Reading/Work Times

Tues. Hits and Misses- 15 min.

Wed. Draft of cover letter- 1 hour 20 min.

Sat. Reading Sold- 33 min.

Sun.                       55 min. 

Poem

The cool crisp air of the fall,

creeping and crawling into to the hot summer heat.

The leaves change,

From green to rich red,

ready to be free.

The reflection of calm water,

Ready to be splashed.

The palms overhead

Slashing and crashing like a hurricane,

In the wind.

The trails of growling gravel,

beneath my feet.

Running over the smooth silky grass,

Reaching the glassy water,

And jumping into the cold.

In my poem I use many techniques we have discussed in class. I use a simile in the ninth line when I write “Slashing and crashing like a hurricane”. Assonance is used in “growling gravel” and consonance is used in “grass... Glassy”. 

Reading times:

Sold by Patricia McCormick

Tues. 25 min. 17 pages 

Thurs. 1 hour 64 pages 

Sun. 1 hour 32 min

81 pages 

Everyone in the world wants and needs money. You need money to live. I’m not saying the only thing in the world I want is money, I’m saying everyone basically needs money to get most of the things that they want and need. Some people are poor others are rich, some can afford luxuries while others only, if eve, basic necessities. . In Nervous Conditions the reason for all of the conflict was also because of money.

In the story Tambu at first couldn't go to school because her family was poor, but when she moved in with her rich uncle she could afford to do all the things she ever wanted. Money can change a lot in a person’s life and the person themselves, too. Another example from Nervous Conditions was how although Tambu’s family was very poor they still had a nice home because they were cared for by rich relatives.

"Stay" by Rihanna

                In the song “Stay” by Rihanna I found different lyrics that I analyzed to find the poetic meaning and techniques used. Throughout the song it is obvious it is about a relationship that has its ups and downs in it, “round and around and around we go”. The lyrics seem like they are depressed and don’t really know what to do about the relationship. “Not really sure how I feel about it… I want you to stay,” these verses I think means that they just STAY in the relationship so they aren't lonely and can’t live without each other.

                Throughout the song Rihanna has a pattern where she really just kind of talks about how bad the relationship is, but in the end she always wants to STAY. There is also couples of words paired in the lines that rhyme with each other for example, move, you and way, stay, in the chorus of the song. The song is also sung from both sides of the relationship, which shows they feel the same way both ways.

Crank Reading Response

Crank by Ellen Hopkins is all about bad habits. When Kristina goes to her drunken father’s house for the summer she picks up many bad habits from the people around her. For example she started hanging out with not the best people, doing drugs, smoking, drinking, and getting herself into tricky situations. Kristina turns into another person who is not her normal self.

                Many bad habits can be picked up from the people you chose to hang out with, either by peer pressure, force, or just you trying to fit in. It all depends on who we chose to hang out with and the choices we make. I feel like if someone tried to make me do something i didn't want to do, I would just say no and leave, because they are obviously not a good friend for me to hang around if they are trying to make me do something. However, some people are not like this and pick up others bad habits and can’t get rid of them.1

Reading Times: 

Sat. Crank; 1 hour 20 min.

Sun. Crank; 2 hours 40 min.

Literacy Narrative

     For my portfolio I have decided to revise our first paper we wrote in this class, the literacy narrative. In this revision piece I am working on improving organization and ideas of my previous paper. I have chosen this paper as the one I want to revise because I think it is the one paper that I think I could really develop more on and turn in a better outcome than before.

     One of my traits of good writing that I want to improve is organization. This is because one of the main comments you wrote on my final draft was to organize the timeline of events better and collapse the time spread of events in my story. Another trait is the ideas in my paper. I feel like their are so many more things I can add into this narrative to make the story more vivid and have more of an effect on the readers about my reading experiences. I know, I now know way more about the good traits of writing than I did at the beginning of the year and I think I can make this paper a great edition to my portfolio.

Jane Goodall: Plagiarize

                 Jane Goodall a lot more than one sentence, she plagiarized lines and lines of information and wording from various websites that she continuously failed to cite, which is not okay. Goodall’s book, Seeds of Hope, about her love and knowledge of plants. Or what we thought was her knowledge.  In the article Goodall writes, “I have spent a lifetime loving plants, even though I have never studied them as a scientist.” Using other sources information is alright to use, but you must cite it.

                Although Steven Levingston writes that some authors accidentally plagiarize from co-authors, time, and the web, it still does not give writers an excuse. Even if Jane Goodall’s plagiarizing situation was an accident she and her co-authors still need to fix their mistake and give citations where needed. I think she should give citations for all the webs’ information, paraphrase the information, or just take it out altogether and do her own research in her own words to fix this problem. I think the situation became more serious when reporters wrote that she plagiarized more than a couple of lines. Plagiarizing a lot of the information in a book without citing is very serious.

