Tuesday, December 9, 2008

A Semester in ENG 111

         Taking English 111 with Paul Gasparo has been a great experience. Every class was a new experience with fun things to learn. Class was never boring because Paul always had something interesting in store for us. May it be watching Dawn of the Dead or listening to Bruce Springstein, there was never a dull moment. We always got to help participate in class by talking about things we liked that was relevant to what we were doing. I’d have to say my favorite part was being able to pick our own subjects for our research papers. I’m one of those people that if I do not like the subject I’m going to have a rough time doing a research paper on it, so this really helped. This was probably one of the best English classes I have ever had. I mean every class we either got to watch a movie or something on YouTube and we discussed it afterwards and we all got to speak our views.

         Every essay that we did wasn’t too hard and was generally fun to do.  The rhetorical analysis on ourselves was an interesting way of discussing rhetorical appeals. We had to do a diagnostic essay on one of three things, all of which were interesting subjects like “If you had a superpower…..”.  After watching “Supersize Me”, Paul had us write restaurant reviews on our favorite places to eat.  Every assignment was fun.

         Not only was the class fun, but I learned a lot too. Learning about Rhetorical appeals helped me learn how to write better papers. It also showed me how the world tries to influence you. May it be for good or bad all types of media use rhetorical appeals to sway your thoughts. It’s everywhere you look. But Paul showed us how to spot it when it’s used or how to use it yourself.  He even had us rhetorically analyze a song that we liked to help us understand it better.

         The classroom environment was nice too. Paul made it clear that all of us can learn from each other and had us do presentations every once in a while. He also made it clear that we can speak up at anytime and state our thoughts about whatever we were discussing in class. The whole classroom was very friendly and open. I mean we call Mr.Gasparo by his first name all the time and he doesn’t mind. Like he said, we are all equals and can learn from anyone.

         I really enjoyed taking English 111 with Paul and if I could take it again I would. He had a fun and interesting way of teaching. He used media and all types of texts to show us what he was talking about and didn’t just lecture us. Just make sure you do your work on time, because there are strict deadlines in this class. If you are a procrastinator, take paul’s class, because while it may be fun, it gets you out of wanting to procrastinate because of it being about things you like.

Response to "Is textspeak sabotaging younger job seekers?"



Texting and text talk are getting way out of control these days. Like the Article said, there is a certain time when using text talk is okay, when actually texting [in my opinion]. Don't get me wrong, just like most people i say LOL and use emotes every once in a while while texting, but other than that I spell everything out, and i mean everything. When I am online, I write out every word and spell check what I am writing. I only use emotes on forums or when instant messaging my friends. Text Talk does not need to be used in Emails and especially not when writing a paper. Every once in a while, i will slip up and use "cuz" instead of "because", but no one is perfect. Too many kids are getting too comfortable with text talk and it is going to hurt them when they try and apply for a job or when sending college transcripts. We need to start teaching kids when and when not it is okay to use this kind of talking, otherwise it could potentially lower the literacy rate of our youth. 
Now you probably think I'm some crazy person that thinks technology is going to take over our lives. Personally i think we rely on it way too much, but I use it just as much as any other person and quite enjoy it. 
Text talk is a bad habit that to many people a falling into. I get texts from people that I cant even read because of how bad the text talk is. The sad thing is, there are dictionaries for this type of thing, Text Talk Dictionaries. What has language come to? Is Text talk going to take over as the base language? It's a good thing we have English teachers to stop this.

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Response To The Girl Effect

It's amazing what just one person can do when you think about it. No, not a person, one GIRL. Yeah, i said it, one girl can change the world. I'm not a pigheaded man that thinks women are lower than him. I think women are just as equal as men. We both excel at different things, but deep down we are both human. The Girl Effect is the idea to take a girl or woman in a developing country, support her, help her out, and make her into a a formidable person in her society. From that things can continue to prosper and grow. Eventually it could potentially save that countries economy and maybe even lead to saving our world. It's a pretty good idea, but will it work? It's a good idea in theory, but has it been done?

