Evaluation

Thesis: Read, this is a word herd by children daily, but to my ears it just sounds like nails on a chalk board.

Main Points: The main points I make in my paper are how Rodriguez and I have the same hate for reading but over time we notice it wasn’t that bad.

Peer Evaluation: the most important information I received was all the run on sentences I had and seeing how I repeated myself in my paper.

Class: the most important information I received in class was that the paper was like task three.

How many drafts: I wrote at least three drafts, with this paper I just sat down and wrote the whole paper.

I still don’t think I had a good handle on analysis and conclusion.

I was most pleased with the body of my paper.

December first:)

Throughout my life I have had a very special but distant relationship with books. While growing up I was too busy for books, they didn’t fit in to my schedule I was too busy playing outside. In high school we had to silent read so I had no choice but to find a book that could entertain me for an hour each week. I searched everywhere for a book, but I couldn’t find a book that really interested me. So I started asking my friends what their favorite books were. I was recommended Dear John, but it took me only one week to read it. I loved Dear John!  Now I had a problem I had no book, so I set out for target and found a book called “Testimony.” I thought I had found a good book but I was wrong the book was horrible I couldn’t even read past the first chapter. This was the last book I purchased. I was so disappointed with the book, that I threw it in someone else’s locker. I have not bought another book since then. I don’t like to read but every once in a while I get my hands on a good book. Growing up I was a lot alike Rodriguez I hated to read and I didn’t understand why some people read so much. I was in a special class kind of like Rodriguez; I would go to a room with a teacher with a couple of my class mates and read out loud. But unlike Rodriguez I never came to love reading. I only read when I have to in school.

November 29..back to reality

When I think about my education I think about elementary school. In elementary school I had trouble focusing on my work and I always had to have my mom help me with my homework. I have faced obstacles in learning, reading, and writing. I had trouble focusing in my classes, I hated to read, and the teachers where always unhappy with my writing either it was too big or too small. My obstacles were in the classroom I could never focus on the teacher and what they wanted me to do. My teachers never tried to help me focus on my work I don’t think they even noticed I wasn’t paying any attention. One thing that bothers me the most is how my mother helped me with my homework instead of trying to help me learn or notifying my teachers that I was not getting what they were teaching. In middle school I overcame these obstacles I noticed my weaknesses. I didn’t want to fall behind my class so I started to study really hard and no longer asked my mom or other family members to help me do my homework. When I think about Douglas it takes me back to when I was making that transition from elementary school to middle school. How hard I pushed myself to do my best and the struggle I faced with not really knowing how to do things on my own. I feel like I did myself a favor and I did the right thing. I wish I would have changed my ways sooner than middle school and I wouldn’t have had such a hard time. I can compare my achievements to Jordan’s because we both had to kick it in the high gear to keep up with the rest of our class but I didn’t have to study like she did. I don’t really know if this relates good or not but in Kozals book “Savage Inequalities”, he talks about how schools are unequal and when I transferred from my elementary school to my middle school the kids from savannah called us them because we were known as the rich kids, but we weren’t rich at all.

How i learned to read and write

Fredrick Douglass’s “How I learned to Read and Write”, is taken from his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. In this piece Douglass shares how his master’s mistress taught him his a, b, c, and to spell small words, but she was caught. It was forbidden to teach slaves to read and write. If Douglass were to learn to read he could find out that he could be free. Soon after Douglass moved in with the Auld’s Mrs. Auld insisted she teach him his a,b,c, and then she taught him to spell small words. Mr. Auld stopped the lessons immediately and Douglass was cut off. I think that Douglass wanted to read because of this. He wanted to learn so he could take an ell out of an inch. I have always been able to learn and because of school I have never been cut off as Douglass was. This is what encouraged Douglass to find other ways to learn how to read. Douglass would talk to the white boys he met on the street and turned them in to his teachers. I didn’t care so much about reading but it was always available to me. If I was cut off from learning like Douglass was I would have been driven to teach myself like Douglass did. Douglas and I are similar in a way because we both know how to read and write. I am inspired by Douglass because he was a slave and found ways to teach himself to read and write with just an inch.

