Today we all turn in our final portfolio this brought to mind the song, this is the end by the doors. Inserted are the lyrics to the song. Enjoy and good luck to everyone on the portfolios!!
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
Ill never look into your eyes...again
Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need...of some...strangers hand
In a...desperate land
Lost in a roman...wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane
All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain, yeah
Theres danger on the edge of town
Ride the kings highway, baby
Weird scenes inside the gold mine
Ride the highway west, baby
Ride the snake, ride the snake
To the lake, the ancient lake, baby
The snake is long, seven miles
Ride the snake...hes old, and his skin is cold
The west is the best
The west is the best
Get here, and well do the rest
The blue bus is callin us
The blue bus is callin us
Driver, where you taken us
The killer awoke before dawn, he put his boots on
He took a face from the ancient gallery
And he walked on down the hall
He went into the room where his sister lived, and...then he
Paid a visit to his brother, and then he
He walked on down the hall, and
And he came to a door...and he looked inside
Father, yes son, I want to kill you
Mother...i want to...fuck you
Cmon baby, take a chance with us
Cmon baby, take a chance with us
Cmon baby, take a chance with us
And meet me at the back of the blue bus
Doin a blue rock
On a blue bus
Doin a blue rock
Cmon, yeah
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
It hurts to set you free
But youll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die
Monday, May 4, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
blog reflection
In this course we have been making comments on this blog regularly every week ever since this class started. Posting our opinions on things such as what problems we had in this course and what we thought the meaning of words like genre were. How about we write about the blog thought or how it and the locations that we are at affect how we write and what we write about?
The technology we use is amazing. We all have a website called blogger that we have access to and anytime we want we can post something on there. Its cool because anyone else who can log into that site can see what we have to say. For this blogger site thought we don’t just post anything we want. I mean some people do but usually our teacher has a certain task we have to write and blog. That task could be for us to say what we think a definition of a word is, like the genre. Then we all would post what we thought the definition of the word was. When we would go to where all the posts are at we can see many of the other responses our classmates had or even ones of others, if they were assigned the same question.
When seeing others responses to what the teacher asked us to post about he helps us. It helps us because it shows us if what we said is similar to what others said. They don’t have to be similar as in being word for word but be similar in ideas. We see if our main ideas are alike. If they are alike it makes someone like myself feel good because I feel confident because I say things like, “Oh I’m not the only person who thinks like that” or “I can’t be too wrong because here goes someone else who said something similar to what I said.” If I was to see that too many of our responses are pretty close to being alike I would think something is wrong. I would think that maybe we all are just answering the question and not putting our opinion down because if we all were to put our opinion down at least some would be different because we all don’t think alike. Also the blog affects how we write an essay about something like. Like definition of genre, if my definition of genre was to look different from everyone else’s then I would probably have my essay work around the definition of what others thought genre was and what seemed right to myself.
The Location we were at while posting on the blog most of the time was in class. The teacher would write down what he wanted us to post on the blog and we would do that, right after he got done explaining to us. Our classroom had a lot of mac books (a kind of laptop) so we all would be able to get connected to the internet and post on the blog right from there. While posting in the classroom it kind of changes the way I feel because its something I have to do right away. Its not something I could just put off to the side and say I’m going to do another time. When doing it right away it helps gather first thoughts and how I initially feel about what our teacher is asking us to do. For example when he asked us to post what we thought the definition of genre was. If I was to see people looking confused I that would give me a reaction of thinking that maybe this won’t as easy as it sounds or that maybe I’m not thinking about it hard enough. Doing the blog during class helps with getting reactions right away and knowing how other classmates feel in person.
Before doing blogs in class I really thought writing was just doing what the assignment asked you to do. I used to just read what the assignment was and do exactly what it was asked with little effort. After seeing posts and doing more assignments I came to realize that I should incorporate what I think about things. That’s what most of our blogs asked us to do, was mainly to state what we thought something was. With combination of using the technology and using our classroom I feel that I have become a better writer because I say what is going through my mind and share my opinion instead of being straight forward with the assignment.
