In the past, I think I have mostly used Describing as my main developing strategy. For school work or for personal short-stories, I love describing everything. When I was much younger, I would shy away from describing the setting of a story and focus on character emotions/feelings/thoughts, but now that I am much older, I realize that describing the setting is important.
In high school english class, we had to do a lot of Argument-type essays. While I do see that it is important to learn how to write one, I don't usually write argumentative essays in my own free time. It was a good skill to learn though, since I know that english classes in the future will probably have me writing them all the time.
In high school, we also did a lot of compare/contrast essays. Those, in my opinion, are the easiest, especially if the teacher directly gives you two poems/essays/books to compare. I never really had trouble with compare/contrast essays, but they did improve over time.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Ken Harvey Makes A Lot Of Sense
1) It seems that Rose's life in Voc. Ed. was unsatisfying. Teachers were there mostly to babysit the kids and, hopefully, train them to behave like adults in the real world. In middle school, I definitely remember having a couple of teachers like that. There were some in high school, but I didn't really take their classes.
2) It seems that Rose remembers the other kids in his Voc. Ed. class better than the things he learned in there. His story gave me the impression that Rose discovered that there were many different kinds of 'smart' people - your knowledge didn't have to come from a book or quiz, but from life itself. It was hard for Rose to catch up in Math because he was an Italian student (not to mention math is just hard in general.
3) High school is disorienting for kids like Ken Harvey because they feel like they just don't fit in. Some kids want to be the best at something, while some just want to blend in. Kids usually try to blend in by not really excelling at anything. It's much easier to not try at all than to try and fail in front of the whole school.
4) I can't really compare with Rose because I didn't take BS classes in high school. I purposefully surrounded myself with other smart kids (or I tried to) and I took the hard classes that I did very well in. Sure, we all learn that real 'smarts' comes from life experience, but I learned that a much different way than Rose did.
2) It seems that Rose remembers the other kids in his Voc. Ed. class better than the things he learned in there. His story gave me the impression that Rose discovered that there were many different kinds of 'smart' people - your knowledge didn't have to come from a book or quiz, but from life itself. It was hard for Rose to catch up in Math because he was an Italian student (not to mention math is just hard in general.
3) High school is disorienting for kids like Ken Harvey because they feel like they just don't fit in. Some kids want to be the best at something, while some just want to blend in. Kids usually try to blend in by not really excelling at anything. It's much easier to not try at all than to try and fail in front of the whole school.
4) I can't really compare with Rose because I didn't take BS classes in high school. I purposefully surrounded myself with other smart kids (or I tried to) and I took the hard classes that I did very well in. Sure, we all learn that real 'smarts' comes from life experience, but I learned that a much different way than Rose did.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
4 Ways To Look At Bullying
Even though my essay isn't necessarily focused on bullying, in a way it sort of is. The way my classmates in French 3 in 11th grade treated me I guess could be considered as bullying, but I never really thought about it like that until now.
Associate: Bullying can make one think of those terrible days in middle school where the fat kid in class called you 'four-eyes'. But, as generations become more and more dependant on technology, bullying has moved from only face-to-face to face-to-online. Even though the kids in my French 3 class weren't saying anything mean right to my face, it does make me think of other kids who have had to deal with cyber-bullying. Though, some teachers and parents do say that ignoring a person intentionally can be considered bullying too.
Analyze: To be honest, it didn't really bother me that my classmates didn't include me. I didn't like them very much anyway - most of them were very rude, rich little kids who didn't have to work a day in their life. I hate people like that. Why they hated me, is a mystery. Even though I didn't like them, I was always nice to their face. I didn't say mean things about them to anyone (except my boyfriend, but him and I didn't have many friends anyway). Maybe they could tell I didn't like them. What surprises me, though, is that my teacher, Mme Haveman, caught on that they didn't like me and stood up for me. I never thought that she had noticed.
Apply: My story is just one of thousands when it comes to bullying. It could help support the idea the ignoring intentionally can be considered bullying. I guess what my story can be used for is for other teachers to learn from what Mme Haveman did for me - so often in the past I have seen kids get bullied and teachers just turn a blind eye. It's really sad, and so many teachers should be like Mme Haveman.
Argue: The only argument I can make is that bullying is a serious thing. People should take it more seriously and not turn a blind eye to it. Teachers should also learn to connect with their students more - it can really change someone's life.
Associate: Bullying can make one think of those terrible days in middle school where the fat kid in class called you 'four-eyes'. But, as generations become more and more dependant on technology, bullying has moved from only face-to-face to face-to-online. Even though the kids in my French 3 class weren't saying anything mean right to my face, it does make me think of other kids who have had to deal with cyber-bullying. Though, some teachers and parents do say that ignoring a person intentionally can be considered bullying too.
