To me, the most important aspect of this writing assignment was working together as a group. It is a skill that we don't practice very often, and this project was a good opportunity to work on collaboration skills.
It was difficult to adapt my writing style to fit those of my group members. It's hard to mesh the ideas of three people into one coherent piece. It required more work, effort, and time than an independent writing assignment would have. But, we did manage to fight through all the distractions and create a nice transcript.
Working with other people is a skill that I wish I was better at. I know that it will become an important skill for the future and will determine any one's success. I often like to do things by myself and not have to deal with other people, but I know this is not a realistic way of thinking. I hope to change my thinking in a way so that I become more compatible with other people.
Overall, this was a good working experience and a nice way to practice our collaborating skills for the future. I believe that the learning from the writing process was of equal, if not greater importance than the intellectual learning from Jane Eyre.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Metacognition: Jane Eyre
Reading Jane Eyre was a refreshing change to the previous books we have read this year. Unlike Sophie's World and Heart of Darkness, it wasn't overwhelming. I didn't dread having to read it every night, and the storyline was captivating. I couldn't help but wondering why this book was so different.
I have decided it is because of the overall slower pace of the novel. Not every sentence was jam packed with information, and many pages were devoted simply to the setting and descriptions. The slower pace obviously slowed my thinking, allowing more knowledge, feelings and opinions to be absorbed while reading the text. It was a nice change to not feel so rushed while reading.
I was surprised to find out how engulfed I became in the story. I felt both sympathy and anger towards the characters, which usually doesn't happen to me while reading school books. Being so involved in this story greatly improved my comprehension, and with increased comprehension comes increased overall enjoyment.
To improve my thinking, I wish I had annotated my book with more care. When the time came for small group discussions, I felt as though I had forgotten my initial reactions and thoughts, and it was hard to look back and know what I was thinking.
Overall, reading Jane Eyre was a good experience with many opportunities to relax and fully enjoy and interpret the story.
I have decided it is because of the overall slower pace of the novel. Not every sentence was jam packed with information, and many pages were devoted simply to the setting and descriptions. The slower pace obviously slowed my thinking, allowing more knowledge, feelings and opinions to be absorbed while reading the text. It was a nice change to not feel so rushed while reading.
I was surprised to find out how engulfed I became in the story. I felt both sympathy and anger towards the characters, which usually doesn't happen to me while reading school books. Being so involved in this story greatly improved my comprehension, and with increased comprehension comes increased overall enjoyment.
To improve my thinking, I wish I had annotated my book with more care. When the time came for small group discussions, I felt as though I had forgotten my initial reactions and thoughts, and it was hard to look back and know what I was thinking.
Overall, reading Jane Eyre was a good experience with many opportunities to relax and fully enjoy and interpret the story.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
360 Degrees: Our Future
As I am beginning to recieve more and more college letters in the mail, I am also beginning to feel more and more guilty about not preparing for college yet. I have no idea where I want to go or what I plan to do in the future, and sometimes this scares me.
I know people already enrolled in ACT prep classes. My friends are already signed up to take the ACT at the end of the school year. They're counting how many volunteer jobs they can put on their applications. They are doing all of these things while we are only sophomores in high school.
This is sometimes viewed as a positive thing: we are beginning to take control of our own lives as students and learning to make our own decisions to benefit us in the future. We are becoming independent.
Yet our college preparation can also be seen as a looming stressor, sucking up our time, thoughts and energy as teenagers and forcing us to grow up too soon. As sophomores, we still have mistakes to make and lessons to learn before we have the power to plan our own futures.
Despite this, one thing is for sure. We must think and plan our futures, but it is our decision how much this planning controls our lives.
I know people already enrolled in ACT prep classes. My friends are already signed up to take the ACT at the end of the school year. They're counting how many volunteer jobs they can put on their applications. They are doing all of these things while we are only sophomores in high school.
