Q4 Week 5 Comments

Jack C's English 1 Blog 2016

Blog 1

Hits and Misses

     It is hard for me to think about specific pieces of writing that were a hit or a miss. I feel that most of my pieces of writing had hits and misses in them. If I have to pick a hit though, I would pick doing the blog posts. One of the things that worked for me was that I always knew when they were due and what was expected of me. I could make a plan for a time to complete the work. Also, Dr.D's explanations of the requirements were clear. I like the freedom of being able to express my thought while being confident I could make a good grade. I feel i've become a better proofreader and so for my blogs i've become pretty good at turning them in without obvious errors.
     One of the examples of a piece of writing that had both hits and misses in it would be my research paper. One of the hits for it is that I feel like I could do the process much better now. One of the misses in the process was doing the research and the research cards. I missed how I did my cards for use in my paper. I would organize them differently in the future. Another miss in that writing was the I don't think my message was as strong as I wanted it to be. The information was in my head, but it didn't come across the way I intended. That project tortured me.

Anticipating Our Next Book

     The first statement I want to respond to is statement #2, If you are in a position of power, you are happy. I strongly disagree with this statement. I do think power can give a person control and sometimes even wealth. Power, however, does not necessarily mean happiness. Take Papa from the book Purple Hibiscus for example. He is powerful and wealthy, but does he really experience joy or happiness? In this same book Father Amadi seems very happy and he is not a man of power or wealth. People with power may be happy, but it may be easier to find happiness with money and control, but just because someone is powerful does not mean they are happy
     The second statement I want to respond to is statement #4, Who we are--our essential character and temperament--is fixed and unchangeable. This is another statement I disagree with. Although I do think we are born with some of our essential character and temperament, I do not think it is fixed and unchangeable. I think we learn right from wrong from our parents and figure out what we believe as we mature and as we grow. I think a persons environment has a great deal to do with how their character and temperament develop. I also think their is goodness in everyone but both our character and our experiences decide weather the good in us comes out or not. Papa in Purple Hibiscus is an example, also he was abused when he lived in the monastery and he abuses his family. If he had not been abused would he still be an abuser? I do not think a persons character and temperament is unchangeable.

Q4 W4 Prompt

     The prompt I chose was, "What places do you remember fondly from your childhood?" I chose this prompt because I can remember a lot of places fondly from when I was younger. Of course, I love Disney World. I traveled there for the first time with what I call my "chosen family". Ever since then I know when I go back to Disney World I am going to be stress free and happy. But I also have fond memories of visiting my grandmother in her nursing home. My parents would let me go to the vending machine to get a bag of yummy cookies. Then I would crawl all over my grandmother's chair and bed and eat cookies! That is a good memory for me. 

     I also have fond memories of going to the beach with my family including my aunt, uncle and cousins. We go every year on July 4th to celebrate my other grandmother's fourth of July birthday. Now that my grandmother has passed away we still go together and celebrate. But probably the place that is my favorite memory from childhood is going to Maine in the summer when my grandmother could still travel. We would take her to see her family up north and stay in Maine at fun places with my cousins. I have great memories from those trips and I will never forget them.  

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Q4 W4 Reading challenges

    One of the biggest challenges I have had reading this book is that I read slowly when I am reading for comprehension and we are given a lot to read almost every night. Even though the book is good and interesting I am tired after practice and other homework so it can be hard to enjoy the reading when I am focused on keeping up with the assigned reading.  One of the things I am doing to make the book more enjoyable is writing the reading responses instead of doing annotations. I think this has really helped me enjoy the book more. Another thing I am doing is after I read I sometimes listen to the book over the weekends. It makes the harder words easier and interesting. I especially like the names pronounced for me in the beginning of the book so that I have that with me when I continue to read. I think those two things have been the most effective for me in reading this challenging book.