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1. Post your favorite sentence from a letter you composed. How is it compelling your reader's response?
2. Type about your initial Classification essay ideas. What have been your initial successes and challenges as you think about this first major essay?
The whole world will be able to read what you post. By expanding your audience and sharing ideas with each other, you'll be helping the cause immeasurably.
Write 300+ words total.
104 comments:
1Beck
My favorite sentence is from my letter thanking someone for something. My letter is thanking Juice Stop for the wonderful business that they have created. My favorite sentence is “When I got my smoothie and took my first sip I knew I made the right choice on which one to get, and I was hooked.” This is my favorite sentence because it shows my love for juice stop from the start and would make others want to try it to get the same experience that I had. It is compelling my reader to reply by showing just how much I enjoyed my very first smoothie and that it is showing that I plan on coming back. I believe that by him reading this sentence that it shows my love for Juice Stop and he will greatly appreciate what I have to say and will want to thank me for taking the time to show just how much Juice Stop has impacted my life.
It took some time to get ideas in my head. I had many crazy ideas in my head. My initial challenge was that I struggled with finding an idea that would be easy for me to write about. I wanted to write about something that I know alot about and would enjoy writing. I went with an idea that is important in my life and affects me daily. It will be easier for me to write about something that I love and enjoy. My idea that I will use for my classification essay is about how a cheer team is like a family. My initial successes are that I know a lot about how a cheer team is like a family and it will help to know this as I write my essay. I believe that by using this idea for my essay it will help me greatly since cheer is a major thing in my life and I will be able to relate and give good examples for my essay.
1Jeanson
“That started my book dealing days.”, is my favorite sentence out of both my letters. That sentence is from my letter thanking Ellen Hopkins for giving me a love of reading. I thought that that sentence brought a sense of humor to my letter. I am not an overly witty person but I did actually deal books at one point so that is both fact and hilarity. It also shows that I enjoyed her books so much it made me want to share them with everyone I knew so then they could enjoy them as much as I did. I don’t think that I will receive a reply because I did not ask for anything from Ellen but I hope that she will get my letter and at least have a little laugh over it. If not feel a little sense of pride at knowing she can write books a self proclaimed picky reader very much enjoyed.
I have had practically no ideas ever since we first learned of this essay. I want it to be different but I don’t get out much so the only places I could write about is my work, school, or my home. I have no clue what I’m going to write about and that is a giant challenge already. So far there have been no successes but maybe a wonderful idea will pop into my head today, I sincerely doubt that but who knows. I think that I will just start with writing about siblings then see where it goes from there. I am a fairly observant person, but with only going being in about three places my subjects are limited. Maybe this sibling thing will work out maybe not, as long as I write something not completely terrible I will be immensely satisfied.
1 Brandsrud
My favorite sentence from my letters is from the letter I wrote to my sister. The sentence reads, “Thanks to you, I have now become the person to show and teach others how to be the best that they can be; I hope that this leads to them learning and understanding how to work hard and be determined in whatever it is that they do.” This sentence is my favorite for many reasons. One reason is because she has helped me in more ways than one when it comes to playing my instrument. She has taught me different strategies and tips on how to play a brass instrument. Even though I play the trombone and she plays the trumpet; both are brass instruments so much of the fundamentals are the same. These similar fundamentals allowed for her to teach me how to produce a better sound. Now that I am section leader of the trombones this year, these lessons have become even more important to me. This is because now I have younger students that need help with both playing and marching. Another reason is that I have learned a lot of skills such as determination from my sister, not only in the small lessons that she was able to give me periodically, but also from showing the determination she had when it came to her own instrument. While she is home, the sound of a trumpet seems to come from her bedroom 24/7. I found it very annoying, however, I now look back and realized that I had learned from her example. I hope that I can also teach at least one student something like determination before I graduate. I do not want to simply teach someone how to play an instrument better, or how to do a single math assignment, I want to teach them something more meaningful, something that will stick with them for the rest of their lives.
I have not yet begun thinking of ideas for the next essay, the “Classification Essay.” I will begin thinking about that Friday, September 9, however. I am currently occupied with trying to make my letters the best that I can make them.
1 Vielmette
My favorite sentence was from the letter to the superintendent which was "All of these issues are small and have little impact on us individually, but, as you start stacking them up, it gets more and more overwhelming to have to adjust ourselves around problems that could’ve been fixed already." I believe this is my strongest sentence as it brings in everything that I have talked about in the letter without directly listing them all off. It also points toward them in how they really are all small and simple things that are easily fixed. This will help with the response as it shows our concern over the way we can be treated which isn't to the best of everyone's abilities as we try on the field day in and day out. Hopefully from him reading this he understands how much it means to us to get as good as we can get and help us to achieve that.
My first few ideas for the classification essay was the types of people you will see when working at the service desk at Menards; however, this would need to be a list too long for this essay. My other idea is to classify the types of science classes that you could take but, this would be too much of a comparison almost as most sciences are the same basic foundation to creating different things. What I am thinking about doing is the types of people that are in band from the enthusiastic to the lazy and including those who are in it simply because they love the sound of music in the air.
Reese
My favorite sentence from my letters is, "The way you got in the head and the face of other quarterbacks was amazing to see, especially in Super Bowl L when you completely dismantled Cam Newton." This is compelling my reader's response by somewhat praising him for his excellent effort and play in the Super Bowl. On top of that, it is also giving some specifics on why I like to watch him play and also why I like the Broncos. I think providing experiences from the reader's life helps give you an edge when trying to provoke a response.
My initial challenges for the classification essay is simply coming up with an idea the I would like to write about and compose. Thus far I have not come up with anything specific that I want to write about but I know I want to compose an essay that I will not be hating to write. My first thoughts were to write something dealing with what I do in a day to day scenario. This could be Soccer or School, maybe even something having to do with the LCS because I enjoy watching it very much. My successes have not really been abundant because I have not found something I would like to write about yet which makes my successes for this essay limited.
1 Harvison
I wrote one of my letters to my Grandpa, thanking him for all that he has done for me. If I could only pick one favorite sentence it would be the following, “I am inspired by how you touch all the lives around you; whether it be through your faith, love, or ability to listen.” This would have to be my favorite sentence because it describes him perfectly along with showing the respect and love I have towards him. This sentence is compelling my reader to reply by displaying pathos as well as showing how much I care for him. I believe this letter will make my grandpa’s day a little better when he receives it and show him how much our family and his community appreciate him.
When I initially starting thinking of ideas for my classification essay I found it hard to think of anything I could possibly write five pages about. After a while of thinking and reading the past examples my own ideas started taking form. My first idea involved a story I was told when talking about what career I wanted to go into. The story described three different types of people involving one incident and how each person had a different first reaction. Based on their reaction she could tell which field of medicine they would most likely enter. I would like to include a similar circumstance, in which their is a problem and show how the three different people in our world respond. I think that essay would be a different take on comparing people. Although I like this first idea I also have others, including comparing figure skating and the rink atmosphere to a high school. This topic would definitely be easier for me to write about because I have been involved with figure skating all my life and always find myself at a rink.
I'd have to say my favorite sentence from the letters that i composed would probably have to be "it's hard to receive recognition for something as unique as free running when the people around you are more concerned with things like how good the corn crop is going to be.'' This almost forces the reader to empathize with my issue. It's almost as if I'm indirectly suggesting that without his help, my efforts to grow the community would be in vain. Not to mention, a little bit of humor can appeal to almost everyone. Especially to someone who has, i'm sure, felt the same struggle as far as trying to gain recognition for an extreme sport. I actually know the reader personally, despite his pseudo celebrity lifestyle. Because he knows who i am and where i live, it makes it even easier for him to understand where i'm coming from as an athlete that occasionally struggle for motivation because of my surroundings. Had he not known me personally, i feel that this sentence and a few others help to convey a slight amount of personality and provide a basic understanding of how things operate in rural South Dakota.
When I considered the first ideas that came to mind when pondering what on earth i could do to create this classification essay, my goal was originality. It is most certainly very trying to compose something that conveys not only the stipulated ideals, but also a level of entertaining, enjoyable to read, originality. As far as success is concerned, i was able to derive a few fairly fundamental ideas. Those ideas were not quite where i wanted them to be where originality is concerned. Regardless, it’s still a bit comforting knowing that i have something to go off of that i could, if need be, potentially expand upon.
-James Pd.1
Wrightsman 1
In my letter, I wrote to a famous hockey athlete who plays for the Minnesota Wild that my friends and I had the chance to meet last spring. I wrote to him because of his success with not only hockey but with leadership and inspiration. My favorite sentence from my letter is, “Leadership is a big part of learning and growing up and you have mastered the art of not only being a leader on the ice but teaching others how to be a leader.” This is compelling the reader to reply because it is complimenting him and showing how people look up to him. I think it will make him realize that my fan letter is more than just a letter wanting something back. It is a letter that shows how he has inspired other people including my friends and I.
My initial ideas for the start of my classification essay are still in the air and a bit groggy. I have an idea of what I want to write about but I do not exactly know how I can mash all the ideas together into one solid essay. My challenges in this essay are connecting the categories into one steady classification. I have a few similar classification categories but I would like to have them all together into one that would make more sense to the reader. A success that I do have so far is that I have come up with multiple, strong ideas to play around with and use. One other great success that I think will help me is that I have plenty of experience in my classification and I think that will make it more interesting and detailed for the readers when it comes time for them to analyze my classifications. I feel that once I get going on the essay, it will come more easy for me to come up with better ideas.
Reindl 1
My favorite sentence from the letter was one that told how much I appreciated something and how it has impacted me. I wrote to Pokemon Co. International to thank them for the amazing things that they have done to everybody and especially me. My favorite sentence was, “For the past twenty years you have created numerous games that I have devoted much of my life to”. This sentence tells how long they have been around and that they have been doing great things in those twenty years. They have been creating games that not only I like, but millions of people from around the world. This was also my favorite sentence because it gives them a little insight on how much they have impacted my life. I tell them that they have been an important presence throughout my entire life. Writing this sentence compels my reader because I am showing that because they have been around for such a long time, they have affected many people with the things they do. I tell them how they have impacted me and that is real emotion in writing.
When it comes to my Classification essay ideas, I was a little lost at first. I could not think of much right away, so I went to look at different alumnus’ posts and that helped generate different ideas. With newer ideas flowing through my mind, I feel that I want to classify the different type of video gamers. There are thousands of different types of gamers in the world, so choosing three or four should not be a big challenge. The biggest challenge of this essay has been choosing what I want to classify. Having that over with, the next biggest challenge that I could encounter would be deciding which gamer types I would want to classify. With there being so many, it may be hard to filter it to three or four. Since I have experience with this topic I feel that I will have great success in writing this essay.
1 Hauge
I am writing a letter to Kat Von D in hopes of a response by thanking her for the impact she has on me in the art world. I love the arts, it’s anything and everything. What I like best in the art world are sketches, music and dance. Kat is a tattoo artist but always has to sketch out the tattoos for her clients before hand and those sketches are undoubtedly masterpieces themselves. My favorite sentence in the entire letter is when I say, “Your work doesn’t just inspire other tattoo artists, painters or sketch artists, but people like me; a dancer, a choreographer, a creator.” It is true with all kinds of art! If a musician sees an abstract sculpture and gets inspired on how to shape the song from seeing that piece of art, then artist has succeeded, not only did they probably inspire other sculptures but a musician. It’s like a domino effect, the broad topic of art doesn’t just inspire people from their own specific category but moves other artists to take what has inspired them and apply it to their own art. I feel like Kat will relate to this because she doesn’t just love to sketch and tattoo, she also likes to sing, play the piano, and paint.
My idea for the classification essay is about dance and the art. Although there is already a category for a dance company, the core, soloists, and principals, there are about three type of people that think of art and dance. The dweeb, the dastard, and the devoted. The dweeb know too much about the subject and over analyze it. The dastard think it’s easier than it is and think that they can do it. The devoted are the ones who dedicate their time and know that what they are doing affects them in a touching way. I now am having trouble starting the essay and am a little scared about how it has to be five pages long.
1Top
When I wrote my appreciation letter, or as some may call it a thank you letter, I wanted to express how I really felt. I wrote to a former teacher of mine and I believe the entire letter revolves around one sentence, "You gave me that clarity of what I was made to do.". This teacher taught me more than what was in her curriculum. Before I took her class I was a junior in high school that had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. After a semester in the classroom and a semester out in healthcare doing an internship, I have decided to go to college to pursue nursing and potentially more down the road. I wanted to capture her attention and interest in the first few sentences. Showing gratitude was the main goal of the letter. She is probably not aware of the difference she is making. Teaching is what she does everyday and sometimes it can just be part of a routine, being in her class was nothing close to a routine. I walked out of the room with more knowledge everyday. I am sure this letter will change a few different views she has on students and she will respond with thankfulness.
Trying to decide who to write to was the biggest obstacle. There are so many influential people in my life that deserve a thank you letter. Once I decided who I wanted to write to the words just began to flow and I knew I had picked the right person. When you really mean what you are writing, it becomes easy. The classification essay I will be writing in my near future has been stirring ideas in the back of my head. As I stated earlier, the first big step for me is deciding what to write about. I want to write about something that I really care about, otherwise, what's the point? There are many different things that I have strong opinions on, hence I have not made a decision on what to write my Classification Essay about.
Konz 1
My most successful sentence in my letter is “The Final Thoughts you present are so genuine; you are willing to bravely talk about your difficult personal life and how you occasionally cry on the floor like the rest of us.” I think it is the most convincing to send a reply because it uses pathos, which evokes pity and sadness, by using Tomi’s own words from her Final Thoughts and it relates what she is going through to what many people are going through. Another really persuasive part of my letter, in my opinion, is signing it “Your fellow South Dakota girl” because everyone relates to people from their home state and she may feel an obligation to reply to someone who grew up a lot like she did in the small, simple state of South Dakota.
In my brainstorming so far, I have considered classifying shoppers by their many different shopping approaches and strategies. I felt like that topic would be hard to expand on and I do not really care enough about shopping to write about it for five pages, so now I am thinking about classifying coaches by their coaching qualities and techniques. I think I am more familiar with that topic but I am still not entirely convinced that it is the best topic to write on. I am really struggling to come up with a topic that I will be able to write five pages about by providing enough detail. Also it is difficult to come up with a unique idea because most of my ideas are not very original which would also make five pages a difficult task to accomplish. I think has been successful because it allows me to think creatively but it gives guidelines so that I have something to go off of. Once I know for sure what topic to write about, I think this will be an exciting essay to write even though it may be difficult at times.
1 Benitez
My favorite sentence is from my letter thanking Von Miller for being a Bronco. My sentence is “You had a hard stretch in 2013 and 2014 but now you’re one of just four players rated 99 in Madden 17--which is remarkable.” I like this sentence because it shows that I know my football history and know about Von, while also showing about me and that I play video games. I believe that my sentence compels the reader by showing him that I’ve seen his ups and downs, but still admire him. He could be compelled by seeing how much I know and want to reward me for it. Von Miller seems like a really nice guy so he would respond but he is also very busy.
My ideas for the classification essays are I could write about the different types of games. My initial struggle is that I’m not sure what I can classify. I need to know about something extensively. Another issue is that I’m not sure if I can classify games another way. I could try to classify the students of the school in other ways. I need better ideas and to actually look at the essay. Classifying something that has already been classified or no need to be classified is a hard topic to write about. In my letters essay, I wrote about football maybe I can reclassify the divisions. I saw a video about rearranging the divisions such that there is less mileage between teams. One idea I just had is that I am a big fan of Game of thrones and there could be a way to classify the characters. These characters could be naive, manipulative, pushovers, and maybe other things. I guess one success I am having is that I am rapidly throwing ideas out there; I am not taking an hour per idea.
Hoffmann 1
“Most of my friends here in the USA don’t support German football; they like Messi and Ronaldo and the rest of the Spanish Liga, so I would love to have something with your name on it--whether it is a signed picture or some other small collectable--to rub in their faces.”
I think this sentence is very compelling for my reader--German soccer player Thomas Müller--because it appeals both to pathos and logos. It presents a logical argument in a way that should appeal to emotions in a way that makes response more likely. Telling him my friends don’t like the soccer league he plays in (or him, by extension) will hopefully appeal to his pride and logically lead to sending a reply with a “Thomas Müller” picture or item so I can more effectively publicize my support to my friends and perhaps make them more likely to join me as Thomas Müller fans. Whether this sentence will be successful remains to seen, and sadly enough, it is entirely possible that no one will even see my letter; Thomas Müller is one of the most popular soccer players in Europe and probably receives hundreds or thousands of pieces of mail every single day. However, I will remain optimistic.