This is sometimes viewed as a positive thing: we are beginning to take control of our own lives as students and learning to make our own decisions to benefit us in the future. We are becoming independent.
Yet our college preparation can also be seen as a looming stressor, sucking up our time, thoughts and energy as teenagers and forcing us to grow up too soon. As sophomores, we still have mistakes to make and lessons to learn before we have the power to plan our own futures.
Despite this, one thing is for sure. We must think and plan our futures, but it is our decision how much this planning controls our lives.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
An Inconvenient Truth: Suburban Bubble
We often complain about how we are trapped in our own small surbaban bubble and don't get to experience the world outside. Sometimes I do feel this way, and that is one of the reasons why I was so excited to fly away to the Caribbean for spring break. My family and I went to St. John in the US Virgin Islands, and the culture and atmosphere could not be more different.
I love it on that island. It's small, crammed, and loud. There are no sidewalks, small one way streets, and it's always a challenge to get around. You don't always feel safe. There are bright colors, exotic smells, and beautiful scenery. I think that I enjoy it so much there because of the large contrast between there and home. Being in that different surrounding made it frighteningly clear that their is so much more outside of our bubble than we could imagine.
The truth is we are in our bubble. It's annoying to believe we are missing out on the diversity of the world just because of where we live. It's bothersome to think about all that is going on that we don't see. This is the reality of the bubble.
But then again we must also appreciate where we live. We are almost always safe. We have food, homes, water, good schools, and an immense amount of luxuries. Some are satisfied with the suburban life, for it provides stability and security. This is also the reality of the bubble.
No matter which way you look at it, we all know of life outside of the suburbs. Yet by traveling, exploring, and gaining knowledge about the rest of the world, we might not feel so stuck.
I love it on that island. It's small, crammed, and loud. There are no sidewalks, small one way streets, and it's always a challenge to get around. You don't always feel safe. There are bright colors, exotic smells, and beautiful scenery. I think that I enjoy it so much there because of the large contrast between there and home. Being in that different surrounding made it frighteningly clear that their is so much more outside of our bubble than we could imagine.
The truth is we are in our bubble. It's annoying to believe we are missing out on the diversity of the world just because of where we live. It's bothersome to think about all that is going on that we don't see. This is the reality of the bubble.
But then again we must also appreciate where we live. We are almost always safe. We have food, homes, water, good schools, and an immense amount of luxuries. Some are satisfied with the suburban life, for it provides stability and security. This is also the reality of the bubble.
No matter which way you look at it, we all know of life outside of the suburbs. Yet by traveling, exploring, and gaining knowledge about the rest of the world, we might not feel so stuck.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Dialectics: Culture and Government
In our current events group on Friday, we discussed the increasing amount of female abortion in India. Eventually, this led us to discuss the relationship between India's culture, traditions, and beliefs, and India's government and politics. We talked about how large a role culture plays in society versus the government, and how powerful each was.
Some argued that culture is more effective and has a larger impact on people than the government. You are completely immersed in the culture of your society at all times, and it is very important to fit into this culture if one wants to survive. Culture is not as formal as the government and its laws are, which can make it easier to follow for some people. Culture is something that brings people together, and is therefore very important for our society.
Government is very important for obvious reasons, but sometimes we feel more a cultural presence in our day to day lives. But when we analyze the relationship between the two, we see that both are important for controlling different aspects of life. Government provides the order while our culture provides our unique identity.
Yet we need both culture and government in order to be successful, and the most important thing is to find a balance between the two.
Some argued that culture is more effective and has a larger impact on people than the government. You are completely immersed in the culture of your society at all times, and it is very important to fit into this culture if one wants to survive. Culture is not as formal as the government and its laws are, which can make it easier to follow for some people. Culture is something that brings people together, and is therefore very important for our society.
Government is very important for obvious reasons, but sometimes we feel more a cultural presence in our day to day lives. But when we analyze the relationship between the two, we see that both are important for controlling different aspects of life. Government provides the order while our culture provides our unique identity.
