Formal Reveiw, What did you like about having a blog in a reading and writing course?

During taking English 100 the task of blogging was introduced. At first I was just a little skeptical, about how it was going to work in a reading/writing class. I liked the whole idea, because to me the thought of not having to write extra was great. After doing my first blog my opinion changed, as I started to type and neared the end of the post I realized that it wasn't all that bad. The blog enabled me to put my opinion down in a more convient way than writing it on paper, yet I was still writing in a different form. I really enjoyed writing blogs, as it also made me feel more comfortable writing my papers. The blogging was simple and easy to understand, and made it even more enjoyable to write without having to write something on paper by hand.

Evaluation of Task 4

What is the thesis for your paper?
How my view on reading has changed, and the importance of it from elementary school to college.
-Reading in the past living through time reading has been a major part of life, without realizing it i was reading and and becoming educated everyday of my life.

List the main points you make in your paper.
-Growing up with reading in the past and future.
-Jordan's essay Becoming Educated it gave me a new vision on reading.
-From elementary through up to college I have been becoming educated through reading material.

What was the most helpful advice you received from your peer evaluation?
-I was not present for the peer review but I was able to have my girlfriend look at it. Brittany was able to help me understand a little better of what I was writing, as well as help with my punctuation, and grammar usage.

What was the most helpful information you received in class for your paper?
-Being able to receive help in class and get ideas of what to write about for the task 4 assignment.

How many drafts of this paper do you think you wrote and how/when did you write them?
-In this task I actually had to break down notes and ideas of what to write before I actually sat down and wrote task four rough draft on paper. After getting a clear idea of what I was going to write I sat down and wrote this paper in a two day period as I struggled with task paper.

What would you do differently with this paper to make it more effectively, or what did you try to do that you just don't think you got a good handle on?
-If I could of I probably would of spent more time on it, I felt kinda rushed as other classes had papers due, and I wanted to try and get this one right knowing it wasn't going to be looked at by someone who really gives views on the paper.

What are most pleased with about this paper?
- I believe on this paper, I was able to relate to the essay pretty well I believe and was able to show some supporting detail.

Richard Rodriguez questions for reflection and writing

My relationship with books is not a big one, I usually try to avoid reading if at all cost. Throughout growing up I have never had reading pushed on me, or have someone really control what I read, except for like 4th grade when we were given incentive to read and write book reports. If we did do the task of actually reading the book and doing the book report we would receive a book it which was like a coupon you could use at pizza hut for a reward, of you reading the book. Throughout school I have also been distant from reading because through my elementary and Jr high school years It came to my attention that I had a speech problem, one that I still do today though not as bad. I had to take a speech class for stuttering, something that has always been embarrassing to me, and what made it worse was I had to read aloud in class were other students would make fun and laugh at me of course. After that I don't really read unless it's over an assignment or something I love to do. Like Rodriguez my aunt and my mom were both avid readers. Though they never forced it on me, and knew if they did it would of been pointless because I probably wouldn't of even tried to read any of the books. Throughout the years I have improved on that concept now  I'll read an assignment and not even think about it, now being back in school and having been through so much I have the desire to take it upon myself and read. Like Rodriguez in a way as well when I read thing's I didn't always comprehend things to well. Through time I have learned to do so, I remember on the day of my registering I was nervous about taking a place test for reading. Going into that test I stayed confident that I could read the material and understand it and that's exactly what I did testing out of reading something I probably would of never done before. As time goes on we all use reading in some form whether be at school, work, or on the Internet you have to read. Rodriguez was bound to read even  though his parent's didn't really approve of it. My aunt in the same way kinda helped discouraging me from reading, and do what I had to do to get by. I didn't like the idea of that and decided to start reading on something I enjoy. No, it may not of been big classics, but just book on cars mostly and some scary, though my favorite book is white fang. Rodriguez and I have things in common, Though now things are a little different, with time reading changes as so did Rodriguez and so am I..

