Looking back on what we have accomplished

In the class we have done a lot of writing and reading and then writing about the reading some of it has been interesting and some of it has not been interesting.  All of the activity’s in class being able to talk to more people about the work and then helping each other be showing them where we thank that they can make it better has been really beneficial in helping us develop our writing skills.  Some of the main topics that where most noticeable were 1.1 where is says to produce texts using the appropriate formats which was in about every paper we wrote, 1.3 summarize reading, and 1.5 which is to follow a thesis statement.  There are more but those where the most noticeable to me.

For 1.1 we had to do in every single essay for the most part since it seemed you were more looking for the parts about are we able to keep the readers on track with a reasonable tone where someone could read through the paper and not forget what the topic is or to not get lost and sort of see your view point on how you looked at the reading.  For in the first easy where we had to write about the banking concept I know I made a lot of grammar mistakes and then I tried to make my next easy have less grammar mistakes by looking at the feedback that you gave and talking to you in class.

In the second assignment you invited us to go another way in the style of our writing this seemed to go with the documentation style portion of 1.1 where we get a style that still flows together and has a tone that is still recognizable.  For this one I started to write it in a different style then I normal do but I could not get it to sound like me and I could not find out a way to contrive my thoughts in a different way then I normally do.  I ended up starting over on the paper writing it in the same manner as the first assignment where it sounded more like myself and not a bunch of garbled words.

Now we have all of the blog post that we have had to write for the class.  This also goes with the style in 1.1 where we are writing in a less formal environment where we are able to convey ideals in a more fluid way more like when you are talking to the person and able to put more emotion into the writing.  This is what I got out of the blog post.  Also with the blog’s we were introduced to another form of communication that some of us are not used to using and took us more out of our comfort zone then normal and this was a good experience where we need to know about all the different forms of communication ideals to one another.

Evolution of Toys

For this info-graphic I thought it was very interesting for it shows the evolution of popular toys over the years.  This infographic shows the evolution in a very traditional way in that it is just a timeline so you can see how much it changes over the years.  The infographic does not have very many woods and the woods that are used are just there to tell you what year it came out.  I do not thank that there is much of an argument in the infographic but if I had to make an argument for it is that it would be a very good help when you are trying to argue that kids are using less of a creative mind and more of just entertainment. 

Well how the infographic uses words with the pictures is that it is chowing you what year and what toy was popular that year is all that is uses the words for and the layout is just like a timeline so it is very hard for you to get lost in the year that you are and the layout very nicely that you can understand what it is showing.  If you had this as a normal report is would most likely be just a list and there might be a little description of the item explaining what is and what is looks like so people would be able to understand what they are.  For a lot of people showing a picture of the toy reminds them of what the toy is and if they have used it before.

This can easily just be called a timeline of toys but you need to look at what the infographic is saying and look at the toys that are the most popular at the time to see that there is a theme that is going on at the toys evolve and that is that they are getting less and less toys and game that use the imagination instead they are going towards there they are just for entertainment for you started with toys that you had to come up with scenarios yourself and use your imagination to come up with the scenarios that you will need to play with multiply people which would also increase you social skills and your curative skills at the same time since you are using for of your mind than just the part that you need to process information and relay it back.

The design of the infographic is very easy to follow but would best be used in connection to another argument if you were trying to show how the evolution of toys as changed over the past fifty years also if you wanted to show how technology has changed is our everyday lives and how now it seems like there is no way in getting away from it for it seems like even the younger kids that they can do very little without technology even to keep their selves entertained. This infographic can be taken in many different arguments depending on the way someone wants to look at it.  For this article it seemed like it was more towards the evolution of toys along with technology in how it has changed our daily lives and that of younger generations and on how we are teaching the younger generations.

How language is viewed today

Language has changed throughout history and you can see it even today that it is changing from what the older generations used to talk and how the newer generations talk.  My parents are from the seventies so I have gotten used to the way they talk and how the other people of my family talk.  For one major difference is the term girlfriend for my parents and other people of my family this only means a female friend but when I am talking to people around the same age as me this means that you are going out with the person and I have to remind myself who I am talking to when I am going to use this term for both generations look at the term in a different perspective. 

I know that some of the older generation can tell what us younger generations are talking about but since we now live in a world that technology is a big thing and that it has changed the way we speak.  For you can get on sites that will give you a bunch of made up definitions for phrases.  Then whenever you talk to someone or at least whenever I do and the person is using something other than normal speaking (in terms of what I am used to hearing) I do not even have a clue about what they are talking about sometimes even after I ask them to explain it to me.

Now on to books I have noticed that people are moving away from books and other items that use you mind as technology get more and more incorporated into our daily lives.  I play trading card games and they require some reading to find out what the card does.  I like to teach people how to play and they always ask me what the card does even though I keep telling them that all they need to do is read the card and if they are still confused after reading the card then ask me to explain it to me.  I tried to teach my younger cousin how to play over spring break and I found out that he does not like to read one bit and the type of games he like are simple games that take like zero brain power to play.  On the other hand I love games that cause you to thank and use your mind. 

