Week 14: Superblog

Blogging

            My freshman English class at UL was a new experience with many different grade responsibilities. One of the most uncommon homework strategies we had to partake in English 101 was blogging. I had never even attempted to blog before and really did not know how or which way to start with it. Even though it took me a while to learn the points and ways on how to blog effectively, I actually very much enjoyed having to do it for a grade. Throughout the semester, it became a very simple habit having to blog. Although, one of the main problems with having to blog was finding the time, other's participation, and motivation to do it.

            Blogging is not a very difficult hobby to take on, but having to do it for a class is pretty uncommon. During the semester, as a class, we were put into “blogging groups” and our homework was to blog within our groups. Some of the problems with our blogs were: finding the time in our busy college schedules to introduce efficient answers to the questions posted by the teacher, having the other people in our groups actually do the blogs to be able for us to comment on them to get our points needed in the class, and to be able to concentrate our minds in the actuality of finding the motivation to do the homework. All three of these things are centered around one other substantial problem: the schedule of a college student.

            Firstly, finding the time is probably the most common problem with every student who was responsible for blogging. Having to not only complete other assignments in this one class, we also had many other teachers giving up a great amount of homework right along with it. This was sometimes a very difficult task to complete, even though we did have three days for each assignment, because we would get so caught up in all of our other work that blogging would easily slip our minds and we would just forget about it completely. This is a struggle for every college student, because we are already having to juggle so much in our school work patterns. Also, many of us have badly needed jobs that we must have a main focus on as well.

            One way this problem could be resolved would be to instead of making the blogs a priority every week, maybe making them every other week would take a huge toll off of students’ minds and making time for them to actually complete the blogs. With making them every other week, you could extend the length and difficulty of them by a little more percent. Although, this solution might also have some problems of its own. Students might further forget to do their blogs, because it is not a huge stress component of having to do them every week. To help this solution play out, the teacher would have to be sure to remind the students on when the blog posts are due and what time they should start on them to meet the deadlines.

            Secondly, having the other students in our “blogging groups” actually do their work for us to be able to get credit was another big problem. We had to comment on at least three people’s blogs to get the full grade for our homework. Doing this was the easy part, but finding other blogs to comment on was the harder of the two. Although in my particular group, everyone did a very outstanding job with completing their blogs every week. I used this example, because others in the class had a very clear problem with this.

            This problem could be fixed by not making the students do “blog comments.” Just making us do the blog homework itself was enough trouble. With not having to do the comments, students could further focus on the big part of the homework and be able to do it with ease. Nothing makes a college student more happy than not having to do a lot of work with a one graded homework project.

            Lastly, motivation was a big upset with the whole blogging responsibility. When we get out of class the first thing we as college students want to do when we get home is get on Facebook and just chill. The last thing that’s on our mind is to go do blogging homework. There were times when I KNEW I needed to do my blogs, but I just did not have the want to get on my computer and have to read a whole story to be able to answer a page of questions. If us as students were a little more motivated on the project, we would more than likely do a better job on answering the homework.

            As said in the above paragraphs finding the time, other’s participation, and motivation to do it are the only concerns I have with the whole blogging responsibility. I thought it was  very good idea for a homework option with our English 101 class, and I believe if the mentioned problems are reduced or completely fixed that students would enjoy blogging much more and be able to do it with no problem at all.

Week 13

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette is ranked as one of the top colleges in the world. It has been around since 1900, and has only built itself up in Academics and Athletics since then. UL has improved its surroundings greatly within the past couple of years. New, beautiful dorms have been built, with a brand new legit field for the band to practice right in front of them as also been brought up. Although the campus has been made almost new and is still improving every semester, there is still one very great problem. The parking on the campus is very troublesome to the students and also the faculty. I believe UL-Lafayette needs more parking, because it would be a better asset for everyone to get to their classes, and much more cost efficient for us “broke college students.”

