So, as I'm looking back on my writing process for both the Room for Debate and the One-Semester Memoir Assignments, I've realized that my writing process has looked pretty much the same throughout the entire year. Sure, there were a few times when I would do some writing on my phone in the car, or write stuff down in a notebook between classes to be typed up later, but for the most part, it's just me, my dad's laptop, and our comfy blue couch. Sometimes a blanket or a snack will join into the mix, but that's about it. I don't usually like to write with other people around, because I'm a social butterfly, so I would spend all of my time talking and none of it writing. For the most part, I learn about the assignment in class and start writing down my ideas on paper. In between classes, I'll develop my ideas a bit more, or write notes to myself explaining my thought process so that I don't have to stare blankly at my notes trying to figure out what the heck I meant. The thing about me is that my mind is in at least ten different places when I'm calm, when I'm busy, it seems to be in about thirty different places. So, unless I've written notes on my notes, I'll usually have no idea what's going on. For once, I don't have much more to say, but I think I've done a pretty good job of being honest, taking creative risks, and just throwing my voice into the assignments. I'm proud of my writing, and I hope that my audience can see that.
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next Reflection Time! Class Life: This week in class, we discussed logical fallacies, showing and telling, and the basics of our next few blog posts, which seem as though they are going to be very interesting. If you've read some of the Room for Debate arguments my classmates and I have made, then you can tell we're trying to argue a point saying whether we are for or against a point made by the New York Times' Room for Debate website. So, we went over the logical fallacies to be found in our assignments. Fallacies are basically flaws in the logic of the assignments, that could potentially cause our arguments to lose their strength, because there is not enough evidence, because they don't answer the question being asked, or because the person making the argument my be manipulating their words in such a way that although it seems as if they as saying something intelligent, in all actuality, it has nothing to do with the point they're trying to make. Showing and telling has more to do with the One Semester Memoir that is coming up. Showing we the type of writing I studied throughout high school, and telling is the type of writing we used in middle school, so I had a pretty good idea of what each of these were before Dr. Mangini discussed these near the end of class. Before he discussed these, I wrote this in my notebook: Showing - To truly describe the scene, giving the reader a vivid picture about what it is they are reading. Telling - Slightly descriptive, just enough to tell the reader what it is they need to know, mostly informative. I think they pretty accurately captured the definitions of these terms. Home Life: So, I went to the winter retreat, which was amazing, I've come home, gotten some rest, went to a few classes, and I'm getting back into the swing of thinks, which means I'm more than ready to start blogging again! In a previous post, I used the following telling language to explain a moment from my life: The Prayer Experience is basically a tent we set up in the main hall, that we use as an extension of the speaker's messages. It usually is set up as a redemption story that as you walk through, you realize the love and mercy and grace God has towards us. I don't want to reveal too much yet, because I don't want to explain everything and ruin it for all of my friends on the retreat, but the four main rooms in relation to the messages, are Grace, Devotion, Love and Life. We will also have what is going to be known as the psycho room at the very beginning. Here, I will revise this language into a scene that shows readers this same moment from my life. I walked past the door and inhaled the nice warm air. I wonderful transition from the bitter cold of the outdoors. I took my time walking through the hallway trying to experience everything. Pictures of other camps had been posted on the walls, you could see the joy in the faces of those using the canoes and running around the playground. You could almost hear the laughter emanating from the photos themselves, as you saw the children from the summer camp working on their projects and eating their snacks. A cool breeze flows over me as the glass door is thrown open. My friends call me into the gym so we can hang out. The humungous gym seems as though it could fit every person I've ever met, and we'd still have plenty of elbow room. On my right, a homey, antiqued coatrack is placed next to the vending machine. In front of that, two ping pong tables covered in craft materials, zip ties, fishing line, spray paint, giant tarps, and anything else we thought we might need to finish our project. On my right, nine-square was set up, and past that, a giant black tent. On the outside, it seemed totally out of place in the room with the bright yellow floors, but on the inside, it