My challenge as I think about the Classification Essay is coming up with an idea that is fresh and new, but still understandable to just about everyone. Initial attempts at brainstorming have included “Types of High School Students” and “Types of sports fans,” but both of these seem pretty cliched. However, the long list of examples on the assignment page should prove very helpful; I will be able to search it for--and possibly find--one I find interesting and that I can put a fresh spin on, or I may be inspired by one of them to come up with a completely new topic. After finding a topic, the hard part will be deciding on three classes that fully encompass the topic without leaving room for non-conformists. From that point onward, I think the essay should be fairly straightforward and fun as I come up with scenarios and descriptions for my classes.
1Headrick
1.My favorite sentence in my letter would be the very first one I put down. That one was "My one true love is nature, just don’t tell my girlfriend". I think it brings a little comedic effect into my writing. It also hopefully gets the reader to keep reading the letter. I wanted to start off this letter differently than anyone else. Hopefully that will compel my reader to reply back and send the biggest and baddest neature poster around. Now you may want to ask me “How the heck did you come up with that” and the answer is very simple. I was looking around the room and spotted Sarah working intently. Then I thought to myself what I love more than her. First one came to mind was food, second was my mom, and lastly was nature. I didn’t want to send a letter to my mom since she probably wasn’t gonna send anything cool back. Food was too broad of topic so I settled with nature. Nature is pretty neat. As you can see that sentence is the foundation of my whole letter.
2. My initial classification idea is about pencils. I am going to try to compare the different types of pencils like wooden or mechanical(all types of lead) to the different type of people in the world. My first major challenge was understanding what this essay is about. Frankly, I don’t know if I fully understand it. My success was eventually thinking of an idea that might work out for this essay and that there is multiple types of pencils in this great nation. Just in mechanical pencils alone there are three-.5 lead, .7 lead, and .9 lead. I’ll give you a sneak peak into this essay. The .9 lead are for the animals in the world. The world is ever evolving so maybe my idea will turn into a much greater idea in the future.
Mikkelsen 1
In one of my letters I wrote to a writer from my favorite TV show Grey’s Anatomy. I wrote this letter to thank her for her contributions to the show. My favorite sentence from this letter is “I think a lot of the times the “behind the scenes” parts go unnoticed because people only care about what they see on screen.” The reason this is my favorite sentence is because I think it expresses well with words why I think the writing of a TV show is so important. Earlier in my letter, I explained why the show had impacted me so much, but with this sentence it specifically addresses the writer herself and what she has done to impact the show as a whole. I hope when she receives this letter she can see my gratitude towards the writing of the show and my hope is that my sentence demonstrates that.
I think that the Classification essay sounds very interesting because I often find myself classifying things in random ways in my own life. When I read Bailey’s essay about the different kinds of cookies relating to dreams, I began thinking of ways that two completely opposite things could be related. I am still not entirely sure what I want to write about, but I know that in order to make it compelling I need to have knowledge about what I choose to explain and classify. One of the biggest challenges about the Classification essay is going to be thinking of a topic that is original. There are so many different possibilities, but classifying a topic in a new way is going to be challenge. In the end, I hope to compose an essay that is not only interesting for someone to read, but also makes the reader think of the topic in a new way.
1 Meyer
There are many sentences in my letter, but my favorite sentence that I composed was to probable future hall of fame inductee, Derek Jeter. The sentence was stated, “Baseball minds may only understand that normally a shortstop is no way incorporated in a type of play like this.” I complimented Jeter on one of his many iconic defensive plays of his career, and my goal was to make him understand that I grasp the knowledge of baseball. The greatness of the play that I described is not understood by many people why it is such an amazing play. And based on the fact I brought up this play instead of his other famous plays, such as his legendary jump throw, forces me to believe that the reader knows I understand what I am talking about. I introduce this topic early in the letter and hopefully that snags the attention of the reader, causing them to read the rest of the letter. This is not the letter I requested a particular response, as it was only a thank you letter to a player I admire who is professional on and off the baseball field.
I have thought for many minutes about what I would feel to write my classification essay about, yet nothing particular stands out to me. I have been summarizing and editing my current assignment of my letters, and have not put in enough thought into an idea for my first major essay. Possible ideas running through my mind are mostly made up of a relation to sports. Sports are something I have a passion for, and I’m sure it is a category that I can create an idea from, for it is something I do not need to research to understand. An idea will eventually hatch from my brain as I finish one assignment and begin the next.
1 Presler
My favorite sentence from the letter I wrote to an American distance runner is, “And thanks to you, now I can say I’ve watched a regular high school athlete grow into an Olympian.” I especially like this sentence because it shows the recipient that I’ve been a fan of theirs since they were my age. My hope is that this will express to the reader that I truly admire what they have accomplished, and that their past success in high school has proven to me that hard work can lead you onto further successes. This sentence could compel the reader to respond because I have brought back a time in her life (high school) she might not have thought about in some time, which could take her back to her roots and remember where all her dreams began to be put into action.
At this moment, I have many more challenges to overcome for the classification essay than I have success, since my ideas are a little hazy. I’m not sure exactly what I could use for this essay. I had thoughts about using different types of runners, such as people who are strict in training and diet, people who are relaxed and have a “go with the flow attitude”, or a person who’s in it for the fun and doesn’t necessarily care about their performance. Another idea I’ve thought about is using apples as a way to describe people. For this essay, I need to focus on using more descriptive words and allowing the sentences to flow easier instead of them being choppy. Also, I will need to review what we learned from the first Term Tuesday, since we need to incorporate all of those things into the writing. I need to understand vocab words and how to use them in sentences for my essay to make sense while composing it.
In my letter to a celebrity, in hopes of a reply, I asked J.K. Rowling for a signed movie poster from her up and coming movie, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. However, I followed this question up with my favorite sentence in my praiseful letter, “Or maybe, a signed photograph of your favorite character?”. I believe this sentence will help get me a reply because it shows logos. The logic of politely suggesting something less difficult to acquire, but something I would still like to have shows that I’m a reasonable person, and not asking her to drop everything for a reply. Adding in “your” shows that I’m interested in her likes as dislikes as well, so it’s less like I am bombarding her with facts about myself, and instead letting her communicate with me by showing me her favorite character of the series, something that she would be interested in replying with.
For my Classification essay idea, I feel like something I will have an easy time classifying is different types of book readers. This idea came to me because I know many people who have very different habits for reading. There are people who read only when told to by a teacher, people who will pick up trending books after watching the movies, and people--like me-- who will be constantly reading (sometimes three books at a time). There are many different groupings I can use for this Classification essay and therefore I feel like it will be a great topic. I do worry that I may have a hard time comparing them to each other, since some of these groupings don't even like to read. I do witness these types of people everyday, so I will be able to tell how they react. Say, if a teacher assigns a book, you will always hear groans, a few cheers, and if you look around you’ll see some people silently delighted. Hopefully, all these ideas will turn into a well composed essay.
1 Powell
In my letters, I chose to write to one of my favorite authors as well as the mayor of my hometown concerning the local pool. While I am passionate about the letter to the mayor, I am definitely more ecstatic to see if the author responds. For years, I have adored his work; to receive personal correspondence back would be one of the happiest moments of my life. My favorite sentence within this letter--“Ever since I picked up The Name of the Wind, I have become enamored with your writing; the poetic prose of the whole story combines perfectly with the musical undertone of Kvothe’s life”--perfectly describes how deep of a fan I am, not only recognizing plot elements of his writing, but his distinct style as well. It was his distinct style of combining poetry into his writing that made me realize bending the rules can lead to greater works of art than ever imagined in classical thinking. I have taken this theory to heart, not just in writing, but in my daily life as well. By making a new path where nobody has before trodden, you can change the world one step at a time.
With our upcoming first major essay in composition, I am struggling to decide on a topic I can elaborate upon thoroughly that meets the requirements of the essay. I have considered both economic systems and political ideologies of the modern age, but I was confounded by the fact that both topics would contain either two exclusive theories competing with each other or an excess of minor factions. This weekend, I plan on thinking more in depth about possible topics as I will have time to relax and consider other ideas; I believe once I discover a plausible topic words will flow from my mind with relative ease.
1Sjogren
My favorite sentence is from my letter to Zach Zenner, who plays for the Detroit Lions. My letter shows Zach how big of fans my family and I have been throughout his collegiate and pro career. The sentence I chose as my favorite is “I was excited to hear that you got accepted into med school and have that option after your playing career ends!” This is my favorite sentence because I am also looking to go into the medical field and I am excited and optimistic about what it has in store. This sentence is compelling my reader’s response by letting him know that we follow up not only on his sports career, but also his academic life. When Zach reads this sentence, I think he will understand how much I admire his abilities on and off the field.
My initial Classification essay ideas are having a hard time getting into my brain. I am still a little confused on what I could write about for five pages. My biggest challenge is finding what to write about. I know that I want to find a topic that I am passionate about, but I just can’t seem to find one quite yet. Another challenge I have encountered is how to begin my essay. I need to find a clever introduction to make my essay great. A third challenge will be getting my ideas to flow together smoothly. I also need to review the vocabulary words and Term Tuesday ideas to incorporate them in my Classification essay. Since I have not yet begun, I haven’t had any initial successes. I am sure I will have success in the near future once the idea pops in my head. Once I get started I am hoping to fly through and produce more and more ideas.
1klamm
My favorite sentence from my letter is “It is not always about winning, but also about keeping your own dignity unlike some of the Americans who you have competed against in the last olympics”. I like this sentence because it is one of the main reasons I wrote to Marie-Ève Beauchemin-Nadeau. I wrote to her because there was use of testosterone on the American team that I did not know about until I did more research. It would compel her to write back because it shows that I admire what she has done and; how she has not used enhancement drugs like many other weightlifters before her. When writing this sentence I hoped it would show that I am impressed and that I am rooting for her over her American counterparts. The sentence also shows that I know that she was in the olympics and that I have researched her and am not just writing to her without any knowledge about her.
I still do not know for sure what I want to write but I have some possible topics that I am thinking about. I will probably write about either powerlifting or raising chickens. I know a lot about each topic and I am passionate about them. My challenge I have always had is with grammar like knowing where to put commas. I also sometimes have a hard time thinking about how to start my essay and get readers to want to read what I am writing. I do not struggle with coming up with enough information or my essays being too short. I like writing about things I know a lot about and things that I enjoy doing so it will be a hard decision to make. Right now I am leaning towards writing about raising chicken because I will have more to write about.
1Talcott
1. My favorite sentence from my letters is found in my letter requesting a reply from Kyle Korver. It states “It would certainly mean a lot to me if you could send me something whether it be a jersey or a poster to remind me of what a true athlete should strive to become!”. I love this sentence because it uses strong ethos to help me acquire something from Mr. Korver. This sentence will hopefully be very compelling in garnering a reply. It wraps up all of my thoughts about how Kyle Korver serves for me as a role model and that a memento from him would be a great reminder of how to live up to his example. I am particularly hoping to obtain a jersey, whether signed or unsigned it would be an amazing thing to get in return for my letter.
2. My initial challenge when coming up with a topic for my Classification Essay has been the broad spectrum of topics that I could potentially use. From school to sports and everywhere in between there are many things that have not been classified in a creative way. I have not been able to come up with a singular topic that I would be passionate about yet. I have come across something to compare things to--chess pieces. I think chess pieces would be able to be used in many different scenarios because of their versatility. The only problem is what to compare them with. The different pieces, being pawns, rooks, knights, bishops, queens, and kings, could help in the classification of anything dealing with power. The ideas I have for things of power are school districts, civilizations, sports franchises, and colleges. I have not yet decided on which topic I should do or if I should even pursue this idea. Hopefully I’ll be able to figure that out before it is due.
1 Quanbeck
“With the release of ‘Dark Necessities’, I was hooked” is my favorite sentence out of my letters. The sentence is in reference to my love of the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album The Getaway. This sentence compels its reader by referencing a shared experience--listening to “Dark Necessities”.
So far I am undecided on the topic of my classification essays. I am seeking a topic I am familiar with enough to be able to write extensively. Many of the ideas I have had don’t easily break down into a few clean groups.
Perhaps I will break down a some type musicians and the people that go with them. You’ve got Punk, and Metal, to name a couple.
Punk musicians feel oppressed. Whether it be by their parents, society, or the government is irrelevant, a statement will be made. The singer doesn’t seem to be particularly good and he is a little off key yet it seems to fit with the music and no one brings it up. The drum beat is a tight 4/4 beat with lots of crashes. You can rely on the bass line to stick to the root notes most of the time.
Metal musicians on the other hand are just mad. It is not discernible why they are mad, but they most definitely upset about something. The singer will yell into the mic in a way that should terrify the audience yet only serves to pump up most. The guitarist will have as many strings as he can find on his guitar pushing seven or eight strings. This allows the guitarist to play very deep aggressive sounding chords. The drummer will mostly be focused on his kick drum which will most definitely feature a double kick.
I think I will move on to another idea because in typing this I am finding there are too many categories for this topic.
3 Poole
My favorite sentence from the letter I wrote is “I am not going to tell you what I want--surprise me!”. This sentence indicates that I would like something back from Danny Schmidt, not something I request, but something he wants to give to me. Had I asked for something specific, he would not only feel like he’s letting me down if he didn’t send that item, but he also may not want to give it. This way, Danny can decide what he wants to give me and perhaps he would even be excited to share it. By requesting an item, I am also more likely to get a letter back because it would be simple enough to put it in the same envelope/box as the gift he would send. By not requesting an item, the receiver of the letter may feel less obliged to respond, whereas the inclusion of a request for an item compels previously stated receiver to write back, even if to simply decline such a request.
The classification essay I am currently planning out would be to classify different types of musicians. The requirements of this essay state that I should write about what I know about, and seeing as I am a musician myself, I have, at least for now, decided to use them as my subject. My initial categories include the practicers, the clowns, the angels, and the buzzkills. The practicers are just as they sound: they practice a lot. They are rarely seen without their instruments and are rumored to have had surgery to physically connect themselves to their instruments. Musicians that are in music because it is fun are categorized as clowns. These people always know how to make someone laugh and see the good side of things (Victor Borge). Then there are the angels. When the angels play/sing, the whole world stops. They produce the most beautiful sound anyone has ever heard and no one moves for fear of ruining such a godly moment. Last and also least are the buzzkills. These musicians are always wearing black, even when it is ninety degrees outside. The only music you’ll ever hear them play are requiems. Of course, I may add more categories or take away and revise the categories I already have.
3 Kueter M
I wrote my letter to Sophia Bush. She plays the character named Brooke in One Tree Hill. My favorite sentence is “However, this letter would not do you justice if I did not commend how marvelous of a person you are off screen as well as on screen.” This was my favorite sentence in my letter because it helps me to start talking about Sophia’s mission trips. For example, Guatemala and Uganda. This also helps me compliment her personality as well as her acting in one sentence. It would help me get a response because Sophia might think this is just another fan letter about One Tree Hill, but it is not. This will make her more inclined to respond because it is different. Sophia also participates in other television shows and probably gets a lot of fan mail about those shows too. This letter would probably brighten her day because I not only love her character, but her as a person too.
I have had a few classification ideas. I have thought about classifying animals because that is an interest of mine. However, animals seem like a bland classification, for they are already classified. Yes, I could do another classification, but I wanted something more interesting. So, I decided to classify types of friends as various princesses. As I think about my first major essay, the hardest part would be having enough pages in the end. I am more of a concise writer. Elaborating is not my forte. But, for this essay it might be easier to write more since I am familiar with the topics. I have known friends and princesses since I was little. The other hard part would be using correct grammar. English is not a strong point for me. However, I do know that peer editing and Mr. C will help with that aspect. In all, I know that once I start typing, the ideas will flow, the grammar will come, and I will hopefully have enough or more pages to meet the requirement.
3 Kueter A
I wrote to Giacomo Gianniotti, or Dr. DeLuca, from Grey’s Anatomy and my favorite sentence was, “It is also exciting to see that you not only save lives on the show but off the show too.” This sentence compels him to write back because I am recognizing a popular show he is involved in, but I did not forget to mention what he has done to help others. It shows that I do not only appreciate him as an actor but as a thoughtful person too. Showing I know about him more personally than just Dr. DeLuca from Grey’s Anatomy. This may cause him to respond because he is probably very proud of his volunteer projects he is involved in.
My Classification essay idea was to classify types of Black Friday shoppers. Before then I thought I would classify types of trick-or-treaters on Halloween, but I was having trouble thinking of classes. Then I wanted to classify types of gifts you get for Christmas, but I did not think it would be enough for five pages. It was difficult to find a topic to write a five-page essay on, five pages is a lot and calls for many ideas to fill them up. So far I have came up with my five classes that I will write about to classify Black Friday shoppers and they are: The Addict, The Hunter, The Bag-holder, The Browser, and The Traditionalist. Finding my essay topic was my first challenge for this essay but another challenge I will face in this first essay is grammar. I have never been very good at putting in commas, using big vocabulary, or just grammar in general. I hope that when I have people read my essay they will help me out with those things. I think this is a good essay to start off the semester with and should be very fun to write.