Yet we need both culture and government in order to be successful, and the most important thing is to find a balance between the two.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Blogging Around
In response to Rebekah's Captured Thought post about her daily routine:
I'm pretty sure I understand what you mean. Our routines and repeated actions act as safe places for us. They put us in our comfort zone and we know what to expect. It is when we don't know what is to come or expect when we feel uncomfortable, and this is most likely what causes our bad days. Something out of the ordinary happens, which takes you out of your safe place. As much as everyone wants to 'take a chance' or 'live a little' or 'get out of their comfort zone,' we all really feel the safest in what we know.
In response to Fatiti's Best of Week post about reading The Cathedral:
Hi Fatiti! I'm going to have to disagree with you about your thoughts about the ending of this story. I am actually a fan of all cliffhangers in general because it leaves the ending open to your interpretation. It adds a mysterious quality, and allows you to draw your own conclusions. They make the story unique to your personal thoughts because you determine the ending. Sure, it is nice when stories end in neat little packages, but it's also nice when the story doesn't end when the text does.
I'm pretty sure I understand what you mean. Our routines and repeated actions act as safe places for us. They put us in our comfort zone and we know what to expect. It is when we don't know what is to come or expect when we feel uncomfortable, and this is most likely what causes our bad days. Something out of the ordinary happens, which takes you out of your safe place. As much as everyone wants to 'take a chance' or 'live a little' or 'get out of their comfort zone,' we all really feel the safest in what we know.
In response to Fatiti's Best of Week post about reading The Cathedral:
Hi Fatiti! I'm going to have to disagree with you about your thoughts about the ending of this story. I am actually a fan of all cliffhangers in general because it leaves the ending open to your interpretation. It adds a mysterious quality, and allows you to draw your own conclusions. They make the story unique to your personal thoughts because you determine the ending. Sure, it is nice when stories end in neat little packages, but it's also nice when the story doesn't end when the text does.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Best of Week: Apocalypse Now
On Monday we watched a few clips from the movie Apocalypse Now that related to Heart of Darkness. Viewing parts of this film was the best part of the week because it modernized many of the themes in Heart of Darkness to make them more understandable.
This movie brought the events and lessons in Heart of Darkness into a different time period and place with different characters. Doing this allowed us as an audience to both better understand the already existing elements of postmodernism and modernism, and additionally appreciate them in a new way. By seeing another perspective on Heart of Darkness, we find new aspects and new ideas. It is important to view many interpretations so we can be opened up to different ideas to help us learn even more about any topic.
By physically viewing the actions, characters, and people in Apocalypse Now, it settles some of the confusion that the novel brings. It puts new and powerful pictures in your head. When you compare the images in the movie to the images that you have created in your mind while reading the novel, you find both differences and similarities. And it is these differences that make comparison and analyzing different things so important.
In short, the viewing of Apocalypse Now was the best of the week because of the new spin it provided to Heart of Darkness. It helped me to better understand the novel, and get more insights out of it.
This movie brought the events and lessons in Heart of Darkness into a different time period and place with different characters. Doing this allowed us as an audience to both better understand the already existing elements of postmodernism and modernism, and additionally appreciate them in a new way. By seeing another perspective on Heart of Darkness, we find new aspects and new ideas. It is important to view many interpretations so we can be opened up to different ideas to help us learn even more about any topic.
By physically viewing the actions, characters, and people in Apocalypse Now, it settles some of the confusion that the novel brings. It puts new and powerful pictures in your head. When you compare the images in the movie to the images that you have created in your mind while reading the novel, you find both differences and similarities. And it is these differences that make comparison and analyzing different things so important.
In short, the viewing of Apocalypse Now was the best of the week because of the new spin it provided to Heart of Darkness. It helped me to better understand the novel, and get more insights out of it.
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