Strategies

Reading strategies (313-328)

I think this reading was definitely scheduled for September 24 on purpose. It is about reading strategies like "Playing the believing and doubting game", summarizing, analyzing the argument, and considering larger text. With our first drafts due on Tuesday, this could be very helpful. We are writing about someone's paper and arguments. We are analyzing the text and stating the things we disagree and agree with. This reading tells us how to go about this paper and what things to look out for.

C&W vs Rap

518-523 - Parallel Worlds

I found this reading not only hilarious, but surprisingly true. I have read many articles and papers on this subject but this one was really good. The author shared many details and examples, such as lyrics and titles on songs. The way the author compared the two genres of music was very interesting. I honestly looked at it and was thinking "Oh my gosh, another long reading." But I'm glad I read it. It was funny to see the similarities between two completely opposite types of music and lifestyle.

Proofreading

• Editing and Proofreading (p.219-223) Norton Field Guide to Writing

As you can see in this reading, there are a million things to do when editing a paper. But the most important in my opinion would be proofreading. The last but not least important thing is proofreading. As the book says, you must slow down when proofreading your paper. If you go too fast or skim through you will not catch all the mistakes. You can't just read the paper either. You have to read the words like this reading explains. I strongly agree with this. If your just reading to see if it makes sense, you will miss spelling and grammar errors. Another great way to proofread is to have someone else do it. Having someone else read over your paper is good because they will catch the things you missed.

Titles,beginnings, and endings

• Getting Respone and Revising (pg. 213-214)

I don't exactly agree on the part about titles. It says to recognize if it grabs your attention or is it interesting. Well I have always been taught to not judge a book, or in this case a paper, by its cover, or in this case its title. It could be the most boring paper in the world but have a really catchy title. On the other hand it could be an awesome paper and have a boring, dull title. The part that really matters is the first few sentences to a paper or book. Those first few sentences or even first paragraph has to grab a readers attention. If it does not, readers will not read much further than that. The ending is also important. The author must make sure whatever his or her point is made by the end. If a reader is interested and reads the whole paper but the end is horrible, they will be disappointed. They will not have good things to say about your paper simply because of how it ended. So I would say to worry about the beginning and ending sentences more than a title. Recognize how most readers are going to go about reading your paper. :)

Something to think about..

"Remember that your writing is not carved in stone." That quote is from the Norton Guide to Writing book for English 103. I like this saying. I find myself continually struggling for things to say and how to put those things on paper. I over think everything. I take rough drafts way too seriously. Although drafts are important in the process of writing, they are mostly a learning tool. You use first and second drafts to figure out everything you want to say and how to say it correctly. You correct grammar errors and such also. As I put my thoughts together to begin a rough draft I need to remember this quote. It is true. Writing is never carved in stone, so I shouldn't over react. I will slow down, write what I think I want to, and relax. I can always go back and fix things. I could even go back, deleted the whole thing, and start over. My options are open when beginning a paper ahead of the deadline.

Stories I found interesting and THEN SOME...

Reading & Blog Entry 2: Norton Field Guide:Literacy Narratives (487-517); Chapter 22, Generating Ideas and Text (199-204)

• Se Habla Espanol by Tanya Barrientos

Although I am not Latina, I find the Hispanic culture very exciting. I would kill to speak Spanish or have a Spanish/Hispanic hertiage and background. I think Tanya should of kept embracing her hertiage, as well as her language, when she came to America. Like she mentioned America wasn't the same back then but I wouldn't have cared. I would of enjoyed being different than the average person in America. I would have loved having something most did not, that is, being bilingual.

• Learning to Read by Frederick Douglas

I have read something like this story before about a slave who learned to read and write. It spoke about how the white man could take everything away from them, except their education. They could not remove education from someones mind. That is interesting to me. A quote I liked from this reading was, "This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge." I love that quote. I love that someone like this man in such an awful situation can see good. He was able to make things better in spite of his circumstances. This story was sad but inspiring also.

• Mother Tongue by Amy Tan

I found this reading extremely interesting. I love hearing cultural stories like this one. The word for word part in her mothers way of speaking was interesting as well. I could not understand half of it but I found it intriguing. The difference of how she would tell a story was weird. I also found it interesting that the author, Amy, had so many different ways of speaking English. I totally agree on the way English tests are. Although I do not have too many ways of speaking, I feel the same as her. In math, it is easy because there is only one correct answer most of the time. And as she said, on English tests, it is almost like a judgement call. There are so many different opinions on things. It is hard to establish or limit yourself to one 'correct' answer. I always found this difficult.

• Generating Ideas & Text

I've never heard this vocabulary to describe ways of generating ideas and text. I definitely find myself doing some of these though. I find myself looping a lot of the time. I write a group of things, read over it, and begin again bringing along those ideas. I also think I am good at free writing. Journals are something I have always been good at in high school English classes. Teachers give you a topic, and you just write about it. I can write a page or so off of most topics. I also think questioning is a good way of finding your thoughts and opinions. I do not practice this much, but I should. I hate the idea of listing, outlining, and clustering. Listing and outlining are way too organized for my taste. And at the same time, clustering is too unorganized for my taste. Clustering is just that, cluster.

Overall I liked this section of reading. Some of the stories were boring, which is why I did not choose to comment on those.

My thoughts about the reading!

I liked how the book went through those five or six categories of preparing to write a paper. Each chapter provided details and examples on the subject at hand. The examples or excerpts definitely helped me understand a little better.
I really enjoyed the literacy narratives. I think the writing about the man and his sick father was touching. A lot of people can relate to the way he was feeling. Whether it be someone who grew up in a single parent home or just a poor childhood, most can hit home with that specific story. I loved how he enabled himself to suck up his pride and anger to enjoy the last moments he has with his father.
The second story almost made me cry at the end. The fact that his grandmother tried so hard and put so much effort into helping him enjoy education was amazing. He realized that later on in life. She had so much motivation to helping him succeed, and he actually recognized it as well as acted on it. I found this extremely sweet.
Last but not least, I found I could most relate to the third literacy narrative. It wasn't as an intriguing story as the other two, but it hit home for me. I felt the same way when I received an awful score on the writing portion of the SAT. I always loved writing, and it was somewhat of a hobby. I was on the school paper for 2 years and thought I was pretty good at it. When I got those results, I was bothered and shocked. It made me realize I had a lot of work to do. I felt the irritation in the authors words.
These chapters did a good job of explaining how to start thinking on what to write and how to go about it or put it together. This was helpful.

Hiiii

First time blogging! I am in English class and extremely tired. :( ...and HUNGRY.
Hi, Bye.