My favorite sentence from my letter to William Young was “Thank you so much for your contribution to the literary world and to my own life.” I think that this will elicit a response from him because if you know that you have changed someone or helped them with their lives, then they you will be more apt to want to respond to them and to reach out again. At least, that is what I would be likely to do in this kind of situation. Also, if someone has shown you that you are an impactful person on the literary world, as an author, that is something that I believe would make you feel proud and as if it were your idea to send them something. All of this is, of course, in my own opinion since I do not know yet what he will do.
My classification essay idea is to classify my fellow members of marching bands across the world. The classes are the Conscientious, the Common, and the Careless. Those classes entail how the people in a marching band will behave when it comes to rehearsal times and learning the show. The Conscientious people look for every chance they can to improve themselves, they like to be a leader for others and they are always looking how to make their specific dots better than what they were the rep before. The Common people are the people who know what they’re doing when it comes to marching, they stop getting excited when it comes to cleaning the show and only fix themselves when they are told to be fixed. They are not necessarily lazy, but they are in between everyone else. The last group is the Careless. These people don’t like to do any sort of work in the marching band. The most they do is walk from one way to another and only do the correct technique when they are being yelled at. They talk during rehearsals and they do not care about anyone else but themselves.
I believe that the hardest part of this first major essay would be the fact that I have no clue where I should start with writing my essay. I do have a thesis composed, yet I do not yet know where I should begin with my paragraphs on explaining what exactly it is that my classes will be classifying the people into. I do understand who goes into them. But what I do not understand is how to begin the paragraphs on explaining them.
3Hoffman
My favorite sentence from one of my letters has got to be, “...I have seen an absolutely untold amount of situations in which you have created that I would like to make into a video, but somehow I have lost those opportunities.” This was in my letter I wrote to a great friend, Elise. The context is that I create videos for entertainment on YouTube, and I have never included her in any of them at all. Aside from being my only sentence that contains pathos, this sentence hopefully explains my sorry for not including her in films. I tend to always add my friends into videos. Mainly, I do this for fun, but it also immortalizes them for me, as I can look back at anything I make and relive the world that was created by it. I do truly hope that this may drive her to want to be in a film of mine. It may also, at the very least, encourage her to push me towards adding her in videos.
My classification essay is one that I am very excited for, because I am covering my favorite subject: YouTube. More importantly, the people who contribute to YouTube. I have not decided what types of people I’d chose, but it may go something like those who entertain, those who have teams, or those who are professional. I also think I could cover more specific types of video makers, such as gamers, educators, one-hit-wonders, tutorial makers, vloggers, cooking, makeup, and many many more. I have some skepticism about that, because there are so many types of YouTubers, and it would be difficult to define all of them in five simple categories. Then again, those are only my initial thoughts on the subject. I understand that the possibilities are endless with my subject, and furthermore cannot wait.
3 Wheeler
My favorite sentence from a letter I composed is “You must fix the sewer dilemma before allowing more people to move into the area-- to do otherwise is quite unfair, almost cruel.” I’d like to think that this accusation (which I believe is entirely reasonable) will elicit a reaction from the person who is reading it. My letter is to the City of Brandon, requesting that the sewer smell be fixed before any more building permits are issued, as well as warning people before they move into the area. I think this line is compelling because it accuses the person reading of being a bad person, something that most people would want to fix (I haven’t met many people who want to be seen as awful people).
My initial classification essay idea is to classify hallways as different highway systems. I think it would be a good topic because I have a lot of strong feelings about hallways (school hallways, specifically), so I think it would be easy for me to write about it. I’m not sure if having such a tentative idea counts as success, but it’s all I’ve got for now. A challenge has been finding the right words. So far everything I’ve come up with sounds like a fifth grade essay. I also am having trouble finding appropriate terms, so I might end up scrapping the whole idea and starting with a new one. However, that too is a challenge because I am drawing huge blanks when trying to come up with ideas for this essay. Another struggle (seems like all I’m doing is struggling lately) is trying to write an essay that doesn’t sound like every other essay that’s been written. I find my essay writing to be quite middle-schooler in nature. Even though I love to write creatively and I’m a pretty good editor, I still struggle with essays.
3 Buteyn
My favorite sentence in my letter is when I put a quote in from my baseball coach that he has said for as long as a can remember. I think that it will remind my reader about how much of an impact he had on me and some of my other teammates. My hope is that he keeps on coaching and hopefully will come back and help more often. Now that he is the head coach at USF he has had to quit coaching us in the summer since we are considered recruitable and he could get in trouble if NCAA or NAIA finds out that he is trying to give a biased option to play for USF instead of other colleges--which he isn’t.
My next assignment is called the classification essay. I have struggled to think of a really good idea that will be the easiest to explain in 5 pages. I have thought about doing categories for baseball and outdoorsman. The categories for baseball that I would probably use is the try hards, the top 10 players, and the create an excuse to not look bad guys. The try hards would b exactly and they sound in the fact that they would suck up to the coach instead of just taking a break when it was given. These players will always do whatever it takes for them to get more playing time. The top 10 players will take the easiest plays like a grounder right to them and try to make it look like it was one of the hardest plays to make. Finally the excuses guys are the ones that if they are pitching and they are doing badly they will blame others. They will blame umpires for changing the strike zone--not always true--or they will blame the catcher for not framing it and making it look like a ball instead of a strike. They will also act like they are hurt to cover up for a mistake. The challenges that I face it the fact that I am not exactly sure if I will be able to explain enough without getting very repetitive over the full 5 pages. Also I am not sure if there would be another group to add or change subjects entirely try that.
Woessner 3
“I am most extremely grateful to have you in my life, and am forever indebted to the kindness and hospitality you have shown me.” This sentence is my favorite out of the letters because I really care about the reader. At the time I wrote this letter, the reader was having a bad day, and I can say without a doubt that I definitely made his day at least a little bit better. The whole goal of the letter was to try and give the reader a sense of caring and let him know how much he has done for me, and how grateful I am for that. If I were to be honest, there was a little part of me that hoped he would tear up. I have already delivered this letter, and the reader told me that it was very touching, and made him very happy--which was the whole goal.
I can already tell that the classification essay is going to be a difficult one. Being our first major essay, I am a bit nervous/stressed. Initially, I had no idea what I was going to write about. Eventually, I thought I could classify different video game players. But, on the bus to CTE, I heard one of my classmates telling his friend that he is doing precisely that. So I thought “screw it.” I did not want to make it seem like I was copying him, nor did I want to be unoriginal, so i figured I’d think of a new idea. As of the time I am writing this blog response, I have yet to think of a new idea. I could potentially classify something about soccer, League of Legends, skateboarding, or music, as these are topics that occur in my life daily. I believe once I pick a topic, the biggest challenge will be writing about that topic for five pages. Breaking down the topic into a few different groups will be the easiest for me, so that i am looking forward to.
3 Sorenson
My favorite sentence comes from the letter I composed to Maria Kowroski, a professional ballerina with the New York City Ballet. I said, “You inspired me to start dancing; or rather, you as Barbie did.” Mrs. Kowroski played Barbie in all the Barbie Ballerina movies that I watched as a little kid. Most people do not know that she played the role of Barbie. I am hoping that my knowing this information will persuade her to respond. I am also trying to establish an emotional connection with the reader by telling them they inspired me to dance. I think it is unique that she initially inspired me through her work in the movies rather than her work with the NYCB (New York City Ballet) company.
So far I have not had many successes writing the classification essay. I want my paper to be about something that I understand thoroughly, and I want my ideas to be original. This has provided me with many challenges. I thought about doing different types of boys, but after reading through the examples provided by Mr. C, I realized that was very similar to an essay already written. I then thought about doing different types of dancers. Then I talked to some of my fellow teammates on the dance team who are also in Composition, and they too were thinking about doing different types of dancers. At this point, I am thinking about doing different types of orchestra members. I would compare their work ethic and reasons for being involved in orchestra. I have also considered writing about the different types of friends people acquire in their lives. I would talk about how each type of friend treats the people they associate with and how that in turn impacts the people around them. I still do not know for sure which one I will write about, but I do know that I need to figure it out soon so I can actually start writing my essay.
3 Olthoff
The opening line "Dear Mr. McBuckets," is the favorite line of mine in my letter to rising NBA star Doug McDermott. I believe that opening with something humorous like this will relax him and hook him into my letter, thus making it more likely for a response. It also humanizes me in a way that he doesn't just see a piece of paper, but a person behind the letter, also increasing the chance of a reply that is hopefully not just some signed picture from Walgreens his agent sends, but something more meaningful, like a signed basketball or jersey.
It has been challenging to choose something to classify because of the broad spectrum that is available. However, as of now for my classification essay, I have chosen to classify sports fanatics at sporting events. I will break them up into four groups (and possibly more as time goes on) -- the Shouter, the Social Butterfly, the Shy Guy, and the Stats Guy. The Shouter will be a stereotypical fanatic. He is the most likely to paint his stomach to support his team. He yells whenever possible, and is at every game. The Social Butterfly will be someone who comes to games just to socialize with other people. They often don't know anything about the sport and document their experience all over social media. Many times, they will leave the game without knowing who won or what the score was. The Shy Guy is the guy who sits by himself and never cheers. The Stats guy is the one who knows every statistic there is to know about the team and the opponents. He is really good at fantasy sports, and often yells out plays from his favorite video game to seem smarter. He is often seen checking his phone to see scores of his other favorite teams, and will memorize the stats from the game going on before he goes to bed.
3 Mendoza
My favorite sentence from my letter is " Growing up, I knew how defective the immigration system was, from courts to faulty lawyers, I have seen everyone around me go through it all. They are constantly waiting and hoping for a card to be in their mailbox year after year--a card that allows that individual permission to be here in this land filled with opportunity." I believe this will be very appealing due to her personal experience in the law field. The many years she served as an attorney will initiate a reaction of sympathy to the many immigrants who are initiating the process of being properly documented. Although immigration was not her level of expertise, she undoubtedly perceives the true the endeavor it is. As Attorney General, she will have valuable advice on her experiences as a woman undergoing a very ambitious career in law. From her triumphs, to her losses, she will be able to give me insight on what exactly I’m heading into.
On my classification essay, I plan to compose the classifications of teachers. I will write about the lazy, the challenging, and the clueless. Although the lazy and clueless do sound similar, I will go into depth on how they contrast each other. This classification already exists but I honestly had no idea in what to write about. My biggest challenge will be having enough material to cover all five pages. Without having to research or provide evidence or quotes, it can be quite challenging to compose that much material solely based on experience. I will have to provide my own examples and explain why each teacher are the way they are. I will also have to look over the terms explained in Term Tuesday to incorporate into my essay as well as vocabulary terms.
3 Schroder
1. My favorite sentence from my letter is found after the request of the small, signed photo. It states, “I don't expect anything huge, just something small I could hang up in my room--and maybe take with me to college to keep me positive when courses get overwhelming.” I love this sentence because it helps remind Ashley Benson about my previous paragraph on how inspirational I believe her posts on instagram are. Even though she may not think much of them, others, like me, do. It also may help her understand more on why I asked for the picture. College is tough, so looking at a personally signed photo of someone who is inspirational to me could really help me get through. This sentence would then make my chances greater at receiving a reply. It shows that I really do admire Ashley Benson as a person and that she is also a great role model to many young adults!
2. When thinking about my classification essay, I am having a hard time coming up with an idea that interests me to write about. I want to elaborate on a topic that I am passionate about because then I can enjoy writing my essay. I feel I will have some challenges with how to get my essay started. Having a good intro paragraph is much needed to get the reader's attention. I don’t want to bore anyone, so using good vocabulary will also be key. I will need to look up the term Tuesday words and also my words from week one vocab to make my essay interesting. I want my essay to have good flow, which may be hard for me because this is the first one. This weekend I plan on thinking of ideas and deciding on a final topic for my classification essay. I also may start to begin on writing it, so that I can take my time and don’t have to scramble at the end before it is due.
3 Roegiers
My favorite sentence from my letters is my final sentence to Jon Bellion. I stated, “No matter what, I will continue to support you throughout your career, share your music with everyone, and keep working to maybe someday becoming even close to as talented of an artist as you.” I believe that this is compelling because I tell him that even if I don’t get a response, I will continue to support him. I think it almost uses a sort of reverse psychology to make him really consider giving me something in return. By saying “continue,” I let him know that I have already been supporting him and sharing his music prior to writing this letter. This sentence also shows that he is a big inspiration for me and my own music. So possibly he feels more connected to me because I am trying to pursue the same thing that he has had, and continues to have, great success with. This sentence, overall, is well-worded and really closes out my letter nicely.
I am excited to begin writing my Classification essay. I have had a few thoughts on what my topic might be, one being fans of music. This would be fairly easy to create classes of, however, I’m not sure that I would be able to fit all people into just a few classes. I do, however, feel as though I have a good knowledge of how people different people enjoy music, so this is still a valid option for me. Another idea I have thought of is classifying students. There are clearly many types of students that take on their education in drastically different ways. I believe that I would have more success trying to fit all types of students into a few categories. However, I can’t possibly know how all students handle their education because I am not directly exposed to things such as; study habits, work ethic outside of school, behavior in other classes, etc. Regardless, once I officially choose my topic, I believe I will have success in creating a truthful and well-thought-out classification system.
3Myers
1. My favorite sentence was in the letter I wrote to a celebrity. I wrote to Dr. Sandra Lee, also known as Dr. Pimple popper. My best sentence is “You have inspired me to work hard and find an occupation that I love.” This is my favorite sentence because it shows how much I adore this online obsession. It also brings up one of the reason why I idolize her the most. I thrive to become as successful as her with finding a job that makes me happy. This sentence also shows Dr. Lee that I adore her work. After she reads this reasoning of why I look up to her so much, I think she will respond with a letter or an item.
2. When I first read the classification essay instructions I became panicked. I had no idea what to compare anything to. After hard thinking, I was able to think of two different classifications. The first topic popped into my head when I was sitting in the crowd of one the JV volleyball game. I noticed that there are many different types of fans throughout the bleachers. The first classification idea was to compare animals to different type of fans watching sporting events. The next idea I came up with was when I was walking the halls to one of my classes. I observed there are people trying to run to class, hold hands with their significant other, and even trying to jam out to their own music between periods. One challenge I have come across is what topic would be easier for me to write. I want to pick the topic that will flow easily and meet the requirements of being five pages long. One of my successes is that I do have an advantage of picking between two good topics that I feel passionate about.
3Bachman
My favorite sentence from one of my letters is me writing to Dave Dunipace, the founder of Innova Discs. I said “Innova discs helps people understand the full potential of a flying disc and has ignited a passion for them to play disc golf.” I say this because in my travels, through disc golf, I have met and played with people that have so much passion for a small sport. These people travel across the country to compete and they usually make little to no profit on their adventure. Many of these people work a part-time job so they can have the time to travel to different places. Innova Discs is the most popular brand and most commonly used by the people I have met. Dave Dunipace, through Innova Discs, created the first modern disc and through that has helped people see the beauty of a flying disc. The line I wrote will hopefully show Dave that he was the driving force behind many people’s passion and enthusiasm for disc golf. Realizing what he has done and how I acknowledged it, will hopefully compel a response.
My initial thoughts for the classification essay were hard to come by. I couldn’t think of what to write on and how to classify it. I decided to write my first big essay on weightlifting. Weightlifting is something I have been doing for a couple years and I have grown familiar with the people that also weight lift. I thought about the different ways people lift. Lifting different ways has many different benefits to a person's body. Some lift to be healthy and don’t really care about tacking on big muscles. Some people only lift for big muscles and aren’t as concerned with overall strength. Athletes and people who just want to be strong, generally lift for power and explosiveness so it can benefit them in their sport. Through all the different ways a person can lift weights, I have decided to classify them into four categories The Big, The Built, The Beginner and The Bro. Some of these categories have a small overlap, but they still are dissimilar and can be examined in different ways.
3 Bowman
My favorite sentence comes from my gratitude letter to Sata/Dan-Am company, more specifically Mr. Jorgensen. The sentence says “Without your dedication to perfection and quality, my dream would not have been able to come true.” This sentence sticks in my head because it is very personal, and quite true. It touches the reader on a much deeper level because it makes them feel proud of the fact that their high quality products could assist an aspiring adolescent in reaching one of his life goals. In addition, reaching the reader on a more personal level may also prove beneficial to me in the future. In the following sentence I included “...and I look forward to doing further and significant business with you in the future.” Including this shows that I am pleased with their product and am hopeful about doing business with them in the future. Therefore, hopefully they feel inclined--and praised--enough that they will potentially offer discounts with the hopes of obtaining a lifelong, permanent customer.
