I liked Malcom X's story the most because....

   I feel like I was able to get more of an understanding of the story told by Malcom X. I do not know if it is because of his clear and articulate writing style, or because I am most interested in the life he led. In the beginning he mentions a "homemade education" and that I can relate to because I admire those who are self taught. I aspire to one day teach myself to play the bass guitar, a challenge I have yet to complete. So, to see someone who wanted something so badly (although this is entirely different scenario), just teach themselves to read and write is very inspiring.

    Malcom X had nothing but letters in prison at first, and decided he wanted to understand these letters more clearly, he had seen the ability of another prisoner and felt envious of that. He had tried to read, but was left confused. So from the first two paragraphs I was able to see the lack of skill, and understand what it was that he desired.

    I can picture that struggle he must have had with himself. He felt like he had so much to say, so much to pass on to other African Americans, and so much to learn, yet did not have the skills to do so. If I was in that position in a prison, I would want to simply quit. "Id written words that I never knew were in the world", that sentence catches my attention and makes me feel a bit sad for the man who was to go on to become a civil rights activist.

   He mentions that many people who would read his words, or hear him speak would have never known that he owed it entirely to his prison time and the amount he read and learned and understood from reading. "You couldn't have gotten me out of books with a wedge". He began to feel time passing much quicker, and he was allowed more books at a time. He read as often as he could. I like that because he didn't have to, he wanted to. Prison is a punishment and he took that punishment and made it the best and most rewarding experience he could. He learned to read and write, now that is a skill I could not imagine living without.

   

Malcom vs Franklin vs Rose

The 3 essays are all written by men  in very different social and economical status. You can tell while you read their words that they all spoke with different slang terms, dialects, and styles. They were all written in different time periods as well as different parts of the country. Each one has a very different story to tell.

Malcom X was born in 1925 and spent a large part of his young life in the streets. He then went on to spend 7 years in prison where he used his time wisely. He learned to read and write, studied Elijah Muhammad and converted to Islam, and tried to pass on the messages and beliefs of his to other African Americans. In the end he was assassinated.

Benjamin Franklin was put into grammar school at age 8, already knowing how to read and write well. His family expected that he be devoted to the service of the church. He spent his young life working various trades, and learning that reading and writing were very important to him. He ended up working in a printer house and spending his evening reading and re-writing copies of the Spectator.

Mike Rose was a student whose potential had been overlooked in high school while he was placed in a vocational education program. The program, teachers, and the students in his classes were unchallenged, uninterested, and non motivating. He wrote about his years there summing it up with a title: "I Just Wanna Be Average". He went on in life to be an advocate for recognizing student potential, and a teacher.