The technology we use is amazing. We all have a website called blogger that we have access to and anytime we want we can post something on there. Its cool because anyone else who can log into that site can see what we have to say. For this blogger site thought we don’t just post anything we want. I mean some people do but usually our teacher has a certain task we have to write and blog. That task could be for us to say what we think a definition of a word is, like the genre. Then we all would post what we thought the definition of the word was. When we would go to where all the posts are at we can see many of the other responses our classmates had or even ones of others, if they were assigned the same question.
When seeing others responses to what the teacher asked us to post about he helps us. It helps us because it shows us if what we said is similar to what others said. They don’t have to be similar as in being word for word but be similar in ideas. We see if our main ideas are alike. If they are alike it makes someone like myself feel good because I feel confident because I say things like, “Oh I’m not the only person who thinks like that” or “I can’t be too wrong because here goes someone else who said something similar to what I said.” If I was to see that too many of our responses are pretty close to being alike I would think something is wrong. I would think that maybe we all are just answering the question and not putting our opinion down because if we all were to put our opinion down at least some would be different because we all don’t think alike. Also the blog affects how we write an essay about something like. Like definition of genre, if my definition of genre was to look different from everyone else’s then I would probably have my essay work around the definition of what others thought genre was and what seemed right to myself.
The Location we were at while posting on the blog most of the time was in class. The teacher would write down what he wanted us to post on the blog and we would do that, right after he got done explaining to us. Our classroom had a lot of mac books (a kind of laptop) so we all would be able to get connected to the internet and post on the blog right from there. While posting in the classroom it kind of changes the way I feel because its something I have to do right away. Its not something I could just put off to the side and say I’m going to do another time. When doing it right away it helps gather first thoughts and how I initially feel about what our teacher is asking us to do. For example when he asked us to post what we thought the definition of genre was. If I was to see people looking confused I that would give me a reaction of thinking that maybe this won’t as easy as it sounds or that maybe I’m not thinking about it hard enough. Doing the blog during class helps with getting reactions right away and knowing how other classmates feel in person.
Before doing blogs in class I really thought writing was just doing what the assignment asked you to do. I used to just read what the assignment was and do exactly what it was asked with little effort. After seeing posts and doing more assignments I came to realize that I should incorporate what I think about things. That’s what most of our blogs asked us to do, was mainly to state what we thought something was. With combination of using the technology and using our classroom I feel that I have become a better writer because I say what is going through my mind and share my opinion instead of being straight forward with the assignment.
blog reflection
Blog Reflection
Blogging is an up and coming art which has revolutionized the way people express themselves drastically. Since the start of the internet age blogging has grown sporadically, ranging from the younger more technological generation to the older generations. Blogging is a much different form of expression compared to what students are normally accustomed to. This fairly recent introduction of blogging has revolutionized the way of expression.
The advance in technology has effected how we interact with each other and socially. Just as a previous blog assignment has stated the culture and art of facebook statuses has a profound impact on how people express themselves socially, even if it maybe in a cyber world setting. Much of what students are used to doing is looking at an assignment then managing to work their way though it by any means possible. This new introduction of blogging opens up more opinion and expression for the students to utilize. Differing from the normal style of writing blogging has no guideline as to what you are expected to write. Blogging can vary from person to person and the students or bloggers are not expected to write at a certain level. The technology we use today eliminated the fears people have on presenting their thoughts and feelings in front of others. In the past people are expected to hand in an assignment and then the class read it or in some circumstances the writer is expected to present their writing to a select number of students. But by using this method of writing the author is kept anonymous to everyone other then the teacher. This way the student is free to write down whatever they may feel is on their mind on any subject without the fear of what others will think.