Week 12: A Week in the Life of a Part Time Teacher

1. The teacher probably "acted like an ass" because he assumed that the classroom was his and she was barging in. I believe if the teachers would get together and propose new strategies, they would be: (a) To amend new work schedules, preferably to save the teachers' jobs. Although, the chances of this actually happening would probably be slim, because of budget. (b) finding a way to possibly send the students to a new college with no extra charge to them. This would also probably be very slim, but the school could be recognized for doing this as a kind gesture. The cost, again, would definitely be the problem.
2. The problems Claitor describes affects the students, because they are all their needing to learn to be able to preform and accomplish goals within their own jobs. Also, she might not give full effort when teaching them in this sad amount of time, because she has a lot on her mind and is very stressed about the whole situation.
3. (a) The students could request that the classes be made bigger, that way even if they had to do away with some of the teachers, they could still be taught. This would only better the school's budget, but they would probably have to let go of some good, dedicated teachers. (b) They could ask to be transferred to another close college for their own sakes. Although, it would have to be at no exspense to them.
4. The cause of the problems described by Claitor is the cutting of the school's budget by the administration.
(a) The school might have a greater number of teachers then they should.
(b) Someone might argue that teachers get paid just as much or even more than some of the "harder" working jobs.
5. (a) Without teachers, the university has nothing. If there would be no good teachers, there would be no students coming to learn.
(b) Without the students coming to learn and pay their money, the university would go in the hole and have to eventually shut down.

WEEK 11: SCENARIOS TO TEST YOUR DEFINITIONS AGAINST

1)  A person has  Baccalaureate degree, but they weren't content with their field of study, so they only half heartedly worked toward their degree.  Also, they cheated on the final exam that they took right before getting the degree.  Can they still be considered intelligent?
-This person can still be considered intelligent, although he or she does not deserve to have earned their Baccalaureate degree in the instance of them cheating on the final exam. Working hard to earn this degree would be under the category of "book smarts." A person must apply their self in order to become more intelligent. "Common sense" also plays a part in this by having to know that it is not smart at all to cheat on the most crucial exam of your whole college career, even though they did not get caught. It says that they were not content with their field of study; maybe if they would have had more "experience" with it, it would have helped them out a lot.


2)  Bill Gates was a college drop out.  Do we consider him intelligent?  Why or why not?  How might this affect your criteria for your definition of intelligence?
-Although a college drop out, Bill Gates is still considered an intelligent man in my book. He worked extremely hard to get what he wanted and in the end it paid out very nicely. Since 1995 he has been ranked among the world's most wealthiest people. An honor which so very much requires "true intelligence." "Common sense" is needed in his unique situation by knowing how and when to make investments. Knowing the situation at large would require "book smarts." Although, he might not have had an extreme amount of "experience," he still had to have had some to plan out his fortune.


3)  A man with a BA goes into politics and proposes going to war with another country.  He knows the war will drag out, and he knows many people will be killed during the duration of it.  Was this an intelligent decision?  Are people we admit are intelligent allowed to make unintelligent decisions from time to time?  Why or why not?  How might this affect your criteria for your definition of intelligence?
-This man seems to be less intelligent than he might think of himself. Although, the decision if his wanting of war is now known, he drags himself down on the intelligence poll a mighty good bit. In my opinion, it was not a very intelligent decision, but his backing for it may explain why he wanted it in the first place. Yes, no one person in this world is perfect. Everyone makes and if not will eventually make at least one mistake in their life. Most "intelligent" people will make mistakes, because at that point in time it is what they thought was right. This would only effect my criteria a small bit, because the only part they would be lacking is "common sense." If they had this, they would not be considering killing millions of people for no reason.

Monday November 7, 2011 Online Class Assignment

1.       After reviewing the information about the drafting introduction on page 3, review your own intro and decide what you can do to:

a.       more clearly show what is at stake for your issue

In my introduction, to more clearly show what is at stake, I can explain a better situation of what I am trying to get across.

b.      more thoroughly contextualize your issue with background information (this is helpful for both intro and conclusion)

When I revise my paper, instead of only focusing on one main paint I can expand it to two or three.

c.       write a few sentences for a. and b. that you will insert into your next draft.
Intelligence is defined by many characteristics. Such would would a person having common sense, book smarts, and also experience. These together form into the perfect scenario for an intelligent person to be recognized, but all in their own way.

