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.

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.

" 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.