Best of Week: Vocabulary

Although I thoroughly enjoyed our short story discussions, my favorite part of the week was the constant incorporation of vocabulary. Towards the beginning of the week, studying vocabulary became a daunting task, mostly due to variety show. So I made my note cards and studied; after some quality practicing the vocabulary words seemed to stick. Therefore, the morning of preview, I didn’t have to worry about studying last minute. By the time I got to English class, the northies had left, but Mr. Allen gave the Vshow kids the vocabulary test anyways. He gave us a few minutes to review; but before giving us the test, he called each of us up individually. “Lauren. Do you know what the word auspicious means?” he asked. (at least I think that’s the word he used) I freaked out, thinking it was a vocabulary word I was supposed to know, and I didn’t. Then Kate Henning answered and I couldn’t be happier. Mr. Allen handed me my Heart of Darkness test and I had done very well on it!

Next I took the vocabulary test and flew right through it. I was glad to hear that no one, or almost no one, got less than a 96 on the test. I know there was some confusion whether or not the South kids would have time to take the test or not, so some people hadn’t studied until the morning of the test.

In class Mr. Allen also asked if anyone knew what the word sedulous meant. Remembering the word from a past vocab. test, I shouted “diligent.” Mr. Allen and I both seemed very surprised that I remembered the definition and that a synonym would be assiduous. The fact that it was possible to recall the meaning after such a long time really showed me that, A. repetition actually helps in long term memorization, and B. vocabulary is important and helpful in real life, aside from just being a relatively easy grade-booster in English class.

I feel that the new method of writing words down on the board is very interesting. I, in fact, wrote those words, sedulous; truncated; and apotheosis, down in my assignment notebook. I’m looking forward to seeing whether or not Mr. Allen will quiz us on those words.

I generally don’t view myself as having a very broad vocabulary, yet this week, vocabulary seemed a more positive idea.

What If: My Life Was A Short Story

This week we read the short story Boys, in class. Through the heavy use of repitition, of the boys enter the house, we reasoned that at least a few parts of this story story are applicable to every boy. Therefore it is a model. What if my life was the model for the lives of girls? When I look over my life experiences, I think that the events are too boring to write a short story about. Then I move to my frame of mind and i don't contemplate about anything out of the ordinary. Even thought I may not think my story would be a good model for the lives of other girls, it may be mundain and simple enough to apply to girls everywhere. Just to be clear, I do think my life has value and I do think I will leave a lasting influence on the people I spend time with. This lasting influence happens, I think, because everyone may take part in similar activities, but the details add importance and emotion. Boys applies to nonfictional boys because the narrator describes on situation that everyone does, entering the house, and he adds detailed experiences to this single experience. If my life was a short story, the narrator might talk about something similar such as looking out the window or sitting on the couch; then he or she would add specific events to those simple actions.

Aside from the structure of the story, I think that it would be really strange if every reader knew all of my quirky habits. I don't think I would want a short story to be written about me. I am a quiet, private person; therefore, I wouldn't want the attention or possible questions that would come along with the plot. Also, currently, I don't know what the climax would be. Maybe I'll never know what the climax is, only someone on the outside could know. I don't think my story would be possible in my brain because I don't know who would write it. My only guess would be if someone, that I don't know, found a scrapbook or a photo album of my life and wrote a story. We talked about this in class. If Boys was written the same way then that explains why the names weren't mentioned and why the story it more universal.

Pretty much, I wouldn't want a story about myself. Therefore, when I begin writing a short story, I'm hopefully going to write about a fictional character. To tell you (Mr. Allen) the truth, I'm not looking forward to writing a short story. On a seperate note, I apologize for the poor writing today. I've been really busy with Variety Show.

Connection: Heart of Darkness and Industrialization

Throughout Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness there are many elements, of the mistreatment of workers, present. When Marlow travels through the Central Station we see several examples. “Six black men advanced in a file toiling up the path. They walked erect and slow, balancing small baskets full of earth on their heads, and the clink kept time with their footsteps. Black rags were wound round their loins and the short ends behind waggled to and fro like tails. I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope, each had an iron collar on his neck and all were connected together with a chain whose bights swung between them, rhythmically clinking” (Conrad 15).