I know that within school systems that teachers are having to incorporate more technology into the classroom just to explain the same things and I believe that some of the teachers that have been working for quite a wile are having a harder time adjusting to the different social habits that the younger generations have more than the younger teachers that are just starting to teach or have only been teaching for a couple a years of so.  I have some family that in their schools that they go to that they are having the kids have iPad’s to hold all of their books and having them do their homework online and turning it in electronically. 

Even just talking to each other is harder to do now since almost everyone has a cell phone and people to not like to talk face to face anymore so it is harder to gage someone’s actually take on a subject for we have taken almost all emotion out of conversations with texting and talking on the phone and not enough talking to each other is a civilized manner where you can see each other and read their body language to tell more about what they actually fill on a subject.  Technology has changed the way we communicate and too many people have taken this for granted and have gotten lazy when it comes to use their mind in curative way or just picking up a book and reading it to keep yourself busy on that five hour long car ride that you have to take to go on vacation.  There are too few people that actually see the benefits of technology and see the huge downside that it has on the social community and other aspects of our life when people just uses it as an easy way of escape and abuses it.

Up Till Now

               For the begging of the class I had a little trouble connecting the decisions with the items that I write about now I am thinking about how the discussions can help with other items in the class and also a little bit on other areas outside of the classroom.  Since I first started the class I mostly read books that interested me but since I have been reading the articles I have had to find new ways to read the challenging articles that are assigned in class by reading them slower and actually taking a little breather about every 15 minutes or so to thank about what I just read and to piece together what the article is trying to tell me and what they are hinting at and trying to make you think about.  This has also effected how I read my normal novels as well by reading them a little more slowly I am able to pull out more details the first time I read it.  I have also been having to reread the articles to make since of them instead of waiting like a year or two before I reread a normal novel.

               The discussions have helped in the class and have made it a lot easier to write the papers and give me ideals on what to write about and how to structure my paragraphs a little better.  They have also made it where I am able to expand a little easier when trying to find out what I am going to say and expand on it a little farther then I would normally when I am just talking to someone for I have never really liked writing long papers but the discussions that we have had in class have made it easier and more interested trying to get more of my thoughts down on paper.  By writing these papers and going over on how to write better has helped me in some of my other classes where I have needed to write lab write-ups telling about what we did in the lab and how I came up with the final conclusion.

               By having the discussions in class that are more open and we are trying to find the answers ourselves by discussing what the point is and having little debates on defending our own point of view about it has made it easier to find ways to write the papers and making it where we need to read the texts a little more closely to understand the articles.  This has changed my reading pattern a little to where I would read for like an hour or two then take a brake by finding time throughout the day and reading a little here and a little there then reading it again and try and get it done in one sitting where I am thanking on how the section that I am on connects to the parts that come before it and the parts that come after it for I usually do not thank about what is coming up in a book even though I know some people enjoy trying to gees what is going to happen in the book before you get to that point in other words trying to find out what it is foreshadowing.

               I have really enjoyed this class and how it applies to my other classes and has also made me think about how I am reading and writing not only for this class but other areas that I have to read or write about something that I thank is boring at first glance but is actually a little interesting in how it challenges you to come up with ways to write about the topic.

                                                                                                                                                                     

secrets

               For Our Secrets by Susan Griffin I do not understand just about any of it for to me it seems that she jumps around from topic to topic but she does always come back to talking about the cell.  This article if you can call it one talks about the evolution of man for the most part and talks about what humans do from day to day.  For the closest thing that I can thank of for this article is that it is a contact zone for we are talking about Germany but the Americans are the ones that invented the nukes and atomic bombs.  This paper is a little bit on the boring side for you can never really tell what it is talking about at least I really could not find out heads or tells of most of the article.  For even though throw-out the article she talks about the makeup of the cell and this is even a little hard to understand if you if you do not know much about the cell and what it is made up of for just about after each topic she goes back onto a little paragraph talking about a different part of the cell.

               This story starts off on its tangent from first talking about someone talking about their father and about the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.  From there it talks about nuclear missiles and V-1 rockets which it says are the first homing missiles.  From there she goes on from talking about learning on what questions to ask.  I can only thank that she means that you need to be critical conciseness when you are thinking about what questions you need to ask in order to get the information that you want to get and to get the results that you are looking for.  This also supports that she is going from one topic to another but able to keep it on topic even though it seems that she is just going from topic to topic.

               Latter she talks about knowledge and how direct knowledge is the illusion nature of panic.  This ties in very neatly with the baking concept for the information that you gain from learning using the banking concept you will just be showing yourself and illusion for whenever you get into a situation that you were not taught about you would panic and not be able to find the solution to the problem for you would have such a narrow mind that you would not be able to thank for yourself and be able to find your own solution out of the situation that you are in. Then a little farther she talks about someone writing but lacking the knowledge on why they are writing. This is also a good example of the banking concept in that you are only doing what you are told to do so if you are told to write you will write but you will not be able to tell why you are writing or what you are writing for.

