Set 3 Part B

I decided to go home and sit in our sun room at around two in the afternoon. The sun was coming into the room and everything was warm and relaxing. At first that was all I could focus on, because I was getting drowsy. I shook myself awake and cracked open a window, letting the cold air take over the room. At first I didn’t really notice anything special going on. My cat was in the other room scratching on her post, and the dog was whining because he wanted to be in the room with me. A few minutes went by before I realized that I could actually hear a lot of birds singing outside. This winter has been so strange it was nice to hear the sound of birds, a sound I associate with spring.

What I really started to notice more than sounds was the smells. Everyone was out of town for the weekend so I had the house to myself, and I hadn’t really done anything but eat fast food. Outside I could smell that one of my neighbors was using their wood fireplace, and it smelled so refreshing. Next thing I really noticed was that there were more sounds of people outside. I could hear a neighbor walking their dog in the neighborhood behind us, and everything was just really calm. Nothing was too hasty and it felt really nice to just relax and focus on what was going on around me. I would normally have gone out and sat in the woods for an assignment like this, but the weather has been so cold that I settled for the sun room. Being able to sit in my own house and still feel connected to what was going on outside and around me was amazing.

Another thing that really stood out was a ridiculously loud running sound about 37 minutes into the assignment. I couldn’t figure out what was running all over the woods in our backyard until I saw two deer sprint out onto the yard. Nothing seemed to be chasing them, but I could hear a dog barking in the yard diagonal to mine. Their dog has a tendency to bark for hours, so it hadn’t seemed like an odd sound to me at the time. Now there were too overexcited deer running around the yard and my own dog was freaking out. Being around 120 pounds this was a little annoying. I didn’t do anything though, just observed what was going on, and a few minutes later the deer had left and everything went back to peaceful relaxation.

#7 Open Topic

I don't really know where to get started. I don't have a lot of intersting topics to write about. Usually when I write a freewrite for 10 minutes it's to talk about what's going on in my life in my journal, but that isn't exactly what this class is for. I am taking a creative non-fiction class that also requires a blog, but I don't really post very much on it. I don't know what to think about creative non-fiction. I don't think you can be creative and write something that can be catergorized as non-fiction. What on earth can be creative about an actual event?

Anyway, that is one of the classes I'm taking that really confuses me, the other being grammar. I'm taking the basic grammar course, and it is mainly focused on the lingustic part of grammar instead of the actual rules. It can be really confusing, but so far it has been very enjoyable. The big snow storm has canceled classes for tomorrow, so we are going to be pretty far behind come wednesday in all my classes.

Oh, what about the affect that texting has on grammar? It was so interesting (to tie everything together) when in my creative non-fiction class a student wrote an entire piece with capitalization. The professor was confused, because it didn't match the piece that he had written. I can understand if the piece had been a reflection on texting or IMing, but the piece was completely unrelated. People don't even think it's weird anymore to see a person writing without any capital letters, but that is grammatically incorrect. Does that mean in a few decades they won't use capitalization like we do now? Will it be phased out over time as we slowly go more and more towards the technology version of works? It's an intersting topic, and a fun one to debate with friends. It's also interesting to follow your own typing and see if you find there are times outside of texting or IMing that you fall back into the habit of using incorrect grammar.

#6 Theory Toolbox

This book is really interesting in the fact that it deals with things in a more abstract way. Instead of telling the reader what to think like a textbook would it allows the reader to take the information and be lead where they want to be lead. I really like the way that chapter 2 Author/ity discusses the way that it isn't always the author that dictats the way a person views a book. I like that you can read a book and have a theory that is completely different from everyone elses, and it can still be considered valid. The most amazing part of reading a book is getting new meaning out of it that hasn't been discussed before.

I do understand that not all opinions are as valid as others, and that it was addressed was nice. Sometimes people say that every opinion is valid, but a person really needs some facts to back up an opinion before it's truly valid. The best ideas are ones that have some great facts to back up the information instead of just being made on vague ideas and concepts that have no proof. Not every idea is valid, but the ones that are can be very different.