Before this course I anticipated writing a good amount of essays and reading books. I really didn’t know what to expect, accept that I had to be ready because high school was over. At the time I was fresh out of high school and I was confident that I would do well in college. Now that I am in the course and summer has passed I am not doing as well as I wanted. I feel like I have forgotten how to write a good essay. I also hoped I would improve as the weeks have gone by. I have improved in some ways but not in the way I would have liked. I have trouble finding words and brainstorming. It’s like I’m not really ready for college. This course has tested me. I have to do my work and show up to all classes or fail. I think that I have improved on my journaling. At this point I can just sit down and journal, but the first couple of journals I had a lot of trouble with. I couldn’t sit and just answer a question and have a 250 word response. I know that once this course is over I will be able to see my improvement and be happy.

task three

I’m thinking about using Bakers essay “School vs. Sanctuary”, and Botstein’s essay “Let Teen-Agers Try Adulthood”. In Bakers essay I am focusing on how children learn from parents, school, and television. How what the children see when their younger stick with them as they grow. Some children will act negatively and will become unbearable to teachers, family, parents, and eventually society.  This is where I’m connecting Botstein’s essay. How adults don’t like teens and think they are uncontrollable when really we created them. They are spitting images of us. They watch us, family, the people on television and gather information and ideas that shape them in to the people we become. We can control what our children see and do. I think that parents don’t spend enough quality time with their children and don’t have enough communication. I see it as selfish and irresponsible for a parent to not care about what their child is doing when they’re not around. Once the teenage years hit then parents think it’s impossible to control their children and let them do what they want. Parents should be talking to their children, to them to keep them in line and under control.

Kozol

In “Savage Inequalities “by Jonathan Kozol  a teacher began teaching at a school so overcrowded and poor that the fourth grade had to share the auditorium with  another fourth grade class and a choir. The class was so behind on their education, they had not had a permanent teacher since kindergarten. They had over a dozen subs in just one semester. This affected there learning levels, they could read at a second grade level and their math even worse. The teacher started to read the children poems by Robert Frost and Langston Hughs. But little did he know that the poems were inflammatory and to advanced for the children and he was fired. He was fired for trying to improve the lives of the children who were being cheated out of opportunity to further their education.  After being fired Kozol was hired at another school. It happened to be one of the wealthiest schools; it was startling coming from one of the poorest schools. After teaching for a few years he became interested in the health and education of farm workers in New Mexico and Arizona. Then after visited schools and neighborhoods and spoke with the children, even meeting with them in their homes. Segregation stuck out like a black sheep in a snow covered field.  In most of the schools he visited 95 to 99 percent of the students were non white. Most of the cities noticed and said there hadn’t been any changes in segregation. Kozol wants to be the children’s voice, and help people be more aware of what others are going through.

Why I Decided to Go to College?

I decided to come to college because I want to further my education so I
can provide for my daughter. Neither of my parents went to college and
they both have decent paying jobs, but I have grow up watching them
struggle. I have herd my mother say numerous times that she wishes she
would have went to college. This has made me want to attend college, I
don’t want to struggle or have to depend on my parents. College has
opened my eyes, showing me that I have to make my own choices. Choosing
what classes to take, attending class, and doing my homework are all my
own choices. Having a toddler makes this very difficult for me, she
needs my undivided attention. I know in the long run I will be happy
with my decision to attend college. Something I already think about and
regret is not waiting to go to college. I am fresh out of high school
and I don’t have the focus or drive to learn. I think if I were to be
older and ready for college I would feel much better about college. One
thing that is difficult for me to deal with is the teachers who
constantly bring up the fact that college isn’t for everyone. Some days
I don’t feel like college is for me. No matter how hard college gets I
will not drop out because I would not only be letting myself down but
Aubrey also.

Task Two

What is the thesis for your paper? It amazes me to know that my grandfather want to go bach to school after so many years, especially after being retired.

List the main points you make in your paper. My grandfather is retired, all the schools he attended, and how he wanted his children to finnish school.

What was the most helpful advice you received from your peer evaluation? How I needed to connect some of my sentences and how to fix my conclusion.

What was the most helpful information you received in class for your paper? The interview papers

How many drafts of this paper do you think you wrote and how/when did you write them? For example, did you compose at the keyboard, did you write lots of notes to yourself, did you pre-write or outline, did you write in small chunks of time or sit down and produce an entire draft at one sitting? I wrote a ton of notes, then did my outline, then I sat at my computer and wrote the whole paper.