My initial ideas for the Classification Essay range from the many types of learning environments to the many different types of car owners/builders. However, the main roadblock standing in my way proves to be how to successfully expand on each of these topics. I can devise different classification ranks, however the dilemma comes with providing examples and having solid structure underneath each rank individually. It is difficult to transfer life experiences and our own thinking into an essay intriguing to the general public. Nonetheless, the only solution to this dilemma is to continue brainstorming and work diligently on creating subtopics to solidify my early ideas. Aside from the early stage struggles, I am excited to write this essay and create an intriguing essay that any person could find enjoyment from reading.
Moelter 3
My favorite sentence from my essay would have to be me telling one of my favorite authors just how much their book meant to me and how I wish I could write as beautifully as she does. It is one of my favorites from my essay because it shows how much her writing made a difference in my life. The sentence is “I know how young you are but you are like a role model to me, I wish I had the talent you have in writing as beautifully as you do.” In my opinion it’s compelling a response because of how much I love her writing and am taking the time to write an essay thanking her repeatedly for her writing talents and books. Especially, because when she first wrote My Life with the Walter Boys she had no desire to ever publish it until she did on Wattpad and it became a hit. I’m hoping she enjoys reading my letter and that I get a response back from her.
Through thinking about topics for my classification essay I have thought of a few things but nothing that I believe I could write about for five pages. One of my ideas was to classify people at concerts but I’m not sure if I should do a specific type of concert because obviously no one would be drinking a lot at a Christian music concert; a rock concert might be a different story, however. I have been to a few concerts but not enough to think of different categories to put people in. Another idea I had was to classify people on what kind of sports fans they might be; like the dedicated, the watcher, and the clueless. I’m just not sure if I even watch sports enough to know about the dedicated; I’m more of an in-between watcher and clueless when it comes to sports. Thus far this essay has seemed to perplex me on what I am to write about, don’t get me wrong I like a good challenge, I just need to think of the right idea to fit me. I’m hoping that when I do think of an idea it will just click and I will be able to have a fun time writing the essay.
My favorite line out of my letter would have to be, “My dad began teaching me basics when I was about three so I’d be able to take care of myself against boys and ninjas”. It shows how long I’ve been involved in MMA and has humor to grab her attention. It also compels a response because it’s relatable since she’s been training since a very young age as well. I think it’s something that she’d like to respond to if she ever gets the chance to read it, and if I’m lucky, hopefully she will.
3Casey
My struggle with any essay initially is finding a topic that I’m able to write at length about. It has to be something I’m at least semi-interested in or I’m not able to write as well or fluently about it. I’ve tried writing about thing I’m not very interested in and it comes out as a pile, hopefully this class can improve that for me. But I also think essays might be a way for me to get interested in things because I’ll have to look into topics that I’m not familiar with and expand my general knowledge, it might just lead me to an unknown passion. It also has to be something I have a decent amount of knowledge about or I’ll be sounding like an imbecile the entire essay. I actually, just now, had an idea pop into my head as I was reading the other blog posts from first period. The word “day” jumped out at me and my mind linked it to the first day of school for whatever reason. I believe I’ll be writing about the different kind of people on the first day of school. I’m not sure about the classifications just yet but I have a lot of ideas rolling around in my head and I’m sure that now I have a topic, I’ll have no problem putting the ideas together.
3 Smit
“It’s astounding knowing that these short, hour long episodes can give me a glimpse into the life of just one person.” This sentence shows how much I care about the stories they produce. It helps the reader understand that I do listen and enjoy each episode. The reader can see that I appreciate the time and effort that it takes to create a story worth listening to. Pathos is used here to evoke the emotion of empathy. Imagine being the person in each episode, experiencing the challenges these people face.
I immediately wanted to classify the world of gaming. There was no problem attempting to come up with a topic so my challenges came when actually trying to categorize such a large community. Now, knowing a few of the ins-and-outs of gamer jargon, I first had wanted to write a witty paper describing different types of gamers using that vocabulary. After toying with that idea, I came to the conclusion that I would rather write something that could help members of the non-gaming community understand some of what they are dealing with. Many people, when gamers are mentioned, do not associate a favorable opinion towards them. To alleviate some of the ill-will towards gamers, I categorized them into five broad groups that will identify gamers by reasons for gaming and their desire to play.
3 Barton
“Thank you for putting forth your very best effort. You got this.” Yes, this is two sentences, but I think that they go hand in hand as to how the compel the reader to send back a response. The recipient of my letter is Josh Gordon, a professional NFL wide reciever for the Cleveland Browns. Throughout has college and NFL career, Gordon has been suspended at least four times either for failing drug tests or testing positive for alcohol use. Over the past offseason, though, Gordon has seeked out help from mentors such as former Baylor teammate (and now teammates once again) Robert Griffin III, and football legend Jim Brown. Josh has been given one last chance by Jim Brown and the Cleveland Browns to prove that he is a changed man.
In the first sentence I thank Josh for the hard work he has done this offseason, and follow with encouragement in the next sentence. I feel that if Josh does see this letter, he will take the encouragement to heart, and this may trigger an emotional urge to respond to my letter. This is also a good time to send a letter to Josh because even though the NFL season is starting, Josh has all the time in the world due to his four game suspension.
The very first challenge I faced when thinking about my first major essay was thinking of what I wanted to classify. I have not finalized my idea for what I plan on classifying, so I haven’t had any true successes yet. Some ideas I have had for classifying are types of people who go to church… wait a minute. There it is. There’s my idea for my classification essay. BOOM, first success, check. Alright so I’ve got that going, thanks blog response for giving me the time to sit down and think of what I’m going to write about!
1House
One my most compelling sentences in my first letter to Asics is, "I am a 17 year old student from Brandon, SD, and I am tired of being just a statistic." The thing that makes this so compelling is that I am calling out the Asics corporation on how they view their customers. Some people thought it was too lofty of a corporation to obtain a response, if that, from them. Before that sentence, I stated, "My name is James House." By doing so I give a name to one of the Asics's faceless statistics. I have personalized this letter hoping to break through the corporate walls and encounter a human response. I follow up these two sentences with, "There is a face and a story behind the people who buy your shoes." These three sentences all serve the purpose in humanizing me and setting up the grounds for my personal story. At this point of the letter I am hopefully no longer just a statistic, hopefully they are seeing this letter from one human counterpart. I end the letter by calling out Asics as a whole. I asked them what they will do to prove that I am more than just a statistic. Hopefully by stating the problem, humanizing myself, and then calling for an action I will receive a reply and maybe more.
I do not really know what I will write about for the classification letter. Right now I am thinking about doing something with Track Runners, but it will apply to athletes as a whole. Track is something I am passionate about so hopefully I can sit down and write something worthwhile. A complication I could see arising will be me trying to force this essay. Track is something I know well and I might get caught up in giving track too much justice and lose sight on the initial point of the essay. It should also be something that comes relatively easy other wise you probably should not be writing on that subject. I am a wee bit sleep deprived so my thoughts and ideas are a little muddled so I am hoping with a clearer head that this essay will start piecing itself together. My biggest challenges I will have all year writing will be proper grammar and making sure essay is arranged in an oder that makes sense. I have a bad tendency to write like I think, spasmodically, my thoughts and writing tend to jump around from topic to topic as they occur to me.
3 Braley
The letter I am most excited about writing is my letter to Mark Crilley as I have been both watching and respecting his videos for some time. I do really look up to him and I do hope he will send me something in return, as not matter what he sends I will be thrilled to know he took f time out of his day to respond. So far within my letter my favorite line is "Unfortunately, I have never been able to read any of the books you have written about drawing, for they are rarely available at the public library." this is because I feel like it acts as a good transition into asking for a signed copy of one of his books since it gives a reason for me to ask other than I just want one.
Currently the biggest challenge I face when it comes to the classification essay is that I am unsure what to write about. I consider myself a fairly observant person but yet when I try to think of a topic I end up with very few to no ideas at all. This might be partially due to the fact that I want to be sure that I do fully understand and care about what I am writing for I know if I do will able to truly make it mine. As well as that my main focus is on the letters and making sure I make them as best as I possibly can. One thing that has crossed my mind is perhaps classifying types of cats, for ever since I was born cats have been a part of my life, and this would make it fairly easy for me to write about. I feel as though I could, perhaps, make this essay humorous as that is how I have always seen cats, therefore it would be very fitting to write with the same kind of tone. Even still I do worry about meeting the page requirements and I fear that I wouldn't have enough to say on the subject.
3House
My bad, I am in period 3.
3Roby
My favorite sentence is from my letter to one of my favorite bands, TFB. The sentence is “I hope to continue to create art and I hope you do too.”. I wanted to include this in my letter to show that I am inspired by them and that I want to continue to be inspired and motivated by their music. I thought that by saying we are both artists and we have similar ideas, the band would feel more connected to me. I hope that by showing my dedication to the band I will receive a response. I was also thinking to further increase my chances of getting a response, I could include some of my art that is inspired by one of their songs.
As of right now, I have a slight idea for my classification essay. I am struggling thinking of a topic that I can elaborate thoroughly on to get five pages. I really enjoyed reading Kara Shroll’s essay comparing teenage girls to fruit. Her essay was so unique and well thought out and I would like to write one as great as hers. I am thinking of different ways to classify people, as Shroll did, but I cannot find an idea that I could explain very well. One idea that i have is classifying types of shoppers. Being that I work in retail, I feel like I could explain shoppers accurately and give some examples based on events that I have witnessed while working. There are two types that I can think of now. The friendly shoppers that make conversation with everyone at the store, have a smile on their face, and put everyone in a great mood by just being around them. Then there is the quiet shopper, that hides in between aisles to avoid conversation, they lurk around in the back and dread going to the checkout because they will have to speak with another person. Perhaps the third type of person could be the wild shopper. They type that tears up aisles looking for one thing, their children run around and knock things off the shelves, they yell at each other from separate aisle and cause a public disturbance in the store. I still need to think of more ways to elaborate on these ideas further but I have somewhat of a start on my classification essay.
My favorite sentence from one of my letters is "Sometimes, I just plug in some earbuds and take walks for hours on end while listening to that soundtrack on loop." from my letter going to Hans Zimmer, a famous movie score composer. The soundtrack that is being referred to is from the movie "Interstellar". This particular sentence is my favorite because it creates a personal connection between Zimmer and myself and also shows how much I love his music. I hope that when Zimmer reads that he will be more inclined to reply because it shows that I don't just listen to his music while watching a movie but I enjoy it while doing other things and even go out of my way to listen to it.
When I started my Classification essay, I initially didn't know what I wanted to write about. I had thought about categorizing teachers but I decided that it might offend some so it wasn't worth it. Then, I wanted to do something pertaining to music because it is my biggest passion but it was hard to think of something that wasn't hackneyed. I had finally decided to write about how different types of music relates to different types of people until I saw another student's blog response who had thought of the same thing, so now I am not so sure what I am going to do. I'm still trying to think about music subjects to write about but it seems to me that every one that I could do has been done before. Now I am trying to think of other things I am passionate/qualified to write about and the list is short: music, theater, work or school. My goals for this essay is to write about what I know and love and to express my personality in my writing. I feel like my largest struggle is going to be finding a topic to write about but if it is one I am passionate about, then writing should be fairly easy.
3 Waldera
I am writing one of my wrestling idols, Dan Gabel. One of my more important lines of text in my letter is "A few fellow wrestlers and I would watch your old film, analyzing and finding what had worked best for you for and what allowed you to become a stellar athlete." This is one of my favorite lines because it shows him that we both share a love for the sport. It also shows that I look up to him and that I take time out of my day to watch him compete and train. These could be factors for him to reply.
I haven't yet started my classification essay. I am still searching for a topic that could fill 5 pages. My biggest challenge so far is trying to figure out what I want to write about. After pondering for a while about what to write, I think I will end up writing my classification essay on either sports or on the different types of wrestlers there are. I feel like I will be able to write more on the topic of wrestling. If in the end I choose the wrestling topic, I will split up the different types of wrestlers by their technique. Some wrestlers, such as state champion Andrew Sorenson, focus on strength and use that to overpower their opponents. While others take the complete opposite path and spend hours on the mat instead of the gym. They focus on mastering their technique, like state placer Adam Presler. Another category I would more than likely include is the Jv team in its entirety. In wrestling the Jv team is filled with the "unexperienced" people, those who don't compete with the same amount of drive as the varsity wrestlers yet they have significantly more fun. Going from Jv to Varsity has shown me that there is a large divider between them. This of course is just a starting idea, in the end I might change it.
6 Clark
I wrote to the CEO of Starbucks and also to Chip and Joanna Gaines from the show Fixer Upper on HGTV. My favorite sentence from the both of these letters would have to be towards the middle of my letter to Chip and Joanna. It said, “From the family atmosphere you provide all the way to the abundant amount of creative ideas you show, you keep viewers intrigued.” I chose this one because it just explains a little more about their show and helps them understand how much I greatly appreciate the hard work they do to make it exceptional. It will help me to receive a reply from them because they will understand how big of a fan I am. The sentence also clearly shows that I have logic on the show and have seen it many times.
My classification essay idea topics are pretty good in my opinion. I started off choosing between types of drivers, types of kids, types of parents and types of studying students. I finally narrowed it down to the topic I am going to write about. In my classification essay, I am going to write about the types of parents there are. I have thought about the types and came up with 4 different ones. It was hard to think of words to explain the types of parents. I also haven’t started typing it yet because I can not find a stellar introduction sentence. I was reading through some of the example classification essays and got some good ideas from there so I am going to try and use those techniques to compose my own introduction. The hardest part for me in the composing of my essays is usually finding a good place to begin but after I have started I can usually just cruise right along from there. Hopefully, that is how it continues to work out for me!
6 Beckman
My favorite sentence is from my letter to a celebrity. In the letter, I made it apparent to the celebrity that I enjoyed watching his show. I told him that I have been following the show since it first aired several years ago. The sentence is as follows: “It’s not just a show to me; it has become a bonding experience with my dad as well.” I believe it’s a good sentence to catch the reader’s eye because it appeals to their sense of childhood and being with family. Family bonding seems to reach people of all ages, so I figured that no matter who reads it, it will have some lasting effect on them.
I have not really thought too much about the Classification essay too much yet. My initial thought was to do something with houses because it was one of the ideas given when you look at the instructions. However, that idea is not catching my interest a whole lot, so I may see about changing that, or maybe ask my family if they have any ideas that would help me decide or even spark an additional idea for me. I have also thought about doing different forms of people who volunteer, because I am a Youth Action Council member for SALSA. This idea could be good for me because I know so much about the group and the organization as a whole so it wouldn’t be too hard for me to write about. With that idea though, I’m not sure I would be able to fit five whole pages, so I am still leaning on finding a different topic.
I am fortunate enough to have my dad, a journalism major, at my beck and call to help edit and proof my essays for me, so I define that as an initial success. I think my biggest challenge is going to be filling all five pages, but I don’t think it will be too difficult if I do it on a topic of interest to me.
6 Baldridge
One of my favorite lines is in my letter going to Journeys, regarding the glow in the dark socks that did not glow, is, “I paid around eight, of my hard earned dollars, for this magnificent creation, but came to find out that it was just a scam.” This is my favorite line because I feel like it happens to people quite often. We walk into a store or see a commercial on T.V. and immediately want the product in front of us without really looking into it first. This can cause problems similar to mine where the item doesn’t work the way it should or it doesn’t look as nice as you wanted it too. Just like the way my socks didn’t glow in the dark they way they said they would. It just goes to show that maybe we humans should take a little bit more consideration into things before just purchasing right away.
I haven’t yet decided what my plan is for the classification essay. I honestly haven’t even be able to come up with any ideas. I enjoy things like music and I enjoy animals so I was hoping to maybe find something that can tie those things together, but I am struggling very highly at the moment. Most of the time, I enjoy writing, but coming up with the idea or topic is usually what gets me. I hope to come up with a solid idea by the time the weekend is over, but at the moment it’s not looking too good for me. I think I might just need to look a little more into the details of what the essay is looking for. Five pages is a lot of pages to write when I don’t even have the slightest idea of what to talk about. Hopefully something will come to me and I will be able to rock the classification essay.
6 Lindemann
1: I have two favorite sentences: “The midwest can be a conservative and stifling place, and seeing your success has helped me remain hopeful that I will someday surpass all of my goals and expectations for myself.” and “To be a great artist takes hard work, dedication, and endless hours of practice. Your work has helped me push myself to be a better artist and I thank you for that.” I think both of these sentences show how much the artist has influenced me and encouraged me, which creates a personal connection and hopefully elicits a response. I am creating a personal connection by bringing up that we are both from the midwest, and that we have also both spent a lot of time dedicated to our art. I think these sentences will help me get a response because they create a connection to the reader that encourages communication.
