December 11, 2009 Final ENG 101 Blog

This week was all about getting our portfolio's ready. We started off monday with getting our portfolio's ready by looking over our own portfolio projects. We continued to look over them, and then we partnered up with a classmate. Myself and a classmate switched our portfolio with our papers and we checked over our papers. We were suppose to point out ways to expand ideas and fix grammatical errors. I made several comment reguarding the structure of the paper, and wrote comments to fix the works cited, as he really didn't have realiable sources. After helping him with the papers I looked at my paper to see what I needed to fix. Then the rest of the week I work on revisions and expanded on ideas, fix grammatical errors, and changed some sentence structure. After looking over my papers I fixed my sources for my paper. I had wikipedia 3 times in a paper, and since it's not a reliable source, I had to change. I looked up some sites and I changed all 3. After fixing my works cited I proofread my papers. I then picked out my blog for my portfolio. For my blog I picked out the one where I discussed the guest speaker who went to Sierre Leone. I felt like a blog about beah was a good choice for my portfolio. After I picked out my blog I picked out my beah discussion post. For the post I picked the one where I discussed when I went to the Beah presentation.

November 29,2009 ENG 101 BLOG

This week was all about getting out 2nd revision done and getting started with our 3rd revision. By monday we were supposed to get our 2nd revision done. My second revision that i chose was my project 1. In project 1, I went over my first event and how I prepared for it. This paper got wae all ready for the event, and I planned out my approach for the meet your pajor event. I discussed my event questions so I could be completely prepared. My first plans to revise this paper was to work on the works cited and to then to later on change any grammatical errors, or any writing errors. Then on monday we were suppose to look over 2 other classmates papers, and giving them a grade ranging from A to F, and explain our reasoning for the grade. I looked over arica's and justin's papers and graded them. Then after I got my paper graded and graded others, I then later in the week started revising my final revision. My final revision dealt with our most recent paper which is project 4. I adjusted my works cited and have already revised my paper, and just have to look at grammatical errors. I will then later tonight submit my final revision and put it on blackboard.

November 22, 2009 ENG 101 BLOG

This week in class was all centered around getting our first project chosen to revise. We picked groups earlier in the week, in order to pick which paper we wanted to revise first. I was in a group with 2 other people, and the goal of being in a group was to pick a part each other's papers. Later in the week we worked on works cited. We looked at our individual works cited page and were suppose to disect them, and make them a lot more legit. Then a guy in our class got up , and went to a computer. He pulled up microsoft word, and he attempted to show up a better way and an easier way to use works cited by showing a secret where you can just fill in information and the works cited page will be made for you, and then thomas discussed what another way you could do your works cited. His suggestion was to look at a website, so i checked that out it definetely is legit. We then worked on our projects. We turned our projects in our disussion board before friday morning class. Then during the friday morning class we looked at our group's own paper. We disected the paper's and looked out for errors, such as grammatical errors, and other things that didn't work well in the paper. We then went on discussion board and graded the paper's, using the grading continuim. I gave my classmates a B- and C+ for the papers.

November 13, 2009 ENG 101 BLOG

When I first look at the paper I see many things that stand out. When I think about scoring the paper on the National Writing Project holistic rubric I think about how the paper is written. I think the paper would be scored a 5. The paper is written extremely well, and there are so many bright spots in the paper. The lady ties in her paper very well with her experiences in Brazil with her everyday life. The woman also has a very nice flow to her paper. The paper is very easy to read, but still serves an academic composition. The paper is nicely ordered with her travels year from year. When I look at the images I think there are placed in the perfect place. There not necessarily right after they talk about it, but they keep you focused on the paper, and keeps you in a rythem of the paper. One is placed on the second page, which is the perfect place for your starting image, because it keeps you thinking about the paper right off the start, and keeps you from losing paper shortly into the paper. Then the second image is on the 5th paper. This is vitale because it keeps you on track to finish the whole paper, and keep you thinking about the end.

November 8, 2009 ENG 101 BLOG

This week in english 101, was all about getting prepared for project 4, and individual conferences. On monday we were told to think about what we were going to have prepared for Project 4. We went over the project 4 idea prompt, and we were told to have our ideas ready for our scheduled 1 on 1 individual conferences later in the week. On tuesday at 9am, I went to my scheduled individual 1 on 1 conference. The professor and I first discussed about my participation in class. After that we discussed project 4, and how I planned on going about this paper. While we were talking about project 4 we looked at my past papers. We discussed about my writing style and we pointed out the good and bad things from my first 3 papers. During this we looked at the writing continium that I did earlier in the year. This paper was the one where we rated our writing skills from an A to and F. Most of my categories were B, and that was sufficient because of my little above average writing skills for the college level. After the conference I felt more confident on my paper, and I was prepared to get it started right away.