Analyze: To be honest, it didn't really bother me that my classmates didn't include me. I didn't like them very much anyway - most of them were very rude, rich little kids who didn't have to work a day in their life. I hate people like that. Why they hated me, is a mystery. Even though I didn't like them, I was always nice to their face. I didn't say mean things about them to anyone (except my boyfriend, but him and I didn't have many friends anyway). Maybe they could tell I didn't like them. What surprises me, though, is that my teacher, Mme Haveman, caught on that they didn't like me and stood up for me. I never thought that she had noticed.
Apply: My story is just one of thousands when it comes to bullying. It could help support the idea the ignoring intentionally can be considered bullying. I guess what my story can be used for is for other teachers to learn from what Mme Haveman did for me - so often in the past I have seen kids get bullied and teachers just turn a blind eye. It's really sad, and so many teachers should be like Mme Haveman.
Argue: The only argument I can make is that bullying is a serious thing. People should take it more seriously and not turn a blind eye to it. Teachers should also learn to connect with their students more - it can really change someone's life.
Describing Swim Suits
Swim suits are clothing for men and women that they wear when they are swimming (you can't really go swimming naked, now-a-days). For men, swim suits are usually just long shorts that are made out of nylon and spandex. For Olympic swimmers, they have to wear Speedo's (pretty much underwear) that are made out of the same material. Men's swim suits can come in any colour and pattern.
Swim suits for women come in 3 different types - one piece, tankinies, and bikinis. A one piece is usually just a body suit that covers the entire torso. A tankini is a two-piece swim suit, but the top piece is usually long enough to cover the stomach. A bikini is a two-piece that only covers the crotch and chest area. All 3 types of women swim suits are generally made out of nylon and spandex. Women's swim suits can come in any colour or pattern.
Swim suits for women come in 3 different types - one piece, tankinies, and bikinis. A one piece is usually just a body suit that covers the entire torso. A tankini is a two-piece swim suit, but the top piece is usually long enough to cover the stomach. A bikini is a two-piece that only covers the crotch and chest area. All 3 types of women swim suits are generally made out of nylon and spandex. Women's swim suits can come in any colour or pattern.
Analyzing Confetti
Confetti is a decorative material that is commonly used at parties. Confetti is made up of tiny bits of paper, plastic, or glitter. Usually, confetti is in a square shape, but you can usually buy them in other shapes too (like, circles, happy faces, rectangles, suns, etc.). In a pack of confetti, there are usually larger pieces and smaller pieces. In addition to different sizes, you can also buy them in a variety of colours - a package of confetti used at a birthday party is commonly multi-coloured, but you can also get them in one solid colour (like, white, blue, pink, black, etc.).
Ben Franklin Wishes He Could Be Malcom X
The exert from Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography was very hard to read. True, the writing style of the 1700's was very different from the writing style of today, but it was still very difficult to read. His run on sentences made my eyes water and my brain go numb. There is no doubt that Franklin was a smart man - it just seems to me that maybe writing wasn't his strong foot. Not only did he have a problem with run on sentences, the point of his exert was hard to find. The reader didn't know that he was writing about how he learned to write well until almost the end (and my attention span was very short by that point).
Franklin's exert and Malcom X' essay are very different. Though Franklin's exert has a certain eloquence about it, Malcom X' paper was much easier to read. Malcom went straight to the point and gave many great examples in his learning process. Franklin's was a bit harder to find. Though both men learned to read and write in very different ways, I would much rather read Malcom X any day.
Franklin's exert and Malcom X' essay are very different. Though Franklin's exert has a certain eloquence about it, Malcom X' paper was much easier to read. Malcom went straight to the point and gave many great examples in his learning process. Franklin's was a bit harder to find. Though both men learned to read and write in very different ways, I would much rather read Malcom X any day.
Pre-Writing Technique
Some of the pre-writing I have used in the past are mostly outlines. Outlines are very good for an essay because they really help you put your thoughts together and create a flow for your writing. Also, the great thing about outlines is that when you actually go to write your essay, you can change things or add examples as you are actually typing. Outlines are just a good way to get your ideas down.
Another great pre-writing technique I use often is highlighting and writing in the margins. Highlighting is a great way to remind yourself of important quotes that you want to include in your essay later - it makes finding them a lot easier than just underlining them or jotting them down. Writing in the margins also helps because I can highlight an idea and then write down a sentence or two further explaining my idea. Then, when I go back and re-read the notes I took while reading, I can pick and choose which ones support my thesis or not.
Of course, I never do this in textbooks that I don't own personally.
Another great pre-writing technique I use often is highlighting and writing in the margins. Highlighting is a great way to remind yourself of important quotes that you want to include in your essay later - it makes finding them a lot easier than just underlining them or jotting them down. Writing in the margins also helps because I can highlight an idea and then write down a sentence or two further explaining my idea. Then, when I go back and re-read the notes I took while reading, I can pick and choose which ones support my thesis or not.
Of course, I never do this in textbooks that I don't own personally.
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