I looked into The Girl Effect on my own time. The Answer is yes, they have already started helping girls in communities in Ethiopia and Bangladesh. One girl got a loan of 4,000 Taka [$60]. With that loan she got a cow. Since then she now has 2 cows and a vegetable farm, which  brings in 500 Taka a month. with that she is paying for her brother to go to school and is saving up for her own future. What these people are trying to do is possible and doesn't cost that much. I mean if 60 people donated one dollar, thats another girl that has a chance. I think it's great that people are trying to do something to save other countries economies. If it is this easy to help people live better lives in the east, could we maybe do something similar here in the west. Just maybe there is hope to save the American economy as well. Just maybe we can save our world after all.

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Diagnostic Essay- Rough Draft and Final

Rough Draft:

Kapow! Whack! Thwomp! Everyone wishes that they were a superhero or had a super power at one time or another. If I could have one super power, it would be the power of flight. There are so many things I would be able do if I could fly; I could perform heroic deeds, it could change my lifestyle, or I could just cut loose and have some fun flying around. Being able to fly would be the greatest thing.

             “With great power there must also come great responsibility” (Uncle Ben from Spiderman in Amazing Fantasy #15), thus I feel if you have a superpower you have a responsibility to use that power to help others. With the power of flight I could help cops chase down robbers or cars in high-speed chases. If some old lady had her cat stuck in a tree I could get it down for her. I could help deliver First aid and support packages to people in warring countries that we couldn’t normally get them too. If a building was on fire and people were stuck on the roof or upper levels, I’d help the firefighters out by getting them to safety. There are a lot of different ways that I could help out mankind with my power.

Of course being able to fly would change my lifestyle drastically. I would no longer be afraid of falling off the edge of a high building or rooftop. Instead of driving to school and getting caught in traffic I could just fly there. I could fly anywhere I needed to be and get there faster than if I drove. In the fall and winter I could help my dad out by putting up the decorations for Halloween and Christmas and taking them down for him. Being able to fly would improve my lifestyle a lot, as long as I didn’t have to hide my identity. Having to hide my identity wouldn’t allow me to do a lot of those things out in the open, but it would be a necessary precaution to protect those close to me. I would hide my identity so that any organization that may try to use me for something bad could not use or kidnap someone I care for to get close to me.

Having a superpower doesn’t always have to be used to help others, sometimes you can use it just to have fun. If I had the chance to just break loose and have some fun with flying, I’d do it. I could race fighter jets around the airbase and laugh at the pilots reactions to seeing a boy flying. I’d surprise my girlfriend by flying outside her window and then take her out flying with me. When my friends and I played in my pool, I could perform dives that I wouldn’t even have attempted before. Instead of sitting in y room alone while my friends are out having fun, I could sneak out of the house by flying out my second story window. There are just so many different things I could do with the power of flight.

Now even though I could do all that, the thing I just want to do most off all is to soar through the sky, enjoying the wind flowing by me, the clouds around me, and to fly with the birds. Being able to fly would be the most wonderful thing and I could do so much with it. I could save peoples from burning buildings, Fly to the grocery store for my mom, and fly through the clouds just having fun. Wouldn’t you just want to fly?


Works Cited

Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) by Stan Lee [the first Spiderman comic]


Final:

Flying Free

 

Kapow! Whack! Thwomp! Everyone wishes that they were a superhero or had a super power at one time or another. If I could have one super power, it would be the power of flight. There are so many things I would be able do if I could fly; I could perform heroic deeds, it could change my lifestyle, or I could just cut loose and have some fun flying around. Being able to fly would be the greatest thing.

