Blogging

I think that blogging is a very different approach to take in assisting the students learn in this class. My perspective has changed a little bit since the begining of the semester. Essentially, I still see blogging as a way for people to interact and share their thoughts and ideas with one another. It is definitly a good way for people to communicate as well. In one aspect, it is a way for many different people to tell not only tell their view on a cerain subject, but to also get feedback from others. Many will have opposing opinions on certain matters, and it can be a way of stimulating even more thought about the subject. In this way people can discover ideas that they may not have thought of one their own without the assistance of another person's ideas.

I feel that blogging for this class was beneficial in some ways and a disadvantage in other ways. For me personally, I had a difficult time making what I considered to be my "homework" available for others to view. It was a little bit strange to me at first, but I got used to it. I did enjoy reading other peoples' blogs and posting comments to let them know what I thought about their thoughts. I liked knowing what other peoples' ideas were on certain topics. Although it was not personally my favorite way of going about the classwork it was beneficial in many ways. These blogs were helpful because in order to write something down you have to think about your ideas more and get them organized.

However, I feel that (for me personally) discussion is the best way to stimulate thought. I really enjoy listening to peoples' opinions and seeing their reactions rather than simply reading their words. By doing so you can tell a lot more about how a person feels about something or what they may be thinking about the matter at hand. When you are actually speaking with the person about something there is little or no misunderstanding in the message between the people. Even if there happens to be a misunderstanding along the way, the other person is there to clarify the message for the other person or people. In writing it can sometimes be difficult to get the message across that you are attempting to get across with the full understanding of the person who is receiving the message. Also in writing there are often questions that are lingering in the readers' mind. If the interaction is not happening in person, but through writing, there may be certain aspects of the subject that have not been addressed by the writer (or the person who is trying to tell others about their ideas).

I think that blogging was a very different way to set up the homework. I found it enjoyable to interact with people in this way because it is not necessarily something that one would usually think of as something you would do for a class. I also thought it was very interesting mostly because it is something that I have not had experience doing previoulsy. The way in which we used it for in this class blogging, in a way, reminded me of writing letters to your classmates.I have never had a class that took auch an interesting and different approach to doing homework. In this way I will certainly always remember this class because of the blogging; and I have truly never experienced a class in the same way in which I experienced this one.

The Imperial Message

This parable is somewhat difficult to comprehend. I had to read it through a few times in order to grasp the concept that I think Kafka was trying to present to the reader. I am still not entirely sure that this is the message he was intending to get across to the reader. Kafka tells a story of an Emperor on his deathbed. The Emperor has a vital message that must be delivered to someone who is not within the palace. The reader knows that the message must be of great importance because the Emperor makes sure that the message was clearly understood before it was delivered. After confirming the message the messenger sets out on his journey.

The messenger is full of arrogance and is completley convinced that there is no doubt that he will finish his task without complications. Therefore, he is goes forth with his full vigor and energy, not even considering the journey and the obsticles to come. Since he is so completly preoccupied by delivering his message as soon as he can he wearies himself too early in the journey; before he even leaves the palace grounds. I think that the message in the story is that one should look into something and consider all of the options instead of jumping into something unknown too quickly. Maybe a person should also better know theirself and what they are and aren't capable of. Do not get so fixated on one thing without seeing anything elso or everything will catch up to you all at once. If you do that you may get burnt out and not be able to finish the vital task at hand.

Discrimination

In his essay Miller clearly states that the word "dicrimination" is very much represented in todays world. When people hear this word they immediatly think of it as meaning prejudice against another group of people. Miller clarifies that the word's true meaning is to be able to tell something apart from something else, or chosing one thing over another (such as friends, the clothes we chose to wear, and the food we eat). He strongly suggests that discriminating is usually a positive concept as opposed to a negative concept, as most people tend to percieve the word. In looking at the word from this different perspective, it may be helpful for Americans to begin discriminating in different ways.

The presidential race of 2008 is unlike any the the history of the U.S. with the two Democratic candidates running against each other being of the minority. I think that a lot of voters are chosing to discriminate these candidates, however they seem to be approaching this in the wrong manner. Instead of focusing on the candidates themselves or the ideas that the candidates stand for people seem to be to preoccupied with either having "the first woman president" or "the first black president". American voters need to stop being silly and start discriminating against these candidates in the correct way. Instead of getting all hyped up about the canidates' minority as a presidential nominee, people should dicriminate who will be the best choice for a president.