2: I am (tentatively) planning on classifying relationships as restaurants. The global, the regional, the hometown. The global are acquaintances and friends that you may see in the hallways, but never really interact with them. You can expect the same interactions from each and every one, the same way you can expect the same options at a globally popular restaurant no matter which store you visit. The regional is a casual friend, a coworker, something a little more personal than the global, but not someone you’d trust with your life. They are the Taco John’s, the In-N-Out of friendships. Something unique but at the same time, exactly the same. The hometown is your best friends, your family, the people who know you inside and out. They are the local diner that you visit when you’re feeling sad; the waitress brings you your food with a smile and a “how ya doin’, hon?” My biggest struggle is trying to find words to use without overusing foods, and also staying on topic. I have a habit of rambling and repeating myself when I write, while simultaneously never reaching a proper conclusion or thesis.
6Sherron
My favorite sentence would be from my appreciation letter to Denny Sanford. This summer I interned at Sanford Research, and I wanted to thank him for his philanthropy and my personal experience. I wrote, “Your aspirations have led to my inspirations of carrying on your motto, ‘Aspire to inspire before you expire.’” During some research on Mr. Sanford, I found that he lives by two mottos: die broke, and the one I just used. After some toying with the words, I found a way to switch his verbs to my nouns and let him know that he inspired me. Hopefully, he’ll see that I took the time to research him and I thought it was pretty clever to switch around his motto. Also, I’m sure he gets many people reaching out to him, but it’s mostly for his money. Although a reply would be appreciated, I’m not asking for one. On top of that, I’m also not asking for money, which would be a unique letter to him.
I haven’t gotten too into my classification essay because I’ve been polishing my letters, but I work in a restaurant as a server. The running conversation between all servers any day is talking about the type of customers they have at their table. Oftentimes we get super nice, go with the flow people that are carefree. Other times we get mild, “I’m just here to eat,” people that want to get in and out quickly. Few times we get the uber nit-picky, modify everything they get people that look for any reason to complain. While I have to come up with some crafty names for these categories, I think I’m going to be able to provide enough reasoning and evidence to back up these claims. My challenge would be that I don’t want to sound negative about the people that come in or call out certain types, but I just want to explain how it is from a server’s end. Currently, I’m just happy I have a solid idea; the part where I actually sit down and start typing is still a challenge.
6 Long
I wrote a letter to the city of Brandon, in hope of them getting a better understanding of why we need more help with maintenance of the Aspen Complex. Currently, walking through the complex, I get confused whether I’m at a complex or at dump site. The construction and appearance that is currently there is embarassing to the town. My favorite sentences that I wrote in this letter would be “My whole team and I work hard through the season in order to be able to compete at the level we play at. However, I believe that the fields at the Aspen Complex are forbidding us from reaching our full potential.’ I think this helps understand that the fields really do need work, and are prohibiting the team from being able to be as successful as possible. Our fields really do need improvements and my goal was to make it clear to them. I hope that they will take my letter into consideration when they read it.
As for the classification essay, I am not set on one solid idea. I struggled thinking about what I could write about and I’m still not sure what the best category would be. I want to be able to write something original, however, my creativity lacks. Brainstorming is a challenge for me and it is sometimes difficult for me to come up with ideas. Right now I am thinking about doing “Types of Parents” or “Types of Social Media Users”. I am familiar with social media so I am leaning more towards that. However, I’m nervous that I will not be able to provide enough detail in order to fulfill the 5 page requirement. Possible categories for the social media users could be:The Stalker, the obsessive, the informer, and the complainer. This may not be an authentic idea, but right now it’s all I got.
6 Zajicek
My favorite sentence I have written would have to be a sentence relating to my letter asking for something. In the letter I thanked Tom Brady for his accomplishments and then asked him for an autographed picture. Through this process I wrote a this sentence.”I know the kids here would absolutely love it and who knows, maybe we can turn them into Patriots fans!” The reason I like this sentence is because it shows a little about me, I’m always trying to persuade others to side with me and trying to do what’s best for others. With persuasion in play I am confident I will get a response. I buttered him up by thanking him numerous times for what he does on and off the field, I even made myself relatable to him being in sports with all those techniques I’m really hoping for an autographed picture!
Going through the process of discovering what I might use in my classification was more than a difficult process. I started writing things that I am passionate about and only three things jumped into my mind, Best Buddies, volleyball, and the bakery I work at. I parted with volleyball just on the sole purpose that I am wiser in that area. I then searched around the room looking for a muse and stumbled onto a Lion King poster. Finally I put the two together and now my essay is pairing Lion King characters to volleyball players and their roles on the court. I believe that this essay will be fun to write about but undoubtedly hard. I want to make this essay the best it can be and how relatable theses characters are to one another. Given that I am passionate about what I am writing I do think I will struggle with finding the right words to write.
6 Steffel
In my letters there are many sentences that I feel could compel a response but the first sentence that truly shows a sense of driving compassion would be the second sentence to my gratitude or appreciation letter. "I needn’t overwhelm you with gratitude for I feel you are a humble man, but it is essential I share with you an appreciation towards what you have done in my life." This sentence, used in my letter to show gratitude, I feel is compelling in the ambition to receive a response because it shows that I not only admire that person's humility but his influence on my life as well. I believe this sentence will truly connect with its reader and he, in return, will feel compelled to respond; hopefully with an envelope containing something a little more exciting than a letter.
I have yet to begin on my classification essay. Not due to a laziness or procrastination but rather the fact that I honestly do not know what I am going to write about little lone the classification of such decided ideas. If I were to compose the essay now I would than likely have to go with athletes and their classification based on success and passion or rather motives in their journey for success. Even though this has been done a plethora of times throughout countless years of sports and an innumerable amount of people. I feel that what I would write would bring a completely different perspective to high school athletes and their success in finding colleges across the nation. The only problem being that I feel that after classifying a few different forms of athletes that it would almost become redundant with only minor changes in the actual perception of the athletes. Leading to reader disinterest and a bad grade on the essay and then most likely the class, because how is one supposed to return from receiving such a terrible grade. And now I feel distraught and I might as well give up on the class and eventually life. This response could only be classified as pathetic and now I just want to restart this putting me behind on time, forget it I am just going to stop doing this one as well.
6 Reinschmidt
I wrote my letter to Kayla Banwarth, the libero for the U.S. Olympic volleyball team in Rio. I have two sentences that I believe will compel her to send a response. The first is “I have recently transitioned from being a setter to a libero; therefore, I have quickly come to the realization that mastering this position takes a lot of determination and practice.” This line creates a bond between two strangers by pointing out something in common. The second is “I would keep it in the locker room to serve as motivation for my teammates and myself in our final season together.” This sentence pushes her to respond because it notifies her that a whole team would see this autograph, not just one person.
Thinking of ideas for the classification essay has quickly proven to be a challenge for me. It took some time to come up with any ideas at all, much less usable ones. I have been successful when I’ve focused on areas that I’m knowledgeable about and see daily. I’m not sure what exactly I will choose to compose, but I have a few general ideas that pose potential. The first would be to classify the types of students that I notice in the classrooms and hallways on a daily basis. Though I’m not sure what titles I would utilize, I think options such as “The Procrastinator” and “The Stresser” would be a solid place to start. I have also considered classifying girls that you come across on the volleyball court, whether they are apart of your team or your opponent. I have yet to come up with titles, but I have been thinking about a few different ways to categorize them. My final idea thus far deals with parents. They can be classified as “The Hoverer,” “The Inbetweener,” or “The Condoner.” These three ideas aren’t final, as I plan to continue to put more thought into my essay and that could change things. I think I have a good start to the process of writing my rough draft.
6 Berg
I am writing one of my letters to the Christian singer, Jordan Feliz, and one of my favorites sentences is when I tell him “I was raised listening to Christian music on the radio, and I’m glad to say that because of incredible artists like yourself, I never get sick of it!” For me, this statement is extremely true. Even though they play about the same songs on the radio station every day, the various artists and styles keeps me inspired and motivated through the day. Jordan Feliz is just one of the many artists I find I am able to listen to on repeat and not get sick of.
I haven’t been able to spend much time deliberating our next essay task, and therefore have not determined a topic or course of action. However, I know that I want to be interested in my own writing, hopefully allowing others to be as well, and therefore I can conclude that it will be on something that I am passionate about, or on something that I find intriguing. For example, a great amount of my summer time is spent attending and volunteering at a summer camp in Minnesota. The people there, specifically the counselors, have really inspired me, and there are many that I hope to be like as I age. However, there are also some who do not leave the type of footsteps I am wanting to follow. Therefore, perhaps I can make a new classification system for camp counselors that introduces the various ways of how things get accomplished, or not accomplished, by the differing personalities and ideas of success found throughout the staff. Or, it is possible I might make a new classification system for French Horn players, all-state band members, campers, or even pre-schoolers, as these are all key elements in my life right now that I would find interesting to voice my thoughts over, and that I believe would pull some interest from readers. As soon as I choose a topic I am passionate about, I do not think the essay will be as challenging as it seems right now, however, choosing that topic is proving to be a little difficult.
6 JohnkeThere are several sentences I appreciate within the letter I wrote, but the one that I find most pleasing is, “With the construction of an indoor practice facility, various teams could improve their skills throughout the year and stay within the City of Brandon.” This sentence for me seems to be very purposeful and convincing because it shows two benefits that an indoor practice facility would achieve if it were to be built. Athletes would be able to stay within Brandon, increasing the size of our teams as well as increasing their skill level. The sentence I mentioned above will help pull a response from Mayor Beesley because it pushes the advantages of an indoor practice facility onto him, which in turn should make him consider the value of the City of Brandon having our own and the profit it in turn could bring.
The first idea I had for the classification essay was to do something about percussion and how we split between the caregiver, the crazy and the careless, but with more though I decided that someone probably already did this rather evident grouping. Instead, I now plan on doing a grouping based on parents and their different techniques for raising children. I have not finalized groups, but they will be along the lines of the restrictive, the relaxed, and the reliable friend. Groups most likely will change with the parenting classification but currently that is the idea I am focusing on right now. When comparing the groupings of parents I am a little lost as to what I can compare them to. Planes are an idea but with the group of parents that don’t care for the most part the only option for a type of plane that does not hover over you would be a grounded one. That is the part of the essay that still has a few kinks to work out and over the weekend I plan to fix them. I am excited to start this essay and see all the other creative ideas my peers have came up with, as I am sure there will be some very unique ones.
6 Hokenstad
“Commendable as well is your profuse knowledge; I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered you also have a degree in aerospace and mechanical science.” I believe this sentence will be compelling to Dr. Randall Gibbons, because I am acknowledging more than the fact that he’s a doctor. Its shows that I am aware of his other attributes as well as his career, and am not merely writing to him for an assignment. I am hoping this will help invoke a response to my letter. It shows both ethos and pathos, by establishing my credibility as well as showing that I care about his work. He--and doctors in general-- are most likely not used to fan mail, so I think chance of a response will be high assuming that receiving a letter such as this is a rarity.
My biggest challenge so far with the classification essay is coming up with an idea that has not already been thought of. I would like to step outside the box of classifying things such as types of high school students and classify something more complex, but still relatable. One idea I had is to classify types of careers in terms of the animal kingdom. An example being businessmen are wolves, trying to be on top of the food chain, but bears or lions for example are still above them like a doctor or lawyer may be. I plan on thinking of more than just this idea. One of my strengths in English is making analogies and analyzations so I think that will be my biggest success while writing this essay. I hope to compose an essay that makes people think of my topic in a whole new way. The idea of writing a classification essay appeals to me because it will expand my thinking level to something beyond analysis. As I begin writing, I hope to create sentences that have great fluidity and depth to go beyond the surface level of my topic.
6 Eigenberg
I am composing letters to NF, a Christian rapper, and Les Steckel, the President and CEO of FCA. In my letter to the President and CEO of FCA, I have many compelling sentences, but my favorite is this: “Through your work with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, you have given thousands of Christian athletes, including myself, the opportunity to learn and grow in our faith through sports.”. This sentence that I composed is admirable, because I not only thank him indirectly for his work, but I show him the impact that his work has had on many people throughout the world. He will more than likely respond, because it makes him feel good about himself and his work, so he will want to continue that work by sending something that will show how good he is.
My first ideas for my classification have been few. I am struggling to find a topic that I know enough about that I can write 5 pages without it being a stale and overused topic. My first thought was classmates. This idea would be fairly simple to compare to maybe the seven dwarfs, natural disasters, or football positions, but I feel that would be overused. My second idea was to classify golfers. This idea is currently my front runner, but I am still trying to find something to classify them as. The seven dwarfs is a fair idea, but I wouldn’t be able to use all seven of them. I would have to cut a few of them. I am not super fluent in the game of golf but I have played it weekly in the summer for the past 3 summers. Many experiences have given me my base classification levels. The first would be the pro golfers. These golfers take the game seriously and to the top level. I would classify them as Grumpy the dwarf, because they often don’t have fun while they play. Of course, there are exceptions, but no classification is perfect. Then there are the weekend warriors who play all for the fun of it. They often drink certain adult beverages while playing as well. They would be classified as Happy since they are only doing it for fun and quite honestly don’t care how good/bad they do. My last classification would be the amateurs. These golfers play often and care more than the Happy golfers, but less than the Grumpy golfers. These golfers are the Bashful golfers. When they do well, they are usually humble about it, but when they don’t do so well, they will work at it and strive for better.
6 Runia
My favorite sentence from the letter assignment comes from my letter asking for a change. I wrote this letter to Brandon Valley High School in hopes of persuading the school to repeal one of its policies. I request the removal of the policy that students must have a scheduled lunch period in order to have a study hall. In the letter, I reason that I would be able to complete more homework and thus excel more academically with the removal of this policy. My favorite sentence is, “Please consider repealing this policy, thereby giving me, as well as other dedicated students, the opportunity to excel to the level of academic success that Brandon Valley is known for.” I am proud of this sentence because it uses logos to compel the school to remove the policy. In a way, the sentence guilts the school into removing the policy. The school should do all that it can to prepare students for success, especially given Brandon Valley’s impressive academic reputation. The wording of my sentence reminds the school that this policy is preventing students from reaching their highest academic potential. My wording also implies that the students who would benefit from such a change are those who are willing to do everything they can to improve themselves academically. These “dedicated” students should be supported by the school in every way possible, which is also implied in my sentence. In these ways, the sentence shows that it would be quite logical for the school to remove the policy. I feel that the sentence is strong and compelling, which gives me great pride in my writing ability. Thus, I love and take pride in this sentence because it uses logos to compel--and even guilt--the school into repealing the policy.
In all honesty, I have struggled to think of a good Classification essay topic. I started by trying to classify parts of my extracurricular activities, which I tend to be very passionate about. This involved attempts to classify soccer players, actors, and technical crew members. However, all of my ideas related to these topics felt very banal. I did not want to use classifications or analogies that many other students do, such as those relating to sports. I also did not want to follow in the footsteps of any of the students from prior years. I asked my friends and family for help in coming up with a topic to classify. We brainstormed about different types of coffee drinkers, reasons why people join extracurriculars, and varying types of students. Finally, I reached an idea that I knew a lot about and that I felt was relevant to most people: different types of drivers. I spend a lot of time driving, so this topic was one that truly applied to me. I have developed an idea for different classifications of drivers, including the Reserved, the Rager, the Reckless, and the Reasonable. I wanted all of the classifications to start with “r” in order to have alliteration. My friends and family approved of this idea. However, I still have concerns that this classification may be unoriginal, so I may decide to change my topic. I considered comparing the different types of drivers to animals, but I felt like that made the essay sound more like a children’s book. This is not the tone I want to pursue with this essay, so I vetoed the animal analogy. As of right now, I am sticking with the four “r” driver classifications. So, I have run into several challenges and consequently have thrown out numerous ideas as I search for a unique essay topic, but I feel I have found some success with my current idea and its alliterative nature. Overall, my indecision about my essay topic has presented a bigger challenge to me, as I have not yet started writing my essay. I hope, however, that all of the thought I have put into my topic will pay off and will bring me success in my final product.
6Holter
My favorite and most compelling sentence is in my first letter written to Kathryn McCormick. The sentence, “ I just wanted to say thank you for being someone I can look up to in dance and always inspiring me to do better, not only in dance, but in life.”, shows that she has made me want to be a better dancer and a better person in general. The sentence is also very moving because it tells her that she hasn’t only impacted me in dance but in life also. Throughout the whole letter I thank her for everything she has done in dance, but with this simple sentence I hope to add a more emotional and personal feel to the letter. With this letter my goal is to receive some type of reply whether it be, a written response or an autograph from her, but if I do not receive anything I hope my letter moved her in a positive way.
After reading through the Classification essay requirements I am already stressed out, and I haven’t even started to write the essay yet. I have thought long and hard about the topic I want to write about, but I have not found the perfect one yet. I originally thought of doing something related to dance because dance is in my daily life, but as I asked other classmates, some of them were wanting to do that as well. So then I got to thinking, what else could I write about? I thought of comparing different types of people at sporting events or comparing different types of people on social media, for example, Twitter or Instagram. My last idea was to compare the three types of students in school. My top two choices at the moment are: comparing types of students in school or comparing different types of people on social media. I think both of theses would be very interesting and fun to write about. The hardest thing about this essay will be writing about the topic for five pages and keeping the whole essay interesting.
