"The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." Dr. Seuss

Monday, April 29, 2013

My Multigenre Project: The Coldest Winter Ever




This is my multigenre project over the book The Coldest Winter Ever .https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4JE9zfgL8u7cFJUVDdBRmJQNnc/edit?usp=sharing Through this project I have gotten a better understanding of the character and author of the book. I have also taken a closer look at myself and wonder how others view me as a woman.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Reading Response: Article Six "Plagiarism LInes Blur for Students in Digital Age"

http://schools.bvsd.org/p12/Casey/library/Pages/Plagiarism.aspx
 I agree our generation believes that everything on the web does not belong to anyone. Teresa Fishman said, “It’s possible to believe this information is just out there for anyone to take.” Sometimes teens have research papers to do and end up copying what an author says, because they chose to be lazy and not really think about what the author meant in their terms. I do not understand how a student can accidentally plagiarize a piece of writing here at Parkview High School, because in every grade there is that one teacher that pounds how to do citations in our head. Citations are really easy now that you can just fill out the genres basic information in and the generator will produce a citation.
A way to fight plagiarism is to teach students early on how to summarize pieces of writing and to learn to put things in their own words. This helps the teacher and student. Teachers know their students writing, so it will be easy for the teacher to know what their student meant if the writing is in their terms. The student will actually will do better during their presentations. Students grasp on t0 knowledge more if it is presented in a way that is understandable for them.
 Plagiarism is copying someone elses work. I wonder if it is the same if someone copies a concept. After Twilight came out, a lot of other vampire movies came out. Honestly, it was really annoying. People need to start making up their own characters that will be a phenomena of their own. The same thing happens with celebrities. After Justin Beiber it was okay to sign young children that seemed to sound good, but everyone wants to make a fuss about how they are becoming rebels. Another annoying "plagiarism" copy is with clothes. All clothes are the same trend, but with different prices. Somewhere along the line maybe people will begin to be original and realize that repeats are really annoying.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Reading Response: Multi-genre Book Projects "Speak"

The project is about a book, called Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. This project is actually the reason why I wanted to do my multi-genre project on a book.
The project includes poetry, an expository piece, dear readers, and visual pieces. The different genres were very effective, because I got an overall understanding of the main characters struggles in the story. The project includes nine pieces of work. There are four poems with pictures, an expository piece on rape, a list, visual of graffiti, a picture of a tree that she continually draws, and a dear reader for the introduction.

The author did research on the expository piece. The essay gave statistics on rape. Melinda, the main character, was a rape victim of her friend's boyfriend. The author was completely imaginative with the poetry pieces. All of the pieces were about a single subject and included a visual. The poems to me seem like the authors way of making a transition from one piece of the project to another. The transition pieces are effective, because they give you an understanding of the character. Poetry gives the reader a personal understanding of the topics and emotions the character portrays.

I really liked the authors use of poetry. I am not a fan of writing poetry, but the author of this project made it the main focus. The poems are short, but get the point across. She even did a two voiced poem of the main character and the man who raped her.

Everything in this poem goes together. The series of events are not out of order and I like the serious approach. For my project, I want to use the dear readers as a transition piece rather than poems.


Rape is something that is hard to speak out against, but if no one speaks many more will happen.


Friday, April 5, 2013

Reading Response: Article Five "The Secret to being Memorable and Persuasive"

I always find a memorable part in a book that I am reading. Those sayings or ideas always stick to me. Usually they are catchy or clever. The quotes are hardly ever long and are extraordinary things said in such simple words that I could not come up with myself (hint: keep it simple stupid). I cannot ever seeing myself memorizing a country song or a classical piece of music if the hook is not seem catchy or interesting to me. I love R & B and rap music for their catchy and memorable hooks. The metaphores and connections made in songs are eye opening and make you realize how much of an art words are.

In the article, Joe Romm said "Studies suggest that if a phrase or aphorism rhymes then people are more likely to view it as true." If a phrase seems so well put together and it sounds like words were always meant to be together, why not think it is a true statement? As a child, my sisters would say, "Fatty, Fatty you look like your daddy," to me. Those words rhyme and they were so true. I would not get mad, because I knew that I was such a great person that my only problem was my weight. Other than that I was perfect. Some phrases do not even have to rhyme in order for them to sound true. The way you talk personally changes the meaning. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Those words do not rhyme, but the way people recite those words has power.


Lil' Wayne is a very provacative rapper, but he is one of the greatest for a reason.