Prospectus

• I think that the paper would flow a little better if the third paragraph was switched with the second.
• Although it does breifly describe that plagiarism is "academic dishonesty" it does not specifically define plagiarism.
• Does the writer have ideas of how instructors should catch plagiarism? What should the conseques be?

If Black Isn't A Language, What Is?

In Balwin's essay he discusses language and its broad meaning. Language can have many different ways in which it can be defined or looked at. Baldwin explains that language is a part is part of what makes a person who they are and how other people may see that person. A person can be judged by their language and how that person chooses to use their language. People change their language and their word choice based on their environment or the people they are speaking to. For instance, one usually will not use the casual language while speaking to an authority figure that they would use while talking to a close long time friend.

He also talks about how people can speak the same language (such as English) but not always necessarily be able to understand what is being said by someone else. For example, in the essay he compares white and black languages. Neither would be the same without the other. However, at the same time the different ways that the languages are used by these two groups are not always understood fully by the other group. A lot of the language barriers within the same language have a lot to do with cultural barriers, and different interpretaions for the words being used.

Baldwin draws in the reader by not just filling the reader's mind with information but by giving statements that make the reader think about the subject of "what is language" in depth. He also makes a great point by arguing that the "white language" would not be the same without the influence contrbuted by the "black language".

The Right to Fail

Success means something different to each person. However, what society tells us that success is going to college, getting a degree, and being wealthy. This does define success for many people, although it does not mean success to each person. Success may be going to colloge, entering the armed forces, going to a trade school, to some people success could simply be graduating high school. I know a lot of people who do not particularly like school so they do not continuing their schooling with a four year universtiy. However, I do know that in a lot of cases these people do continue to work hard and still strive for success and achieve success.

I think that success all depends on the goals of each individual. I also think that success should be measured by the feelings of satifaction and accomplishment of the person. Success is whether or not a person is happy and feels exceptionally good about themselves and what they do.

Goals and ideas about success can change over time. Some people keep the same goals from the time they are children until the time the get older and accomlpish their goals. Thereafter, they will usually have more goals that they are reaching for. There are also people who think they know what their idea of success is, but this idea changes for them over time. Sometime people may have a goal in mind, and in trying to achieve that goal may fail.

I agree with Zinsser. He proposes the idea that it is okay to fail. Failing is a part of life and it is part of what makes a person grow and discover more of who they are and what they are meant to do. True failure, in my opinion, is not trying your best. If one has a goal and tries their very best to accomplish this goal, and they end up not acheiving their goal it is okay as long asthey gave their best attempt.The true definition of success should consist of working hard and obtaining contentment and self worth.

CRAAP

I feel that the article about how felines react to bearded men completly fails the CRAAP test. First of all, there is no significance to the topic at all, unless you are planning on getting a cat and you are a bearded man. Even then, this would not be a reliable source if one were looking for any kind of professonal information. Each of the dates from the sources shows that this article is very old and is hardly updated. The affiliations and sources also display that there is little or no authority within this article. This article also contains very little accuracy; there is no real evidence to support their theories, it has not been refered, and I have had no personal experience with such an issue, nor has anyone I have ever come into contact with. The only possible purpose of this paper is for teh audience to get a laugh.

Middle Schoolers on the Pill

The issue at hand in this article is that it could be a future possibility that middle school girls be put on the birth control pill or patch, that is if they come from lower income families and are not able to afford it on their own. One arrguement for this issue is that if these girls are choosing to have sex and they are not able to pay for the proper protection then the school must step in to help with this apparently growing problem. This side presses the point that some of these girls are older than most, and also that no matter what parents try to instill in their children they are basically going to do whatever they want to anyways. They want to make sure that the public knows that they will not be simply giving the girls the birth control , but that they will need to go through a counciling process first.

There are also many who are more than willing to defend an opposing veiw of the situation. One of the strongest agruements state that 11 year olds should not even be considering having sex at their age, let alone actaully having it. Someone of that age is probably barely physically and (probably not quite)emotionally mature enough to take on this responsibility that should be limited to much older individuals. Girls in this age range are probably not even mature enough to really understand their hormones and how these methods of birth control are supposed to work.

The side of the story that may be the most shocking is the side that they do not even address at all: the parents perspective. The parents would surley be unhappy if they knew that the school could possibly be telling their child that it is okay for their children to be having sex at their young age. A school is a place in which the parents should be able to trust with their childrens' health and safety, but it is also a place that parents should be inform of their students' actions as well. Parents in general need to know what their children are doing at nearly every stage of their schooling, at least while their children are still very young. With a subject as sensitive and delicate as this one the parents' point of view is a vital one to be taken into consideration.