Stand and Deliver

Introduced with the teacher driving from home to his new place of employment. He drives what seems like quite a distance from the suburbs through the inner city. His new job is supposed to be that teaching computer class, turns out there is no computers for the kids at Garfield High school in East LA. The school seems to be worn down. He arrives there and takes a job teaching math to students who have little to no desire to learn it. The classroom majority is Latino kids, some speaking only Spanish. The teacher quickly realizes this and puts effort forth to reach them. The kids do not expect to have a teacher who will care. They have been used to a school where they are not expected to perform well, and in turn the teaching has reflected that with teachers who do not have the motivation, interest, drive or control in the classroom. He shows no fear with the students. He makes it very clear that he is there to teach them, and he cares enough to do so. He brings in cultural aspects to get their attention, like stereotypes and generalizations that the kids should surpass. "don't settle for flipping burgers" They learn from him quickly that he is there to stay and not just for a paycheck. The teacher is very observant throughout the whole movie. He is always watching the students and most likely trying to come up with ways to help them to learn. He is confronted with the lack of resources in the school; lack of books, and no support from staff. He immediately begins to make changes. He shows them math, then takes them on a field trip to see what kinds of careers they may use these skills in. Many, many examples of the other teachers being negative, unmotivating, laughing at his efforts, and showing no faith in the students. The other teachers attempted to discourage him from teaching calculus as they thought the students could never accomplish such things. You see in this movie the students outside lives as well. They are confronted with adult responsibilities and faced with controversy when living what they see as normal lives. Most of them don't have home lives that are fit for studying. One example is a young girl forced to work, and her teacher goes out of his way to try to get her family to support her decision to better her life with schooling. The students develop respect for their teacher, they begin to really like him. He pushes them to want to learn calculus and has them even go as far as signing something to say they will commit to his class. He shows many different teaching styles and dedicates most of his time to helping either them, or others trying to learn. Between volunteering, teaching class, and teaching night school, he tends to neglect his own family a bit.  After wearing himself thin he suffers from a heart attack. He returns to class even after doctor orders him not to. He and the students spend so much time preparing for a test that they end up working through the summer. After the students pass the test they are accused of cheating because no one can believe that these inner city kids have learned the skill of calculus so well. They all miss the same questions, since they all were taught by the same teacher. Being accused of this initially causes upset. The kids decide with the help of their teacher to ignore the racism and judgement placed upon them and retry to prove everyone wrong. They succeed. The feeling of defeat that they had before disappears and presents them with a feeling of completion. They worked so hard and it paid off. Being accused of cheating put doubt in even the teachers mind that maybe he made the wrong choice. But ultimately he had changed so many lives. He showed students that he cared when they had never seen that before. Years follow with similar results and the trend continues. He shows more and more students that through hard work, they can earn college credits early and prove to themselves and society that they can too.

Final Draft Paper 1

Sydney Hudson                                               

English 101

S.Begert

January 29, 2013

Narrative Essay: My Educational Experience

For many people fishing is defined by the obvious ingredients; poles, bait, hooks, and general knowledge of where and what you are fishing.  For me, it goes much deeper than that.   I may not know what each piece of equipment is called, or how to tie it together, but I know the rewards of learning to fish with people you love. These people also happen to have a fierce desire for fishing I cannot compete with. For a long time it was something I overlooked, and did not pay much attention to the hard work that goes in on your Sunday off. Yet I have always enjoyed cooking and eating fish, I never thought to stop and be thankful for where it came from, and what that catch possibly meant to that fisherman.

I know my experience with fishing is one that brought me a life lesson, I know I didn’t desire this lesson, or even know it would become one until recently. This experience has come full circle to me as one that I can ultimately use and help build my character as well as that of my son. As many of us know, we often look up to our parents, or the ones who shaped us in many ways. What started out for me as more of a burden resulted in something I now admire my own father for even more than before. In my life I feel my most valuable lessons were taught to me by my family.  There were times when I thought it would just be downright cool to know what the boys knew, be a part of the catching and not just the cooking (I am fully aware of how sexist that sounds).  I ultimately wanted to teach my son something that my father had taught me.

As I grew up along the beach in Kingston, surrounded by woods and Puget Sound waters, I never knew how lucky I was. I had the ultimate childhood. My siblings and I spent endless hours on the beach learning about nature through play, always finding creative ways to entertain our minds and bodies.

Little did I know then that my dad also used this beach as his own recreational passion. He would wake up at 3 or 4 am and go fishing before work, right off the beach. There were many times that I or my sister would attempt to tag along with him. We always wanted to catch a fish, but we never seemed to find the focus or patience to do so.  As a result my dad would usually end up sending us home, cold and defeated.

I spent quite a few years after that not giving the art of fishing a single thought, only enjoying the goods my dad would bring home. He would filet the fish, remove its bones, and prepare it for us. All very rewarding steps he took for his family. He smoked it, fried it, baked it, and barbequed it and no matter what, it was always delicious. I did not realize then that I would one day desire to recreate what my father had done for my family’s dinner and other sentimental reasons. My father taught me many life skills, including responsibility, hard work, cooking, cleaning, and being an active and accomplishing human being.

