Blog #1 102

I found the beginning sections of They Say, I Say, interesting. I like the way they explain the writing process as something that once you learn it you will always know it, (like riding a bicycle). They make it sound so easy. I was already familiar with the set up of an essay, the topic sentence with the supporting details, and the closing statement. The templates were new to me, which I personally liked. They help you structure your writing. I struggle with my writing at times and anything that can get me going is very helpful to me. I liked the way they explained argumentative writing. I’ve always said that I do not like writing because I do not like being argumentative or opinionated, I find it draining and for the most part I do not like reading anything argumentative or opinionated. However, the way the book explains on how to write argumentative and opinionated papers, made me change my mind about it. There are sophisticated ways you can go about expressing your opinions or being argumentative, I love it. Some of the templates that are in the book are very helpful to get you started. I also started to reflect on some things that I could write my opinions about. Or, maybe not, I am not sure it will work, because it would be mostly complaining about people. I also found interesting the part about basically not holding back on what you are writing to not cause controversy. I guess that is what mostly writing is about.

Blog #6

I learned a lot in this class. More than I ever did in any English class I ever had in high school.
The transitions sentences were fun, hard, but fun. They made me think outside the box. TS/CD was new to me. I do not recall talking about this in high school. TS/CD was very hard for me to get. When the teacher was talking about it I understood it well and it seemed so easy. But when it came time for me to do it, I had a bit of a hard time. I am happy to say that I feel like I finally got it. I just have to remember to double check that my writing is structured that way. When you structure your paragraphs with TS/CD it sounds good and looks good. From now on if I have to write anything, I will be thinking in my head TS/CD, TS/CD, CM, CM. I also learned to cite, never thought this even existed, and it is so important. I am glad I never had to write anything that needed to be cited or I would be in trouble. Owl was a great resource for writing and citing. I have already talked to my kids about this and had them check out the website to get familiar with it so when they have to write papers in school they can use it as a resource. My daughter says that the teachers do not give you good resources and she had not heard of Owl before. My kids found it very helpful and learned some things.

Even though it took a while for me to start writing the essays, I enjoyed it. It exercised and opened up my mind to think of things that my mind is not used to thinking about. One thing I would like to improve on is using stronger verbs. I noticed that my writing is really simple and I would like it to sound a bit more formal, not too formal though, I would like for my writing to be easy to read. I just do not want to sound too simple either. I want to sound intellectual and smart. Maybe I should get the dictionary and start looking up verbs starting with the letter A and going to Z and writing them down like Malcolm X did in his essay “Literacy Behind Bars.” I am not serious by the way.

What made me feel the best about my writing and development was when I would be working on an essay and it would flow, that is such a good feeling. Or when ideas would just pop up in my head and I could write about them. And the best part of this class was the teacher, Kristen Peters. What a great teacher! Writing can be challenging for a lot of people and she made it seem like it was the easiest thing ever. That helped me to try and not stress about my writing, since I am very conscious about it. She told me once that I was a good writer. Great compliment! Coming from someone so knowledgeable in English. That was very encouraging.

Blog #5

Analyzing ads was ok. I already knew that ads are supposed to persuade you to want to attain that particular product. I can honestly say that ads do not appeal to me in an emotional way. I love looking at ads though, some are quite amusing and creative. In analyzing the Quick Trim ad I can see how some people would be persuaded in buying this product if they are looking to or trying to lose weight and not willing to do the work that it involves. That ad has two physically fit gorgeous celebrity women in it with a 100% satisfaction guaranteed seal. It is amazing to see how ads can have an emotional affect on people. Right now, I do not see anything that I would do different with this essay, I am sure there are some things I could have commented more on or taken some things out, or maybe a I could have used a different ad.

The resume was pretty easy, I did learn though, that I might need to use a different format as to the one I have has too many bullet points. Another thing that I became very conscious about with the writing of the resume was to make sure I have perfect grammar and punctuation. The fill in resume was helpful it was good way to make sure you have all your information completed. I do not think there was anything about this project that was a pain. I learned that next time I fill out an application to make sure I fill in every blank and if I don’t know….I will make it up. Except for the jobs and experience part.

