black belt test, then I flashed back to the beginning of the test. Then at the end of the test I ended the flashback and returned back to the time later in the day. This literary device was used to give it the effect of me actually telling the story, and to give my thought process of the conclusion of the events of my testing. I used Setting in my essay by establishing a time and place throughout the essay. The place changed from a restaurant's buffet, a gym, and a track. The time was consistently referenced as the essay proceeded; marking the pace of how the test was proceeding. This device was used to properly describe how long the test was and each of it’s portions, giving it a more realistic description. With these two literary devices it help comprise my essay.
I wrote my argumentative essay with Alick. In our essay we engaged in an argument with Ezra and Greg. Our topic was the approval of women being allowed to be placed in combative roles of the front lines of the military. Alick and I argued that it was okay for women to participate in war like this. Our points being that women are capable like men. Also that it restricts some of women’s opportunities. And most of all that it disagrees with America’s idea of freedom, by not allowing women to directly protect this freedom. In the essay we tried to draw from sources the ideas and reasoning for both why and why not women should be allowed to participate, giving us the ability to create a better argument.
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