October 30, 2009 ENG 101 BLOG

On Monday we went over our Project 3 paper. We each looked over one another's paper on the computer. We then went back to the paper and gave feedback. The feedback we gave was from a worksheet that had questions to answer. The questions you answered dealt with the author and other main ideas in the paper. Then on Wednesday we looked over the feedback we put for another person. The professor gave us feedback for our feedback. I looked over that feedback and answered any questions from the feedback. Then some other classmates and myself got together and discussed some helpful tips to prepare for the timed writing. One of my suggestions that I had was to not take to much time on one question. We then reviewed all our suggestions with the rest of the class. On Friday in class we did a timed writing for a our mid semester review. We had 45 minutes to respond to a prompt. As the prompt had somewhat of a connection to beah, due to the fact that we had to respond to questions about our ball state university community. I discussed that I have adapted to my first semester at Ball State very well. I talked about my professors making me reach out and do things I never did or would have done prior to college.

October 24, 2009 ENG 101 BLOG

On monday in class we did several things. We first started on looking at our project 1 research paper. The professor first handed each of us several stick notes to use for our paper reguarding important facts and our thoughts on our paper. She really wanted us to discuss further into our main ideas of our paper. She also wanted us to correct any errors in our paper on these sticky notes as well as going into how you could of written your paper better, and expressed you main ideas better to the audience. She first wanted the sticky notes in the correct order relating to the project. Then we took all of the sticky notes and we placed them on the back of our project 1 paper. When looking at the sticky notes on the back of the paper, we were suppose to match the ideas that related to each other. After we completed that exercise we went into more details about project 3. The professor first discussed how we should have our papers written correctly. She went to the board in class and wrote down ideas about our papers. She related the articles that I found on the board. She wrote down all my first initial thoughts about what I found for my project 3. The articles information was a great starting point for my project paper.

October 15, 2009 ENG 101 BLOG

On monday in English 101 we had a guest speaker. This guest speaker actually went to Sierre Leone. The guest speaker was the english professor's father in law. He went to Sierre Leone on a trip with several other people more than 20 years ago. He first started us off with a video of his trip. He showed us a slideshow of pictures for when he was there and he explained some photos. The pictures were very interesting to see. He had many stories to tell. In one story he discussed about the lengthy airplane ride from Indianapolis to Chicago then finally arriving in Sierre Leone and he said the pilot landed the plane in smooth condition even though it wasn't the easiest place to land a plane. He also discussed about never drinking the water and that he didn't get to drink any cold beverages all were hot expect for one time. That one time he got to drink a cold beer, because he went to a track meet and the principal took him up on the rise and he got to drink a cold beer. He also discussed the school houses and how they had no actual window in the schoolhouse. He also mentioned that he heard of guy there thats works for 25 cents a week. He then showed us the music he listened to by showing us a musical instrument. He showed us how it worked.

October 8, 2009 ENG 101 BLOG

This week in class are main goal was to complete project 2. On monday we discussed our plans for Project 2. We first went to blackboard and went on discussion board. After that we went to EBSCOhost on the Ball State Universtiy Librarie's website and looked up articles. We looked up articles that pertained to project 2. I searched for university, major, and events. I found some useful information that I may use in my paper. We then got back onto blackboard and went to discussion board. On discusion board we wrote down some information for the articles we found on EBSCOhost. I wrote down some information that I'll probably incorporate into my paper. After we got done with that we walked over to the writing center, located on the second floor of the robert bell building. Once we got there a lady discussed how useful the writing center is. She discuss that the writing center is free, easy, and convienent to use. She did say though that they were pretty busy and if you needed help on a paper, you needed to book an appoinment early on there calendar. Then on wed. two girls has a presentation on Beah's book pages 126-151. For the pages they showed us 2 videos that related to the material. They first showed us a donation video that was is petitioning to stop the war overseas. The second video dealt with the moon and John F Kennedy. After the videos they asked us a question. The question was have you ever participated in any organaztion that helped kids with school. After the question we went on blogger.com and we learned how to follow another person's blog. We then commented on another person's blog.

October 2, 2009 ENG 101 BLOG

Today we went to the library to learn about several new things. But before we went to the library today we had to complete the university libraries' walkabout. This assignment was composed with 3 pages as a exercise. The first section of the assignment takes you to the libraries' website. In this section you answer questions that relate to questions on the university library website. After you complete the first section you have to go the bracken library to complete section 2. Section 2 takes you all around bracken library, and you have to look up certain areas in the library and fill in the questions. When we arrived at the bracken library today we met my the naked lady statue. We then went up to the second floor and went in our own private room. In this room we had a tour guide person that explained several thing about the university libraries' website. He told us that the number 1 thing that we would use on the university libraries' website would be academic search premier. The academic search premier provides access to journal articles on a variety of subjects and contains full-text coverage. He told us to take notes when he was talking, due to the fact that all the information wasn't provided on the purple paper that he gave us. He told us to look for subject terms, as it is important when searching on the website. It was overall a good educational and interesting experience at the braken library. I feel like I learned a lot, and I will definetely take a look at this information when writing my next paper.