In social studies we recently explored the issues associated with the Industrial Revolution, the most common idea being the mistreatment of workers. We read a Samuel Smiles’s article about factory discipline including rules, work hours, and penalties. The article explained a typical worker’s 13 hour day which is run by bells, similar to those school day. Another salient feature of the article was the supervisors’ power over the laborers. “It goes without saying that all overseers and officials of the firm shall be obeyed without questions, and shall be treated with due deference. Disobedience will be punished by dismissal…Untrue allegations against superiors or officials of the concern shall lead to stern reprimand, and may lead to dismissal” (Perry 137). He also explains, in a previous article, that the workers are more just because they make an honest living while the officials don’t really do much in their job, yet are highly rewarded.

This reminded me of Heart of Darkness, especially concerning mistreatment of workers and racial inequality; because the black natives do most of the work while the white officials, such as the manager do very little. While Marlow is applying for a trip to Africa, he hears a story about the stolen hens. The African accused of stealing the hens gets beaten while the official is said to have done a good thing. It is often said in Heart of Darkness that the Company’s cause is very noble, which is generally viewed as false by the readers. Lazy, power hungry officials are common in both the industrial revolution and in Heart of Darkness.

To me it was pretty obvious that in both instances there were poor working conditions and little to no healthcare. In the Industrial revolution population, poor healthcare for workers, and bad sanitation were common. From Heart of Darkness, the line above about the exposed ribs showed lack of food for workers. Also the conditions, in which the Africans die and are left on the side of the road, show poor sanitation.

Although a very gruesome topic, mistreatment of workers has been very common throughout history and literature.

Blogging Around 2

I commented on Margot's best of week because her topic of group collaboration utilized a concept that our class needs to work on. I really liked how she explained what she did that helped her have fun while studying. Margot's overall theme was that working with groups can be fun and it gives many perspectives on a problem/prompt (essay in this case).

Margot, I really liked this blog post of yours. It was especially great to read because of your truthfulness. Along with your appreciation for studying with friends, you also admitted that we all get distracted. I find it hard to get quality work done while working with my friends. It’s wonderful that you find the right balance of fun, food, and focus. I think it helped me to go somewhere other than someone’s house. By going to Panera, the group of students I collaborated with was forced to focus because we had a limited amount of time and we couldn’t disrupt the people around us. Also, I found it really smart of you to realize that group collaboration can be used for other events in life other than our King Lear project. Overall, I thought your post was very truthful and insightful. Great Piece!

Next, I decided to comment on Marika's best of week about heroes and villains. It seemed very important and current because we just finished King Lear, which had a lot of villain hero mix-ups. Marika questioned how villains become the way they are and why we choose heroes to be the good people. Her observations and questions really interested me.

Marika, this post was very insightful. It raised so many intriguing questions, some of with depend on opinions or on the plot of the story. I really like when authors are able to make the “good” protagonist do horrible things but people still root for him or her over the villain. I find that situation to be more interesting than when the people prefer the villain over the hero.
Your questions at the end of were the best of the entire post because they question the reader and the intentions of the author, especially Shakespeare. I think the underlying question at the end is not what is a hero or a villain but how did they become that way, especially if you believe that they weren’t born innately evil. This was a very thoughtful piece. Great writing.

From all the posts I've read: Interesting topics and truthful writing!

Metacognition: Poem

As I was revising my poem I realized that most of the verses I wrote were really overdone, so my goal was to refine the content form of the poem. My poem was centered around two main subjects, music and my cousin. At first, it seemed to start out as two seperate poems because the beginning was devoted to a portrait of my cousin while the later half of the poem was only focused on the music aspect of the story. My main goal was to infuse the music aspect into the poem sooner and gradually make the turn occur.

To eliminate the cliché pieces throughout my poem I changed words so that they became more descriptive. By altering the ambiguous words and making each line original I was able to successfully, I hope, fix all those parts. I found that some actually fixed themselves once I started to shift the direction/focus of the poem. When I started to talk more about the music, the predictable pieces disappeared because I began to fill the places that lacked information. When only talking about my cousin's picture lacked detail and cliches began to form, the music subject would take their places.