The opinions of the reader don't always have to follow the author either. The author might have had an idea for how the book would go, but that doesn't mean that the reader is aware of that. Everything that the author worked towards can be completely put aside by the reader, because the author isn't there to dictate what they should believe. Especially after death the author has no control over what happens to his work. It's the scariest and most amazing part of reading, because you never know what you're supposed to think, but only what you hope is the most logical and rational inturpretation.

#4 Refine Research Topic

I really like the concept of looking into the major themes that Shakespeare uses being spanned over several of his books. I feel like he has so many similar charactors that there has to be similiar themes between the different novels. What was he aiming for with the use of stock charactors? Shakespeare is so interesting, and he is both creative, and had some of the most similar charactors. I want to explore that, and see what connections can be made from the charactors that are simliar. Are there themes that he has in a good many of his books?

Now that isn't the only idea that I have. When I was looking into making the last post I found an article about using e-readers to help teach ESL students. That would be so interesting to research and write a paper on. Does it help? Is there something that can be improved on the system? I personally think that the use of e-readers would be a great improvment, but I think the idea needs to researched before really make a concrete conclusion. Has it been tested? What were the students responces? Are there any specific types of lessons that work with that kind of technology? How would you go about teaching that?

I think both topics are valid, and I know I have to decide soon!! Hopefully I'll be able to pick between them =)

#3 Survey of Current Topics

Honestly the most interesting topic that I found on the internet was the introduction of e-learning for students learning english as a second language. It really is an interesting idea. I am personally a fan of e-readers, I think they are not only practical, but wicked fun. To be able to have a class taught through e-learning is a great idea. Also it allows the students to have more auditory experience with the language. Instead of just learning the language from a textbook they can actually listen to the sentences out loud.

Another great idea is usuing video chat to connect students from different countries to each other. Being able to have a conversation with a native speaker of the language is such a great advantage when trying to learn that language. There are so many parts to the english language that depend on inflection or how you structure the sentence. Being able to talk to someone, or to hear the sentences spoken, is a great idea for teaching ESL. I personally would love to live in Russia and teach ESL, so I really related to the concept of using the latest technology in the classroom.

#2 What are you passionate about?

Reading. I love to read. If I could read every day all day I would. There isn't anything more enjoyable to me then reading. I love all kinds of books, but I focus mainly on fantasy. I'll read the same authors several times, and I still read my favorite authors from when I was a young teenager. I have certain books almost memorized because I've read them so often. I love to read new books, and I try and expand my experiences to things beyond just fantasy. I don't like mystery all that much, but I do read just straight fiction authors at time.

I love writing almost as much as I love reading, but only almost. I write anything from freewrite entries in a journal, to letters, to short stories. I keep a notebook on me at all times in case there's anything I want to write down when I'm on the go. I have something similar to my notebook for reading. I have an ereader that I can buy a new book on at any time. I am always connected to a way to read or write.

Reading and writing has everything to do with my hopeful carrer. I love to read and write, and I want to teach people how to love it too.

Week 2 #1 Recent Dream

A recent dream? I don't remember most of my dreams. I've had a few really big nightmares when I was a kid. I was at my house, and I couldn't find my parents. I couldn't have been more then 6 or 7 and I just kept on looking for them. The house was dark, and I just felt so afraid, but I didn't know why. Then I heard something behind me, and it was like a horror movie. I couldn't stop myself from looking back. Behind me was this big dark shadowy monster. I tried to scream, but I couldn't, and I tried to get away but I was frozen to the ground. I knew that the monster had eaten my parents, and my siblings, and it was going to eat me.

I woke up terrified, and I had to stay with my parents for the rest of the night. There aren't any other dreams that I really remember, I usually remember them for about 10 minutes and then they are gone. Even nightmares don't really stay all that long, they usually have to be very intense and I need to talk about them right away for me to remember. It's the terror that sticks the most after a nightmare. Even if you can't remember why, you just know that everything is not alright.