Is it Seriously Midterms Already?

I cannot believe half the semester is gone already! Honestly where did it go? Lately we have been spending a lot of time on the different types of poetry. I never knew how many kinds there really were. It is a bit overwhelming because each has their own techniquies and sound completely different. Professor had given us an assignment to creat a lesson plan to teach the class a particular play from the book. I am partnered up with a classmate of mine named Emily and we were giving the play "An Enemy of the People". We have been working on the assignment for a few days now. I never really knew how much time and effort it took to create a lesson plan for just one class time. I have a new respect for teachers for all the hard and dedicated work that goes into creating these plans. But going back to the assignment, I think we did a pretty good job and I hope we get approved for the activies that we have planned for the class to do. I am actually kind of excited and normally I don't like having to stand infront of the class and have to explain something, but in this case it might be a little easier to do. For our midterm assignment I had the chance to make one of these blogs! I had never in my life made one before. I think maybe the closest thing to it you be my facebook page. That has really been my only way of communicating what I feel to the public. But being on this site has allowed for me to express things in a totally new way. It's pretty short and to the point when I am on facebook but on here I can write as much or as little as I want. This is by far my favorite assignment because it has challenged me to express myself and to not be afraid of saying what I feel. I think so far the goal from Professor Simpson has been accomplished for me because I feel like I am getting more involved with the class discussions and having more of an enjoyment doing it. I am really excited for the next few weeks to see what she has in store for us!

Work Cited

"Homeroom teacher." Lesson Plans. Web. 6 Oct. 2009. http://www.homeroomteacher.com/images/lessonplans_1.gif.

"Facebook." Facebook. Web. 6 Oct. 2009. .

What a Crazy Week!

Well since Professor Simpson was in Georgia for a few days, our Monday class was cancelled but we still had an assignment that we had to complete. The class was divided up into groups and one member of the group was assigned to be the "group leader". The leader ran the class discussion for the day and had to post various questions about the reading and youtube clips that we had to read and watch previously coming into the discussion board. I though it was a great way for us to interact by not being in the classroom. It was nice to see what everyone else had to say about each question that I maybe hadn't though about when I was answering them myself, which allowed me to have different perspectives on the topics that were being discussed. We then had to follow up by doing a journal entry on another youtube clip and then a dramatic poetry quiz. Another one of the assignments for the week was to submit a piece of work to the National Writing Day Gallery. I chose to submit an essay I worte last year that was very personal to me because it was about September 11. It was a really hard essay for me to write because it affected so many of my friends and family. But it was something that I really wanted to share to the public. I though this was a great way for us students to express a piece of work that we were able to choose and write about instead of being given a topic and being forced to write about it. But the biggest accomplishment of all was I had FINALLY finish my first paper! I was so proud of myself even though I pretty much changed the whole format of it. But I didn't even care because I knew it was so much better than the first draft (thankfully). I was actually excited to submit this because I had more confidence that I had done a better job on it. =)))))))
Work Cited
Web. 6 Oct. 2009. http://preparednesspro.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/the-next-9-11.jpg.

Oh the Beautiful Words of Poetry

So here I am, Week 5. I cant believe how fast these weeks are just flying by. I can't even catch my breath. Well, a new week has begun and the class is now on the topid of POETRY! Yea, not really so much the poet. So I was a little worried to see if I could pull of a good enough piece that my teacher, classmates, and myself woule be proud of. Professor Simpson had an interesting assignment that she had prepared for us. We had markers, tape, colored paper, and the FGCU Eagles Newspaper sitting infront of us. Our task was to pic out any artice from the paper, circle and underline words or phrases (randomly), and put those words together to cret a poem. I though to myself, "This can't be too hard...Piece of cake!" But I was sooooo wrong. The picking out the words part was easy, but when I came time to put it all together, it made no sense what so ever! So I tried to add a few words here and there to maybe help it flow better, but no, that didn't help. So i mean I guess I did the best I could even though it made NO SENSE! But it was fun to cut out pictures and decorate the paper around where I had pasted it. When I came home that day, I looked at the assignments that were due for Wednesday of that same week. It said we had to write a ballod. Is this a joke? I could maybe rhyme words like Dr. Seuss, but nothing that I could potentially put music behind. Our ballad had to me on a love murder case. So I found a pretty interesting one about Dominique Dunn. It was hard to get the ballad going at first but once I got past the first few lines it was smooth sailing..... I was actually very proud of my end result and I hope the teacher and students were as well. But to add to the stress level, I also had to finish my first paper =/. But because I still had some tweeking to do, I had a little extra time to make sure it was just PeRfEcT! Whoo this was definitely a crazy week. I'm just glad it's over....



BALLAD:
This is the sad tale
Of Dominique Dunn
A beautiful young actress
Who dies much too young

She was a good friend
Who was kind to all
But fate saw it different
And her life took a fall

It was love, she would say
With John Sweeney, the chef
Then abuse came too often
So she ran, yes she left

But the break was too much
For this chef, we can tell
For an argument ensued
Strangling her till she fell

In a coma she stayed
For a long, long 6 days
Her family knew she
Would, at best, live in haze

So they pulled all the plugs
Her life came to an end
The finale of kindness
The finale of a friend

John Sweeney admitted
The fate he had brought
Received 6 years in prison
But a lifetime was fought

In just 2 ½ years
He was free once again
As a man, as a chef
But where was our friend?

She will never be free
To move on in our world
But her memory will live
As long as any spoken word

Life has its own way
Of changing all paths
So be kind, be a friend
With much love and much laughs

Ohhh Week 4...