               So if you would like to give you brain a workout and find out some more interesting facts and mind twisters that you would like to thank about and wanting find out how something connects to other parts if its own writing read Our Secret by Susan Griffin.  The article is an interesting article once you get past the headache of understand what is says and how it relates to one another.

Scholarship Boy

               The Achievement of Desire by Richard Rodriguez is an example of autoethnographic for it is about a Spanish child going to an American school where we starts out not knowing much English to where it seems like he is losing his Spanish background.  Throughout the article he talks about being a scholarship boy.  Not one that needs help in schooling but one that excels in it.  In the text the boy tells a story about his school career and how he is so successful. 

               At the begging of the story he tells you that his parents helped him be successful and his brother and two sisters helped him for he wanted some trophies that they were bringing home for himself.  Latter in the text he says that his success is from wanting to learn all the way through school.  He starts off with a story that he is in front of the class and his hardly able to speak for he cannot speak the language very good.  This show autoethnographic for he is from Mexico and his having trouble communicating with his fellow students.  This shows us that since he is from somewhere else he is having to find out new ways of expressing himself in order to do good in school.

               Latter he talks about how when he got into the third grade he asked his father to help him with some math homework.  The father kept reading over the directions over and over again trying to understand them but could not.  He eventually took the book away and said that he would try it a little bit longer by himself.  You can also see a gap when he likes to read and his parents could find him reading in some quit place in the house instead of doing some work that he needed to get done.  With all his reading he did end up finding a book about other kids that had the same problems has him and what happened to them positively and negatively.

               As he advances in school he always found ways that he could stay after school and help the teachers for he got along with them more than his own family for he felt that they understood him better.  For he read every book that his grammar teachers told him to read and frequently when back to them and ask them about it and if he should like it.  Once he got into fourth grade he was able to get along with his parents closing the gap in the cultural barrier that now separated him from his parents, brother, and two sisters.

               As he got older and into high school he found it more difficult for people are looking at the person that you were in early years of your educational career and looking at how you have changed.  He faced another barrier where he was still closely to being the same kid as he was in elementary and middle school as he got into high school.  This made another gap that was between him and his fellow classmates.

               All of this are examples of autoethnographic and this text is full of a lot more at the advances in his educational career and beyond.   Even if you thought that this would not be an interesting story just thank how you can relate it to something and you could see how it applies for some people might read this story and thank it had nothing to do with autoehnographic and some people would think that some parts where and some parts where not.  To see what you think about the topic read the article and find out what you think about it.

How writing poor first drafts is like anything else that you want to get good at.

               In the past I have written a lot of papers for school a lot of the time we follow this proses by making multiple drafts and having our classmates go over them.  In a couple of my classes the teacher would put up a short writing assignment that we would need to write about that he was not picking up sometime this was a little practice writing about a bigger assignment that we were going to do and this was just a simple and informal way to get our thoughts down on paper.  

               Friare and Pratt both have a way of saying that learning is about trial and ear and not just memorizing a bunch of facts.  This is like how Lamott is about writing where it is trial and ear where first you get your thoughts down on paper then you go from there by adding stuff to it, taking stuff out, rearranging it to make it sound better.  You would do this like 2 or 3 times or until you get it where you like how it sounds.  I did this with the speech that I had to do over the weekend.  I first made a bulleted list of what I wanted to say then put the bullets in order that I wanted to say them in.  After I did all that I wrote my speech by expanding on each bullet point and putting it into paragraphs.

               Most of the time I fill like how Lamott said how she felt when she wrote her review how she got all scared about someone seeing the draft and thanking that she is a terrible writer.  I fill like this all the time when I am writing for I do not like other people reading my stuff till I have had time to go over it and revise it.  Sometimes I have to put the writing aside for a moment and do something that is totally not related to the paper like play a game for a little or read a book that I happen to be reading at the moment just like how Lamott does with her reviews.

               I also relate this to me shooting a bow for I am starting out with a low powered bow that is easy to pull back so that I can get the bases of my form down and get used to using those muscles.  This is like writing your first draft where you just get everything down on a piece of paper where you are worming up your mind on what you are going to write about and you do not care if you hit your mark or not for you are just getting the form down on how you are going to write the paper.

               I can also relate this to my scouting career for I have been on many outing and each build on each other for when you first start you have no clue on what to take but the more campouts you go on you refine what you need to take and find out what we forgot and make it better for the next trip you are going on.  Also in scouting we just teach you the basics at the beginning then as you move up through the ranks you learn more and find out what needs to be done to make it a better experience for you and the other boys in the troop.

               So writing a poor first draft in not a bad thing for you have to build on something that you first did not know what to do and just keep refining it and practicing to make it better.