was perfect for the retreat. As I walked into the first room, I actually had to wait for my eyes to adjust to the darkness before I was able to move on. I was immediately placed in a small, almost claustrophobic room. Magazine pictures are posted everywhere. Colored strings connecting pictures are also draped from the ceiling and I have to duck and swerve to try and avoid ripping them down. You can see words that describe things that pull us away from God, "Girls," "Money," "Celebrities," "Boys," "Guns," "Music," "Makeup" etc. Anything that we place higher than God. We were supposed to have a strobe light set up to enhance the craziness, but we ran out of time. As you walked through the next door, you were almost hit with a peacefulness, being pulled out of the craziness and placed into a serene blue room with white clouds and golden raindrops hanging above your head. In the center of the wall, a beautiful painting covered in writing. You will come, like a flood of golden raindrops, you will come. And we will be ready. The roots of our hearts will soak up your living water. And we will bloom that all might see your beauty and your goodness. You will come, like a flood of golden raindrops, you will come. There were long scrolls draped down the side of the room, and on the other side, a chalkboard that read:
Characteristic of God... GRACE It is... Being given a pass when you don't deserve it It is not... just a get out of Hell free card As I moved through to the next room, I saw a large chair, and above it, a 4x4 cardboard sign adorned the wall. On this sign, three thrones had been painted. It was asking who we had in control of our lives, do we place ourselves on the throne, and have God completely out of the picture, do we place ourselves on the throne and have God on the side helping us out just when we need him, or do we place God on the throne and allow him to take control of our lives? Keeping in mind with this option, that he has a perfect plan for us, and that we need to accept whatever is in his will, even of we don't always like it, because He loves us and He knows what's best for us. The walls of this room were also adorned with scrolls, all of which were related to our devotion to God. Reflection Time!
Class Life: Today in class, we split into groups and used our Reverse Outlines to examine and critique each others' work, and to help us revise our room for debate assignments. Group number three consisted of Qin, Marquee, and myself. Qin based her essay off her belief that China's one-child policy deserved to be abolished, and she offered her solutions for fixing the economy after being botched by the one-child policy. Marquee decided to write his assignment so that it would revolve around the entertainment industry. He argued that even though video games are great, movies are being ruined because Hollywood is trying to make movies using video game graphics. He also gave the example of The Amazing Spider-Man having the graphics of a game called Mirror's Edge, and linked to a video showing how the movements and graphics style were almost exactly the same. We did a bit of brainstorming, and we tried to rearrange some sentences with clarity as our main focus. I was surprised with how comfortable I was working in a group like that because I am used to being really independent with my work. I tend to work in my bed or on the couch, and I tend to get the most done when nobody is in the room and I have the TV making noise behind me. I usually just leave the TV on enough that it isn't dead silent in the room, but it's still quiet enough that it doesn't become a distraction. Overall, I really enjoyed what we did in class today. Home Life: I have to be honest, I feel like I have been getting lazy with my blogs, thankfully, I have a lot to say in this reflection, so I don't feel all that bad. I promise to get better with it though. I am going to be at a retreat this weekend, so I won't have internet for a few days, but when I come back, there will be plenty to blog about. This past week was crazy busy with planning and trying to figure out all of the details, and I'm not even a leader, I'm just a student helping out with the Prayer Experience. The Prayer Experience is basically a tent we set up in the main hall, that we use as an extension of the speaker's messages. It usually is set up as a redemption story that as you walk through, you realize the love and mercy and grace God has towards us. I don't want to reveal too much yet, because I don't want to explain everything and ruin it for all of my friends on the retreat, but the four main rooms in relation to the messages, are Grace, Devotion, Love and Life. We will also have what is going to be known as the psycho room at the very beginning. The winter retreat is one of my favorite events of the year, and I have to go pack everything tonight when I go home. I finished one of my main projects about an hour ago, and I am trying to keep it safe until then. I had to write up a scroll with the lyrics to Let it Happen by United Pursuit , we also have Kind by Amanda Cook, and one other song that I can't remember the name of. I am so excited to see how this all turns out, and I can't wait to tell you all about it soon. Bye for now! Reflection Time!
