Mistakes This Semester

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This semester I have made several mistakes in writing as well as in other classes. In writing, I found that I procrastinated the drafting stages of my paper. Therefore, I had more work through the revising and editing stages of my papers. I have tried to space out my writing which has helped a lot on the current assignment. In addition to this, I have realized that I procrastinate in other classes. For example, I didn’t make the grades I wanted to on my tests because I only studied for tests the night before. I learned that if I study in small amounts over a week before the test, my score increases. Overall, I have learned many valuable lessons from the mistakes I have made this semester.


What do you love to learn?

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One of my favorite things to do in my spare time is dance. I always find it fun and exciting to learn a new technique or skill with dance. I have been dancing since I was two, so I always look for new things to be taught. In addition, I have always loved learning new crafts, decorations and bulletin boards I can use when I have my own classroom one day. I have come to really enjoying Pinterest and all it’s creative tips to decorating a classroom. I have an entire board with things I will use to make my Kindergarten classroom come alive in the future. Overall, I find pleasure in learning new things in regards to dance and classroom decorations.


Op- Doc Analysis Unit Reflection

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Screen Shot 2015-10-09 at 10.11.56 AMThis picture represents the scene where his parents receive the phone call from the school saying that his son was being suspended for hitting another child then lying about it. In reality, he never hit the boy and the school failed to research into the report more. They assumed that because the confrontation happened between both white and African American boys, Idris had done it. The reason I think this scene had the largest impact on my paper is because it was the first time the viewer understood in reality what his personal struggles were. At this point in the story the viewer is able to see a specific example and better understand the purpose of this video. I was able to really expand on this particular example in my analysis because it was the first time I personally experienced emotion by the film. When watching the video for the first time, this was the scene that caught my attention and helped me decide how to analysis the rest of the film. Overall, I felt this initial scene that depicts his personal struggled helped me put into perspective the rest of my analysis.

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I feel this picture best describes the activity that helped me the most in writing my paper. During my conference, I had good body paragraphs but failed to have a clear and organized introduction, thesis and conclusion. When we discussed that I could rearrange the last part of my thesis into the conclusion, I was able to clarify my purpose of the introduction.  When I left the conference, I moved the “so what” piece of my thesis into the topic sentence of the conclusion. In addition, I went back and added a few sentences in my body paragraphs to help build up to my conclusion’s purpose. Another helpful organization tip I gained from my conference was how to show the complexity of my video’s issue. Being too broad about the racial tension in the education system was hindering my flow of the paper. I found myself bouncing back and forth between the different pieces of the complex issue. I was advised in my conference to look at all the issues I discussed in my paper and move them around within the paragraph so the overall message was more concise. This reorganization of my middle paragraphs helped the fluency of my concluding paragraph. In conclusion, I found my conference to be the activity that impacted my final paper.

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The image above really pin points the complex issues that my Op-Doc Video depicts. The image above shows a typical school building but with a large set of diverse kids within it. Generally speaking, the range of ethnicities in the education system is the main topic of both the paper and the video. Where I found the real issues of the racial struggles in the picture was by how the school is being stretched. I thought of this as representing the elements of my thesis that articulate the social issues piling up within the education system. In my thesis I talk about the complexity of race and how it effected Idris over time. When I think of how his life was portrayed in the film, I thought of each struggle as something that was piling up on him and personally affecting him to the point where he may “pop”. In total, I feel the picture above expresses the complexity of my thesis.


#UsingExamples

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When reflecting on this past week I was able to work and improve on many skills used to writing a analysis paper. More specifically, I learned the importance of using direct examples from the text to accompany the points of analysis. This allows the reader to not only better understand the actual text but to have a better idea of where my thoughts are coming from. It also improves the credibility of my ideas and interpretations throughout my paper. Overall, the use of the specific and direct examples has improved my writing and enriches the ideas within the paper.