6 Forster
I wrote one of my two letters to Mrs. Hartz (Murdy) to express my thankfulness for all she has done to assist me during my high school career. My favorite sentence from that letter is the following, “Your positive attitude is contagious and it inspires me to be a better and happier person”. I believe this sentence perfectly sums up the kind of person she is; at the same time, it expresses my absolute gratitude for her and her actions. I hope that this will brighten her day when she receives it. I believe a response is compelled through outlining how she is appreciated.
At this point, my ideas for the classification essay are extremely scattered. Many of them are not yet complete thoughts. As I debate what to write on, I am attempting to focus on inventing an original classification system that others can learn from. Coming up with a quality system and beginning to compose an essay has been my initial challenge. I believe that this is not necessarily a negative, as it will likely help to refine both my composition techniques and creativity. I will need both of these skills for this class and the future. My ideas so far include some of the things I do on a daily basis such as soccer, school, and work. A classification system revolving around soccer would definitely be one of the simplest for me to explain, as I have been playing for over fourteen years and would not have to do any research on the topic, though it may not be useful. I have not had any major successes thus far in my composition of this essay due to the fact that I have yet to finalize my main idea, but I am sure I will have many successes once I do.
6 Thompson
I wrote one of my letters to Sierra Romero, a softball player, just thanking her for being a great example and role model for me and also asking for softball advice for the future. Although the letter is thanking her, I also acknowledged how she played for her family and heritage every game to make them proud and how that made me think of who I could play for. My favorite line reads, “That year I decided to play for parents because they have always been there to push me to go beyond what I think I can do and also to make them proud of the hard work they have done to get me to this point in my life and softball career.” This is my favorite line because when I think of softball I think of my teammates and the fun times we have had, but I also think of my parents cheering me on and helping me get better. It gives me pride to do that for my parents and myself, it also shows how I respect my parents and and so thankful for them and what they have done for me. This sentence may show Sierra how much of an impact she has had on me from her doing that for her family and that now I have decided to do the same thing and the emotion and pride that I have for my family and softball.
My initial Classification essay idea was to classify the different types of managers you may experience at work. I work a Panera Bread and I have four managers who are all very different but they all get the job done. The different types that I came up with were, Laidback, Strict, Inexperienced, and Dedicated. I am going to talk about the different characteristics that each of them have and what they do to get that classification and then also how they all make the business work in a cohesive way. My initial successes were coming up with the different types and characteristics of each type and knowing first hand the different types. My initial challenges are trying to talk about the different types as managers in general instead of specifically the ones I work with.
6 Corcoran
1. My favorite sentence from my letter would be, “Men like you remind me shot for shot why the artform hypnotically draws me into a web of countless worlds, opportunities, and tales spun from the brimming imagination of those who share our fondness.” I wrote the letter to a film Director I greatly admire named Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Some of his renowned work would include, The Revenant, Birdman, Babel, and 21 Grams. The context surrounding the sentence is following a paragraph where I explain his specific form of directing is inspiring and creates a drive for anyone who admires him. I utilized pathos to invoke emotions of recognition and reminder as to how we connect through passion. Adding a sense of relatability that would hopefully make him feel empathetic of my journey and perhaps nostalgic of himself and his youthful dreams, my goal would certainly be to provoke a response through emotionally obligation from a common attraction, which I give him praise for being a fuel source of passion and the pursuit of greater achievement.
2. For my Classification Essay I am going to be tackling the categorization not of movies, but of movie goers. Using alliteration i’ve concocted the four groups I am referring to as the snobbish, standard, screwy, and sanitized. I was pleased that I was able to formulate the idea fairly quickly for my mind admittedly seems to draw focus to film frequently. I liked the idea of irony surrounding it since movies are typically the ones assigned to specific genres. A difficulty I am already slightly experiencing in my thought process is the ability to successfully give examples of movies that would capture the identity of the classification, and also provide substance that could be retained and perhaps applicable to films not mentioned in the composition. I don’t believe i’m being too persnickety about the problem although through meticulous research the obstacle is smoothy surmountable.
6 Loosbrock
For my letter, I wrote to Matt Besler, a soccer player for the US National Team. “Your style was entirely emblematic of how I wanted to play soccer; during your games, I would continuously analyze your positioning and actions,” was my favourite sentence from my composition. It is a complex-compound sentence that has a certain beauty to it. The sentence will be compelling to Mr. Besler as it positions him as my role model. I indirectly complement his play style and infer that I want to be like him. This should be flattering and compel him to reply to me as he will feel as if he is letting me down if he does not. Multiple other sentences also convey this message; but, this one does the best at summarizing why I am writing to him.
The hardest part about the classification essay is to develop a categorization system that truly covers all types in a unique way. My first thought for the essay was to stick with my niche, soccer. I was planning on comparing different types of soccer players to vehicles. There are the pacey ones that rely on speed, NASCAR; the weaving and tricky players with the fancy moves, motor cycles; the strong and physical ones, tanks; the slow and lazy type, old junkers; and the maestros who are calm and can pull anything off under any amount of pressure, sports cars. I decided against this as it does not categorize every type of player and is specific to a sport that few know about. My next thought is to use the 2016 Presidential Candidates: Clinton, Trump, Johnson, and Stein. One idea is to use them as an analogy to the types of students in a classroom. Another idea is to classify them by different foods. I am worried about going political because comparisons of politics is extremely subjective. I have not had much initial success and have a lot more planning and thinking to go in order to get this essay ready to be composed.
6 WaltnerI wrote my letter to former back up, now starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, Dak Prescott. When I first wanted to write to Dak he was the backup, which gave me a better opportunity for a response, but then he became the starter. I decided to continue writing to him and be optimistic for a response. My favorite sentence in the letter is, “However, if you could send me anything that you would normally just toss out, or let go to waste, I would treasure it forever.” This is my favorite sentence because I hope it makes him realize how much they do waste, and how there are many people who would treasure their “trash”. In the letter I also told him I am a quarterback just like him. I did this to try to make a connection to him more than just simply a fan. In the end I know he is a very busy man, yet I am still hoping for a response. My second letter I wrote a thank you to my basketball coach and talked about my experience.
As I read through the classification essay assignment I do not have many ideas. Although one that sticks out to me on the assignment document is the different types of people you see at sporting events. I like this idea because I have attended numerous sporting events; and looking around at these events there are so many different types of people. I am not sure how what names I would use to categorize the fans, but some groups would be the social people who aren’t really there for the game, the fans that are way too intense and always yelling at refs, or the inbetweeners who enjoy the game and pay attention, but are still relaxed throughout. I like this idea, but I am still thinking about others that have potential to be better.
6Koehn
Matt Anderson, a player on the men’s olympic volleyball team, is to whom I wrote my first letter to. Throughout the letter I complimented him on his efforts in the Olympics this year. He was an outstanding player for Team USA this year and was a major contributor. Matt Anderson was by far the best player on the team, even though he struggled in various matches. I urged him to send me a signed autograph of himself. My favorite sentence from the letter I composed read, “I would hang this up in our locker room to support the USA volleyball team and spread your fame as one of the best players in the men’s league.”I believe this will compel him to respond because when he responds he will be doing himself a favor. Not only will he be affecting my life; he will be affecting others, because I will be sharing his story and fame by putting up a poster for everyone in the locker room to see. I will also be supporting the USA olympic team and respecting their efforts and dedication to their sport.
In our next assignment we are to compose an essay in which we classify certain things. This is our first major essay and I have been thinking of some ideas to write about. One idea I had was to write about sports fans. Classifying them as the DyeHeart, the IgNOrant fan, and the Keyl fan. The Dyeheart fan is a true fan that is at every game, and it's almost as if their heart is dyed the color of their school. The igNOrant fan is the typical fan that rants about how to make their team better, but in reality they know nothing about the game itself. The passive fan that sits back and doesn't really get involved into the game is the Keyl fan. They are the exact opposite of the Dyeheart fan. Another idea that I thought would be a good one that all teenagers could relate to is parenting styles. Some of our parents have parenting styles like Dams, other students have parents that are the Stick parents, and all the rest of us have the Rock parents. The strict parents are the Dam parents that never let anything through them. The Rock parents are the ones that after time become eroded because their kids “the water” always runs right over them. I believe all of these are good ideas, but one idea that I think tops them all is classifying couples. I would classify them as the Toxic couple, the PDA couple and the Magnetic couple. The toxic couple is the couple that is no good for each other. The couple that shows too much affection in a public setting is the PDA couple. The last couple is the Magnetic couple in which the two people can never do anything separate; they always have to be together. As I have been thinking about this first initial essay some initial failures would be creating my own classifications that don't already exist. Another initial failure is not being able to make up my mind on which one to write about realizing I have more than just one good idea.
6 Clemenson
I am writing a letter to my former JV soccer coach in which I am thanking him for what he has done. One of my favorite sentences is, “you are a great coach at soccer, and probably the best I’ve ever had in any sport.” I enjoy this sentence because I feel when he reads the letter, it will be something he’ll take away. The whole letter thanks him, but one of my key points is his emphasis on keeping your head up when you make a mistake. In the future, when he is down on himself, I hope he will think back to this letter and comment, and it helps him pick himself up. The sentence also creates pathos and may contribute to getting a response. He has been gone a few years so to receive this letter now and to see his impact he had on me may cause him to feel he needs to write a letter back.
For my classification essay I plan to probably stick with writing about soccer. I will probably classify the players to my the anatomy of a body. An example being, The goalies are the spines of the team as a good team cannot go anywhere without a goalie. A good goalie is what wins you games when you face up to fifteen shots on frame. My initial struggles with every essay I write is making sure what I’m writing about is something I am truly passionate about. It is easy for me to think what I am writing is something I care about; however, I begin writing a few paragraphs and realize I am not invested in to what I am writing and am just gliding through my words. My successes for this essay was I was able to pick what I wanted to write about right away. Currently, the soccer season is in full stride so my mindset is about soccer. Soccer is something easy for me to write about as I have been doing it since kindergarten which will make thinking about how to classify it uniquely easier. I choose to classify soccer with the human anatomy as I am currently in anatomy which will allow me to apply what I learn into other classes.
6 Campbell
"I have a deep appreciation for our relationship because I see a lot of myself in you." This is the sentence that sticks out the most to me from my two letters. I wrote to my aunt who has been such an impacting influence in my life and I wanted to let her know how important she is to me. I think it's crucial to have someone that you admire and look up to. From reading my comment, she can see that I look up to her. I believe this sentence would really hit the emotional side of anyone that reads it because I'm sure everyone has a person that they see themselves in. When someone reads this letter, they may start thinking about the person that is a role model in their lives and the thought will hopefully bring back good and happy memories.
For my classification essay, I have decided to write about the different kinds of people in a friend group (specifically female friend group). The classifications are The "Mom", the "Maniac", and the "Mellow". My success is that I thought of this idea and I feel like I will be able to think of many new ideas while writing this essay. A challenge I have is making sure I correctly portray these different kinds of people and correctly support it. I chose to write about this because everywhere you look everyone seems to be in a friend group. Usually you can tell the different kind of people in the group. You have the people that like to create drama, that try to fix everything, that want to go out and make bad decisions, and the people that honestly just don't care. I hope by writing this essay people may be able to see that while everyone in their group is mutually similar to one another (that's why they are friends to begin with) that they all take on different roles that make up their group. I think this is an extremely relevant topic while being in high school because friends seems to be one of the biggest stressors of them all.
McGee 6
My favorite sentence out of both my letters is “Thank you for all the dinners, laughs, and smiles you have shared with us”. I believe this sentence accurately describes my respect for Sherry, the woman i'm writing my thank you letter to. It also sums up many memories we have had together. For a while Sherry and her grandson would have every Wednesday night dinner with me and my family. They would also join us for other meals throughout the week, it was also such a joy to have them over because they complete my family. I believe this is a compelling sentence because it is bringing emotional attachment to the letter to show my appreciation.
I do not have many ideas for the classification essay assignment. I have spent a lot of time trying to think of a subject to write about. I remember when my sister, Emali, was writing her classification essay. She classified the different types of foster children, based on the foster kids that we have had in our house. I really loved that classification essay she wrote. I have thought about classifying the different types of brothers. I have four brothers so that is something I know about, but I think it would be very hard to make classifications because all of them are so different and that's just considering my brothers. I have also considered classifying the different types of students because there is many different types of students. The grouping would be something like the students that try there best, the students that are naturally good in school, the students that could care less how their grades are, and the half effort students. A struggle with this classification essay would be that there may be students who do not fit in any of the groups. Something I would love to include in this essay is that grades are not always a reflection of what group you would be in. Sometimes a student, even though they try their best may not be an A student; And sometimes a half effort student may also be one who is naturally gifted in school and they are an A student without putting out near as much effort.
6 Etrheim
One of my letters I am writing to the director of She’s the Man. His name is Andy Fickman. My favorite sentence from my letter was, “Ever since the movie came out, my best friend and I would watch it at every sleepover together.” I believe this sentence shows the readers that I am very passionate about this movie and I enjoy watching it. I hope it can get a response from the reader because he will appreciate that I took time out of my day to tell him how much the movie means to me.
I have not yet started my classification essay. I am still doing some research of some ideas I could do. The part I am struggling with is what I can write about for five pages and something that is interesting to the readers and to me as well. I want it to be something I know a lot about and it is enjoyable for the readers reading it. I was maybe thinking something with volleyball or basketball. I just don’t know what to classify them as or how to make it understandable. An idea, that just popped into my head, is the types of people who ride rollercoasters: the screamer, the vomiter, and the laugher. But with that idea I don’t know how to go on from there to make it as long as I need it to be. Another idea I had was the types of friends you have: the giver, the innocent, and the dare devil. Also that idea might be a challenge for me to get the five pages I want. I believe that once I get started with the classification essay, it will come easy to me and I will be able to go on for five pages or maybe even more.
Symington 6
My favorite sentence from my composed letter to one of my favorite marching band music arrangers, begins as “it became my dream that night to one day learn and experience the thrill of going on tour with such an excellent corps.” This sentence ultimately leading to have the reader understand that like everyone else, I have a dream in which to one day travel with some of the best music educators in the country and learn from their advice and teachings. This sentence is compelling the reader to respond by helping me get better as a musician and hopefully, in the end, reaching my dream by learning music from past performances.
In my opinion, starting any essay with picking the topic for an entire five page assignment can seem a little daunting but I believe that I have a developing idea. After hearing about this essay, I began researching multiples examples and there was nothing that really stood out to me as something that I knew a lot about or something that I would enjoy writing about. As of now, that will be one of my main concerns is staying engage and making sure that I fully explain my thought process and ensure that I do enjoy writing about my topic. After reading several examples from the portion in our Composition folder about classification essay examples, I now believe that I am going to model mine after Alexa Kruse’s and make mine somewhat similar to an analogy. Although my topic might change slightly, I believe I am going to compare how lifeguarding is like a band program. Throughout the essay, I will compare how the pool manager is similar to a band director and how to ensure maximum coverage, will appoint multiple “mini-leaders” to help him and others in their goal for a more successful band season. Another area for me to cover would include things like how in marching band there is nobody to sit out and take your place. This is also very similar in lifeguarding; concerning the fact that at some points you are the only lifeguard in an area watching specific children, it must take your utmost concentration to make sure nothing bad happens to the kids who are swimming. Other than the issues of finding a topic I love and will still love talking about along with finding out how to start such a long essay will be some of my biggest challenges. However, I am very excited to see where the essay will take me and to see what I will find out about how similar lifeguarding and a band program can be.
Van Kalsbeek 7 While writing my first letter I felt that my most compelling sentence was “My wish is that when you read this letter that you can tell how much love I have for the program that has influenced and changed my life forever.” The reason for me thinking this will affect the reader the most is because I used pathos trying to get him to feel for what I was writing. I also wanted Jon Scheyer to realize everything he has done for me and for him to take pride in knowing that he changed a girl's life in small town South Dakota. I really hope that I do get a response from him because it would mean the world to me to know one of my idols has read something of mine and felt passionate enough to respond. I feel like starting with the letter got my integrated back into writing a little bit, enough to begin the next essay.
The start of the classification essay has been a challenge of mine. I want something that will neither bore the reader nor want something to drag on forever but for them to be entertained to learn more about my classifications. Another challenge I could for see is that I won't have enough information to describe their different types of characters. With that my ideas have been all over the place thinking of the perfect topic to write about. My front runner of my thoughts is doing something over the type of fans you would meet at a Duke basketball game. I feel as though I could find passion in this because I do love Duke so much and would enjoy depicting what they would be like. On the other hand my second idea was to do the different types of shoppers you would see at the mall. I could see myself also enjoying this one since I do love shopping on my spare time and would probably do that everyday if my parents would allow me.