Nervous Conditions Next Year

               I think Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangaremdga should be included in the 2013-2014 freshman class curriculum. How do community and culture shape who we are? This is our overall course question throughout the year and has something to do with everything we learn and read. Reading this book is crucial if you keep this same question and guide through the class.

                Nervous Conditions shows the different culture in African communities in the 1900s. This book shows the diffusion of Shona and English culture and what it does to people and also the sexist and inequality ways in their culture at that time. Leaving this story out of the class would make the research question harder to answer without the knowledge and experiences we learned from reading Nervous Conditions.

                In all of the books we have read this year, they all have to do with community and culture. Nation, a book we read for summer reading, has experiences of diffusion of culture and getting along with different people. In Lord of the Flies, the boys on the island have to learn to accommodate with a new community and way of living with people they do not know and Nervous Conditions is basically all about culture and community and how it affects who someone is and how they act.

                In closing, I would like to say that without Nervous Conditions in next year’s plan, you will have to either change the overall question or find another book that answers, how community and culture shape who we are.

Free Post

     A couple of weekends ago I visited the Baton Rouge Arts Market downtown. The arts market is apart of the Red Stick Farmers market that they have every weekend, but the art is only the first Saturday of every month. It was surprisingly really interesting and all of the artists I met were really cool. Throughout the market they have all kinds of art such as jewelery, stationary, pottery, quilts, glassware, and so much more.
     I had to interview artists at the market for my art history paper. The two artists I met were Sid Gale and Diane Lewis. Lewis weaves baskets from pine needles and Gale make recycled art out of "junk". As I talked to them it was really cool to hear their stories and their passion for the art they create. I really enjoyed the Arts Market it was a good way to spend my Saturday morning.

Expectations

     In Nervous Conditions readers can clearly see the change in how Tambu acts from when she is at the mission and then when she goes back to the homestead. In my life I have many places which depending on where I am at I will act differently. The two main places where I have a major change in behavior would be at school and a home, the same as Tambu.
     When I am at school I try to be focused in class and just work on school work. I am kind of quiet and shy because I am not comfortable with everyone in all my classes. I feel like I am there to do the work and studies and then when I get home I change. Once I get home I am way more comfortable and can do mostly what I want. There aren't all of the rules and schedules to follow, I just do things as I please. As I said before at school I pretty shy and at home I'm the complete opposite. I don't know why it's just where and who I am with changes the way I act.

Reading/Work Times

Nervous Conditions:
Mon. Chapter 5- 47 min. 22 pages
Wed. Chapter 6- 7 min. 3 pages
                           13 min. 6 pages
                           12 min. 6 pages
                           10 min. 4 pages
                           11 min. 5 pages

C layer projects:
Wed. Vocabulary Test- 32 min.
Thurs. Character Bookmark- 25 min.

Nyasha

     My mom and dad are so annoying. They don't understand if we go to England for that long and live in the English ways I am now accustomed to the England behavior. Why can't anyone understand that? It is their fault for the way I act, they are the ones that made me go. I call myself a hybrid, half shona and half English. My father and mother get mad at me for everything talking back to them, talking to boys, the way I dress, and even reading. Yes, I said reading.
     My cousin Tambu just came to live with us and I guess she's cool, but she still has a lot to learn about how my family really is and her new world. My father beat me the other night because I was being "disrespectful" to him. I was so scared and I swear I thought he was gonna kill me. I've been going through a pretty hard time, but I think Tambu saved me.
    

C Layer Evaluation

     For my C layer projects I chose to do the guided questions for each chapter, the vocabulary test, and the character bookmark. I actually like doing the question for each chapter because it helps me reflect on what I just read and then I understand the chapters better. The character bookmark let me put all the characters on the table and make the important information needed to know for each character.The vocabulary test was tedious because I had to go back and forth on dictionary.com and find all the vocabulary throughout the book.
     For the next set of  C layer projects I am doing the questions again because I think the really help me with my reading. After C layer the projects get a little more complex so I will have to really focus and work hard to get the grade I want. These layered projects are better because everyone can pick what they want to do and what they are better at doing.

Reading/Work Times

Tues.~ Nervous Conditions: Chapter 3- 16 min.
Wed.~  Nervous Conditions: Chapter 3-48 min.
Thurs.~ Finished my final draft- 37 min.
Sun.~ Nervous Conditions: Chapter 4- 50 min. 

Research Paper Reflection

     The most difficult thing for writing my research paper was the process of finding all of my sources, making sure they were appropriate, and then creating annotated bibliographies for each source. Once I found all of my sources and I researched and read over all the information about my research question writing the draft and pulling all of my ideas together was rather easy. Next year I think you should give the students some time to actually write the paper in class the week it is due because for me after sports practice and with all the other homework we had it was kind of hard to write the draft.
     The peer editing we did in class for our final draft of our research paper really helped me. Not only all of the editing marks and feedback helped me, but also having the opportunity to read my peers papers assisted me and  gave me ideas for ways to improve my own paper. The grade marks from Dr. D also pushed to find stronger ideas in my paper and better revise my thoughts.
     From looking at the final product on my research paper I think I did a pretty good job and I know all those hard long hours of research and writing will hopefully pay off. In my paper I think the word choice and ideas were strong. I also believe I integrated my quotes into my words fairly well. Overall, I feel confident in my final draft.

