Friday, December 5, 2008

Refelection

I actually did enjoy doing the blog as a class assignment. I felt it was really helpful when it came to writing papers. I found it good that other classmates commented on the blog because it really helped getting other people's perspective on a topic. I feel that blogging enhanced my learning because it opened my point of view and I got to see how my classmates approached certain topics. I enjoyed reading about my classmates opinions because it really helped me when I had to write my papers. I also thought it helped me because it gave me a chance to express my opinions and thoughts on certain papers and topics discussed in class. I thought that was really good because not most professors allow you to express yourself freely on topics. I felt that I applied the evaluation and suggestions given during the mid-term fairly well. I really tried to elaborate every time I posted a comment on my classmates wall. I also tried to be more helpful to my classmates so I left comments that might give them different points of view on their topics. At the beginning of doing the blog post I thought it was going to be a boring experience but I learned to enjoy it because it came to be really helpful.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Brainstorming for proposal arguement

An issue that I feel would be good for my proposal argument is that bilingual education should be incorporated in the elementary schools in Harrisonburg, VA because the Hispanic population in the valley is rapidly increasing.
I feel that my audience would be the Harrsionburg School Board because they are the ones that can take action and make something happen.

My principle would be that some Hispanic children are getting disadvantaged because of the language barrier in schools.
The consequences would be that
- if bilingual education is not put in elementary schools then more Hispanic children will have difficulty communicating in school as they get older.
- SOL testing scores will be lower than ever because children can not understand the material because they can't speak the language.
- If there are lower testing scores then the state would focus on Harrisonburg, Va more and put more pressure on the teachers to get the score higher.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

" The Hardest of the Hardcore":

I thought it was an interesting story to read about. I had heard about mercenaries but I never really knew much about them. I feel that this paper did a very good job in informing the reader of why mercenaries are bad in our country. I thought it was good to learn that mercenaries are not part of the military and that they do not have to get Congresses approval to work. This was important information for me to learn because it opened my eyes to what some people in our government are doing.When they talked about mercenaries in the paper they made them seem like they were corrupt and morally wrong. I think that the fact that mercenaries are hired by private companies makes it sound illegal. I think it is very weird how we how allow this to occur. It was also surprising to find out that people hire mercenaries to try to cover the actual cost of the war and that they are paid more than the soldiers because of the services that they provide. The more experienced a mercenary is the more likely they will get paid more. It was also interesting to learn that most people that worked in the military end up becoming mercenaries because of the great difference in pay. By private companies having mercenaries they are taking away the people that can have a great impact in our military. I feel that it is not such a great idea to have mercenaries because it is taking away from our government.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Rhetorical appeals and informal fallacies

I choose an image illustrating the issue of abortion. In my image there is a young women that is tossing a baby doll in the air. The image is in black and white and the girl seems sad and careless. I think that this image is trying to get people to vote pro life on the issue of abortion. I feel that this image is persuading people to vote pro life by the characteristics the image shows. The idea of the women showing a care free action illustrates that she does not care about the baby and clearly wants nothing to do with the baby. I also think that the way the photographer made the image in black and white makes the issue of voting pro life more eye catching. Black and white seem to illustrate death, sadness,cruelty and many other negative emotions and thoughts in this picture. The fact that the women is throwing the baby up in the air also is a good way to get the reader to vote pro choice. Many people find the action disturbing because no one wants to see a baby being miss treated. When people see a baby being flung up in the air they tend to see the parent as being careless and an overall bad parent. This picture makes people feel sorry for the infant and will make them want to vote pro life because they believe in the well being of innocent children.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Chapter 14