2.       Review your topic sentences of your body paragraphs:

a.       Whether you are doing org. plan 1 or 2, your topic sentences should contain the criteria that you are discussing in the paragraph.  (Review bottom of page 4 and all of page 5). 

b.      If you have any main topic sentences (do at least two here) that don’t contain the criteria of your definition that you are about to discuss in your paragraph, paste the old sentence, then write the revision of it that you will change in your next draft, like this:

                                                               i.      OLD SENTENCE:   YADDA YADDA

                                                             ii.      NEW SENTENCE   YADDA YADDA now with criteria clearly stated so we know what to expect out of this paragraph

                               i.   OLD SENTENCE: Common sense is what people strive on to survive in this lifetime.

                               ii.   NEW SENTENCE: To be able to survive in this lifetime, people must provide their own "common sense."

                               i.   OLD SENTENCE: Book smarts are what have proceeded to be most important.

                               ii.   NEW SENTENCE: In the economy today, jobs are more focused on a person's "book smarts."

                             

3.       Now, go through your body paragraphs and make sure that in the evidence sections of them, you are “developing” the criterion you are discussing, which means: explaining/defining each criterion for your definition.  By the end of your paper, we should be able to tell a) your definitions, b) the criteria for those definitions, and c) the definitions of those criteria. (Look at page 5, description of BP1).

a.       Find your shortest body paragraph.  This is a quick way to determine which one needs more development. 

b.      Paste it in.

c.       Then paste in a revision of it that contains more details and explanations of the criterion under discussion.
 Books smarts are what has proceeded to be most important. Surely sitting in a classroom for 8 years, which is high school and college combined, would endure a person to be intelligent in all subjects. In high school everything is taught at a basic level, and when you make the transition to the college level, it gets much harder. The smarter a person is and the more they apply to their schooling and studies, the easier it is to make anything happen. This is required greatly in the quest for true intelligence. 

Revised: In the economy today, jobs are more focused on a person's "book smarts." Surely sitting in a classroom for 8 years, which is high school and college combined, would endure a person to be intelligent in all subjects. In high school everything is taught at a basic level, and when the transition is made to the college level, it gets much harder. The smarter a person is the more they apply to their schooling and studies, the easier it is to make anything happen. This is required greatly in the quest for true intelligence. To apply one's self in their "book smarts," and also the majority of their time.

4.       Look over one of your rebuttal areas.  If you have one (and you should; “considering the opposition” or “other viewpoints” is on the rubric) look for a way to revise it to be more developed, if you don’t have one, make one now to add into your next draft.  Review page 6 and the ways that you 1) acknowledge opposition to your argument, 2) but prove how the opposition is not strong enough to invalidate your argument.

a.       Paste in the old and new rebuttal sections

b.      Or say that you hadn’t gotten around to that yet in your first draft and make one up now to include in your next draft.

For example, a person in the military does not start at the top, they begin at the bottom and make their way up using hands on experience to guide they’re way. Once they complete this, they are ready for the real fighting with great knowledge on how to survive. Also, the same thing can be specified with Athletic Training. A trainer must first learn how to practice the exercises themselves before being able to devise them for other people. Although, many people may not think that experience is needed to gain true intelligence, it is just good to have experience in anything. 

Revised: For example, a person in the military does not start at the top, they begin at the bottom and make their way up using hands on experience to guide their way. Once they complete this, they are ready for the real fighting with great knowledge on how to survive. Also, the same thing can be specified with Athletic Training. A trainer must first learn how to practice the exercises themselves before being able to devise them for other people. Although, many people may not think that experience is needed to gain true intelligence, it is just good to have experience in anything. No one has gotten anywhere in this world, being opinionated, without any true intelligence. All good jobs call for it and it's what employers want out of their new "recruits."