Douglas Question Reflection and Writing

Douglas story and my story are different because of how he had to learn and how I learned. I was offered schooling out of a public school and access to technology that was not offered then. My environment usually a friendly one, was with a teacher and other classmates who I could look up to or speak with about school. Attending a school were race was not an issue and, not having to run and hide while trying to learn and become educated. Douglas was a slave and was only offered reading and writing while under certain people. He did not have the option of attending a school with other students and teachers. He while reading a newspaper would get it taken away, because if he learned it was looked down upon. Slave owners were afraid of a slave becoming educated as they may become smarter or more knowledgeable than that of the slave owner. He had to come up with other ways to learn and become creative to do so. Douglas and I don't really have any similarities even though being of African American descent, I never had to struggle to receive education. I was also taught by a teacher which he was not offered, he was his own teacher in the ideas he came up with to learn.

Self-Evalutation Task Three

What is the thesis for your paper?

I thought I had the class in the bag that is until one day she kept me after and dropped a changing letter from the alphabet on me the F word.

List the main points you make in your paper.

How my teacher Mrs. Evans brought to my attention I would fail her class.
That students, teachers, and parents need to take school more seriously
If being told I was going to fail helped me in the long run.

What was the most helpful advice you received from your peer evaluation?

In this peer review some of the smaller things were pointed out to me such as commas, spelling, and usage of my words.

What was the most helpful information you received in class for your paper?

In class the one thing that helped was the example paper to give me somewhat of an idea of how to write this paper.

How many drafts of this paper do you think you wrote and how/when did you write them? 

I had 3 drafts one I combined 2 of the essay's, but didn't like it then did the other 2 over the F Word.

What would you do differently with this paper to make it more effectively, or what did you try to do that you just don’t think you got a good handle on?

I think it would of been more effective if I could of used 2 essays, I was unsure of how to combine them and tried but it didn't turn out.

What are you most pleased with about this paper?

I was pleased about my sentence structure, I believe I did better on it and made improvement with the use of my words and grammar such as their, and there.

Experiences with reading and writing

  English 100, not what I had expected. When I came into this class I was worried about if I was going to struggle, and really have to fight to succeed in this class. I have never been big on reading and writing just always would barely do what I had to in order to get by. I was wrong in this case this course has showed me that reading and writing can be useful in personal gain, as in releasing feelings or just being able to express what you know in a different format. I came in thinking I was going to be writing paper after paper which I have in a way, but nothing has gone as bad as I thought it would. Working with Blogger.com has been a amazing experience and something that I have enjoyed in my writing. Other student essays that I have read have helped me to see that it is ok too put yourself out there, and whatever has gone on in your life you shouldn't be ashamed of, as we all are different and have our own experiences, and opinions on issues. Sometimes during reading an essay I wouldn't understand but through class discussions it has helped me to understand more of what I have read or will read in the future. Not only can I write a paper now, but can read a essay and analyze and summarize it after reading. That is something before if you asked me to do I would of just looked at you with the expression of what the heck are you talking about. Now that I have taken this course I feel that I have learned things I didn't know, and things I have forgotten. I can now actually sit and read an essay and not stop until I have completed the reading and I have a full understanding of it. My writing as came from nowhere because of this course, and having a teacher that actually relates to you as a student and will acknowledge if struggling. By writing these papers it has helped me out in my other classes as I wasn't getting the grades I wanted on other papers written for rest of my classes. I have come to enjoy reading in a way and writing, and just how I can release and how I fell and see how many people I can actually relate to with there fillings, past experience, struggles, and happy moments of overcoming the fear of something.

Reflection task #3

I have decided on  writing about In "Becoming Educated" by Barbara Jordan, and "In Praise of the F Word", by Marry Sherry. As I also went through trials in education. Mine were not the same as she put in alot of time and work into her education. My education really didn't go to the plus side until now while being in college. While in my middle school years, and high school I had the I don't care attitude towards school, but had high hopes at the time to pursue a career in art. I always took the time during class to work on projects or assignments from Art Instruction Schools. After completion of the Art school in 2003, as well as graduating high school as was at a stand still and did not know were to go from there. As the Art field didn't play out as planned and I didn't take my high school years seriously. Jordan wrote "I could not afford to flunk", throughout my high school years I couldn't afford to flunk, so I did what I had to too get by in school. But for some reason I worked hard and put all my time into art. Now because I am paying the consequence and have to work harder now than ever before while working a full time job. As well as other factors that played out through my school years, some other topics are I was one of two African American kids in one of the schools I was enrolled in. How I was behind after moving from 2 different communities, and cultures. How Being a athlete in school led me to become more educated, after being told the F word.