After turning 16 and having a bit of struggle with my early teenage years, rebellion and such, I moved to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. I found myself in a state of culture shock. My new friends and peers were submersed in a life of what I would have called “hick” or “backwoods”.  I knew that they loved big trucks, and going out “mudding” with their four wheel drive toys. They camped on the weekends and not in a state park, just up in the woods! I quickly began to love this lifestyle as well. I obtained my drivers license and began adventuring with them.

We would drive to the coast where many of the people we knew were commercial fishermen, leaving for months at a time and returning with high demand product for restaurants and retail. We went up in the hills of Grand Ronde where the rivers were endlessly winding around and you could stop and fish from the riverbank almost anywhere. There were a few instances where we had trailered a boat up river to then drift down. Sometimes fishing, sometimes just playing around. I began to do a lot of barbequing for my friends back at our campground. They seemed to be impressed with recipes I used of my fathers, so I was eager to report back to him and brag about remembering them from taste. So my father began asking me if I was fishing with my friends and offering again, to teach me what he knew. I still found no importance in learning this skill.” Leave it to the boys” I thought.  I was along for the ride.

I returned to Washington at the age of 22, along with my new baby son, Gavin. Before we settled into our own place, we stayed with my mother and father for about 3 months. I observed my father with the same old habits I found so comforting.  His smoked salmon was one I missed dearly! He was still trying so hard to get me to go fishing with him. I thought it sounded fun, but never did I have the time for it. After living here for 4 more years after that I still never went with him. I didn’t understand what it would mean to him until I was to go, just this last summer of 2012.

Many of the men in our family look as fishing like a “church” or something. They find solitude and relaxation being out on the water or river bank doing what they loved. As a child I learned so much about what not to do while fishing, don’t let go of the pole, watch where your hook goes, try not to get our lines tangled, reel it in, and these were things my son needed to know too.

So I decided to do it. I picked a Sunday that worked for my father, and we went. I hadn’t gotten enough sleep the night before and was almost thinking about backing out, but my mother encouraged me by reiterating how very important this was to my father, he was very excited.   We packed a lunch and layered up on warm clothes.  We got up at 330 am, and were on the water in a fancy charter fishing boat before sunrise.  The sunrise was amazing. I had never seen so much from out on the water before. We were able to be excited for the fishing and enjoying the ambiance at the same time. My dad and I

talked and had beers together. He pointed out to me all the bodies of land and what they were, I got this feeling like I was doing something really special.

I listened and tried so hard not to be in the way or act clueless. I reeled so hard I thought my arm would fall off. I overcame my wee bit of sea sickness I thought I had. I had a true bonding experience with my father that I never really thought I would enjoy so much.  I talked with the guys on the boat like I knew what I was doing. They showed me the difference between the native salmon and the hatchery salmon, how to fill out my fishing license card, and which ones you really want to keep.  I asked questions and really paid attention to the answers. I learned to fish with them.

My father could tell how tired I was after catching 2 of my very own silvers, they flopped around in the boat and you have to “put them out” with a technique I would rather not do myself.  He offered to take care of the cleaning for me once we got home. I obliged and saw one more side of him that was so proud of me and so excited to have me there with him. I took so much from this experience that I chose this as something I could write so much about, something I now feel passion towards, and something that is shared between my father and me. I feel it is so significant because it allows me to learn from my father and teach to my child. Even my son was impressed with my catch of the day. I now have my very own “fish tale” to tell….and mine was the biggest!

best/worse

Best teacher ever:
 Mrs Borromeo, 7-8th grade Humanities/In-depth English. She was amazing. She would have us spend a lot of time taking notes right off the board that she would go into detail on. So we would write them, listen to her talk about them, then they would burned to memory. Sometimes I thought she was so strict, and sometimes mean. Then she would turn around and reward us when we did so well. Doing wel though, was due to her teaching skills and styles.