7 Hanson
1. In my appreciation letter I wrote to my powerlifting coach, Mr. Bobzien. My favorite sentence is " I have became a better person from joining the powerlifting team "not only did I gain some strength and size," but I also gained knowledge about life and learned about how achieving a goal can't always be done alone." The reason why l really like this sentence due to it showing how much compassion I have for Mr. Bobzien and I hope it really moves him and shows him how much I have really appreciated his guidance in powerlifting and as being a person. Also this sentence is an example of pathos and I feel this will really get some emotions going for Mr. Bobzien and just show that the letter I wrote was sincere and genuine.
2. Initially for my classification essay, I am thinking of classifying the different type of people that you commonly see in the gym. Another idea I have for this classification essay was classifying the customer types that walk into Pizza Ranch. Some challenges I have ran into for this essay are deciding how to classify people for each location. For example in the gym I do not know if I would want to have three to five main classifications or try and classify everyone that I have witnessed walk into a gym. With Pizza Ranch classifying the customers would not be hard, but there would be a limited number of classifications I would be able to do so that could be a challenge. With challenges comes success, I have had some success with my top choices for this classification essay. For the classification of people at the gym, I have worked out a lot and have ran into and have seen many different types of people. So composing an essay on that would be pretty in-depth and very intriguing.
7 Huska
My favorite sentence from my thank you letter to Gatorade would have to be “I read somewhere on the great interweb that an estimated 100 billion ounces of Gatorade are sold each year.” This sentence happens to be the sentence that leads off the whole letter. The purpose of this was so it would draw in the reader with an interesting fact and show I know a little bit about their product in a short simple sentence. I’m hoping that the reader will read it and realize that I know their product and happen to enjoy it with that sentence and the rest that follow it.
My first thought when I saw what I had to do the essay was “How the heck am I supposed to come up with five pages worth of a comparison that hasn’t been used yet?” Personally I don’t think I am a super creative person so trying to come up with something is pretty hard. I am trying to figure out how to combine my love for reading with something else in the world. At this moment in time my idea is to combine types of genres with the social groups or stereotypes in high school. I think with this idea I am going to use the genres Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children's, and Sci-Fi and compare them to the “populars”, “nerds”, “regulars”, and maybe the “bad kids”. I’m not particularly sure how far this idea will take me but I guess I will see. I want to do this without offending anyone but honestly it is by no means a hit at anyone it is just a comparison between book genres and the stereotypes we hear and see about in books, movies, and sometimes real life. I think my challenge will be deciding if this is the right way to go, hoping that no one will get offended, and getting the five pages in an exciting and new way.
7Livingston
My favorite sentence that I wrote is from my gratitude letter to my elementary school principal. The sentence says “You are the person that I aspire to be when I start teaching in a few years.”. This sentence will hopefully provoke a response because it’s personal. I referenced all of the things that he taught me throughout being in elementary school, and I related all of those back to that one sentence. It is short and sweet, but it has a lot of meaning behind it. I believe I will get a response because being a representation of what someone wants to be is one of the best compliments that can ever be given, and everyone has that one person in their lives that they aspire to be.
I am struggling with picking a topic for my classification essay. I have thought of many ideas, but none of them seemed good enough or interesting enough to write a five page essay about. I want to make sure that the topic that I pick is something that I am interested in, but I also want to make sure that anyone who reads it is interested in it too. I have an idea spinning in my head, and I think it is the one that I will use once I can start forming a complete thought about it. I was going to write about different types of people that impact your life, even if they are good or bad. I like this topic because it is very relevant to what high schoolers, and any age group of people are going through. There is the people that change you for the better, they give you the example of what not to be, but on the other end of the spectrum, there are others that make an amazing impact on your life, and make you a better and more humble person. I think that writing a five page essay can seem pretty scary, but once you get inspiration for it, it will be easier than all of us think it will be. I haven’t had much success yet with this first essay, but I think I will once I figure out my topic.
7 Carson
My favorite sentence from the letters assignment is in the letter I wrote to my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Dodd. In the letter I thanked her for the great start she gave me and for being the type of person I can truly admire and strive to be. My favorite sentence is “You were one of the first people, other than my parents, to make a great impact on my life.” I know my recipient very well and know for certain that she would need no other impetus to respond other than the fact that I took time out of my day to write this letter. In spite of this, I also know that she would truly appreciate my expression of gratitude and be sincerely touched by the work as a whole. This being said that is the reason the sentence from above is my favorite sentence from this assignment. It encompasses the whole message of the letter, and expresses how much her presence in my life has affected me.
When I first started to brainstorm ideas for my classification letter I knew I wanted to write about a subject I was very familiar with. Like they say, write what you know. The first thing that came to my mind was sports. I had played softball up until a few years ago and thought I knew enough to be able to right a solid essay. As I was trying to think of ways to organize players into an original class system I encountered a problem. I was not as versed in the ways of softball like I once was, and to be perfectly honest I really didn’t care about it enough to write an entire five page essay on the different players of the game. So I went back to the drawing board. The two other things I could think to write about was either school, which would probably classifying different types of students, or another past time. I thought of what I do in my spare time. I am not in sports, I don’t really have any hobbies so what could I possibly write about? The answer: Netflix. I think with as much experience I have watching Netflix classifying anything, its shows or its watchers, should not be too difficult.
Scherb 7
My favorite sentence is this: “I built my first system roughly two years ago, at the age of 16, and used several of your products; the Carbide Series Spec-01 case, the CX600 PSU, and most recently, an H60 closed-loop CPU cooler.” I feel that this sentence really allows the company to empathize with the things I have to say, and may even lead them to be more interested in the things I’ve written them about. By giving them a personal connection to myself and adding in very specifically the parts that I am familiar with and have used, I hope to compel them more so into a response than maybe it would be without it. I also hope that because I included my interest in their company from such a younger age, they might also be more interested in me as a continued customer. I feel that would be a fairly good motivator to get someone interested in reading, if not only for their own monetary advantage or gain.
My foremost challenge with the classification essay is most certainly the idea of coming up with a topic that I can use to write about. There are some things that I have considered, but I’m not completely sold to any single one of them yet. I could most likely do one about band and come up with something based on that, but I have not decided what would be the best for me in terms of expertise and interest. So on that front, not much in terms of success, but I am confident that I will be able to fabricate a topic and an essay to match. Now thinking about it, I could write about band, jobs or work in general, or even possibly different types of gamers. I will continue to brainstorm about the more specific parts of these categories might include, but I believe the starting thoughts are there.
7 Munson
My favorite sentence is from my letter to a celebrity. I wrote to Chris Burkard, a professional photographer. The sentence is “Pictures you have taken have helped to instill a craving for adventure and exploration.” It is my favorite sentence because it shows just how much i really like the pictures he has taken. From this the reader should get that this person and these pictures have had a large impact on my life and what I have done with it. This should compel the reader to look at the pictures themselves to find out what I was talking about. They may be curious to see what it is that has impacted me so, and if it will do similar things for them.
I am still not sure what I want to categorize for my classification essay. One idea I had was people who play video games. My initial thought was to use casual, hardcore, and professional, but those three categories already exist. Another thought I had was workers at my place of employment, Lewis Drug. The problem with that is nearly everyone falls into the same category, since there is not much actual work to be done there. I have not really had much for successes with this essay. The challenging part has been coming up with something I have real experience with to categorize.
7 Grode
My favorite sentence is from my letter written to a celebrity. I wrote to Paul McBeth, the four time world champion of disc golf. Disc golf is something that I like to do in my spare time. I enjoy it leisurely with a group of friends, not competitively like Paul does. Either way, we both have a passion for the game. Throughout the letter I complimented Paul and told him how much I adore his dedication for doing the things he loves. I also tried to relate myself to him, so he knows that in some ways, we are just like each other. My favorite sentence would have to be, “Any time someone performs an exceptionally sound throw, we belt out, “Yeah Paul!”, referencing you as being the best disc golfer to have ever existed.” I believe it is compelling Paul to respond because it shows him that not only I, but people around me also look up to him. It shows that he is a role model, and it adds a bit of humor, which increases my chances of a response.
For me right now, the biggest challenge in the classification essay is coming up with ideas on what to classify. I have had some ideas, such as different positions in football, the types of people that go to school, along with some others. I haven’t quite finalized my idea because it’s hard to think of ways to classify things. I have come up with some ideas, but what I have come up with so far is too bland to expand on. I think the biggest thing is to actually start writing. After I start, I find it a lot easier to come up with ideas as I go. Plus, once I start, it’s hard for me to stop due to all the ideas I come up with.
7 Else
My favorite sentence from my letters is in the letter where I write to Nike to complain about the quality of my two former Nike shoes. I end the letter by saying, “ I will never buy a pair of Nike shoes or sandals, instead I will buy a quality tennis shoe from Asics and a $3 pair of flip flops from my local dollar store, because those have held up for me longer.” I enjoy this sentence in it’s entirety because during the letter I explain how Nike makes low quality shoes, but charges an exorbitant amount to purchase them. The entire letter is written to get a point across to an executive at Nike that other shoe companies fabricate higher quality shoes. I hope that the final sentence in this letter forces the Nike executive to realize that their product is expensive, and they should not cut corners while creating the shoes.
A few days ago I began to work on my classification. After thinking for what seemed like an eternity, I decided to write about different types of people who disrupt the flow of hallways in between class periods. As soon as I put the title of the essay on the paper, I found a great success in letting the words flow to the paper. I initially came up with several types of Hallway Hazards, but they lacked the mirth of alliteration. After finding synonyms for my original words, I created four different groups. In each hallway system there are different types of people who clog the hallways and they are the Slow, the Speedy, the Sidetracked and the Sexual. Each type is completely different from the other; however they are all hazards to the hallway. The essay centers around the fact that others are placed into jeopardy when surrounded by four different hazards. I have found it extremely challenging to create a type of character for each grouping. It is incredibly difficult to stereotype people that jam the hallways since I view everyone as an obstruction in the hallways differently. As I continue to work on the essay, I will encounter many other great ideas and have many challenges I will need to face.
7 Woodward
1. My favorite sentence in my letters was in my letter to professional softball player and former Oklahoma Sooner, Lauren Chamberlain. “This year I got to experience the atmosphere of watching an OU game under the bright lights at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium as the sun was setting with some of my greatest teammates and their families.” This sentence was by far my favorite, because it brings me back to some of my favorite memories of the summer. I hope when Lauren reads this she remembers being in my position as a young athlete watching some of her greatest role models on the softball diamond. I hope she thinks about the the great success she experienced in that very stadium. I hope she reminisces on her greatest teammates who may have only been in her life for a short period of time, but have made the biggest impact on her life. I think jogging her memory of these times that I’ve experienced will help her connect her life to mine; therefore compelling her to respond to my heartfelt letter.
2. As I explore into the Classification essay, I know I want to do something relating to sports, because it’s something I am passionate about and will be able to dig deep into without much research. My first thoughts revolve around softball. One idea I have is to classify different mindsets of pitchers, like the cocky ones, the nervous ones, the confident ones, etc. Another idea that crossed my mind was to categorize different softball parents, like the ones who yell a lot and know a lot about the game, the ones who try to think they know about the game while yelling, the ones who let their kids play the game because they have enough to worry about on their own, etc. I think either of these essays could be a huge success, but they both will come with challenges. The main challenge for me will be how difficult it is to start the essay, because once that happens it’s smooth sailing.
7Christie
“The things you do on the ice and the way opposing players look at you with fear and timidity is what I want to bring to the ice.” is my favorite sentence from my first letter to Zendo Chara. This sentence is my favorite because it shows what I strive to be when I’m on the ice. I believe that I do bring this to ice when I’m playing, mostly because they’re aren’t any six foot three 270 pound hockey players in sioux falls. Just like chara, I am the biggest person on the ice just like he is now. When he reads my letter I’m hoping that he relates to me and reminisces back to his early hockey career and remembers all the fun he had being the biggest kid on the ice. After his flashback he will want to send me something as a thank you for letting him go back and enjoy those memories.
When I first heard about the classification essay my brain immediately went to hockey players and the different types of players there are on the ice. So far I've gotten it to three different kinds of hockey players: the brawny, the scrawny, and the crazy. The brawny are kids like me, big, tall, not much puck handling skills and not the fastest people on the ice; but definitely necessary to win games. The brawny hockey players lay the big hits, screen the goalie and clear the opponent out of the crease. These big dudes usually are the defencemen or a center depending on the style of play the coach has in mind for the team. The scrawny players are your typical every day player, they are shorter, faster, and have great puck handling skills. These guys are the goal scorers and the forecheckers, they go into the offensive zone first to get the puck away from the opposing defencemen. Although they are small, they are some of the toughest players on the ice, they get hit the most, they get cheap shotted the most, but more importantly they are the ones that are in the best shape on the ice. These players are typically the left and right wing, they do also play center. These guys are the main force on the offensive drive to the net. Last but not least there are the crazy, these guys are the penalty minute kings, the ones with the biggest mouth on the ice, and the ones who drive the refs insane. The crazy can play anywhere but most of the time they play goalie; who else would stand in the net and let people shoot pucks going 90 miles per hour at them.
7 Haase
I chose to write to the CEO of the Jack Link's Beef Jerky company, Tony Link, in hopes of receiving a reply that could possibly contain various meat snacks. My grandfather was a butcher for 27 years before purchasing Tracy Food Pride, a local grocery store in Tracy, Minnesota. I spend a lot of time in the meat department with my grandpa making products that we can sell in the store; products like beef jerky, stuffed pork chops, and hot dogs. My uncle also own a meat locker in southwestern Minnesota that makes various types of beef jerky, beef sticks, and turkey legs. In my short 17 years I have had no shortage of meat snacks that is for certain. This includes Jack Link's beef jerky which is typically cheaper and more convenient for everyday activities. I admire the Jack Link's company for their high quality meat snacks as well as their contributions to local and national charity campaigns. My favorite line of my letter to Mr. Link is "I like to think of myself a meat snack connoisseur." Foremost, I think that it is comical, so the first thing he reads in my letter will make him laugh a little bit. Also, it shows my personal interest in the product that he has spending thousands of hours making sure it perfect for the consumer. By saying that I enjoy their products, it is like a nice pat on the back for the entire company to let them know that they are doing a job well done.
For my classification essay, I have had a few idea as to where to start; but none have intrigued me enough for me to write a five page essay on it. I have considered multiple types of hockey players, throwers, people at the movies, or people in high school but I haven’t expanded on any ideas yet. I feel like sports are going to be very over done within the composition classes, so I am trying to come up with an original idea that is more unique.
7 Wickersham
I believe that my best sentence is in my letter to Adam Thielen, which says “Thank you for inspiring me by working hard, doing what it takes to help the team win, and being passionate about the game you and I both love.” This sentence can cause the Adam to feel important and hopefully will truly realize the impact he has had on me and his own team. It also can show him that just like he has a passion for football, I too have a love and passion for the game. He likely idolized NFL players growing up and was in my spot once. That sentence can make him want to give back to what he used to be and respond to me, because I might remind him of himself. It is a very strong use of pathos and one that I think will use his emotions to make him want to respond.
After thinking hard about what I wanted to write about in the classification essay, I’ve thought about using chess to compare a football team too. Using pawns, knights, bishops, rooks, king and queen to compare different positions in football. The challenge now will be to make an accurate comparison of what chess piece fits best with spots on a football team. I have ideas, such as the lineman as the knights or the scout team players as pawns, but I still need to find comparison for the other pieces. Even with the challenge, I still believe that the final work comparing chess and football will be a successful one. Both games take strategy, time, and using all your pieces to get a favorable final outcome: winning. Both games are so different, yet similar. This will make the essay both fun to write and interesting to see the similarities between them.
7Ian
1. My letter to a pseudo-celebrity is addressed to renowned motorcycle enthusiast and surfer/skater Scotty Stopnik. My favorite sentence to Scotty reads: "One day maybe I’ll take the ride down to Cali (I’ll have to get a bigger bike, don’t think my Rebel could make the trip) and check out the Cycle Zombies garage myself, get to shake your hand, get some life advice; I don’t know. But, it would be an honor nonetheless." I feel like this sentence conveys a subtle desire to one day meet the man, like he's really got something to offer me (even if it's just his presence) that would make the trip worth my time. I'm trying to demonstrate to the man what a powerful influence he's had on driving my passions, and I'd feel as that is beyond sufficient in convincing him that I truly have a great deal of respect for him.
2. I have a very vague assortment of ideas-- shadows of ideas, more-- for my classification essay. For example, my initial, instinctive choice, was to classify skateboarders, or some form of shredder (i.e snowboarder, surfer, wakeboarder, etc.). I feel as though I'd much rather choose a topic more original than that. For this assignment I would preferably defy my instincts and choose something more along the lines of: types of customers I see at work, what kind of person someone is based solely on their Internet browser, or something of the like. Obviously the topic of my essay remains in progress, but should see fruition within a reasonably short period. Mine-- and I'm sure everyone else's-- initial challenge has been identifying a topic for their essay, while my initial success has been the inundation of ideas I've composed after choosing to not go with my initial topic idea.