What would you do differently with this paper to make it more effectively, or what did you try to do that you just don’t think you got a good handle on? I dont think I should of wrote my paper over my grandpa, he didnt go back to school.

What are most pleased with about this paper? How easy it was to bring all the information together.

Becoming Educated

An education is knowledge you learn at school to prepare you for your future. I think an education is important to everyone not only children. You start your education at an early age because your brain is like a sponge and will absorbe everything that you hear. An education is very valuable, it something that takes many years to get and you'll have it for a life time! how far you go with your education is your decision not anyone else's. If you want to drop out of high school you can, if you dont want to go to college you dont have to, but if you want to go back to school when your thirty or fourty you can.

Casa

The cuentos in Cofer’s memoir are women’s stories because it was the older women in the family sitting in rocking chairs sharing their experiences with the younger women of the family. They wanted to share the stories to the younger women of the family especially Aunt Laura. She was about to go pick out a dress for her wedding and the date had not even been set, nor was her soon to be husband present. For the young boys of the family, they would all get together maybe doing some manly things and talk and share their thoughts about marriage and love.

my hometown:)

In my hometown we are not scared to get a little dirty. It’s not about how much chrome covers your truck; it’s all about the mud covering your tires. We’re not in love with designer clothes, but we love our Justin boots. I grew up in the small town of Savannah, Missouri. In Savannah you know everybody and everybody knows you and all your drama. Savannah has shaped me in to the person I am today. I am someone who can be a great friend; I’ll help you with school, I can tell you what I think about your boyfriend, your two-faced friends, and I’ll give you my advice. I’m the kind of person you think is innocent, kind, and shy. I’m not at all shy once I get to know you. I love to have a good time and hang out with my friends.

I couldn’t imagine growing up in a different town or being raised any differently. I love being a savage! My friends and I like to do productive things, especially on the weekends. After a long week of working we all get together and have a good time even if all we do is hang out and talk about some good times we have had. I wouldn’t want any other friends then I have now. They always have my back and are understanding of me having Aubrey.  Savannah has shaped me in the person I am today; this small town of farmers is where I want to be for the rest of my life.

Task Two (interested in interviewing)

For task two I am thinking about interviewing either my grandma or my grandpa. I am interested in interviewing one of my grandparents because we are very close they live just down the street from me. I have no clue about their education, I don’t think I have ever had a conversation with either of them about there education. This makes me curious to know what it was like for them growing up. My grandparents are interesting to me because they are my family, so whatever they went trough obviously has some kind of effect on where I am today. If my grandpa would of went to college would he of met my grandmother and had my mother?  I plan on asking my grandparent what there highest grade completed is? How many schools did you attend? Why so many? Why only one? How did you get to school? Where there snow days? How many kids were in your classes and what races? Did you participate in any sports?

A problem I may face is writing my paper with out just writing down the questions and answers. I am looking forward to learning about my grandparent’s childhood and their education. I am curious to what they went through when going through school I really want to know about how discipline was. A question I have for task two is how do we start out an interview paper? What will the introduction be?

Self-Evaluation

What is the thesis for your paper?

The first time I saw her was at my first sonogram.  She was somewhat in a ball sucking her thumb on one hand and hitting me in the bladder with the other.

List the main points you make in your paper.

Delivery, Coming home, Growing and her favorite place to go.

What was the most helpful advice you received from your peer evaluation?
How I should organize my paragraphs

What was the most helpful information you received in class for your paper?
To make a outline

How many drafts of this paper do you think you wrote and how/when did you write them? For example, did you compose at the keyboard, did you write lots of notes to yourself, did you pre-write or outline, did you write in small chunks of time or sit down and produce an entire draft at one sitting?
For task one I wrote about three different papers. I wrote them sitting in my room at night right before I went to bed. I wrote one paper read it the picked a different topic wrote another paper and then did an outline and re wrote the second paper.

What would you do differently with this paper to make it more effectively, or what did you try to do that you just don’t think you got a good handle on?
I think it took me to long to pick a topic and had to read  someone elses paper to really comprehend what to write.

What are most pleased with about this paper?
How quickly I pulled the paper together.