Worst teacher ever:
Mrs Jackson, 2nd grade co-teacher. She was not very motivating. She co-taught the same classroom with Mrs Peterson, who was so sweet and nice and reminded me of Mother Hubbard or something. Mrs Jackson would interupt her, and the students when she wanted to. She would tell my mother all the things we needed to work on and none of the things that I did well. She never smiled, or laughed, or seemed interested in the kids. We all flocked to the other teacher as a result.

rough draft

 

For many fishing is defined by the obvious ingredients; poles, bait, hooks, and general knowledge of where and what you are fishing. For me, it goes much deeper than that. I may not know what each piece of equipment is called, or how to tie it together, but I know the rewards of learning to fish with people you love. These people also happen to have a fierce desire for fishing I cannot compete with. For a long time it was something I overlooked, and did not pay much attention to the hard work that goes in on your Sunday off. Yet I have always enjoyed cooking and eating fish, I never thought to stop and be thankful for where it came from, and what that catch possibly meant to that fisherman.

I know my experience with fishing is one that brought me a life lesson, I know I didn’t desire this lesson, or even know it would become one until recently. This experience has come full circle to me as one that I can ultimately use and help build my character as well as that of my son. As many of us know, we often look up to our parents, or the ones who shaped us in many ways. What started out for me as more of a burden resulted in something I now admire my own father for even more than before. In my life I feel my most valuable lessons were taught to me by my family.

As I grew up along the beach in Kingston, surrounded by woods and Puget Sound waters, I never knew how lucky I was. I had the ultimate childhood. My siblings and I spent endless hours on the beach learning about nature through play, always finding creative ways to entertain our minds and bodies. Little did I know then that my dad also used this beach as his own recreational passion. He would wake up at 3 or 4 am and go fishing before work, right off the beach. There were many times that I or my sister would attempt to tag along with him. We always wanted to catch a fish, but we never seemed to find the focus or patience to do so.  As a result my dad would usually end up sending us home, cold and defeated.

I spent quite a few years after that not giving the art of fishing a single thought, only enjoying the goods my dad would bring home. He would filet the fish, remove its bones, and prepare it for us. All very rewarding steps he took for his family. He smoked it, fried it, baked it, and barbequed it and no matter what, it was always delicious. I did not realize then that I would one day desire to recreate what my father had done for my family’s dinner and other sentimental reasons. My father taught me many life skills, including responsibility, hard work, cooking, cleaning, and being an active and accomplishing human being.

After turning 16 and having a bit of struggle with my early teenage years, rebellion and such, I moved to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. I found myself in a state of culture shock. My new friends and peers were submersed in a life of what I would have called “hick” or “backwoods”.  I knew that they loved big trucks, and going out “mudding” with their four wheel drive toys. They camped on the weekends and not in a state park, just up in the woods! I quickly began to love this lifestyle as well. I obtained my drivers license and began adventuring with them.

We would drive to the coast where many of the people we knew were commercial fishermen, leaving for months at a time and returning with high demand product for restaurants and retail. We went up in the hills of Grand Ronde where the rivers were endlessly winding around and you could stop and fish from the riverbank almost anywhere. There were a few instances where we had trailered a boat up river to then drift down. Sometimes fishing, sometimes just playing around. I began to do a lot of barbequing for my friends back at our campground. They seemed to be impressed with recipes I used of my fathers, so I was eager to report back to him and brag about remembering them from taste. So my father began asking me if I was fishing with my friends and offering again, to teach me what he knew. I still found no importance in learning this skill.” Leave it to the boys” I thought.  I was along for the ride.

I returned to Washington at the age of 22, along with my new baby son, Gavin. Before we settled into our own place, we stayed with my mother and father for about 3 months. I observed my father with the same old habits I found so comforting.  His smoked salmon was one I missed dearly! He was still trying so hard to get me to go fishing with him. I thought it sounded fun, but never did I have the time for it. After living here for 4 more years after that I still never went with him. I didn’t understand what it would mean to him until I was to go, just this last summer of 2012.