September 25, 2009 ENG 101 BLOG

This week in class we did several things. We started off Monday by going to the art museum. At the art museum we discovered many things. One of the first things our tour guide discussed with us was Oceana and Africa made artwork. The African art that was shown to us was creative, ancient, and spirtitual. There was a lot of African masks at the museum. We looked and discussed thoroughly this one 3-D helmet mask. Our tour guide told us to walk in a circle so we could see the whole helmet mask together. This helmet mask had 4 balls on his head. We then looked at an 8 person painting. When our tour guide first showed us the 8 person painting I didn't know what to expect. I asked myself several questions about the painting. The first thing out tour guide did when we looked at the 8 person paiting, was she asked for 8 volunteers. As a volunteer, I was assigned to pose in a position exactly as someone was posing in the painting. The other 7 people did the same thing as me. We then looked at a painting that was divided into 2 sections. The first section was red and it displayed someone going up in the painting. The section section was blue and someone was going into a downward spiral. On Wednesday, I was the class observer. 2 girls did a presentation for Beah, and gave us an option of choosing one of the 2 questions. After the questions we sat in a circle and discussed the 2 question more throughly.

ENG 101 BLOG Septmeber 17, 2009

Beahs's presentation was full of many things. When Thomas and I arrived which was 20 minutes early it was packed. We had to sit in the back of emens autorium. When the event first started everyone around me was still talking. That angered me that people would be so rude at a presentation like that. Luckily for me one of the people working at emens autorium that night went down and told everyone around us to be quiet. The presentaion went very well. He made several jokes during the session. One where he was so suprised that hot water would come out of his hotel room when he turned the red nob. Another good joke was when he discussed the walkway at the airport. Then he told a friend about this, and the friend said that the walkway would be very useful during the war. He discussed why he wrote the book. He also discussed why education was so important. And that he used education as part of his life, and that he didn't look and education in any negative fashion. I wish he would of discussed a little more about the book, just giving details of the main points in the book. I enjoyed it when he read his book, because I never have seen an author read there own book in front of me before. I think overall the presentation was a success.

ENG 101 BLOG September 9, 2009

I read several fallacy's on snopes.com. My first article I read said that Starbucks didn't support the war. Some marine supposedely sent a letter to Starbucks asking for free cofee. Starbucks then responded to the letter according to the man. The man said that Starbuck doesn't respect the war. You know that Starbucks would never write a letter saying they don't support the war. The article also pointed out that the marines asked for free coffee and Starbucks refused that. I'm sure starbucks would be proud to give some free coffee or at least coupons to the marines. The marine reported that Starbuck sent them nothing in return and told him that they didn't support him in any way, which is a complete fallacy. Another story was about a girl who was being pulled over by an unmarked car behind her. The story said that she called *77 to call to make sure an officer was behind her. Well she finds out that it was a convicted rapist behind her. The fallacy in the story if you call *77 that doesn't auctomatically connect you to a police agency, depending on your location. The story said that *77 connects you to a police department reguardless of your location, but that is not true, not every state has that feature.

ENG 101 BLOG September 2, 2009

This week in class we discussed numerous things varying from Beah's book to a rubric sheet. On monday we went over the google maps that were assigned on friday. We also discussed how to download ballpoint. We were then assigned to read Beah's first four chapters. On wednesday we went over the first four chapter's of Beah's book. Taylor and Cassidy presented us with a video on youtube called boy soldier. They felt that the video related to the gory details that were presented with the book, and the suffering that occurs during war from the rebels. They then presented us with a question. The question was "how would you feel at age 11 if you had to deal with the rebels". You could either write about the video or write about the book. I chose the book, I discussed that I would be shell shocked and would not be able to handle all that mayhem. I said that I would not be able to sleep at all, and I would be paranoid all day and night. We then discussed the details about when Beah was dreaming about pushing a wheelbarrow with a man. The thing though was that it was actually himself in the white sheets. We then went over the BSU Writing Grading Continuum. We were assigned to highlight where we felt we were on the chart and write a paragraph on why we would grade ourselves the way we did.

Maintaining Goals For Eng 101

Initially when I first took this class, I knew I would have to keep up with this class at all times. I feel through the first two classes that I am right. I feel like as long as I keep up with the work and dedicate myself to do everything I am suppose to, that I will have no problems at all. If I commit myself to the goals, then I should do well in the class and learn a lot in the weeks to come.

There are several goals that I have planned for this fall semester of english 101. My first goal is to learn about college writing. I am aware that college writing is difficult, but I do not know how difficult it is. In high school writing was considered to be pretty much a joke. I know in college, that writing is not a cupcake, and I will have to learn the principles to learning the correct formats of writing. I am also intrigued on learning about college reading, because I have heard that class discussion of books are more broader than in high school.

I know I can accomplish my goals of knowledge if I just stay on task. I know I can't get behind in college or I will not pass the classes. I am going to mainting focused and on track to accomplish all of my goals in Eng 101.