This method of blogging as opposed to writing up a normal assignment has completely changed the way I look at writing. In past courses I have noticed that writing down an assignment seems to be a chore which everyone dreads to do but it’s an obligation unless you want to get some sort of negative repercussion. The idea of blogging ends up taking away this feeling and making it into more of an “ok I get to jot down my own ideas and fully express my thoughts” feeling. After looking back at my posts I realize that my writing has changed drastically, I have evolved from a person who writes mainly in a monotone manor to a writer who can express his thoughts without any worries. Writing in the blog format has deepened my outlook on different concepts of my writing, and it has also shifted my way of thought completely. I have gone from a introvert type of writer to more of an extrovert writer. When I seem to look back at others papers I see that there is a huge difference between the writing styles. I tend to get the impression that due to our lifestyle and culture as Americans we are expected to impress other people with our different skills. That I realize is a downfall in this culture, blogging really helps in the reversal of this age old cultural habit. People in this age need to more expressive and therefore I feel that the introduction of the blog into the class room was a wonderful idea and it has improved my writing drastically, I have became more expressive and less worrisome as to the judgments of other people.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The Effects of Blogging
The Effects of Blogging
Bogging is an interesting technology and tool that’s being used by many different groups. It’s an on-line forum where people can share ideas and different images. For our English 101 Class, students were instructed to write about their ideas of how blogging has effected how we write, what we write, and to share how blogging has changed/deepened our ideas that we had about writing. Personally, I have not enjoyed blogging. I’m trying to understand why I don’t enjoy it. Doing the assignments in English 101 is the first time I’ve ever blogged. Naturally, after posting a few assignments, I’ve become more comfortable with it. But, I still don’t like it.
I think blogging directly affects what we write and how we write. For each assignment, we were asked to write about specific things pertaining to writing, such as identifying and creating genre and techniques. The assignments I posted are not things that I would usually write or talk about. So, the assignments identified my topics to write about, and I was given the opportunity to share my personal thoughts, experiences and opinions about the topics. The ways in which I wrote for each blog posted was also affected by knowing that the instructor and classmates could/would read what I wrote. Some of my discomfort comes from wondering if I was meeting the instructor’s expectations, and wondering what my classmates would think. So far this semester, I have posted a total of six blogs. Most of the blogs were short and did not provide a lot of information. In retrospect, I think I didn’t write a lot because I really didn’t want to do the assignments; and (except for the essay Identifying Genre where I posted one statement) I felt I made my points, and met the instructor’s expectations. Two of the essays I actually enjoyed writing, but did not care for posting them on the blog. The two assignments: Universal Texts and Arguing for Genre, were essays in which I talked about things that were of interest to me: my personal art. This made a big difference in how I felt about the writings, opposed to writing about Kruger’s Prints which I initially knew nothing about and had very little interest in.
Another factor that effected my writing on the blog was my attitudes and opinions about my classmates. Recognizing that I’m older than all of them, and old enough to be their grandmother, directly impacted my feelings and thoughts of what to say to this audience. This forced me to stay focused on the assignments and topics, and not to talk much about my personal experiences and things of interest to me. In retrospect, this created problems for me, and greatly contributed to my discomforts with writing my essays and posting them on the blog. I kept thinking this audience is not interested in my personal life and work experiences, and other things I would share and address with an audience my own age. I recognize that if I was blogging for an audience that had some of the same interests that I do, and if I was blogging about things that I am specifically interested in, such as community work and social justice, learning to blog would have been a very different experience for me. While believing that my classmates would not be interested in what I have to say, I also felt I was not interested in what they had to say. I think we’re suffering from generational and cultural differences. This is not a bad thing, it’s just what it is.
Finally, even though blogging has not been a very pleasant experience, I’ve learned a lot from the class, especially about genre. And, the class has made me really think about my writing style, skills, different types of writing and techniques. All that I’ve learn will definitely help me to be a better writer. And for this, I’m grateful.