Although I hadn’t developed this desire to fish, I still thought about it as something I would eventually learn to do. I had my reasons. I was a mother to a son, so who else would be the one to teach him these life skills? I worried about that often. We live on the Puget Sound and many of the men in our family look as fishing like a “church” or something. As a child I learned so much about what not to do while fishing, don’t let go of the pole, watch where your hook goes, try not to get our lines tangled, reel it in, and these were things he needed to know too. I also had wanted to learn about fishing so I could join my father and his friends on trips, and feel like I had succeeded this rite of passage for my dad would be proud. There were times when I thought it would just be downright cool to know what the boys knew, be a part of the catching and not just the cooking (I am fully aware of how sexist that sounds).  I ultimately wanted to teach my son something that my father had taught me.

So I decided to do it. I picked a Sunday that worked for my father, and we went. I hadn’t gotten enough sleep the night before and was almost thinking about backing out, but my mother encouraged me by reiterating how very important this was to my father, he was very excited.   We packed a lunch and layered up on warm clothes.  We got up at 330 am, and were on the water in a fancy charter fishing boat bfore sunrise.  The sunrise was amazing. I had never seen so much from out on the water before.

I listened and tried so hard not to be in the way or act clueless. I reeled so hard I thought my arm would fall off. I overcame my wee bit of sea sickness I thought I had. I had a true bonding experience with my father that I never really thought I would enjoy so much. I talked with the guys on the boat like I knew what I was doing. I asked questions and really paid attention to the answers. I learned to fish with them.

My father could tell how tired I was after catching 2 of my very own silvers and offered to take care of the cleaning for me once we got home. I obliged and saw one more side of him that was so proud of me and so excited to have me there with him. I took so much from this experience that I chose this as something I could write so much about, something I now feel passion towards, and something that is shared between my father and me. I feel it is so significant because it allows me to learn from my father and teach to my child. Even my son was impressed with my catch of the day. I now have my very own “fish tale” to tell….and mine was the biggest!

 

Informative Paragraph page 11 WS

I am writing an informative paragraph to better help start out and form my first paper

For many fishing is defined by the obvious ingredients; poles, bait, hooks, and general knowledge of where and what you are fishing. For me, it goes much deeper than that. I may not know what each peice of equiptment is called, or how to tie it together, but I know the rewards of learning to fish with people you love. These people also happen to have a fierce desire for fishing I cannot compete with. For a long time it was something I overlooked, and did not pay much attention to the hard work that goes in on your Sunday off. Yet I have always enjoyed cooking and eating fish, I never thought to stop and be thankful for where it came from, and what that catch possibly meant to that fisherman.

Cubing exercise for paper 1

Describe it:
 I can define my fishing experiences with words like exciting, frustrating, rewarding and fun. There are many things that can be explained about fishing; location, strategy, supplies needed, and species of fish you desire. Yet, fishing also explains a large part of my childhood, and a large part of who my father is. The colors, and shapes that come to mind in my story are that of a horizon, mountain peeks, and gray/green water of the Puget Sound. Its defining moments have changed over time and I have come to describe it as a hurdle I jumped, or a skill I acquired from many different experiences, something to pass on to my son.


Analyze it:
 Many components make up my fishing story. There were the parts when I was little and I did not want to fish, unless it was to my advantage. Then the parts throughout my teenage years when many of my friends were fishing and we began to make it a social gathering. During this time I also experienced new locations to fish from, gaining my Independence as a licensed driver taking my friends to camp on new rivers, and lakes around Oregon state. My story became significant to me when I was an adult though. I had a day trip with my dad and his fishing buddy last summer that taught me some things that are invaluable.The components of peace, knowledge, and skill are some things that built this educational significance in my life.


Apply it:
  I can use this skill to apply to other things in my life. If I want to know something, or feel like the experience will reward me, then all I must do is try. It may not seem like much, but I had no idea I could catch a fish. Done. Now I know I can take this information and participate in conversations I could not so easily have done before, I have my own "fish tales" to tell. Now I can use this skill and teach it to my son, whereas before, I could not. He can obtain a life skill from me, his mom. Fishing always seemed very significant in my life, yet I knew nothing first hand about it. The first time I seriously tried I felt out of place and shy, so confidence was gained as well. I can take what my father taught me about fishing and the crazy times I had as a child and know the rewards, the fresh fish, the fun family times, the memories, and the patience my dad showed on all those early mornings he fished.  