I actually ended up erasing the entire first two stanzas of my poem because I felt, although they were detailed and fluid, they didn't fit in with the entire mood of the poem. Those few lines were too solemn while the rest of the poem was more about curiosity and disappointment. Instead of a long introduction, I cut to the chase and the poem was more interesting. This relates to the idea of avoiding starting essays with quotes because the reader is confused. I originally opened with a ton of detail and unnecessary information. Once it was cut out, the poem was more precise and less confusing.

Overall, I think my edits and revisions improved my poem. However, my worst fear is that all the changes that I just explained really impared the poem. I hope that all the changes were for the better.

Best of Week: Indirect Reciprocity

My favorite lesson of the week was Mr. Allen's story about the woman that bought his coffee for him at Starbucks. The entire pay it forward idea is not only important to english class, but also important to everyday courtesy. I thought it was really kind that the woman would do something so selfless (Even if it's just coffee).

What really baffled me were the reasons why she decided to pay for some stranger's coffee. She could've been having a bad day and wanted to give someone else some hope for the day because she didn't have a great day. I find that possible but not probable due to human nature. Even though this good deed was great and the world needs more of things like this, I find that people don't usually do this type of thing on a whim, especially when they are angry. When I'm angry, I accidentally take my anger out on people for no reason at all. Maybe it's because I want them to feel my difficulty. Therefore, I don't think her doing it to help someone else on her bad day is probable. My next idea was that the entire thing was an accident. But I don't think that's possible because Mr. Allen said that the cashier told him that the woman paid for his coffee and food. My last theory was that she was having a good day and wanted to share the wealth. This would be the most plausible and probable.

The other thing about indirect reciprocity that makes it difficult to actually reciprocate is the fact that it has to be spontaneous. Mr. Allen said that he didn't buy the next person's drink. He knew that he had to come up with his own good thing to do for a total stranger. I've been searching for the perfect time to help someone as well,but because I've been trying so hard, and I don't think the right time will come because it won't be spontaneous. If I let time pass, I hope that I don't forget to use indirect reciprocity, and I hope that my time, to help someone, will come.

Connection: Incerementalism

The idea of slowly undermining someone else’s authority can be found in family and in schools. We learned this concept through Lear, who is growing old, loosing rule over his kingdom, and is being mistreated by his daughters. All of these factors gradually become more effective. He must be taken care of by his servants (Fool) and his greedy daughters who often beguile him.

As people get old, we discussed that their children have to strip away their freedom and power for their safety. I have seen that happening through my family. My great grandmother is still alive. She’s 96 and still vivacious, but she has a horrible memory. So I’ve seen my grandparents as well as great aunts and uncles move her out of her house in Florida. However, now my grandparents and all others listed go to Arizona for half the year so my mom and her brothers are forced to take care of her. I make it sound awful, but grandma-ma is a really funny great person to be with, but she’s a bit of a handful. My family jokes around that once my grandparents get old enough where they need constant looking after, I will have to take care of them instead of my parents. As we learned in class, this sort of incrementalism can affect marriages, but I understand that it can also affect parent child relationships as well, much like Lear and his three daughters.

My other example of incrementalism can be found within our school. Most everyone has had some experiences with student teachers. Some of my peers have even said that they don't learn very much from their student teacher. So, I've known students who try to make class as difficult as possible for the student teacher. They are disruptive and overall, not courteous to the teacher. I think that the reason these kids act up is because they are intimidated and they feel that, because the age difference can be so small, that the student teacher has no right to demand attention or make disciplinary judgments. My cousin is actually a student teacher at an elementary school, and she said that her job is very difficult, but she is making progress with the students. Her hardships helped me understand the pressure being put on student teachers as well as Lear (taking away his authority), and it forced me to rethink my mistreatment of teachers. Age difference doesn't matter, the taking away of someones power can be stressful to the victim and the perpetrator(s).