Bogging is an interesting technology and tool that’s being used by many different groups. It’s an on-line forum where people can share ideas and different images. For our English 101 Class, students were instructed to write about their ideas of how blogging has effected how we write, what we write, and to share how blogging has changed/deepened our ideas that we had about writing. Personally, I have not enjoyed blogging. I’m trying to understand why I don’t enjoy it. Doing the assignments in English 101 is the first time I’ve ever blogged. Naturally, after posting a few assignments, I’ve become more comfortable with it. But, I still don’t like it.
I think blogging directly affects what we write and how we write. For each assignment, we were asked to write about specific things pertaining to writing, such as identifying and creating genre and techniques. The assignments I posted are not things that I would usually write or talk about. So, the assignments identified my topics to write about, and I was given the opportunity to share my personal thoughts, experiences and opinions about the topics. The ways in which I wrote for each blog posted was also affected by knowing that the instructor and classmates could/would read what I wrote. Some of my discomfort comes from wondering if I was meeting the instructor’s expectations, and wondering what my classmates would think. So far this semester, I have posted a total of six blogs. Most of the blogs were short and did not provide a lot of information. In retrospect, I think I didn’t write a lot because I really didn’t want to do the assignments; and (except for the essay Identifying Genre where I posted one statement) I felt I made my points, and met the instructor’s expectations. Two of the essays I actually enjoyed writing, but did not care for posting them on the blog. The two assignments: Universal Texts and Arguing for Genre, were essays in which I talked about things that were of interest to me: my personal art. This made a big difference in how I felt about the writings, opposed to writing about Kruger’s Prints which I initially knew nothing about and had very little interest in.
Another factor that effected my writing on the blog was my attitudes and opinions about my classmates. Recognizing that I’m older than all of them, and old enough to be their grandmother, directly impacted my feelings and thoughts of what to say to this audience. This forced me to stay focused on the assignments and topics, and not to talk much about my personal experiences and things of interest to me. In retrospect, this created problems for me, and greatly contributed to my discomforts with writing my essays and posting them on the blog. I kept thinking this audience is not interested in my personal life and work experiences, and other things I would share and address with an audience my own age. I recognize that if I was blogging for an audience that had some of the same interests that I do, and if I was blogging about things that I am specifically interested in, such as community work and social justice, learning to blog would have been a very different experience for me. While believing that my classmates would not be interested in what I have to say, I also felt I was not interested in what they had to say. I think we’re suffering from generational and cultural differences. This is not a bad thing, it’s just what it is.
Finally, even though blogging has not been a very pleasant experience, I’ve learned a lot from the class, especially about genre. And, the class has made me really think about my writing style, skills, different types of writing and techniques. All that I’ve learn will definitely help me to be a better writer. And for this, I’m grateful.
Blog Reflection
I remember on the first day when our teacher told the class that part of our participation grade was us writing in a blog. I have never written in a blog and to tell you the truth I didn’t know what a blog was all about. So I was kind of nervous and didn’t know what to expect.
Technology has certainly come a long way, especially how we write down our thoughts and ideas. Who would of thought 10 years ago or so students will be using laptops in English class to better their understanding of writing? Better yet, who would of thought we were going to be using laptops in English? Technology I believe made people express themselves more because in the technology world you don’t have to say who you are. You can just make up some random name and nobody would know your real name. That gives a lot of people comfort and enables them to say how they really feel. I believe the blog did that for me. I always worried about what people say about my ideas and beliefs. So having a secret identity on the blog enabled me to be myself. Even though I didn’t do the weekly blog postings, when I did I felt comfortable and brave to say what I want.
As I look back at my postings I do see a change of how I approached them individually. In the beginning I was a little skeptical about how this would help me be a better writer. Then as we went through the semester I learned the answer. The blog did help me be a better writer. I got to look at other people’s ideas and thoughts, which helped me think outside of my normal thinking. I got to learn what genre is, which was an interesting thing to touch on because a lot of people have a different ideas of what genre really is. The blog showed me those different ideas and it really broadened my horizons.