Chapter 14 was a really helpful and interesting chapter to read about. Chapter 14 discussed the aspects of a persuasive essay. It talked about how in that type of essay there is truth seeking and persuasion. Truth seeking is taking account all the information that is present for you and from that deriving your own conclusion. Persuasion is the actual thought of changing your audience's opinion. The chapter also talked about the types of arguments one can make when making a speech. I feel this chapter had very helpful tips when one wants to write a persuasive speech. It gave ideas of how someone can come up with topics if they are not really sure of what to talk about. Chapter 14 talked about a technique that can better help evaluate a good topic for a persuasive speech. It talked about the STAR criteria. The STAR criteria stands for Sufficiency, Typically, Accuracy, and Relevance. I feel that through reading this chapter has benefited me greatly. The examples that were provided in the text were very helpful because I could incorporate the concepts that were being discussed throughout the chapter.I feel that when I write a persuasive speech these ideas of how to better my paper will definitely come in handy.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

As lite entertainment for bored college students Essay

I found the essay very interesting to read. What I really liked about this essay was the way the author wrote it. I enjoyed how he viewed his perspective of the idea of college students and the whole aspect of college in general. I think it also helped that he gave his viewpoint as in terms of a professor that teaches in college. When I read this essay there were some ideas and thoughts that really grabbed my attention. I enjoyed reading the part in which the professor describes how sometimes the interest of the people that go to college are more important than the actual concept and reason for going to college. The author described how colleges attract the students that will provide the most money to their institution. He provided the example that some colleges focus on providing better facilities such as gyms and nice dorms rather than on focusing more on the aspect of college that involves the idea of students grasping new ideas and developing their own thoughts.I also found it interesting how the author talked about how some colleges have professors that aren't very harsh when it comes to grading. He feels that some professors don't grade really hard because they want the institution to appear prestigious and well known.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Chapter 6: Reading Rhetorically

I thought that chapter six was a good chapter to read because I learned a lot from it. Before I came to college my teachers and friends would tell me that college is so much harder than high school because of the reading. When I started my first week of college I got a better understanding of what people referred to as harder reading material. I struggled on my reading because I was never exposed to college reading material before. I quickly learned had to learn how to read correctly for classes. As I read chapter six it started to make sense to me. Chapter six talks about how it is sometimes difficult for college students to grasp the reading material because it ranges from different type of reading material. Some of the material can be dealing with complex subjects and others can deal with complex writing such as in philosophical terms. The chapter explained how it was very important how to interpret the reading in different ways. If a person sees two sides of the story they are able to question the reading and bring forth their own conclusions of what the text in the reading is saying. The chapter also emphasized that it is important to read the text multiply times to better understand it. What I thought was interesting to read about in chapter six was that pointing out certain details when you read a text can be essential in better helping you understand the material. It is also good to develop strategies when reading text because that way one can critique it and see how they can compose their own material.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Two Contrasting Descriptions of the Same place

Positive:
As I lay on my bed in my dorm room I feel a sense of peace and quiet in the early morning. My bright pink sheets and blanket make my room appear happy and girly. I have two cute stuffed animals on my bed that remind me of my great childhood. Through my window I can see the bright sun slowly start coming up. As I watch the sun come up I know it will be a great day because I can hear the birds chirping outside and see the geese swim on Newman Lake. I snuggle into my blanket because I feel a breeze come through my window. As I lay on my comfortable bed I can also hear the swoosh noise that comes from the branches of the trees as a strong wind goes by.

Negative:
As I lay on my bed in my dorm I feel a complete dead silence. There is no noise because it’s too early in the morning for anyone to be up. My bright pink sheets and blanket make me feel extremely warm. I feel I’m burning up. As I look at the two stuff animals lying on my bed I realize how long I’ve had them for. One of my stuffed animals head is tilted because I played with it so much as a child. I look out my window and my eyes start to hurt. The sun is extremely bright. The birds chirping noise starts to annoy me in the morning. I want to sleep in longer but that noise prevents me from doing so. To make matters worse there is a breeze that comes through my window. I start shivering because my blanket was off.

