Dear Class,
The paper that I have
chosen to revise and put in my portfolio would be my Literacy Narrative that I
wrote in the first semester. I thought that my narrative had some good
ideas as well as a lot of potential. Also, I thought that this was one of
my better papers, and I enjoyed typing it. Organization and the development of ideas seemed to be what
I struggled with the most when typing my paper, so those two traits of good
writing will be the ones that I will focus most on when revising. The comments that I received on my
literacy narrative were not too negative, which is why I will use this paper in
my portfolio. Most of the comments directed toward developing ideas,
which will not be difficult to do. Also, I got a comment saying my
organization could have been better. These issues should not be difficult
to overcome, as I should be able to come out with a good final product in my
class portfolio.
For
my writing remix, I have chosen to transform a blog post into a song. The blog post that I will convert to a
song will be my post on Jane Goodall’s plagiarism. I found this post to be easy to convert because I came up
with a lot of things I could say about the situation in order to come up with
verses and a chorus. My song had 3
verses and the chorus was also repeated 3 times. Once finished typing the lyrics, I felt good about what I
had came up with, and I think that my song will be a success.
Looking
back at all we have done this year, it was tough to come up with two pieces
that I liked most. After some time
of thought, I have come to the conclusion that my free post on hunting, and my
free post on baseball would have to be my 2 best hits on the year. I really liked these two posts because
they are on my two favorite topics.
They were very fun to ride, and I thought that I did a good job with the
detail within these 2 posts. The
two things that I would have to say are misses, would be my thesis paper, and
my free post using vocab words. It
was not very tough for me to decide that these 2 pieces were my weakest. I thought that my thesis statement was
a little shaky in the paper, and in the vocabulary post, I forgot to use vocab
words.
As
a writer, I would claim that I enjoy writing only one certain circumstance,
when the subject interests me. I
could go on and on in a paper that is about duck hunting, football, baseball,
or anything else that I love to do, or that interests me. Also, as a writer I can get bored very
easily whenever I am forced to write about something that I do not really care
about. When doing this, I find
myself zoned out, and just typing in words aimlessly in order to fill in space,
waiting to be done. However,
whenever I am writing about something interesting, I remain focused, and write
to the best of my ability.
I
have a variety of different strengths as a writer, I find my strongest points
to be organization, use of detail, and word choice. I think that organization is one of my strengths because of
my effort to block out an essay before I actually type it. I try my best to paint a picture in the
readers head, which adds detail to my list of strengths. Also, I try my best to use wordly wise
words in my writing, but if not, I often use the thesaurus for good word
choice. Although I have multiple
strengths, I also have some weaknesses as a writer. My weaknesses include punctuation, and grammar. I often get confused on certain aspects
of grammar including which form of a word to use, as well as the order you use
when listing people (You and I.)
Punctuation is also a weak point for me. I get confused whether to use colon’s or semi colons, and am
very unclear on when to use each of these. Also, I often mess up when using quotations or parentheses
in my writing.
To
improve as writer, there are multiple things I will do. Whenever I have a question, I can refer
to my Norton book for my answer.
If this does not work for me, I will go to a teacher in order to
improve.
Sincerely,
Brennan Folse
Hits: Free posts on hunting and baseball
Misses: Thesis paper, free post using Wordly Wise words
Hits: Free posts on hunting and baseball
Misses: Thesis paper, free post using Wordly Wise words
Analysis of Rhetorical Situation
I chose to change the formatting of
my blog post about Jane Goodall’s plagiarism, into a song. The audience for this song really could
be anyone wanting to learn about plagiarism. Although this song would be suitable for anyone, I think it
would best be for middle and lower schoolers to inform them about the
seriousness of plagiarism. The
audience changed from my original post because I am making the Jane Goodall
situation as well as facts about plagiarism more understandable for younger
people.
The members of the audience should
have a basic understanding of what plagiarism is before hearing my song. I think that this song is appropriate
to communicate to them because it will educate them on plagiarism, and the
seriousness of it. As an outcome
of the kids hearing my song, I hope that they will have a better understanding
of plagiarism. Also I hope that it
will influence their future regarding writing, and keep them from committing
this crime.
The stance I am taking within this
song is against plagiarism.
Although I was against plagiarism in my original blog post, I focused
more on what Jane Goodall did, and what I thought she has left to do. In my song, I am focusing more on how
bad plagiarism is, and how there are multiple consequences for one that is
caught plagiarizing.
I chose to pick a song as my genre
of writing because I felt that it would do a good job of reaching younger
children. My reasons behind this
were because I figured that some of the lyrics would hopefully stick with them,
and that the kids would remember them when they began to do more intense
writing. My strategy has changed
from my original piece of writing because the first time around, I just focused
on Jane Goodall. In doing this
remix, I am focusing more on plagiarism itself.