Class Life: This week in class, Dr. Mangini switched to more of a Lecture style setting. It was really hard to wrap my mind around this and focus in his class, because I'm not used to that setting. I guess I have to use some of that neuroplasticity we've learned about. But I totally get the lecture thing, he's teaching according to the style of the major assignment. The last assignment was the Adaptive Mindset Assignment, so he used some crazy teaching techniques to give us an idea of what adapting looks like in our lives. Now, we are doing a more formal essay, known as the Room for Debate Assignment, so he is using a more formal teaching style. Where he had given more of an overall look at our last assignment, this time he plans to give us more nuts and bolts, grammar related feedback. So, it's actually really interesting to see the class change with the assignments, but it will take a while to wrap my mind around the changes. Home Life: October 31st, Halloween. My sister Emma felt like changing up the routine a bit, it's been ages since we all went out to dinner, so she wanted to eat out like a normal family. But, if you haven't realized yet, my family is anything but normal. She asked my mom, who initially said no, but realized that even though it may be expensive, it's not like eating out is something we do often. "Go ask your dad." the usual reply. Emma then shot up the stairs and back into our bedroom. She begged me to ask dad because she didn't want him to say no, and she didn't want to upset him. I thought she was being ridiculous, so I walked into my parents bedroom and told him how Emma didn't want to ask him, but she wanted to know if we could go out to eat. "What did your mother say?" They always ask the same questions. "She told us to ask you." I replied. He was just making we weren't searching around to find the answer we wanted. I don't know" was all he said. I suggested we go somewhere like the Burger King up the road to save money, just so long as we didn't have to make dinner, or even worse, do dishes. I left it at that and went back into my room. Dad left for work, and I started on my math homework. time went by, I had finished my chores and completed some math. When he finally finished up and arrived home, he found mom and I at the computer. He never said hi or anything, he just strutted up to us and said that he had two conditions. "What?" Questioned mom having been given no context whatsoever. "The kids said they wanted to go out to dinner, so I have some conditions," He started laughing, which kind of concerned us, yet at the same time we were suddenly very intrigued. "One, you all need to dress up. All!" "Really?" I almost jumped out of my seat. "Really. everyone is going to dress up, and you have an hour to do so." "That's awesome!" I exclaimed as I darted up the stairs. I rushed to mom's dresser, looking around for her olive colored shirt, but I couldn't find it anywhere. So I went back into my room and grabbed the October issue of Seventeen Magazine, and looked at the makeup ideas they gave. I loved the comic book superhero idea, but I didn't have the right makeup to created that look. Then I saw the mermaid costume idea, and knowing I had heaps of beach related items, I thought that would be a good idea. But I had nothing for the tail. Eventually, my mom mentioned her and dad's old karate uniforms, she said that maybe I could wear the karate uniform, and she could wear my nursing scrubs. Then I felt like a total idiot because I forgot about my scrubs. I said that she should wear the karate uniform, because it was hers and because she still wore the same size clothes as she did when she took karate. Plus, the scrubs were my size because I need them if I become a nurse Eventually, I threw on my scrubs, wrapped my stethoscope around my neck, placed some pens in my pocket and threw on the closest things I had to tennis shoes. I was ready to go. I also slipped my phone into the pocket of my scrubs instead of my jacket so it would look like I had something in my pocket. My dad never told us where we were going, but we took turns guessing, and I found out I was right as we pulled into Applebee's, and we were pleasantly surprised to see all of the waiters and waitresses in costume. They absolutely loved our costumes, and we were seated immediately. My dad dressed up in his dad's old clothes from the seventies, my mom wore her old karate uniform, I wore my scrubs, Sam wore his hunting outfit, Emma wore her everyday clothes but with a cowgirl hat and a pair of cowboy boots, and Zachary dressed up as a lamb using a costume we had to make for his pre-school's harvest party. It was actually a really great idea, and it's a great story to share. Reflection Time!