Reflection:
Through doing this exercise I have learned that there are different angles of vision one can interpret from a passage that has the same context. I thought it was interesting how I could make one passage seem so happy and peaceful and have the other passage seem depressing and annoying. From doing this assignment I've learned that when you write something you can never take it in in only one way. There are different ways you can look at a piece of writing. I feel a person has to be able to explore the different angles that are present in peoples writing.

Monday, September 15, 2008

U.R. Riddle Letter

September 9, 2008
To Whom It May Concern:
Although it has been several years since he has been in my class, I still remember Uriah Riddle well. His analytical skills were brilliant and he was able to relate multiple facets of different fields in his studies. He wrote some of the best papers from my class, and I learned from them myself. Not only was he a strong writer, but he also excelled in mathematics. His knowledge of statistics was beyond the other students in the class. He was very motivated to learn the material himself and consistently produced high quality work. He took many liberal arts courses and was able to apply what he learned in those classes to his other courses as well as to his life. I could only hope that I could have such a brilliant mind working for me.
Best Regards,
Professor Dumbledore

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Loose Change

Watching chapter one of the movie, Loose change was very interesting to me. I never realized that there were people that speculated the attacks of September 11. The information that was provided in the video was very informative to me because I did not recall about hearing this information in the media. Some of the information that was provided in the video left me thinking a whole lot about the terrible disaster that occurred seven years ago. The video seemed really well made. I feel that the way that the director provided a good angle of vision was through. He did this by presenting interesting information of the attacks, showing images about the people that work for the government, and showing pictures of the American people. What really stood out for me in this video was how the people that worked for the government responded when asked specific questions. Most of them looked confused and it seemed they were scared to even answer the questions the reporters asked them. Some of them even tried to avoid the question and when the government officials would answer the question it would not be exact.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Chapter 3

I thought it was interesting how in this chapter it talked about how when we look at text we tend to emphasize some detail. Sometimes we tend to leave the small details out because we don't want the listener to portray a bad image of ourselves. We try to do what we feel is best for the reader. In chapter three is also talked about the analyze angle of vision. That term focuses on what the reader knows and what specific information they want to tell their listeners because they are trying to get a certain point across. It was also interesting to read about how we tend to focus on the image. People look at the pictures that may be presented by others when they are giving a speech and how it relates to the topic. They also tend to see what the speaker might be wearing. What kind of image is the person portraying? Is the person in a suit or are they in regular casual clothes. The image of the person tends to give the way the people look upon them.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Get it Right. Privatize Executions Essay

The essay made me think a lot of what society might be coming to, is it true that most Americans might view execution as a form of entertainment if that is so that is really sad. it makes me think that the people in the United States have a way different mind than that of other countries What is entertainment. I always thought it was just watching a performer, enjoying a good time with friends and just having fun. Execution .. that word never even crossed my mind when i thought of forms of entertainment Just the thought of it made me wanna question so many things what kind of people would go to an execution event what kind people would bring their children or close family members to an event like that who would pay to see people a person being killed

it also made me question the type of government we have who in their right mind allow for something like that to take place in our country is the government that low that they have to resort to have people give them money to watch other people get killed i just really could not believe this essay it was like is this a joke, is the guy really serious.. it did make me think deeply about it if something like this were to come true i guess this essay puts you to the test and makes you think about the ideas and thoughts that are out there.

Monday, September 1, 2008

The Breeze Article: ..Craving More than just Cookies by: Caroline Cournoyer

The " Craving more than just cookies" article is about a JMU student named Scott Davidson that has his own cookie business. Davidson is a hard working student that started his business a year ago. His business has slowly started to become the big news on campus. Davidson business has started to become very well known because of the great service and quality he provides to his customers. Davidson's business consists of making cookies, brownies and other delicious sweets.

Davidson has learned to juggle working at Craving Cookies and going to school. He does the management, marketing and fiances for his own business. He hopes to one day turn Craving Cookies into a name brand and have it become very successful in the near future.