Rhetorical Analysis

When I was told we would be writing a Rhetorical Analysis paper I was not really sure about what to expect. I have had prior experiences with analyzing and doing an essay on a piece of writing, but I have never taken this particular approach. As with everything, there is a lot o f room for improvement in my paper. I hardly ever expect my first draft to even be considered good. Although I do try to do well on my first draft, but I feel that the main purpose of the first draft is to get your thoughts and ideas out there. Something that I feel I can really take from this paper is not only to do well on my final draft, but to take my time and perhaps put more effort and thought into what I am writing. This will more than likely help me a considerable amount on my final draft, therefore, making the final draft a better paper.

Not only should I put forth more of my attention to the rough draft, but I probably could have invested more time and thought into the final draft as well. As a result of this I was not extremely satisfied with how my paper turned out.First of all, it had quite a few gramatical mistakes. Had I put more time and attention into my paper I would not have had as many silly mistakes as I did. I feel like I should have put more of myself into the paper and not everything that I was trying to say in the paper was not stated as clearly as it should have or could have been.

While writing this paper I have learned that I need to go into more depth with the analysis. I have learned to try to look for a deeper meaning within the paper,something besides the first and most obvious themes. I certainly could have done better on going into deeper, more specific concepts that the author is attempting to get the reader to understand. I had a lot of ideas about what the author may have been trying to say through the story.

Something that I really liked about my paper is that I tried to look at multiple meanings for certain events that occured in the story. However, I am not so sure that it was the best approach, because it seems to me that there are some ideas in my paper that should be better organized. Perhaps, as I suggested before, I could have put more time into the paper so it could have been more organized. Furthermore, my transitions from one topic to the next were a little weak and needed more ideas that flow together instead of jumping from one item to the next.

For the most part I think my paper was not bad. I think I have a lot of good ideas within the paper. However, I was not totally satisfied with my final draft or the grade that I got on it. Like I said, it is not a bad paper at all, but I know that as a writer I can do much better than the work I did on this paper. On my next paper I will strive to write it better and invest more of my time, thought, and attentionto it so that I will be satified with the final product.

Allegory and Banking Concept

In the stories by Freire and Plato, both represent the idea of knowlege and how it is obtained by discussing the student teacher relationship.The banking concept, addressed my Freire, suggests that teachers are all knowing simply because they are the authority figures, and that the students are basically ignorant because they do not have the same knowlege as the teacher. The most systematic approach to learning seems to be the technique in which the teacher gives the student information and that they should memorize and trust in everthing the teacher is telling them. It suggests that the teachers should possibly be more open to the concept of letting the students branch out to learn and experiment with their creativity by thinking critically, not just memorizing. Students can memorize nearly anything without actually any of the material.

By using this memorization method to teach the student, had they not truly learned anything, will not know what to expect or even how to deal with real life situations. Plato uses somewhat similar ideas that Freire does. Both essays infer that the ones gaining knowledge are partly limited by their teacher and what theteacher is trying to teach the students. Plato suggests that the teacher can learn from the students as well and that the students are not ignorant. In allowing the students to critically think and express themselves they can teach others and themselves better than using the memorization method.

However, everyone has to be open to having more than just one right answer to a question. If one is not open minded to other thuoghts and ideas how is one to expand their horizons and think more critically and realistically? Each person should attempt to look multiple points of view. although, one is ultimately the only person who can be responsible for determining what is the "truth" or "fact" for themselves.

What A Blog Is And Could Be

A blog is a great way to communicate ones thoughts and ideas with many other people. Not only can we communicate by posting blogs, but also by responding and making comments on other peoples' blogs. Blogging is important because it allows us to share our own ideas and also possibly helps us to gain more knowlege, or even a new perspective on a certain issue(s). If we are open minded and willing to listen to a broad spectrum of ideas and beliefs it can expand our horizons and help us to become well rounded people. In analyzing and trying to understand other peoples' ideas we can better understand the world around us. If we are willing to try to see things in a different perspective we may even be able to better ourselves. Any one thought, idea, or belief that is put out there can cause big changes in the world. All it takes to impact the world in a positive way is to share ones ideas and find others who share their interest on a certain subject. With determination and actions we can change the world and make it a better place for eveyone. It all starts out with an idea. This is what a blog had the potential to be.

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