Wed.-work on paper 27 min.
Thurs.- work on paper 1 hour 30 min.
Friday- worked on paper for 15 min.
Friday- chapter 1&2: 45 min.

Research Details

Monday: I worked on my research for my topic for about 1 hour and I made some note cards on Noodle Tools about the history of doping and blood doping now days.

Tuesday: I worked on and finish my outline at home this took me 30 min.

Wednesday: I researched some more on my topic for 15 min. and I watched the Lance Armstrong interview for 1 hour about his relations with doping and how it has affected him.

Total: 165 min.

Blood Doping Research

     My research question is how endurance athletes are effected by blood doping, endurance meaning cycling, cross country, track, soccer, etc. The reason I chose this topic was because I really enjoy running and watching pro track and cross country in the Olympics, so I wanted to learn more about the scandals and the science of doping. Also in the book I am currently reading, Pre, the story of the American running legend, the runner who beats Pre in the Olympics was later found to be blood doping and that is the reason Pre lost. So far I have found that doping can have a very bad effect on athletes. It can cause cancer, heart disease, and even death. If athletes do get caught doping they will be stripped of their medals and be suspended or banded from the sport.
     How does blood doping effect endurance athletes? Blood doping is considered cheating and they're many consequences if you decide to dope. I requested to research on this topic because the scandals interest me and many professional runners over time have either doped themselves or knew/lost to another athletes whom had an advantage from doping. When athletes blood dope or use other performance enhancing drugs they will have to know they have a high possibility they will be facing health issues or criminal charges later in their life.

Reading/Working Times:
 Pre-
Mon. 20 min, 14 pages
Wed. 33 min. 27 pages
Research-
Wed. 45 min. The Science of Doping
Thurs. 2 hours Doping in Sports Timeline, Doping in Sports Timeline, and Testers Gear Up for Sophisticated Dopers 

Reading Times

Pre By: Tom Jordan
Monday- 10 min. 6 pages
Tues.- 45 min, 31 pages
Thurs. 10 min. 8 pages

Research Sirs Database
Wed.-  30 min.
Thurs. 56 min.

Dogs

     At home I have two huge yellow labs that I am absolutely obsessed with! Their names are Big Dog and Jack. Yes we actually named our dog Big Dog! About three years ago we found Big Dog and no one ever claimed him, so we called him Big Dog because we didn't know what his name was and it just stuck. We have had Jack since he was a baby and he still is our baby.
     Their day consists of sleeping around the house and eating. They are very lazy and never want to go outside. They hate outdoors the only time they go out is to eat or go to the bathroom. Sometimes I'll go run around the yard with Jack for avocation, but Big Dog never wants to. Jack is also very skillful at adroit at finding any thing that is ours and running around the house with it. But other than that the dogs have great demeanor. I love my dogs because I can snuggle with them all the time and they are really cute.  I don't know what I would do without them!

Research Update

     My topic that I am researching is how blood doping and the use of performance enhancing drugs effects endurance athletes. To research about this is very interesting to me because I have gained an interest in blood doping especially with the Lance Armstrong case. So far I did all my reading and research from sources on the SIRS database. SIRS has had the best information and sources and it is also easy to cite the source on Noodle Tools.
     I have done six sources and I still I have four to go. I think I am going to look for some more primary sources on a different database because right now I only have about two. I think once we get all of our bests sources together and cited the rest of the process should run smooth.

Reading Response: Pre

The book I am reading is Pre, The Story of America’s Greatest Running Legend by Tom Jordon. The author describes Pre’s life and his races from what people thought about him, what he thought about running, and the greatest races in history. I was very interested in this book when I got for Christmas because I’ve seen many documentaries and movies on the running legend and I really wanted to learn more about Pre. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that enjoys running and the history of the sport.

At the begging of the book I starts off talking about when Pre just started running in high school and he wasn’t very good but as time moved on and he progressed he turned in to this legend. I really like this story because it shows that if you love something and you have what it takes to work for that something you can do it, but you have to earn it. 

 

Christmas Break

      My Christmas break was not very exciting this year. The first weekend of the break I didn’t really do anything because I was mostly just sleeping and relaxing after all of my exams the previous week. Once it was Monday I realized Christmas was actually tomorrow and got into the spirit and watched a bunch of the Christmas movies we watch every year with my family. After all the Christmas festivities I went back to boredom. Also the weather was pretty bad so I just laid around the house doing nothing.

     My new year however didn’t really start out great because the next day after New Years I had surgery  on my foot and that was not a fun way to start the year. The whole rest of the week I wobbled around in my crutches not really being able to do anywhere with my foot. Overall my break consisted of boredom, Wanelo, and foot surgery.