Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Dustin Anderson: Digital Literacy Summary and Response



I agree with Dustin Anderson's second thought that “Online blogs directed at peers exhibit fewer typographical and factual errors, less plagiarism, and generally better, more elegant and persuasive prose than classroom assignments by the same writers.”  Students are better at writing things that are within their comfort zone and in which they are able to apply themselves truthfully, and with emotion. When writing a general essay or research paper, certain structure and guidelines come along with it which many students, like myself, dread. If an English class was set up in a way that students didn’t have set rules and instructions for how they should write and what they should write about, many students wouldn’t dread writing so much. Since we live in a world where technology keeps advancing, students feel more comfortable in an environment in which they are able to talk among their peers through text message, e-mail, or social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. By taking advantage of these new tools, there is more room for freedom of expression and being able to write what you want, when you want, and have the ability to respond or receive feedback on it. Since there are no set rules or guidelines in which you have to follow, you are able to freely express any opinion you may have on something without the worry of being graded on it. When students are not under the pressure of being graded and making sure that what they have written is ‘perfect’, there is less room for error. Since the opinions/facts are coming straight from the student, there is less plagiarism because if it’s something the student is actually knowledgeable about and/or has a very strong opinion on it, there would be no need to plagiarize. They are able to persuade their readers in a different tone with the freedom they would not get if it was based on a set of guidelines that they had to follow.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Literacy Timeline

   *Kindergarden*- The first book I read was a Thomas the Train book and I had a hard time reading it because I couldn't pronounce the words right and I didn't understand the concept that the words formed into sentences. I would cry every time that I had to read because I just could not understand something that was so weird to me. I would get so frustrated and mad at my parents when they made me read. I thought it was punishment.
   *2nd Grade*- Three Little Pigs Project: Every time that we read a book, we had to make a project out of it. I chose the book The Three Little Pigs and after that, it prompted me to want to keep reading because I loved the idea of making projects every time I read a book. I read an excessive amount of books after that.
   *3rd Grade*- I went through this phase where I started to write my own books for fun. An example of a book I decided to write was called The Ghost Who Lived On Elm Street. It's a very bizzare title, especially for a young girl but that's just what came to mind. Or I just had the misconception that I thought of it on my own, i'm still not sure. I also used to write stories about my friends and I going on various vacations to places like Hawaii and Florida.
   *3rd Grade*- Third grade was also the time where I first started learning how to write in cursive. It was actually pretty difficult for me and I remember having to practice with my parents a lot by using writing practice books. I could not write the letters b,f, and z because they confused me. Looking back, I can't believe that I struggled so much with writing in cursive but we all have our moments.
   *4th Grade*- There were quite a few writing projects that I had to do in school that involved writing Holiday themed stories for my parents. At the time, every single Holiday was my favorite and I made sure to write a story for each of them. My most prized ones would have to be the ones I had written for Halloween and Christmas.
   *5th Grade*- I started to really get into the Harry Potter series especially after seeing the 4th movie. I started watching the movies before I read the books but many of my friends at the time who had read them said that the books are better than the movies and they had many things that the movies didn't have in them. I took those books everywhere and I strongly remember even reading the 2nd book at a restaurant once.

   *7th Grade*- I started to really get into reading books for fun instead of just for something school related. I became an avid reader and had the compulsion to want to read every single book humanly possible. I started another crazy book series called Warriors which to sum it up to a point, was about cats. It sounds really lame now i'm sure, but at the time those were the best books I had ever read.
   *8th Grade*- Since 7th grade, my love for book series grew imensely. I then followed the crazy Twilight bandwagon. I started reading the Twilight series by the end of 8th grade and finished the last book the summer before 9th grade. That kind of fell through after seeing the 1st movie but I still read all the books and have seen all of the movies so far. (Team Jacob!)
   *10th Grade*- I had taken an Honors English class which strongly influenced my writing ability and made me not dread writing papers so much. I developed a strong vocabulary as well as a how to structure my writing well, and I put all of these skills to use every time that I write a paper.
   *11th and 12th Grade*- Because I am following the path to a career in the medical field, from 11th-12th grade I had the ability to be in a Medical Careers program at my school. When enrolled in this program, something called Medical English is the english class that you could take which is what I did. In this class, I got to read a lot of very influential books and wrote an insane amount of essays and book reports and so forth. For 12th grade I was put into an online English class which required a lot of independence and of course, writing, and a lot of reading as well.

*I read at least 2-3 books a month and as for writing, I really only write when I have to :)

Summary and Response: Two Questions by Lynda Barry

Two Questions by Lynda Barry is about a woman who hit a point in her life where she started to second guess herself. She would ask herself two questions: "Is this good?"or "Does this suck?". By second guessing herself, she felt less confident in the work that she did when it came to her writings and drawings. She gained a sort of negative attitude and lost confidence because she felt that no matter what she did, it was never good enough for anyone, not even herself. She goes into more depth about the way she started off her writings and drawings and how those troubling times had made her overcome her feelings towards how she felt about them and in turn, made her a stronger writer and drawer. She stopped caring about other people's opinions and whether her drawings were good or bad and focused on making herself happy so that she could finally enjoy her passion again.
           I feel that I related most to Two Questions by Lynda Barry. I used to always draw and write when I was younger. I used to never care about what anyone thought. Whether my stories were "cheesy" or my drawings looked like those of a 5 year old, it never mattered to me. I then hit a point in my life where I thrived on wondering what people thought about me or what I did. As I got older, I lost my passion for writing and drawing because of it. I became very self-conscious about everything I did. I used to always feel confident, especially when I used to draw, thinking that I was so good at it and that I might actually have the potential to do something with it later in life. The same goes for my writing as well. Unlike Lynda Barry, I've never gotten my motivation to write or draw again. I've stopped writing stories and I've stopped drawing pictures that came from the depths of my imagination. I still end up drawing little pictures in the margins of my notes when I get bored in class but nothing will ever compare to what I was once capable of. Because of this, I think that it's really important to focus on yourself and what makes you feel good and not about what others may think of you or what you're doing. If you put your mind to something and you have confidence in it, you should be proud of yourself and not listen to the hurtful comments or opinions from others.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Why is Writing Important?

I have chosen to go into a career in health sciences for now, although I am somewhat undecided with what exactly I want to do. Writing and communication will be very useful, especially with something in the medical field because you are constantly going to be dealing with people and you need to be able to learn how to communicate with them effectively and also use writing to be more successful. Most of the writing you would have to do in a career in health sciences is having to write up someone's medical chart. It is crucial to make sure that you have proper writing skills along with grammar, and also be able to differentiate between the different words and abbreviations that are used in health care. It won’t be a lot of writing, but you still need to learn how to properly communicate with your patients, the family members of your patients, and also your fellow colleagues. My writing skills could always use some improvement, whether it's punctuation or incorporating more sophisticated words into my writing. Being misunderstood in a health care profession could potentially be life threatening. You have to make sure that what you write is clear, precise, and to the point. I've definitely been misunderstood before. Sometimes I don't convey what I'm thinking properly and what I say, ends up coming out the wrong way. For the people who I am really close to, they understand me perfectly and get what I'm trying to say even without really having to say anything.