Blogging to generate ideas

While I am trying to come up with an outline for our first paper assignment, I can use my own personal blogs for inspiration, or to generate good ideas. I can also find things from other peoples blogs to help make my narrative a successful paper.

When I read through my own blogs it helps because it goes back over all the points that stood out to me when first reading others narratives. Instead of having to re-read all the works by Ben Franklin, and Malcom X, etc. I can use my blogs as somewhat of a summary. Certain things like how they were able to explain their story and get the reader to visually understand. Main points of their stories will be apparent when reading over my own blogs.

Other peoples blogs will prove to be very helpful as well. When reading the thoughts of others on the same subject matter that I have read, I see points that maybe I did not notice in my own reflection. I enjoy reading other peoples reflections on a narrative that differ from my own. I can use this to try to see my first paper from another persons perspective. A very valuable skill to be able to learn from others writing.

"I just want to be average" Q's

1. Rose's life in Voc. Ed. was very different the experiences I had with my teachers. Because of a lack of creativity, drive and desire to improve their students lives, the teachers were unable to control their students. Some teachers were violent and abusive towards their students as a way to create a sense of fear in them I suppose. Other teachers were passive and uninterested in creating that fear, or obedience in their students.

2. Voc. Ed. made these students feel like they were at the height of their potential. They developed ways of just barely getting by through high school. Teachers did not challenge these students, therefore students did not challenge themselves either. Many students lost interest and were simply just "there". Rose could inevitably never catch up in math because he was never taught to properly understand math, and to properly compute numbers. Poor teachings resulted in poor student performance, coming back to the loss of interest as a majority.

3. Ken Harvey struggled with school, he was just like many students who knew they had been labeled "slow". They chose to blend in, and yearned to be "average". He had other interests outside of school, like cars, that proved to him more rewarding than being in school and struggling with the curriculum. Ive seen students use many coping skills to survive their high school years. Some might bully, get depressed, suffer from total exclusion, or submerse themselves in something like sports. I think it would be difficult to be labeled as "slow" and find the drive to prove everyone wrong.

4. Sometimes I find the credit system a bit disorientating. At first I didn't understand at all how my credits would transfer from an out of state college, some did not transfer at all. I have found choosing the right degree path to be a bit disorientating as well, but once I did the research about what i wanted to know, and got to know staff and advisers on campus, I felt very much in control.

5. My experience with education contrasts with that of Mike Rose. I was able to attend school up until 10th grade in a larger community. I was involved in Running Start before I moved to Oregon with almost enough high school credits to graduate early. Upon arriving in Willamina Oregon, I found that their 2A high school was unable to place me properly in their 12th grade class. They allowed me to get my GED and start as a student at the local Community College. So at age 16 I had been given much more substantial opportunities than that given to Mike Rose.

Malcom X narrative vs Benjamin Franklin narrative

 These two stories we have read are very different because of many reasons. Benjamin Franklin came from a background of employed, if not semi educated people. While Malcom X came from the streets, knowing mostly slang as his language. The two men had very different backgrounds in society and culture. Both men prospered from literature of all sorts, finding what they could and reading all that was available to them. Although the way they came to enjoy reading was very different from one another.
 Malcom X came to read by a desire to learn to write. He wanted to share information with other people, to do so, he had to teach himself to understand words, and to write them. As for Benjamin Franklin, he first learned to read and write because it was his duty as his fathers son. In his life he was expected to become devoted to the church, before a financial downturn changed that. Once he knew he enjoyed reading and writing he had more resources in the free world (as opposed to Malcom X in prison) than Malcom X would have had in the free world. 
  ...Just a few of the many, many similarities and differences.