This this week for me was a little interesting to say the least. Professor Simpson gave us a full plate of assignments to do this week. When I went online Sunday night to print out my over view of assignments, I noticed a few of the readings with interesting titles to them. One was called "A Party Down at the Square". Now first reading that, I thought wow this should be a fun, up-beat type of story that I could maybe relate to. But oh was I wrong. I was actually about an African American who was burtn to death by "White people", who back then were very racist and never thought twice about other races and thier feelings. It was very hard for me to read because growing up in a town where racism was never really an issue (from my perspective), I kinda of forgot that things like this actually hapened years ago and that in some parts it is still going on. It makes me really sad to think that there will probably never be a day where every single person in the world will get a lot because there are just too many clashing personalities and everyone has their own mindset that they have created. This story really opened my eyes and put into perspective what it was like back in the day when issues like this hapened on a daily basis and no one thought anything of it. Professor also made us read a short story called " This is What is Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona". I didn'treally understand the real meaning behind the story until I watched the YouTube clips that the Professor had made us watch to go along with it. I am difinately a better visual learner than a person that can just pick up on something after I have read it. Not gunna lie, I ended up liking the story. I was pretty interesting. Oh man, here came the biggie. We had to write our first draft paper =(. I was not a happy camper. One, I can't write a good esay to save my life and two I was just something that realy wasn't on my todo list. So after countless hours of working on the draft, I held my breath as I submitted the 1st draft. Ughhh I can only imagine what grade I was going to get. I feel like Elementary school kids could probably write a better essay than me. But what can I do? I just had to suck it up and get it done. Well that was about it for this week. See ya later!

Work Cited

"Writing Assignments." Basic Rules of a Writing Assignment. Web. 6 Oct. 2009. .

My Week 3 Easy Streak

Whooooooo NO SCHOOL! Is is bad to say that I am totally ready for summer again? Oh well, I all I can say is thank goodness for Labor Day! But even though we didn't have school, Prefessor didn't let us off that easy. There were still plenty of assignments and annotations that we were assignment to make sure we were still on track for our next class meeting. But i must say, this weeks assignments were a lot more interesting to read than last weeks. Both "The Red Convertible" and the "Story of an Hour" were verying interesting situations that we very entertaining to read. I am starting to like the choices of reading Professor Simpson is making us read because I feel that everything related to the topic of the week. Because we didn't have a face-to-face class this week, nothing really too exciting happened =/



Work Cited "The Boys Of Summer - The Eagles - Live Version." YouTube. Web. 7 Oct. 2009. .

And Now it Begins...

Coming into my 2nd day of class, I had a little bit of a better understanding as to what the professor was trying to get out of us. I noticed that her main focus for the class was to GET INVOLVED. She always encouraged for us to ask questions and to make comments about the various topics that were being discussed. The main topic for that particular day was characterization and being able to identify each personalities. During class, Professor Simpson has us do a free write on a particualr video about this elderly couple and how they have kept their relationship for all these years. When I though of the word free write, I though of all the different possible topics I could just start elaborating on. I was really excited to just be able to write what ever I was thinking at the moment instead of having to pre plan and analyze what I was going to write about. I thought this assignment was a great way for me to just express, even if what I had talked about wasn't exactly about the video, it still related in some way that would make sense. I also had to read a couple short stories from the literature book and annotated on them. This week was the week for me to finally settle down and force myself to get serious about school. Although some of the assignment were a little rough to get through, I still managed to get through it all. I was so proud of myself for accomplishing what I call my "First Real Week of School". =)

Work Cited

Web. 7 Oct. 2009. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2NVidvH-nOw/Rhwl_UsgTkI/AAAAAAAAAE8/4wQTcEu-7gc/s320/1.jpg.

My first Day of Intro to Literature

Walking in as a sophomore, I had this new self confidence about myself that I didn't really have when I was a freshman. I was more comfortable with my surroundings and I atleast had a better idea as to what I was getting myself into when classes started. It was August 24,2009. I was so excited for the first day of school as I always was, but walking into my 2:00 Literature class, I had a weird vibe that this wasn't going to be an ordinary class where we would just sit and read from the book for an hour and 15 minutes. I walked into class not knowing if I was going to know anyone in there but to my suprise I actually had a couple friends that I had recognized so it eased my nervous level going in. My teacher Shila Bolduc-Simpson walked into class with about 10 minutes to spare. She had this really excited look on her face and I couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Usually most teachers don't have outgoing lively personalities, but she definitely did. She started is off with an ice-breaker activity. She gave us a sheet of paper with random questions on it, and we had to walk around the room, asking various students these questions to see if any pertained to them. Once the assignment was complete, the professor asked the class to go around and say one thing about a person that we now know about them. I thought this was a great way for us to almost force us to get to know others in the class that we wouldn't have normally talked to. Our next assignment was to get into pairs and create a "Wordle" about literature. In all my years of school, I had never heard the word wordle so I was a little confused as to how to make one and to collaberate on it with someone I barley even knew. I worked on it with a classmate of mine named Emily, and if I do say so myself, I think we did a pretty darn good job on it. One of Mrs. Bolduc's requirements for the class was to become more familiar with Angle, which is the website that we use to communicate to classmates and teachers when we are out of class. I myself was not very familiar with the site because the only time I would ever use it was to strictly just check grades. I never knew it had all these different features that made communicating so much easier with one another. My overall first day of class was definitely an experience to say the least. I was a little nervous to find out what was to come, but I think my excitement was more overpowering!

Work Cited

"Funny Times." Funny Times. Web. 7 Oct. 2009. http://www.funnytimes.com/playground/img/123297098956004.png.