Writing Remix
(song)
Goodalls Plagerism
Jane
Goodall is a scientist that made a bad decision. She plagerized, that’s not okay, she’ll have to live with
it. She didn’t give credit, she
didn’t’ ask permission, she got to carried away just trying to complete her
mission. It’s one thing if she
were to ask, it’s one thing if she were to cite, she didn’t do either of these
things, which is why she got the bite.
Don’t
plagiarize, it’s not cool. If you
do it, you are a fool
There
are consequences, failing, fined, and behind metal fences
Don’t
plagiarize, it’s not cool. If you
do it, you are a fool
There
are consequences, failing, fined, and behind metal fences
Although
she did mess up, she did her best to fix it.
She
apologized, she sympathized which made it a lot less wicked.
Although
she can’t take it back, the best she can do is apologize
She
probably still feels terrible, which is why you shouldn’t plagiarize.
Don’t
plagiarize, it’s not cool. If you
do it, you are a fool
There
are consequences, failing, fined, and behind metal fences
Don’t
plagiarize, it’s not cool. If you
do it, you are a fool
There
are consequences, failing, fined, and behind metal fences
Lessons Through Literacy
I was six years old and suddenly
diagnosed with a terrible bacterial infection in my left knee. The infection
put me in the hospital for many days.
My mom used to always tell me to never take anything for granted, I used
to just nod and respond with an “okay” or “sure mom” and not really think too
much of it. My careless opinion of
her short statement changed after that first miserable night at Our Lady of the
Lake. Once the pain had calmed
down a little, I had surgery and was confined to the hospital bed with tubes of
antibiotic drugs in my veins for another several days. During that time I was very inactive
and really took up reading as well as a lot more praying with my mom. I began to realize the truth and
significance of her statement. It
occurred to me that reading was relaxing and that it could help me pass the
time while I was healing. My mom
also got me into some good books in the hospital as well as once I returned
home. These books started to give
me enjoyment for the first time and for once, I began to read in my free
time. At only six years old, I
began to pick up on some small, but important lessons from the children’s books
I had been reading. From this, I
learned that when people open up their minds and decide to read, valuable
lessons could be taught through books.
I continued to grow as a reader
and further understand the significance of my mother’s teachings as I took a
step back and learned to be more thankful for what I have. I began to
appreciate what I have even more after reading Same Kind of Different as Me, by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. This is the story of a wealthy art
dealer named Ron and a poor, homeless man named Denver. The book describes each of the
character’s lifestyles, Ron’s wonderful life full of loved ones as well as a
high level of wealth. On the other
hand, whenever it would describe how poor and lonely Denver was on the streets,
it made me feel very grateful for what I have and that I should not take
anything for granted because any of us could have been born homeless and in
those dangerous conditions. Ron’s wife, Deborah, is diagnosed with a cancer,
which turns into a very life threatening illness towards the end of the book. She was very loved by Ron and this made
me think about how I would feel if I were in their shoes. Ron’s wife passed away toward the end
of the book. This also made me
feel very thankful for my health and to enjoy every day because you never know
what might happen to you. I learned to enjoy all of the time I have with my
family as well as my friends because I might not have them all one day and
hopefully I would have no regrets about not spending enough time with them. Reading this book helped me appreciate
blessings, and have compassion for those in need.
This book did not just teach me these lessons, but I also
learned that reading can teach you other valuable things in life. Many different lessons can be taught
through literacy and often explained better than lessons taught by friends,
adults, or even your teachers. Lessons
through literacy can be taught better than just when they are told because when
you are reading a good book, it truly makes you feel like the character and puts
you into his or her shoes.
Other lessons in readings can be taught as well as the one that my mom
has always taught me.
I have started to look at books
in a new way, and have began searching more in depth for the moral, or lesson
in each story. As a reader
overall, I have improved because of this and get a lot more out of each
book. Every story has an important
lesson worth learning, you might just have to look a little bit harder in some
books for it. I have grown so much
as a person as well as a reader since that first night in the hospital. Another lesson I have learned
throughout reading is that if things in life don’t kill you they make you
stronger, and I definitely found that to be true due to my infection. I also think that reading can make you
a better person because the more books you read, the more lessons you learn,
and the more lessons you learn, the better of a person you will become. I think this has happened to me because
I have learned all of these morals by putting myself in the characters’ shoes
to really feel what it is like, and learn something new.
Literacy can help you
in life, not just to achieve a better vocabulary or to learn something new
about a past event, but to improve you as a person. At the time I was miserable to be in that hospital, but
looking back on it, I am glad that it happened. Without those days of boredom in the hospital bed, I never
would have began to focus on reading, as well as to begin paying attention to
those lessons. Reading can enlighten you with wise teachings that only can be
found through literacy, which has gotten me to love it.