Past Pre-writing Success

I have used a few different methods of pre-writing in the past, mostly in a class called Humanities/ In depth writing. It was a block (two period) class I took in Junior High with a teacher that was able to get us, her students, so very involved and interested in. We did pre-writing in web form, which our book; Writing Simplified (WS),also calls mapping, branching, or clustering. Often times we used this method as a group calling out ideas and putting them on the white board in a very visual way. Students would take that and apply it to their own topic, building a "web" of ideas on paper to work with. With almost every paper I did, no matter what form of brainstorming I used, I always ended up with details that were not used, or less significant details I could weed out of my drafts. Another thing I found very helpful was writing an outline using roman numerals, letters, and numbers to form a breakdown of each paragraph before I wrote them out. I definitely do agree that brainstorming and pre-writing give you a more successful outcome that reflects in your final paper. I plan to use some of these new ideas from our WS book to help me with upcoming assignments. The looping and stream of consciousness methods both seem appealing to me.

Malcom X... Sydney, Lisa, Aimee

Malcom X  wrote about an educational experience that pertains to his life. Its a life we in our group do not relate to, yet he was able to really make an impression on us and hold our interest in his life lesson. Not only did Malcom X learn to read by vigorously teaching himself in a process he found to work, but he taught himself to understand the meaning of these words, and to memorize them with repitition. It is amazing that he was able to change his language from street slang to scholarly language and was published. This is a great example of a significant educational experience that stems from a motivation to communicate, and that motivation developed into a passion. Through his new skill of communication, he was able to reach a much larger audience with his powerful message. Through this educational experience we learn not only of the experience of Malcom X learning to read, but about the things he learned as result of reading and how he was then able to teach his followers in a more meaningful way. His story is inspirational and is a testiment to fact that education need not be formal, but with motivation and access to a few tools, we can learn things that can change the course of our lives.

brainstorming for our first paper

My fellow group members and I have been discussing what we understand our first assignement to be.  We will be writing a narrative essay about a significant educational experience in our lives, that could be academic,vocational, recreational or a life changing event. It can be  a long term process that is learned over a period of time or an isolated experience. Its important to keep in mind who our audience is and provide them with the most convincing, descriptive, juicy details that keeps them interested. As well as analyzing what those details mean to us; our truths.
After discussing the first two articles we all agreed that the second article lost our interest in some of the details, which we do not want to do.Our assignement will challenge us to identify an educational experience in our own lives that may be of interest to others.
 We do understand that our essay should be between 1200 and 1500 words in length and that we should employ MLA style.

english 101 how I will use these

After reading both online articles, I find things from both that will help me in my first paper. One narrative describes a lifelong process of learning, while the other describes a shorter, more isolated experience in one’s life.

The first narrative, by Feross, gave enough background information on his interest in computer programming. He clearly explained both the reasoning for his interest in it, and how he worked his way up from the bottom starting at a young age. I know nothing about the subject but felt like I understood his learning process and was able to see how he came so far. He repeated what he felt was the most significant information, “practice makes perfect”.

The second narrative about living Google free seemed impossible at first, when we are so very absorbed in Google as a search engine alone. He provided us with a short history of Google and how Google has advanced over the years.  Step by step he explains how he retrieved his data and was able to slowly remove Google from his life.

 Both narratives provided great detail to help the reader to understand exactly what they did.  In a sense, “convinced us of their truth” like we are to do in our own narrative, leaving the reader feeling like they were there. I left feeling like I knew what they went through. I will use these both in my own work by weeding out the details that stray the reader away from the experience I am trying to share with them. I will include details that are specific to my experience, describing what I learned and how I learned it.

English 101 how i can use these

After reading both online articles, I felt as though I understood what the writers were trying to get across. They provided a small amount of history on the subject, then onto the most significant details that applied to their subject, and in the end telling a story that pinpointed how they learned something. It helped me, the reader, to understand the subject even when I knew nothing about it. 
  
I felt like I had been convinced of "their truth". I believe I can use these narratives in my own writing experience by reading them and following their way of narrowing down the information in my own learning experience that I choose to write about later. They both started at the beginning and went through their stories highlighting the details that are the most crucial. Making the reader feel as though they went through it with them.

My very first blogging attempt

I think Im slowly figuring this out. Ive never blogged a day in my life, but practice makes perfect!!