Class Life: This week in class, more people gave their AMA presentations, and we scheduled our midterm conferences. Basically, we are going to try and convince our professor to give us the grade we want. We already sent in our pitch, a one page double spaced paper, and now we are just waiting for our conferences to talk about it. So I took a slot for 2:30 pm on Thursday, and my professor and I discuss the grading or 'elevator' pitch, he also said we can talk about publishing a post I wrote. In class, I found out that my AMA still hadn't been due even though I thought it was. I had rushed around like crazy trying to create my video and do the life of a homeschooler section that took forever to write. I'm actually still editing and cutting that down, because I realized that it doesn't truly reflect every week as much as it does one single day that I remembered. More often then not, I used to have very hectic mornings, and I was so busy that my sister had to make my lunches for me. So finding they weren't due yet was a bit of a relief. Home Life: Sunday, was my last work day for the carnival season. We went up to Cacoosing, which to give you a general area, is near Reading. I worked in the cotton candy trailer, which is kind of out of my element. Like I've said in the past, I'm used to working in the sausage trailer. It's a really cute fair. It is very family friendly, with a cute craft show, about five rides, pony rides, and a street fair over the bridge. It's about five hours long, and by the time we're done, its way past dark. Today (October 20th), is my baby brother's fifth birthday. He is obsessed with Spiderman, so we used cray paper to create a giant spider web on the ceiling, then we placed a giant fuzzy, purple spider inside the web and just have it hanging there. We also have a cake covered in frosting and sprinkles with Spiderman's colors. Plus, we have a bunch of Spiderman plates, cups, and stuff like that. We have a tradition the each kid gets to pick out their birthday dinner, so Zach picked both kinds of pigs in a blanket, hot dogs wrapped in bacon on one tray, and hot dogs baked in bread on the other tray. We're just waiting for my father to come home so we can begin the festivities. Class Life: This week in class, we started our informal presentations of our AMA's. I went in front of the class, had Dr. Mangini play my video, and listened to what people had to say about my assignment. Dr. Mangini completely removed my word count for draft#2, and he wants me to give a day in the life of a homeschool student versus a day in the life of a college student. Although, I think I have to do two days to show the differences in homework as well. I will probably post them to my blog later so that they're still here after having edited my AMA.
Home Life: This week was STORM once again, but my dad had work and he brought my oldest, younger brother with him. My mom also had a bachelorette party to go to, so I was the only other person left to babysit my other two siblings. Babysitting is code for: Pajamas, movies, mish-mosh dinners, and homework out the kazoo. We had some organic, vegetarian, Korean Popstickers. They were kind of tasteless. There was no difference in the flavors, everything tasted exactly the same. So, I kept working on my AMA draft#2 but it's taking a long time to put together the day in a life of a homeschooler, and I haven't even started the day in a life of a college student. I have to get both of those finished, add in some details to the rest of it, and film the new video. Hopefully, I can do the new video before it gets too dark again. Anyway, I actually enjoyed working on my AMA, I was all cozy and cuddled up on the couch with my fuzzy pajama pants, my favorite jacket, and a nice warm blanket. I also watched Shrek Forever After in the background, picking up bits and pieces. I'd already seen it five times so I knew what was going on even with all the parts I missed; same as I'm doing now with Halloweentown II. Great movie if you haven't seen it, I definitely recommend it to anyone wanting a good, non-scary, Halloween movie. So, that was my weekend, tell me about something cool you did in the comments below! Reflection Time! Class Life: This was another exciting, interesting week of class, as to be expected when you have Dr. Mangini as your teacher. We had an in class game show... Yes, a game show. Who wants to be a compositionist? We were asked questions based on our past readings, discussion topics, and other little details we have run into along the way. We talked about the word and the world, Anne Lamott, Paulo Freire, the Banking Concept of Education vs. Problem-Posing. We also went over our Adaptive Mindset Assignment (AMA) and negotiated our plan with our teacher. We finally decided to work on our assignment, have it finished by Tuesday, then in class we will do a writing workshop. By Thursday we should have our polished first draft posted to AMA page on our websites. Keep a lookout for it, I will probably post my work directly to my website so you can see the work I do as I go along. I think my biggest issue I face as a student at college, especially a young student, is how I might rank against other students. Do I seem too immature (I know I do in my English class, but in my other classes I'm not quite sure)? Am I going to understand questions asked me even with my lack of 'life experience' so to say? How will I be able to handle my schedule once we really start getting into our major assignments? Home Life: This week my family found our new favorite TV show. Limitless. Basically, Brian, the protagonist, takes a pill known as NZT, and unlocks access to every brain cell for 12 hours. He is used as a resource to the FBI, and does everything he does to try and make his father proud. It comes on CBS Tuesdays at 10pm. It is insanely ridiculous how excited I became after having found out it comes on without any conflict towards my college schedule.