Technology has certainly come a long way, especially how we write down our thoughts and ideas. Who would of thought 10 years ago or so students will be using laptops in English class to better their understanding of writing? Better yet, who would of thought we were going to be using laptops in English? Technology I believe made people express themselves more because in the technology world you don’t have to say who you are. You can just make up some random name and nobody would know your real name. That gives a lot of people comfort and enables them to say how they really feel. I believe the blog did that for me. I always worried about what people say about my ideas and beliefs. So having a secret identity on the blog enabled me to be myself. Even though I didn’t do the weekly blog postings, when I did I felt comfortable and brave to say what I want.
As I look back at my postings I do see a change of how I approached them individually. In the beginning I was a little skeptical about how this would help me be a better writer. Then as we went through the semester I learned the answer. The blog did help me be a better writer. I got to look at other people’s ideas and thoughts, which helped me think outside of my normal thinking. I got to learn what genre is, which was an interesting thing to touch on because a lot of people have a different ideas of what genre really is. The blog showed me those different ideas and it really broadened my horizons.
Life on the blog
Usually, when I see somehting like this, a blog it is for my own personal reasons not for school it gets to be something that is not easy to understand anymore. When writing on a blog you take out your thoughts, and I have gotten my thoughts on here, I talked about things I went through over the past semester, I talked about how my weeks went how they were diffrent or just abnormal in some way. But to write about something that you put down on the net that most likely just came out of your head for that specific day and then put them all toegther and say wht you have learned is somewhat difficult. I saw writing about the blog as a good thing you get out thoughts that you canot say all the time or you rant, mostly of what I am doing right now, but it is something that you go through writing on a blog. Writing on a blog would in our time of this centruy is how people in the 1930s kept journals or wrote in diaries about experiences, that's what I see it as a way to keep our experiences on record and to learn from them or look at them in the future. Writing on the blog has given me a diffrent way of writing, that I know has changed I would usually write more proper about a topic other than personal life or to even get personal, but writing on a blog early in the morning, I guess that can do that to a fellow.
blog reflection : what did i get?
Writing a blog is like keeping a journal except this blog is designed for English class. The purpose of this blog is for students in the class to contribute thought and experiences about writing. Throughout this semester, I have participated in blog activities and learned from others through the blog. On the blog I have posted my experiences and my thoughts for the English. With my posts I have gotten various feedbacks which have helped me with my writing process. The pieces of writing in on the blogs vary in topic and sometimes focus on one topic. When all the posts are about one topic which usually is in-class exercise, I learn more about that topic from other people in class. I found blog the most useful when we were writing about definition of genre and the meaning of Kruger’s prints. Although we discussed in class about Kruger’s prints and her style, it amazed me about how people apply these ideas to create their own definition. Reading others’ posts, I can see many sides of one topic from different views. I sometimes use this blog as resources for my papers. People also share their writing experiences on the blog; therefore, I indirectly learn their experiences and apply them to my papers. Blog is also a place to speak your thought without worrying about right or wrong. Blogging forces me to think and reflect in order to write so my ideas become concrete. I think I can benefit more from the blog if everyone and I voluntarily contribute more in writing on the blog. Since many people in our class treat blog exercise as assignment that has to be done, the quality of blog is lessened. Because blog exercises just require bloggers to post something on blog, some bloggers just type random things which become irrelevant to the purpose of the blog. Another purpose for the blog is getting comment from other about your work. The assignment we did where we were asked to comment on others, I receive some useful comment about my post. However, if we are not asked, no one will make any comments. I myself think that the blog can be used as a helpful tool for writing if everyone participates enthusiastically. However, being a student, we spend more time doing homework and don’t have time to participate in blog. I personally would like the instructor to comment more about our post on the blog as a way of giving feedback about our writing.
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