Blog 4

I loved the essay one and three assignments. I got to write about myself and what I wanted to, and what interested me. It is so easy when you have what you want to write about at the tip of your tongue. As is, my writing skills are weak. So when I have to write about something that has no interest to me it is so hard and it takes a couple of hours to even get started. And when I do get started, my writing assignments are usually short. I don't like to go on and on with writing I start feeling like I am being to opinionated and argumentative and I don't like that. There is something about writing that I do like. Maybe its that I get to express my thoughts a little. Free writing is the best. I just don't like to be argumentative about my opinions. I am an avid reader. They say that good readers are good writers, well, that is not the case with me. I don't know what happened there.

As far as my grades, I can say that I am content. I believe I got the grades that suit my work. I usually work for the best, but the writing part has been a little challenging for me. I still have good grades though.

Pressure, oh , pressure, the adrenalyne. Its like an addicting drug. I have to say that I do like it. It has not been that bad actually. If I had more time I definitely would put more thought and details into my writing. I am taking two other classes and every now and then I feel the pressure, but its only because of the writing. I don't know why I let it get to me. I will however, continue to take the same amount of classes for fall. If I can take the speed of summer classes I can take the fall classes that go a little longer than summer. I just want to finish my degree and start working in my career.

I would have to say essay #1 was easier for me. And the reason why, is because it was more personal. I feel like I can just go on and on with personal material and things that interest me. I can just free write and go back later and fix anything. The interview essay and the synthesis were a little more challenging for me because I'm still working on structure, details, and transitions. Once I get these down I am sure I will enjoy writing more. I have a hard time putting things together when it comes to writing. I find it hard to come up with something to write about. The stories we were assigned to read, only two, so far were interesting to me. And that is another issue for me, I find it very hard to write about things I have no interest in. It takes me a long time to be able to come up with something to write about or how to set it up. I like the blogs because its just free writing. I am definately learning a lot in this class and would certainly look back at what I have learned and use it to write in the future. Even though writing is not one of my strengths I am enjoying learning about it.

At first I thought this essay was going to be hard because I do not consider myself a writer. I can read, read, read, and read. I just can not write. I could not even put the pen on the paper to write.
As I sat there worried about what I was going to write about, I decided to seriously think about the question I needed to answer like if it was a problem I needed to solve. Then I just started writing and it all started to come to me, the more that I wrote, I felt a flow I believe the hardest part for me to write is trying to put the words in the right place or using the correct words. I worry that I'm not going to make sense. Trying to come up with a topic or what to focus on is also something I have a hard time with. I also need to expand my VERB vocabulary that is a huge one for me. I have to say that once I warm up and start writing, I like it. I like expressing my opinion or talking about an experience. What I would do different is probably not stress so much about it because once I get started it feels good and I could just keep going, I just need to practice writing more and learning new verbs. And I would have probably written more in my essay, but I just ran out of time. Because I was too busy worrying.

I learned quite a bit about writing reading these two chapters. Since I have been out of high school I have not had to do any writing. Meaning, formal letters, memos, formal emails, essays, etc., so I've never had to worry about the set up of what I'm writing about. Everything has always been quick notes or something that someone has already prewritten and I just had to do minimal modifying or customizing. However, I did know that you had to have a purpose and know what audience you are trying to reach out to.
So, when I started to read about Rhetorical Situations, I found it very interesting. I had heard the word "rhetorical" but never really knew what it meant. Reading this section on Rhetorical Situations really broadened my mind about writing. It was easy to read and understand. And I will definitely refer back to this section if I have to write anything because it will help with the set up. I believe I would be using every element I read about because they are all very important in writing and trying to reach your audience. The media one is the only one I’m not sure I would use, well it depends on what the subject I’m writing about is. And the reason why is because when I read I like to imagine things a certain way.
Genre, the only thing I knew about this before I read this section was that it had something to do with music. Other than that I would have probably not have related it to writing. This section was a bit hard for me to understand. I had to go back and reread to understand and I still feel like I’m not so clear on this. I did gather that it is important to have a genre. I just need to understand it more.