Today, Saturday, I am babysitting my 16 year old friend and we are watching our favorite television show, talking in strange accents, and she is eating Mac N' Cheese with a giant wooden spoon out of a bowl with a happy face on it. I am forcing her to go ahead ten episodes, giving her twenty different clues that are completely ruining her whole television experience. Yet she still considers me one of her best friends. (Hi Camry!) I also set up a Tumblr account to promote my blog, here's the link if you want to look. http://rebekahjwilliams.tumblr.com/ Class Life: Class this week was pretty interesting. Our professor was mute for the day... Yep, mute. He made a silent argument using videos, he arranged them in the same way he would an argumentative essay, and taught us a lesson using a different genre of text.
Home life: This was a pretty interesting week, as I said above, my grandparents left this week. Actually, it was just my grandpa (Poppop), my grandma (Mommom) left in August. Poppop left on Tuesday while I was arriving at college. Both my grandparents go to Florida every year, they hate the cold, so the go to the sunshine state. We usually visit them in February, but there have been a few exceptions because my dad had to work, or we didn't have enough money. This year we may just have to go early because college starts again mid-February. Anyway, I was also invited to a homecoming dance, but I'm not going. (Sorry Tori!) My friends have heard me say that the only thing I don't like about homeschooling is the fact that I'll never get to go to a homecoming or a prom. Of course, there is a homeschool prom, but there's only one guy I'd want to go with, and he wouldn't want to go with me. Plus it's out in Harrisburg, and that's a long ride. We were coming home from a small group, and my friend's mom was driving me home. She asked what school I would normally go to if I wasn't homeschooled. "Uh... I think, maybe Penncrest?" Came my unsure reply. "What?!?! No way..." You could just tell how excited her mom was. "Girl, I got you hooked up. I can get you into all the dances, I got you covered" Said Emily. Immediately, her and her mom started talking about which boy they should find to be my date. "Oh yeah, that would go great, tell my mom you're getting me a date for the homecoming dance." I said with sarcasm emanating from every word. "What, no, you'll be fine!" Emily laughed. "Yeah right, that'd go over so great." Was my reply. "No, besides, I can just your ticket for you to go, it doesn't have to be with a guy." Emily said, trying to get me to come along. "I don't know, we'll see, I have to talk with my mom. I'll message you, okay?" "Yeah girl, let me know!" I said goodbye to Emily, and thanked her mom for dropping me off, and I went inside. They next day was college, and when I came home, on the stove, was an apple ginger cake my mom had made. Yes, I know, we're still trying to use up those apples. I forget what my family was watching, but I know when it was over, mom brought out a batch of kettle corn she had just made. We convinced them to watch Jack Black's "Gulliver's Travels" from 2010, because they still hadn't seen it, and then we all went to bed. Today, I mostly did homework, and then we had a movie night, we watched the second half of "The Croods" and all of "Hotel Transylvania" and then it was off to finishing my blog. I did most of it, but there's one last thing I want to tell you guys about. It's my favorite place in the world, with college coming in as a close second. My church. Calvary Chapel of Delaware County, CCDELCO, for those of us who are there all the time. Sunday's, we have church, movie theater seats, worship with the band, and the projector slides that help me write down the notes when Pastor Bob goes a bit too fast. Wednesday's, off to midweek at Julianna's house. We used to all get together and do an outdoor thing, but we moved it so that girls are at one house, and guys are a few streets away. Just because of the other stuff going on at the church. We changed the setting a bit too. Instead of John Reilly leading worship (check out his music video with Lecrae here), we sit around with our leader Mrs. Lisa (Love Her!!!), we talk about the different aspects of the bible, how to get the most out of reading it, how to take notes that mean something, and tons of other subjects. Saturday's are the best things ever. The second and fourth Saturday of each month, we meet at 5, eat dinner together, play crazy games that we have no clue how they ever came up with, we have a live indoor concert, and we listen to John Reilly speak for 15 minutes. Then it's dessert and a dance party, and before we know it, 8:30 rolls around, and John comes out with his famous quote "You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here." Then we go outside, and we either all hang out or go to our cars... This week, we had Anthony Pagán and John Olgram sit over a tarp (you know it's good if they have to bring out a tarp) and there was a carton of eggs numbered 1-12, nine were hard boiled, and three were not. They took turns calling numbers, they received the egg with the matching numbers, and then proceeded to crack them with their foreheads. The first person to get two raw