7 Scholten
“ Your aggressiveness and tenacity running the football will make you tough to tackle in the NFL.” This is my favorite sentence from both of my letters. In this letter, I am writing to C.J Ham, a running back for the Minnesota Vikings. In this sentence I am trying to tell C.J about some of the many traits he has to be a NFL running back. I’m telling him that he has what it takes to be one of the best running backs ever. These traits will make him a beast when he goes up versus small and non aggressive linebackers and defensive backs. I am trying to motivate him to keep doing what he has done at Augustana and now Minnesota and he become a star in the NFL someday. I’m hoping that by reading my letter he will reply to me with Vikings gear or even a signed photo of him. Either way I hope my letter gives him some motivation to keep doing great things in his life.
I have been thinking hard about what I should do for my Classification essay and I have had no luck figuring out what exactly I want to do it on. I have thought about doing it on something football or basketball related but I have no idea what to say on them. I was thinking about classifying the offensive football positions but I have not found something that I want to compare it to. I have thought about comparing them to a family but I have not sort out all the details to do that yet. I want to find something that fits what I am passionate about but right now I have not found that thing yet. I will keep thinking of ideas to do it on and hopefully I will have a good idea by the due date.
The sentence that I think compels the reader’s response the most is, “Since I was little I have always dreamed of having the kind of talent that you possess.” I believe that this sentence compels Carli’s response because it is saying that her ability is at the top of every soccer player I have seen. When you receive compliments from fans coming at hard times in your career it makes you feel better about the situation. The U.S. Women’s Soccer team had a tough time at the olympics and they did not do as well as everyone had initially hoped that they would. So my hope that is when Carli reads my letter she notices how much she has impacted my life and in seeing that feels compelled to respond.
For my classification essay I want to write about the classification of hockey players, the four types of hockey players are the protectors, the weavers, the senders, and the winners. The protectors are the members of the hockey team that make it their mission to protect our goalie and protect her from shots. The sender’s are those who don’t trust themselves with the puck so they always pass the puck to avoid carrying it and shooting. The weaver’s are the players that carry the puck all the way down the ice making moves around all the defenders without passing the puck to any other players. The winners are the scorers for the team and make a majority of the shots that they take. My complications with finding these are to avoid words that are already used in hockey and are unique to specific groups of people on my own hockey team. I found it very easy to place members of my own team into groups to create my classification for hockey.
Singh 7
My favorite sentence is from my first letter to Satnam Singh, the first Indian born drafted NBA player. I said “I would love to have a personalized reminder of your success.” To me this sentence really compels him to send me a signed picture because he would really feel that his signature on on picture would have a huge impact on my life. He would know that anytime I need to be motivated I could just look at his picture and be reminded of his accomplishments. It will really make him feel that this little gesture could make a huge difference in my life. It will show that he is my role model and recognition from him is a big deal to me.
When I heard about this essay I tried really hard to come up with ideas. Then it struck me. I should just use an aspect in my life that I am constantly involved in. I work at Hy Vee on Sycamore Ave. so I thought that this would be perfect for this essay. I also wanted to pick something where I truly knew each aspect of the crew. I work every weekend so I have a good understanding of the Hy Vee work life. No one else in the other Composition classes work at Hy Vee so there would be a sense uniqueness to my essay. A good majority of high school students have jobs so they will also be able to relate to mine in a way. I have had success in deciding my classifications, however the challenge lies in explaining all of these classifications. Constructing this will be difficult. I am going to look at other essays from past to maybe spark something that I can use in my essay. My goal for this essay is to break down the Hy Vee crew into a much more interesting classification.
7 Jensen
My favorite sentence from my letters is from the letter I wrote to Mr. Riggs. The sentence reads, “The way you made the story come to life and the imagery in every novel is truly breathtaking.” This sentence is my favorite because it expresses how his novels just suck you in. You get a real visualization of the setting, characters, and the emotion feel of the books. These books make you feel like you are apart of the adventures taken place. You get to feel and understand exactly each and every character that he writes about. For me I could easily follow along and never got lost. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, was never a boring and always kept me on my toes.
It took just a little bit of thought about what I wanted to compose for the Classification essay. I decided to write about something that I really understood and that I care about. My initial idea was to write about the different types of workers at a work environment. By choosing this topic I think it will be a bit easier for me to write this essay since I have experienced lots of different types of co-employees. I believe my initial successes are being to explain each type of worker. For each worker I described their personality and what makes them the way they are. I also described their flaws and things they are usual for. Some challenges I faced was naming each classification and trying to make each paragraph flow and be relevant. For naming, I tried to start all three of the classifications off with the same letter and their name had to be suitable for what I was describing them as. Once I started getting to get the feel for each classification I just kept going.
7Dybdahl
For my appreciation letter, I wrote to my Colorguard instructor. She is a 2nd grade teacher at Brandon Elementary. It is only Mrs. Johnson’s second year as our instructor, and she has helped us all immensely. My favorite sentence from my letter is, “We saw the results of working hard last year, but it wasn’t just us Colorguard members on the field that received the awards.” It is my favorite sentence because I think it shows that we have a lot of appreciation for her. Last year, we all worked very hard to get the award titled “Best Guard”. I think that after reading my letter Mrs. Johnson will feel very valued as our instructor.
I have been thinking of some ideas for my classification essay, and I have had a tough time coming up with one that would be interesting enough to write about. My first thought was to find a topic that relates to an activity that I am in. I play an instrument in the band and an idea that I have is to write about the different types of members in the band. I would categorize them as the Practicers, the Players, and the Participants. The Practicers would be the very dedicated members and they would be the ones who always show up early to practice. They would also be seen as the best player in their sections. The Practicers would lead part of their band and take initiative when people need help. The Players would be the people in the band that try, but don’t always succeed. They are the members that know a lot about what they are doing, but may not practice enough to perfect it. They could be looked at as the players that want to be the best. The Participants would be the band members that are only in band because they have to be. They would play the notes and march the drill, but wouldn’t think much into what they are doing. They are named the Participants because they think all they have to do is show up. I could also write about the different type of people I work with, but I am going to continue to think about different topics that I could use. I want to come up with something that nobody else is going to use.
Blue 7
My favorite sentence from my letter is, "Your intense demeanor paired with humorous remarks keeps us focused and relaxed during our practices and matches.", I wrote this in my letter addressed to my favorite coach, Mr. Zerr. This sentence lets my reader know the impact he has had in my life and on our team. It shows him that his personality and has positively helped my experience as a tennis player and shown me how a strong leader acts. This sentence uses logos to evoke a response from my reader. It is logical that someone who can be humorous while intense would keep a sports practice focused and relaxed.
As I think about my Classification essay ideas, it is difficult to find a topic that I feel has enough depth to write about. My first topic of expertise I think of is tennis. I have played it for over ten years and have had countless numbers of hours practicing and playing. I would classify three types of tennis players, the care free, the competitive, and the crazy. In tennis, because it is an individual sport (much like golf), your mental game is as important, if not more important than your physical game. Because of how the game is setup, often times young players who are capable of hitting tough shots are outplayed by lesser opponents because they cannot handle, mentally, the fact that the lesser player will win points regardless of their ability level. Even in the pros you see some tennis players who are care-free (Nick Kyrgios), competitive (Roger Federer), and crazy (John McEnroe).
Another idea for my classification essays is the three types of Settlers of Catan players. Settlers of Catan is a board game I have played countless times with my friends and it is very interesting to see each person's strategy layout in every game. In every game someone can be a different role in the game, and often times these roles decides who teams up with who. The first classification of cation player is the power, the paver, and prick. The power is the person who is always in the lead, everyone is trying to catch up to them. The paver is the person who is devoting all of his resources towards earning the longest road. Finally, the prick is the person who feels they have been screwed over by the game and wishes it to end as fast as possible or sabotage people as much as possible (often the power).
7 Bogensberger
I wrote to Kimberley Bosso, she is a well-known makeup artist in California. My favorite sentence from my letter to her would be, "You truly impress me through your work and you inspire me to perfect my technique and skill so one day I can become an amazing makeup artist like you." This sentence will hopefully butter her up to maybe consider sending me something that could actually help me with my makeup artistry practice. Usually when you compliment someone it makes them feel pretty good about themselves and it helps win you some brownie points for doing so. I hope that she realizes, because of this sentence, what an impact she has made on my career choice and how much I admire her work.
The classification essay had me stumped for a while because I could not think of any clever ways to classify people but then after a couple days of pondering, an idea finally came to me. I thought about my daily life and what I pay attention to most and that is clothes, I love seeing what others choose to wear because they can either inspire my own outfit choice or show me a trend I have never seen before. I do not judge others on the clothes they wear, I just personally don’t see myself wearing a certain style that they do and that’s what’s so great about clothes, there are plenty of styles out in the world so that everyone has a way to express themselves. I know I am not the only one who doesn’t agree on everyone's fashion statements which is why I chose the classifications I did, I feel that not everyone understands why a person wears the clothes they do, so I’m hoping, through this essay, I can help explain it to people.
Mork 7
My favorite sentence from one of my letters was the very beginning of my Trumoo letter. I was writing to tell Trumoo how much I enjoy their milk in addition to thanking them for their wonderful creations. I started off my letter saying, “I have heard that the average American drinks 25 gallons of milk a year; however, because of your milk, I am certain I drink plenty more.” It is my favorite sentence because I feel like it starts the letter off right by showing Trumoo that I am a fan of their milk without straight out saying it. This sentence should help to convince the workers at Trumoo that I am certainly a strong consumer of their milk. I also like this sentence because I think that the first sentence in a letter or essay is one of the most important. If you start off an essay or letter with a strong sentence, you entice the reader and they will more inquisitively want read what you have to say.
Our next assignment is to write a classification essay. I have been putting thought into what I would like to write about; however, I have not yet found a topic that has really hit home. Last night I brainstormed a couple of ideas. These ideas included the classification of athletes, softball players, hockey players, rides at amusement parks, churchgoers, sports fans, softball pitchers, and people in the weight room. Although I have multiple ideas, I am not yet sold on a single one. I have long ago come to the realization that it is substantially more enjoyable and easy to write about a topic you have interest in and enjoy. With interest in the topic you are writing about, you also write with more passion. I have interest in all of my ideas, but I think that if I give a little more time into thinking about a topic, I will come across the right one. It seems to me that the most challenging aspect about the classification essay for me will be to find an original topic I truly want to write about and get the ideas rolling. Once I find a topic and get the ideas rolling it should make writing the essay a lot easier.
6 Kluin
One of the letters I wrote consisted of a message of thanks to a former exchange student and close friend of mine named Haruka. My favorite sentence out of the two letters I wrote comes from this letter and goes as follows. “You showed me how much more there was to the world than I had ever realized, and yet at the same time, taught me how small a place it really is.” One of the reasons we participated in the exchange program that introduced us to Haruka was because we wanted to learn more about the world around us and gain some insight on cultures from different countries. Haruka had much the same goal. However, after spending nearly a month together, it became clear that we had shared more than just interesting facts about culture. We had made a lasting friendship that would carry with the both of us for many years to come. She showed me traditions and ways of life from a country across the world, and yet she also taught me how people are people, no matter where you may find yourself. This is the reasoning behind placing that sentence in my letter to Haruka.
In regards to my initial classification essay ideas, I had very few to begin with. While I tend to be a very observant person, classifying things into certain groups was something I had never really thought about doing. I always accepted things for the way they were individually without a classification or grouping to be a part of. This may be a challenge for me, trying to figure out not only what I want to have the topic of my essay be, but what subdivisions I will be placing each component I am classifying in. I’ve had a couple of ideas such as types of moviegoers or the different attitudes of players in a game. While i’m not necessarily short on ideas for a topic, my main concern is being able to choose a topic that I will have enough to write about.
Tanya pd.7
“Because this condition had been such a huge burden in my life and has resulted in me gaining much knowledge about the overall digestive system, I hope to specialize in this area of health when I go to college.” This quote comes from my letter that I have written to my doctor, named Dr. Cheryl Bietz, who has helped me tremendously in my journey dealing with my stomach condition called leaky gut. This is my favorite quote because it is truly expressing how much of an impact Dr. Cheryl has made in my life. This quote is compelling her to reply, because it also expresses my appreciation for her, and what I will do with the information and advice she has given me from my numerous visits.
For my classification essay, I am still unsure about what I will do for my topic. I am thinking I will do something dealing with the people involved in theatre, like the melodramatic, shy, and lazy actors/actresses. I was also thinking of classifying these people based on what kind of theatre they are into, whether it’s a musical, a comedic production, or a soap opera. And, as silly as this sounds, I thought of doing my essay based on the personalities of cats. A lot of people think cats just have one personality, and they are all unpleasant to be around. Frankly, I disagree. I own three cats at my house, all with different personalities, and I sometimes visit the humane society to pet cats and dogs because I am a huge animal lover. It would be a hilarious topic to compose an essay about, and I highly doubt that anyone in past years has written something about this. Not only would it be hilarious, it would be a unique and original topic.
My favorite sentence I wrote was in my letter to The Challenger urging change to Aspen Park and the rest of the complex. The sentence, talking about the holes in the “L” screens, said,”A ball can go through the netting and hit the person behind the net on the head possibly leading to a serious injury or worse.” I like that this sentence and think it added a lot to my letter because it shows how serious of an issue this can be and it should not be taken lightly. I think it being added to the letter helps because it shows how dangerous and not well kempt the complex is in Brandon. I also think this quote from the letter is hard for the reader (hopefully wealthy and generous taxpayers) to ignore anything that is “a serious injury or worse” and do nothing to fix the issue.
I have really not put much thought into the classification essay as I have not had much time being busy with the two letters from the previous project and my term tuesday presentation. My biggest issue I have had so far with this essay is coming up with a good idea. The day we started talking about it I had an idea I thought would work. I remembered I liked it a lot but I did not bother to write it down. I really regret this action or lack thereof. I have had difficulties coming up with new ideas but some other ideas I have been thinking about is classifying either the different kind of baseball coaches or different kind of baseball players. My success so far on this essay is obviously limited, but I am not worried for I am sure something will spur my imagination in the near future. Something always does.
7Livingston(P)
My favorite sentence I wrote was in my letter to The Challenger urging change to Aspen Park and the rest of the complex. The sentence, talking about the holes in the “L” screens, said,”A ball can go through the netting and hit the person behind the net on the head possibly leading to a serious injury or worse.” I like that this sentence and think it added a lot to my letter because it shows how serious of an issue this can be and it should not be taken lightly. I think it being added to the letter helps because it shows how dangerous and not well kempt the complex is in Brandon. I also think this quote from the letter is hard for the reader (hopefully wealthy and generous taxpayers) to ignore anything that is “a serious injury or worse” and do nothing to fix the issue.
I have really not put much thought into the classification essay as I have not had much time being busy with the two letters from the previous project and my term tuesday presentation. My biggest issue I have had so far with this essay is coming up with a good idea. The day we started talking about it I had an idea I thought would work. I remembered I liked it a lot but I did not bother to write it down. I really regret this action or lack thereof. I have had difficulties coming up with new ideas but some other ideas I have been thinking about is classifying either the different kind of baseball coaches or different kind of baseball players. My success so far on this essay is obviously limited, but I am not worried for I am sure something will spur my imagination in the near future. Something always does.
1 Ellis
I decided to write my classification essay about different types of readers and how it helps you understand the person. I feel that one of the more difficult part of this essay was keeping myself from starting sentences with "they" and "them" as it was extremely tempting. This was difficult because my groupings already have their title--for example: the Trends-- it is hard to refer to that group without saying "they" or "them". Sentence construction in general were very difficult for me to accomplish. Having to move around my subjects, prepositional phrases, and such made things more complicated than I thought, but It makes the essay look pretty nice. I also had trouble with having all my groupings blend together. Seeing that the groupings had almost nothing in common, but I found similarities with some help and now the essay looks a lot better. I have also had trouble with putting my true voice into this essay. Reading is something I am passionate about, but it is, for some unexplainable reason, very hard to make this essay sound like I am talking about reading methods and how they relate to people. I am hoping after I go over the essay a few times I will be able to find where I can put creative humor in and some more wonderful comparisons and metaphors.
In this essay, I feel like I could be more creative than what I am doing now. Luckily, I have not finished so there is plenty of room for change. I like all my groupings but I think I could give them better names that maybe rhymed, create an acronym, or have alliteration. Once again, this essay does not feel like my own. It feels like a very dull person. I always love to write so it has been fun to get ideas onto a page but I feel like this essay needs more of my wit and creativity than what I have been giving it.
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