             “With great power there must also come great responsibility” (Uncle Ben from Spiderman in Amazing Fantasy #15), thus I feel if you have a superpower you have a responsibility to use that power to help others. With the power of flight I could help cops chase down robbers or cars in high-speed chases. Being cliché, I could save old ladies cats’ out of trees. Say there was a building on fire and people were stuck on the roof. Instead of the firefighters having to crank a ladder up there, I could fly up and get them. Right now there are countries in Africa and Europe that we can’t get Aid to because their governments wont let us. With the power of flight I could fly the care packages and medical supplies to them in the middle of the night. If we were at war with another country, I could help in the air fights by distracting the opposing pilots or releasing their fuel. There are a lot of different ways that I could help out mankind with my power.

Of course being able to fly would change my lifestyle drastically. I Have a terrible fear of being near a ledge of a high building or stairwell, because I am afraid of falling off of it. So if I was able to fly it would completely rid me of that fear. Instead of driving to school or work and getting caught in traffic, I could just fly there. I could fly anywhere I needed to be and get there faster than if I drove, because I wouldn’t have any trouble with traffic or have to follow the roads. In the fall and winter I could help my dad out by putting up the decorations for Halloween and Christmas and taking them down for him. Being able to fly would improve my lifestyle a lot, as long as I didn’t have to hide my identity. Having to hide my identity wouldn’t allow me to do a lot of those things out in the open, but it would be a necessary precaution to protect those close to me. That is the one downfall of having a superpower, because you either have to hide the fact that you have it, or hide who you are to keep the ones you love safe from the people that hate you. There will always be someone that is jealous of you or want to use you for your gift. These people will always exist and thus, you will always have to hide. Despite that I would still want to be able to fly.

Having a superpower doesn’t always have to be used to help others, sometimes you can use it just to have fun. If I had the chance to just break loose and have some fun with flying, I’d do it. I could race fighter jets around the airbase and laugh at the pilot’s reaction to seeing a boy flying. Surprising my girlfriend, I could fly outside her window, wake her up, and then take her out flying with me; flying anywhere in the world that we wanted to go. We could go see the Pyramids in Egypt, the canals of Venice, Mt. Fuji in Japan. When my friends and I played in my pool, I could perform dives that I wouldn’t even have attempted before, because I would have been afraid of hurting myself. Instead of sitting in my room alone while my friends are out having fun, I could sneak out of the house by flying out my second story window. There are just so many different things I could do with the power of flight.

Now even though I could do all that, the thing I just want to do most off all is to soar through the sky, enjoying the wind flowing by me, the clouds around me, and to fly with the birds. Being able to fly would be the most wonderful thing and I could do so much with it. I could save peoples from burning buildings, Fly to the grocery store for my mom, and fly through the clouds just having fun. Wouldn’t you just want to fly?


Works Cited

Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) by Stan Lee [the first Spiderman comic]

Response to Supersize Me


If you have yet to see This movie, go watch it right now. Watching this in my college English class was the second time I have seen this movie. This guy was either very smart, or very foolish. H risked his life to show America, no the World, what we are doing to ourselves by eating this junk every day of our lives. 

Okay so I'm a pretty skinny kid, close to being a skeleton. The sad thing is, that right after watching this movie I went and got some McDonalds. Before that I hadn't eaten the stuff for a couple months. I think that just like any food, Fast food is okay in moderation. It's okay to indulge in it every once in a while, but any more than that and you are risking your health. So i drive up to Mickey D's, found a parking spot, and headed on in. [I don't like drive throughs for some reason.] Looking at the Menu I realized that Morgan Spurlock was a genius. Like he said in his movie, McDonalds no longer offered the Supersize portions after his movie. Also, when I ordered my BigMac, the Cashier didn't ask me if I wanted to make it a large size. I don't know if she was being Lazy, or if she wasn't allowed to ask anymore, but it was a nice change.

Since then I have only made one other visit to the Golden Arches and that is because my Dad [who doesn't need to be eating fast food] wanted to go there after we visited the junkyard. Since watching Supersize me for the first time back in 10th Grade P.E. I have really cut back on the fast food. Every once in a while I like to indulge myself, just like anyone else, but for the most part I like to eat home made stuff. Ever try making your own fast food at home? It's a lot healthier and pretty fun at the same time.

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