eggs cracked on their head lost. Anthony was the winner, and he won $20 towards our fall weekend at camp stream side. Lucky ducky! Reflection Time! Class Life: This week in class we talked about The "Banking Concept" of Education. I enjoyed an in class activity we did where we had to create a visual, find a quote relating to a specific parts of the banking concept of education, paraphrase that quote, and tell if the students were spectators or re-creators. Our group had to analyze the Problem-Posing method. We also did an in class free write (which will be posted shortly). There was also this one quote from Dr. Mangini that I loved, he said "Create first, critique later." It kind of reminded me just to go with my ideas, just keep typing, don't worry about capitalization, punctuation, even if the ideas came out properly, just keep typing; get it all down. Then put it all together once you've finished typing. That's something I need to remember when both free writing and when doing my assignments. Home Life: So remember my in my last reflection when I said "expect to hear how I binged watched some show, did some art, or went to the movies with my friends…?" Well, sort of, we tried. We pick a time, a theater, and our exact seats, I ordered the opening day tickets online, and I arrived with the tickets to the theater ten minutes late. Seeing as I have no phone though, I had no way of knowing that my friends decided to go to another theater a few streets away because they were worried I'd make them miss the movie. So I still sat and watched the movie (after ten minutes of previews), and luckily my mom checked online to figure out what time the movie would end so she could pick me up, because otherwise I would have had no way to tell her the movie was over. Also, my friends knew that I was only late because I was busy closing up our pool, and that's hard even with seven of us trying to work at once. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now though. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials .Reflection Time!
Class Life: These past two weeks of college were much better than I had beforehand expected. Psychology is actually interesting, statistics is easy, and I’ve fallen in love with writing again. The first two seconds after my English professor said we wouldn’t be handing in papers I was like what the heck? But then I was bursting with excitement once he told us we would have our own websites and we would be doing blog posts as well. I personally love the blogging approach compared to handing in a paper every week, or maybe even two or three, like we had to in high school. Once my classmates found out I was fifteen they started freaking out, and every time a controversial subject was brought up, the two girls in the back, Tori and Carley, would tell the boys to knock it off because there’s a fifteen year old in the room. I kind of like being the baby of the class though because it’s so different from anywhere else. I mean I am usually still the baby age wise, but eventually the older kids I hang out with got used to the fact that they were stuck with me, and it seemed they just forgot about the age thing. At home I’m the oldest so it’s kinda cool that I just get a break for once. Anyway… I love my time in class, and honestly when I’m not a college I really wish I was. Composition class is actually calming for me, it is honestly the only class I haven’t had a panic attack in… (still trying to figure that one out) Home Life: This weekend, I worked in a funnel cake trailer at the Broomall Carnival! That’s a totally new experience for me… Wait, did you think I meant the carnival? I have been working at the carnival since I was eight years old. Seeing as I was homeschooled, it would get me out of school for the day, and waiting on the window and doing the money would count as my math class. I usually work in a stand where we sell real Italian sausage. Hot or mild with peppers, onions, and sauce. We also sell cheese steaks with sauce and onions, hot dogs, hamburgers, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, water, Gatorade, and fountain soda. My grandma owns the stand, and I work the window. We have never been allowed to use a calculator, and we have to get our math done quickly so we can move onto the next customer in line. This week, I didn’t work for my grandma. Long story short, My parents worked the carnivals since before I was born, they quit around the time I was eight, and a few months later, I was working for my Grammy at a different carnival company. Well this past week my Grammy needed some help working her stand at the York fair, but my mom didn’t want us to get sick on the car ride, so she asked her old boss if she could send some workers up to York to help out and use us kids instead, so her boss agreed and had us work in her daughter’s stands. So Friday and Saturday, I worked in the funnel cake stand, which was new to me, and on Sunday I worked in a Sausage trailer somewhat similar to the stand I am accustomed to. So that was my weekend, but next week you should probably expect to hear how I binged watched some show, did some art, or went to the movies with my friends… |
Rebekah W
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