On Becoming a Chicano

I define myself as white. I can’t think of any struggle I have been through because of my racial identity. I have struggled on getting tan. Rodriguez had trouble with his grandmother and felt distant because she couldn’t communicate with him. My grandmother and I had a disagreement on tanning in tanning beds because of the risk of skin cancer. My parents want me to succeed so they want me to go to college. Rodriguez parents wanted him to have a better living so they sent him to a school so he could learn English and because they did he was able to go farther in his education.

How It Feels to Be Colored Me

I label myself as a single mom. In my day-to-day life I take care of my daughter. I feed her, dress her, and make sure her day is always started off the way I should be. Then I work and go to school so I can support her and always be able to give her what she needs. I want her to have everything I haven’t had. I know I don’t have the experience now that I should to be raising a baby but I have some great groups I’m in to fill me in on those important things I need to know. Sometimes I feel like I am discriminated against or get unneeded attention because I am a younger mother. I feel like some people are very rude and immature the way I receive looks or comments from people my own age and older. This makes me feel some what comparable to Hurston. Hurston says that she is the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother’s side was not an Indian chief. I believe I have the only mother that did not freak out when she found out I was expecting. I liked Hurston’s idea about the brown bags propped up against a wall with many others and full of miscellaneous items. All the items in the bag would express the people in some way it’s kind of like having someone take a walk in your shoes and find out what its like to be you.

Rite of Passage

• Very stable and ordinary family.


• Father was Swedish.

• Mother was the backbone of the family she was fierce and stern.

• The passion of his mother’s life was to protect her family.

• Grandmother was anything but fierce she was very unsatisfied.

• Grandmother became very irritable and difficult she started seeing things and moved in to their home for six months before they tried to move her to a nursing home. The two sisters and one uncle disagreed about placing her in a home but one brother came and witnessed what was happening and agreed to place her in a nursing home.

• The grandmother died but he was so scared to see her he didn’t even look at her at the funeral.

• His mother is now going through what his grandmother did and he is there for her taking care of her and listening to her endless stories.

As Anthony watched his mother care for his grandmother he witnessed how determined his mother was. How she almost “destroyed her health”. I believe it influenced him to be the same way to his mother when she was dying even though it hurt him to see her once a fierce women to weighing 92 pounds and strapped in a chair. I think it made him want to be there for his mother as much as she was for hers. Anthony’s mother was a very good role model and he has changed his attitude because of her.

Ideas For Task One

For task one I am going to write about abusive relationships. I have chosen to write about abusive relationships because I have been in one and some people are in abusive relationships and don’t realize it. I want to voice my opinion on abusive relationships to encourage myself and others to not get in to an abusive relationship. I want to educate people about this topic because someone could have a friend or a relative who maybe in a situation and it needs to be brought to their attention. Some problems that may arise for task one is computer issues because it’s just my luck. I will have some issues brain storming ideas. I anticipate to struggle or get stuck and probably change my topic a few times. I will change my topic because I will think of something better or think my topic now isn’t good enough. I will struggle, get stuck, and frustrated. I have a problem with forgetting ideas and staying focused. I stress myself out when it comes to writing papers because I expect myself to sound smart and to get it done fast and with no problems. I like to think about my topic a lot before I begin to write. I want to approach this paper by jotting down ideas before I begin writing I want to do some research on statistics on effects of an abusive relationship. Questions I do have about task one are how soon should I start? Will we have some kind of guide?

Letter of Introduction

Hello! My name is Kayde Osborn and I come from St. Joseph, Missouri. I am 18 years old and have a two year old daughter her name is Aubrey. I attended high school at Savannah High. In high school I loved to play sports and blow off my home work till last minute. I participated in softball and soccer for the first three years. In my spare time I like to go mudding, four wheeling, horse back riding, shopping, hang out with friends, go to football and softball games, cooking out, bonfires, spending time with Aubrey, and sleep! I am employed at The Sports Page, its a store were you can design your own t-shirts.

In my literature and composition class I wasn't the greatest at writing papers. Ive always had trouble brain storming because I get distracted very easy. At the end of my senior year I improved greatly when it came to essays. I would always change my topic three times before the paper was due. Ive always liked poems because they are short, simple, and don't have to rhyme.